THE MOTIVE BEHIND MURDER

You Have Heard

The last few weeks, we have been looking at what Jesus meant when He said, “I have not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it”. We have seen that Christ fulfilled the Law. Because He fulfilled it, we are no longer under it. The Old Covenant has passed away and we are under a New Covenant, which is superior to the Old in every way. Last week, we ended on what was a shocking statement. Jesus said that unless our righteousness exceeded that of the scribes and Pharisees, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:20). The crowds would have been floored after hearing that statement. For if the most devoutly religious people in Judaism were not righteous enough to enter the kingdom of heaven, then who was? What did Jesus mean when he said that their righteousness was insufficient? He elaborates on that later on in the book of Matthew.

Matthew 23:27–28 ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

According to that passage, the scribes and Pharisees had an outward appearance of righteousness, but on the inside they were filled with sin and wickedness. In other words, although they went to great lengths to put on a show of righteousness, their actual righteousness was as filthy rags in the sight of God. Over the next few weeks, Jesus is going to explain to us in detail how the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees was insufficient. He is going to do that by comparing their understanding and application of the Law of God with the true explanation of what the Law required. So let’s read our passage.

Jesus begins by looking at the prohibition against murder. He said that they had heard by those of old that you shall not murder, and whoever does murder will be liable to judgment. What could possibly be wrong about their understanding of this commandment? As a matter of fact, on the surface, there seems to be nothing wrong with the way they understood it. This was a principle that was understood before the giving of the Law and after it was given. After the flood in Genesis 9:5-6, the Lord had told Noah that if any person or animal killed a person, they must be put to death themselves. This idea was reaffirmed when the Law was given. Exodus 20:13 tells us that, “You shall not murder.” And Numbers 35:30-31 institutes the death penalty under the Law for anyone who would murder. So clearly, we are commanded to not murder and whoever does murder is liable to judgment.

Was Jesus adding something new to what the Law required? For He said that anyone who is angry with his brother is liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to hell. This sounds like Jesus is going above and beyond what the Law required. It sounds like He is raising the standard. Before we answer that question, let’s remember the 3 main purposes of the Law. It was given to display the holiness of God, our own sin, and our need of a Savior. In light of that, how should we react when we read the command that we must not murder? If you look at it like a Pharisee, you would feel good about yourself if you haven’t killed anyone. But what is it that drives someone to murder in the first place? It is anger, hate, or bitterness. So what does it tell us when we have those things in our heart? It tells us that the root cause of murder is present within us!

Think how ridiculous it is to believe that you are a great person just because you haven’t killed anyone. That kind of thinking sets the bar pretty low. So how should we feel when we read that commandment? Should we feel like the Pharisees? Should we have a sense of self-satisfaction with the knowledge that we haven’t murdered anyone? Or should we feel convicted to our core that we have wicked feelings, desires, and motives? When we are convicted of our sin, our eyes are opened to the holiness of God, the wickedness of our own sin, and our need of Christ as our Savior! Remember, the Law was not the medicine to cure us. It is a thermometer to show us how sick we are. And when it shows us our sinful actions and our sinful feelings, it shows us the sickness of our hearts. It is a tool in the hand of the Holy Spirit to lead us to repentance. And again, this isn’t a new teaching that Jesus is bringing. He was applying the Law as it was meant to be applied. The Law itself was full of commands that dealt with the heart, not merely our outward actions.

Deuteronomy 6:5–6 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.”

Deuteronomy 26:16 ““This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.”

So the Lord isn’t only concerned with our outward actions, although He is most certainly concerned about that. He is also concerned about what goes on in our hearts and minds. And this is where the scribes and Pharisees had a massive blind spot. They looked merely on their outward performance, but they didn’t take a hard look at the desires of their heart. The Lord, on the other hand, does not see as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart, according to 1 Samuel 16:7. And He uses the Word of God to expose our thoughts and intentions.

Hebrews 4:12–13 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

The Danger of Anger

Now let’s take some time to see what the Lord Jesus has to say about the desires behind our actions. He says that if we are angry with our brother, we are liable to judgment. He says that if we insult our brother, we are liable to the council. Some translations say that whoever says “Raca” to his brother will be liable to the council. What does Raca mean? It doesn’t have an exact modern equivalent. However it is sometimes translated as empty head, brainless idiot, worthless fellow, blockhead, or silly fool. And Jesus said when you insult someone in such a way, you deserve to stand in judgment.

There is a Jewish legend that illustrates the danger of this. The legend tells of a young rabbi named Simon Ben Eleazar who had just come from a session with his famous teacher. The young man felt especially proud about how he handled himself before the teacher. As he basked in his feelings of superiority, he passed a man who was especially unattractive. When the man greeted Simon, the rabbi responded, “You Raca! How ugly you are. Are all men of your town as ugly as you?” “That I do not know,” the man answered, “but go and tell the Maker who created me how ugly is the creature He has made.” How dangerous is it to insult someone who is made in the image of God?!?

Jesus goes on to say that whoever calls someone a fool is guilty of the hell of fire. Hell here literally means “gehenna”, which was derived from the Valley of Hinnom. It was a valley southwest of Jerusalem that was used as a dump. It was a place that wicked King Ahaz had burned his sons as an offering to the false god, Molech. Later, faithful King Josiah tore down the altars and burned them in that valley. After that, it became a trash heap that continually burned. There was constant fire and smoke that produced a stench in that place. Gehenna came to be used as a word for hell, because it was such a similar picture of what hell is like. So here we are warned that anger in our hearts and looking down on others with disdain makes us guilty before God and in danger of hell. This passage condemns us as murderers at heart. We shouldn’t be surprised at this diagnosis when we consider what other Scriptures say about this.

Mark 7:21–23 “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.””

James 1:14–15 “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

1 John 3:15 “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”

The scribes and Pharisees thought that as long as they didn’t murder someone, they had no judgment to fear. Jesus, however, said that if we have anger or hatred in our hearts we deserve not only physical death that the Law demanded, but also the sentence of hell. In light of that, we should take these next 2 verses to heart.

Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Revelation 20:14 “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.”

Now I do want to take a moment to discuss the righteous anger that Scripture sometimes addresses.

Ephesians 4:26–27 “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.”

What is righteous anger? Or how can you be angry and not sin? Righteous anger is when you are upset that God’s glory is being dishonored, or when you are angry about the devastating consequences of sin. When God is dishonored or we see people getting hurt or killed by the wicked actions of others, it should fill us with a sense of righteous anger. In fact, Jesus got angry over those very things. But notice that Jesus never got angry or upset over personal attacks to Himself. We must be careful that righteous anger does not lead us to act in a sinful way. If anything, it should drive us to prayer for the Lord to help those who are hurting and to save those who caused the hurt. The other thing we must guard against is holding on to anger. That is why we are told to not let the sun go down on our anger. When we hold on to anger, it turns into bitterness, resentment, and wrath. Hebrews warns us about that.

Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;”

So what should this teaching do to us? First of all, it should open our eyes to the danger of anger, hatred, and contempt for others. Those feelings must be dealt with and repented of. But this teaching should also fill us with conviction that we are wretched sinners in need of salvation.

Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Romans 7:24 “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”

The Urgency of the Command

In light of how dangerous these sinful feelings are, Jesus warns us that we must take urgent action to deal with them. In fact, He said that if you are offering your gift at the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, you should first go and be reconciled to your brother before you offer your gift. Here Jesus is telling us that anger is so dangerous, that we must not only strive to put a stop to our anger, but also try to quench the anger of others. Because as we saw in Hebrews, when a root of bitterness springs up, it causes great trouble and many become defiled. This is an urgent call to seek reconciliation before you come to serve and worship the Lord. The Old Testament has much to say about this as well.

Jeremiah 7:9–10 “Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?”

Psalm 66:18 “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”

I like what John MacArthur said about these last 2 verses. These verses are essentially a commentary on the previous two. Using an illustration from the common practice of imprisoning a person for an unpaid debt, Jesus teaches that if someone holds a debt of any sort against us, he is to make it good as soon as possible and before it is too late and he is imprisoned. The time for reconciliation, just as the time for salvation, is always now. Tomorrow is often too late. We are not to allow bitterness, anger, hatred, or any other sin to keep us separated from other people, whoever they are.

Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”

2 Timothy 2:22 “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

In closing, this passage should do two different things. It should show us the danger of our anger and hatred, which should move us to deal with it and seek forgiveness and reconciliation with those we have hard feelings against. But also, it should open our eyes to our own sin and our incredible need of a Savior to forgive us!

See Luke 18:9-14...

Galatians 2:16 “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”