Anger and Lust

Introduction

Hook

When I think back on my life, especially my teenage years, I was an expert at finding loopholes in my parent’s rules. I always wanted to look like the good kid, and so I would obey my parents on the surface. But I would still find ways to do things I knew I probably shouldn’t be doing. Especially when they weren’t around. One of those things was movies I knew I shouldn’t watch. My parents didn’t want me watching things with lots of curse words in them or suggestive content. But when I would be at my friends house and they would want to watch a movie like that, I wouldn’t say no. And I figured I would be in the clear as long as my parents didn’t ask me what I watched. They didn’t say I couldn’t watch this particular movie, so I wasn’t technically disobeying them and I would still look like a good kid. But I could never get away from the guilt. I knew that even though I didn’t technically disobey them because they never said anything about that particular movie… I was still doing something I shouldn’t. I wasn’t following the heart of my parent’s rules. And that’s what were going to talk about tonight.

Recap

Ok, now everybody go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Matthew 5:21-30 for our Bible passage tonight. And a quick recap:

What is this section of Scripture we’re studying called?

Who gave the sermon?

Why is the mount significant?

Christ said he came not to abolish the law but to fulfil it?

Passage

Ok let’s go ahead and read our passage together

Matthew 5:21–30 ESV

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Key points:

It’s not just the outward acts that God cares about, it’s the inward thoughts and meditations of our heart

God wants us to pursue reconciliation with each other

God wants us to be serious about our pursuit of holiness

God Cares About the Heart

We see this principle in Jesus’s teaching on both anger and lust.

The religious leaders back in those days were looking at the law of God and trying to make it easier to obey. They thought, “well if I just don’t murder, and I just don’t commit adultery, then I’ll be in the clear. I’ll be obedient” And they thought that everything less than that was OK.

Have you ever found yourself doing the same thing? Maybe you were given a rule from your parents and decided to push up against it just enough to where you weren’t “technically” breaking their rule. Like if you were hanging out with your friends and they wanted to watch a movie you weren’t allowed to watch… you might think to yourself, well I’ll be in the room but I won’t actually “watch” it. I’ll be on my phone the whole time instead. Yeah technically you’re not breaking the rule if you aren’t “watching” it but we all know that your parents wouldn’t really agree.

The religious leaders would do the same thing. So yeah they didn’t murder, but they harbored anger in their hearts. They allowed themselves to be bitter, and even to speak horribly to other people. And yeah maybe they didn’t commit adultery, but they probably thought it was fine to imagine having an affair, or to think about sleeping with someone who isn’t their spouse.

And Jesus is telling us here that God cares about our hearts intentions. He wants us to have pure hearts. He doesn’t want us thinking terrible things about people or saying terrible things about people. He doesn’t want us lusting after people. He says that’s sinful too, because it’s an attitude of the heart.

What Jesus is getting at here is that sin can be in the heart even if it’s not in the actions. And God cares about both. He cares about our actions and he cares about our hearts.

God Wants Us to Pursue Reconciliation

Another big thing to point out, in the section about anger, is that Jesus wants us to be at peace with everyone.

Notice that he mentions “if you remember that your brother has something against YOU”

This is not you being angry with someone… it’s someone being angry with us. He wants us to pursue healing in that relationship. And he wants us to do that before we come to him in worship. That’s kinda crazy to think about right?

I don’t know how many of you have been in a tense situation like this where you know that someone as mad at you, but Jesus is serious about it. He tells us to make efforts to put things right in our relationships here on earth because that affects our relationship with our heavenly Father.

Now of course a reconciled relationship requires that both people want the relationship. And it requires forgiveness and grace from both people. It’s not like we can never worship God if someone refuses to forgive us. But what Jesus is saying is that we should do what we can on our end, and trust God for the rest.

Maybe you can think of a situation right now where you might need to pursue reconciliation with someone. What Jesus is saying here is “don’t put it off any longer.” Talk with that person, apologize for your part in the conflict, see what you can do to restore the peace.

God Wants Us To Be Serious About Holiness

Now in the last section of our passage, Jesus makes some big statements. He says that if your eye or your hand causes you to sin, get rid of it. It’s better to suffer a loss here on earth if it means you are kept from living in sin.

This is drastic language. And I think Jesus is using this kind of exaggeration to get our attention. He wants us to know how serious sin is and how much effort we should put into fighting against it.

So I’m not gonna tell you to cut off your hand or your eye or to physically harm yourself. That’s not what Jesus is really saying here. But what he is saying is that we ought to be taking some drastic measures to fight against it.

So let me give some examples. If what you see on your phone is causing you to lust…. GET RID OF YOUR PHONE. Get a flip phone. Get rid of the ipad or the computer or the gaming console that’s serving as doorway for lust.

If you’re reading a book that causes you to lust, get rid of the book. Read something more wholesome.

If you’ve got a friend who continually brings you into bad situations and bad habits… get a new friend. Hang out with better people who will encourage you to pursue holiness not sin.

If you’re listening to music or watching shows or videos that are influencing you in a sinful way, give that up. I don’t care if there’s nothing good to replace it with, neither does Jesus.

If you find yourself sucked into materialism and always wanting the trendiest clothing or latest gaming console or the newest phone, then intentionally downgrade everything you’ve got. Sell those nice things you have and give the money away to people in need.

Take your personal holiness seriously. It’s not something to joke around with or to take lightly. Jesus doesn’t take it lightly.

And remember that this is hard. You can’t do any of it on your own. We need to be constantly asking God for the strength to live against the sinful patterns of this world.

As his people, we’re already rescued from the eternal consequences of sin. We’ve been given abundant grace. And God promises to give you more grace to help you in the fight against sin. God promises to work in your heart to make you holier than you were before. Trust in him to do the work only he can do. And then do what he prompts you to do so that you can live in freedom from sin.

Close in Prayer

Why do you think God cares about our thoughts and intentions rather than just our actions?

Why is it wrong to just think bad things about others, even if we don’t act on them?

What does it mean to 'reconcile' with someone?

Can you think of a time when you needed to say sorry to someone? What did you do?