New School for Not Murdering

Intro

Don’t even say “you fool.” This is how Jesus makes application from “thou shalt not murder.”

And we might say “how did you get there Jesus?”

Remember in 2021 when Ford brought back the bronco from extinction? And a lot of people who were sitting at home and didn’t know how to spend their money, bough them?

They were kind of a polorizing car. Lots of people hated them. Lots of people loved the old broncos for a reason. Can a person driving an old bronco be any cooler? Probably not. You don’t need to have a lot, but if you have an old bronco, thats enough. We look at the new broncos and roll our eyes to them and a want a be of an older classic.

There is a car company called Vintage Modern that will take these old classic broncos, and restore them. Look them up sometime, but not now. But not just a typical restoration like you would think of cleaning it up, making it work, new parts. This company takes the current world, and breaths new life into these old classics. They update everything. They update the safety features, give it antilock breaks, air bags, AC, heat, powered steps, powered windows, Apple carplay and android auto. But they make all these new features look old.

It looks old and vintage, you wouldn’t know it has been updated, but you get to drive something with all of the modern comforts. And they look awesome!

Jesus is doing this with the law for us. And especially this first one we are looking at today. He is going to see how he updates this old law and allows us to live it out more fully. We will see in the sermon today how we can now drive this old commandment into modernity.

The scripture read for us can come across as Jesus being “intense.” Is Jesus’s law just a more intensified version of the law?

If you are going to take Jesus’s commands as a legalistic code to be followed to the letter of the law, not only will this be a difficult challenge, you are also missing the point.

No! What does Jesus say about himself?

Join me because I am gentle and lowly. Jesus does not come to be a harsh task master, he comes to give us abundant life.

We are going through the Sermon on the Mount. Last week, we discussed how Jesus came not to get rid of the Old Testament, but to be the full intended meaning of the Old Testament. He comes to be the authority for how his kingdom disciples, the ones who want to follow him, will live out the Old Testament. Not something that is done away with, but something that he completes and continues.

Jesus does not want his disciples to see our lifestyles as earning something with God, our sin keeps us from earning anything with God! But Jesus wants us to receive this way of living out true humanity. This is how we image God though living out the Old Testament.

Today, we jump into the first of six examples of how Jesus shows us we are meant to live out his commandments.

I thought about doing all 6 in one sermon, but i think it is good for us to work through them slowly together.

We remember that that we don’t come to the scriptures to get a data dump of information. We come to scriptures to soak in them. We treat them like a tea bag. Allowing them to permeate our lives more fully.

This is how Jesus describes the law in a new way for us. That we would not just keep the letter of the law with rigid legalistic rule following, but that it would be heart worship rooted in our love for God.

Jesus comes to show us the intent and fuller meaning of the law.

In verse 20, Jesus says that the ones who enter his kingdom have righteousness that goes beyond the religious leaders. Remember that beyond does not mean more righteousness quantitatively, but of a different kind. This righteousness is heart righteousness.

Main Point: Jesus desires his followers to not murder by active peacemaking.

Understanding the Intent of "Thou Shalt Not Murder” (21-22)

First, we see Understanding the Intent of “Thou Shalt Not Murder.”

Jesus quotes from the Old Testament saying “you’ve heard it said by the ancients” meaning the law of Moses, that you should not murder, and the one who murders will be guilty of judgement.

Murder is deeper in the story line of scripture than just Moses. Remember Cain and Able? Cain kills his brother Able because he was envious of him having a better sacrifice for God?

Genesis 4:5 NET 2nd ed.

5 but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast.

Remember Noah and his family when they get off the Ark? We all remember the rainbow as a promise that God will not flood the earth again. But the covenant and speech that God gives as a restart for humanity, one thing he doubles down on, is don’t murder.

Genesis 9:6 NET 2nd ed.

6 “Whoever sheds human blood, by other humans must his blood be shed; for in God’s image God has made humankind.”

We don’t murder our fellow humans and God gives the reason that they are created in God’s image. Also permitted in this passage is the killing of animals for food. But God is saying that humans are off limits as they represent him to the earth.

We also see a capitol punishment that God is requiring for anyone who takes a life. We also see that the image of God is in all humans, not just followers of God. This is a mandate for all people in all times.

Thou Shalt Not Murder is one that we don’t have to worry about right? This is a commandment we can quickly move past?

You will be glad to know, I haven’t murdered anyone lately, and I haven’t thought about murdering anyone lately. I trust that all of us in the room would be able to say the same.

But Jesus is telling us that this way of thinking is Old School. It is not the way he will require his disciples to think if you want to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus isn’t looking for outward law keeping, he is looking for a heart to follow God.

Remember how Jesus says he comes to fulfill the Old Testament not abolish it? We also do that in him.

The Old Testament is not something that we absorb, but something that is lived out in us.

I’ve used the illustration of those glow in the dark stars that absorb light. But maybe think about a prisim. The light of the Old Testament comes into our lives, and then does not have to end or be lived out only in the narrow understanding of “Don’t murder.”

Rather, the way we live out the Old Testament in Jesus is multifaced with many applications. This is what Jesus is going to explain to us.

Notice in verse 22, Jesus having authority to reinterpret the law with the statement “But I say to you.”

Jesus says that the one who is angry with his brother is also liable of the same judgement. There is a textual variant here of “without cause.” It is in some manuscripts and not others. Most likely, it is an addition to the text rather than original to Matthew. But without cause is certainly a natural application.

Remember, Jesus’s goal is not primarily to intensify the Old Testament, but to show us how to live it out in it’s fully intended meaning.

Jesus takes an outward action of murder, and brings it to the heart. Remember Cain and Able; Cain killed able because his heart was evil.

To be clear, Jesus is not saying to nip it in the bud before it gets out of control. He is saying that heart obedience is just as important to God as action.

God doesn’t want robots living out his image to the world, he wants genuine image bearers of himself who realize this way of life is most glorifying to God and the most good for people.

And just when you are jarred by Jesus’s reinterpretation of the Old Testament, he continues.

If you insult your brother, you are also liable to the council.

And if you call your brother a “fool” you will be guilty of hell-fire.

This is abusive insulting language. The first term means something like “stupid” and the second term means something like idiot. These would be normal jewish insults that would be used in everyday life, and would be regularly heard throughout the day.

The paradox is that these ordinary insults are showing an attitude that God takes seriously

These utterances and insults reveal your heart’s attitude towards a person.

The outward insults are a reflection that your heart has intent to hate people created in the image of God.

And the punishment does not seem to meet the crime here, but Jesus’s standard is high.

We should not harbor feelings, resentment, or frustration. Act toward restoration. If we have an issue with someone, go to them so that we can help them and help ourselves toward being restored. They can be restored by working through the issue we have with them, and we can be restored as we will not have an issue with them any longer.

This is the principle given to us later in Matthew 18. When someone does something against you, to frustrate you or make you angry. Don’t go gossiping about it. Go to them ALONE.

We see the punishment being hell-fire.

Hell-fire becomes a shocking jolt awake to the audience. You go from tuning out the command of Thou Shalt Not Murder as something that doesn’t apply to you, and now you see the severity in the intent of this command.

Hell here is the word “Gehenna.” There are two places beyond death for the ungodly. Hades is a temporary holding place that is described as shadowy existence, but Gehenna becomes a permeant place of torment. Historically, Gehenna is actually a physical place outside of Jerusalem. It was a place in the Old Testament where pagan nations would sacrifice humans to the god of Molec. At Jesus’s time, it was a place where they would burn trash and excrement from the city of Jerusalem.

While Gehenna is a physical place, for jews, Gehenna becomes a picture of a much greater judgement of God that awaits the ungodly.

Let me show you two other times that Jesus uses the word Gehenna in Matthew.

Matthew 25:41 NET 2nd ed.

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!

Matthew 25:46 NET 2nd ed.

46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

This is the same word Gehenna. Gehenna is not just a physical place, but is pointing to an eternal place of punishment for those who have not lived for God’s ways.

James also gives us some further understanding on this point. James 3:9

James 3:9 NET 2nd ed.

9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse people made in God’s image.

This is talking about how difficult it is for us to keep control of our tongues. We should not be blessing God, and then cursing each other. And notice James’s same idea here of the reason behind this teaching. Because others are also created in the image of god. We don’t curse what God has made.

So what does it look like not to murder according to Jesus’s new way of living? It also includes your heart intent, and also your words.

Living out the Intent of “Thou Shalt Not Murder” (23-24)

Next, we see living out the intent of “Thou Shalt Not Murder.”

If I asked you how Jesus want’s us to keep “thou shalt not murder” even before this sermon, you probably know it means not hating people.

Often when we quote this command, we say “even hating is murder, so we shouldn’t hate.”

And then I might say to you...What else?

But Jesus goes beyond even this. We often neglect the rest of Jesus’s teaching here.

In the previous two verses, we have taking some time to see the true prohibition of though shalt not murder.

But Jesus wants us to go beyond refraining from doing an action. He wants us to see how the Law moves us toward positive action.

Jesus begins with “so then...”

This is the turn, and alternative option for kingdom disciples in how they live.

Jesus is showing us that the Law is not something to see as moral do’s and don'ts, but something something to live out.

The first Christian College I went to was a college full of rules of don’t. The student manual was intensely long, not something meant to be referenced, but for you to know the exact details of it. You had to study and keep the letter of the law. This is what they believed Christianity to be about, and specifically for young college students. When you got on campus, you were given a thick book that they called a student guide, but it was a few pages of positive things about how to get the most out of your time in college, and the vast majority was things you shouldn’t do. There would be no music with heavy beats. No physical contact of any kind, not even a pat on the back. Handshakes between sexes would have been questioned and assessed. No theaters. No internet access during certain hours of the day. No phone access during certain hours of the day. You weren’t even allowed to do homework in certain hours of the day.

Once realizing what I was in, i left and went to the Northland International University where i would meet Erika. Here, the student guide was much smaller. They gave some scripture passages, gave some principles, and wanted you as a person to work through how God is working in your heart to live out biblical principles.

This is what Jesus is doing. Not a list of dont’s, but a principle for our hearts.

And Jesus gives us one example of how “not murdering” can be carried out from our hearts.

He says that if you are offering a gift at the altar, and then remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there, go fix the relationship with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

This is a crazy way to live out the Old Testament!

To be clear, brother is used in not as a familial term, but as a fellow disciple term. And it gets used this way in the rest of the New Testament as well. Your brothers and sisters in Christ, or people in general.

I didn’t think that a geographical map would be needed for the sermon on the mount, but it is here to understand the severity of what Jesus is saying.

Jesus is speaking to people at the top of the red line in the region of Galilee. Commentators say that the gifts before the alter would have been an offering at the temple of Jerusalem for sacrifice. And Jesus is saying that rather than sacrifice, you should go back and resolve and restore the relationship with your fellow disciple. This would have been a weeks journey. Then go back, another weeks journey, to offer your sacrifice.

This seems silly and overstated. But Jesus is showing how important right relationships are in the kingdom of love. We are not motivated by outward actions ensuring we don’t murder, but inward actions of making peace with one another in love.

Also, notice the problem in verse 23. Is the problem your hatred of another?

It is not that you are angry with someone, you are offended by someone, or are frustrated with them. Notice that THEY have something against you!

If you think you are only to confront issues if you have an issue with them, this verse should be probing you in a different way.

So what’s the point? The application is not to serve or give what you have until you are restored. The issue of your brother being restored is a more important issue than what you bring as a gift or the way you serve. Your work to bring restoration to the people of God is more important than what you can bring in talents and offerings.

Before we lose sight of it, we have to ask, what does this have to do with murder?

I believe the point Jesus is making is that the opposite of murder and hate looks like love and care for the well-being of the other person. Not murdering means you care for the spiritual development of others in the Kingdom of God. And in Jesus’s kingdom, because I care about my brother or sister, I want my brother or sister to be restored with me because then they are restored to God. I know that by them having an offense with me, they are not being restored horizontally and also vertically.

Going back to the story of Cain. Remember Cain’s response when he is talking to God after he kills his brother? God asks where his brother is? And Cain lies and says “I don’t know, am I my brothers keeper?”

Jesus is telling us that this cannot be our response. Jesus’s way of not murdering is the reversal of Cain’s way of thinking.

If we think someone has an issue with us, we ought go to them and check-in. The secular unchristian response would be, “They just need to get over it.” Or maybe more passively, “They just need to work through their problems with me.” But Jesus commands us to be people of restoration. Go to them to fix problems.

Remember the beatitudes. We are peacemakers, not peacekeepers. Being a peacemaker means going out of my way on a 160 mile round trip through the awkward and uncomfortable to make peace with someone else.

This is what it looks like to love instead of hate. Instead of murder in response to inward distain, we seek to restore in our love.

You care not just about your own standing before God, you care about their standing before God.

We know that when someone has an offense against us, we don’t ignore it. We know personally that when we are upset with someone, it keeps us from our relationship with God, and fully being able to live out our lives as Kingdom Citizens. So if I love my neighbor like myself, I am willing to restore what they have against me so that they can be at peace in their relation with God and with me.

You love them so deeply that you are willing to go far out of your way to ensure they draw closer to God and better live out his kingdom by not having an offense with you.

In Christ’s Kingdom, we say, “I am the keeper of my brothers and sisters; I want them to be close to God and be restored. I lay down my life and the situation's awkwardness so that I bring them one step closer to God.”

So, with the heart of restoration, go and restore relationships with each other.

Urgency of the Intent of “Thou Shalt Not Murder” (25-26)

Last today, we see the urgency of the intent of “Thou Shalt Not Murder.”

We have seen how Jesus wants us to live out this Old Testament commandment, but now he calls us to live it out with urgency.

Verse 25 says “come to terms quickly with your accuser.”

The Greek word here for “come to terms” is a hapax legomenon, meaning it only appears once in the New Testament, so we have to look at other ancient texts to understand the meaning more full.

In other ancient literature around the time of Jesus, it often means “making friends.” But the word has a deeper meaning of intent of the heart. It has the idea of “feelings of benevolence.” “having a good disposition toward.” It has an idea of heart-kindness toward. Showing faithfulness to.

If you read 25 quickly, you might get the idea that you are trying to get to terms quickly with the one against you so you can get something out of them or not be in judgement. This verb informs us that it is having a heart of kindness and good feelings of benevolence about this person.

Jesus is encouraging his disciples not to let conflicts go unresolved.

In verse 25, we see two ways for there to be peace. You benevolently show kindness to the person to be at peace with them, and then there is the “I’ll see you in court” attitude.

Jesus’s way of kingdom living is against the “I’ll see you in court” attitude. While being handing into prison might create peace from the situation, God wants you to be the peacemaker, not the system of government and punishment.

Do you see what is causing peace? Either judgement, or you. God is using you as a way to bring peace because of your love for others.

Also notice the word “quickly” in verse 25. Followers of Jesus are counter cultural in this aspect. The world’s advice might be to let things lie, let things sit, they might resolve themselves.

But Jesus desires his followers to go out of their way for peace and to do it quickly.

I want to say something here on this point. We realize that we live in a fallen and broken world. There will exist conflicts and difficulties in life. And some may be unresolved until Christ’s return when he brings all things under his dominion.

Jesus’s words here are not promising that all you have to do to the one against you is say “why can’t we be friends” and everything goes away. Jesus also is not intending us to be under continual abuse from an accuser.

We praise God that we are not judged by outward law keeping, but true heart intent. We rest in God’s grace in our lives. If we have followed Jesus and done everything that we can do to fight for peace, and the other party is not willing to reconcile, we might have to separate from them in order to not endure continual abuse. And there should be no guilt or shame here.

But tied up in this word, we don’t say “I’ve done all I can, no I have every right to be embittered against them.” Now that I’ve tried, now i can be angry with them. No! Jesus is saying if you have gone out of your way for peace with them, and maybe there is no peace, your heart is still meant to be full of benevolent kindness and good will towards them.

Then we see in verse 26 the word “truly.” Truly I say to you. You will remember from last week that this is a way of Jesus saying “I have authority on this matter.”

You will never get out until you paid the last penny. This is an odd thing for Jesus to end on.

But the initial part of the verse of Jesus’s authority is alerting us to the reality that this is not just a debtors imprisonment. Divine judgement is on the table when those whose earthly relationships do not conform to the kingdom of heaven.

Beyond the Walls (Grace and Growth)

If you are here today, and the words of judgement, hell, fire, imprisonment, are harsh, they are intended to be. Romans 6 tells us that the payment for our sin and our wrong doing and our mistakes is death, death in eternal punishment.

But there is good news. This is the good news of the Gospel. Jesus came o take our place. As you were the one with the offense, Jesus comes to make peace for you. He comes to offer himself as a sacrifice for your offense against God. He paid the punishment of death on a cross for you. He didn’t have any sin, so he took on your sin.

You can now believe and trust in him to be your savior from God’s judgement. And now, you can repent and turn from sin.

On judgement day, you will either be embrased by the grace of Christ that is all sufficient for you, or God will be sending you to an eternity of paying the penalty of sin. Every last penny.

To those of us who have accepted the Gospel in our lives, we now can live in this new way that Jesus is calling us to. His way that is for the glory of God and for our good.

We no longer look at murder as something to abstain from, but as a way that God is showing us his desire for us to live for him with our heart.

How can we practically do that? By going out of our way to resolve conflict quickly with one another. Don’t harbor things and keep them in. Because of our benevolent love for each other, seek to resolve conflict.

Let’s take a moment to respond to the text today.

Take a moment to thank God for creating us in him image to display who he is.

Take a moment to thank Jesus in being the way that we have peace with God.

Take a moment to confess sins of disunity, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you this week to take action steps to resolve conflicts.