Murder and Anger

Welcome

Good morning and welcome. As we continue on in our study of the Sermon on the Mount, we are going to get into how Jesus challenges the people and us when it comes to inward righteousness vs external righteousness. Last week we read that only if our righteousness surpassed the pharisees would we be in the kingdom of heaven. How do we do that? By having a heart changed by Jesus. So this isn’t just about following rules outwardly, but it is about having our heart changed.

Matthew 5:21–26 NIV

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Prayer

Actions Don’t Emerge from Nothing

For today and the next 4 weeks we are going to go over what are often referred to as the 6 antitheses. Jesus is going to start by saying, “You have heard that it was said...” and then he is going to follow that up with “But I tell you...” Each of these has a place in the law, but Jesus’ teachings goes above and beyond what the law requires. Think about the Pharisees, they were great at following these rules outwardly, but their hearts were not changed. Inwardly they were no better than anyone else. This is why Jesus later would say to the pharisees in Matthew 15:8 ““ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” They might have been following the law externally, but inwardly they were continuing in sin.

A Christian philosopher named Dallas Willard said, “Actions do not emerge from nothing. They faithfully reveal what is in the heart.” The righteousness that Jesus has described doesn’t just come from following rules, it comes from a heart that is shaped by the Holy Spirit and is pure in heart.

Jesus’ teaching in these sections goes above and beyond what the law requires.

You Have Heard...

Matthew 5:21–22 NIV

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Jesus starts off with a pretty straightforward reminder. You have heard do not murder. We can do that. Hopefully we have all abstained from murdering someone this week. It’s one of the ten commandments that I don’t think about very often because it is just such a jump. Don’t covet your neighbors stuff vs murdering someone, yeah, not murdering someone is the easier part of that. So the people had been taught don’t murder and if you do murder, you will be subject to judgement. Once again, we all hear this and go, yeah. I’m okay with this. But Jesus’ statement after is what complicates things. He says that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister sill be subject to judgement. Pump the brakes. Now this includes a lot more of us. If we are angry towards someone then we face the same judgement as someone who murders? There are some questions that instantly come up for me with this. What kind of anger is Jesus talking about? Because we see moments when Jesus is angry yet we know he didn’t sin. The kind of anger that Jesus had was righteous anger and it was directed towards sin. When he saw the temple being misused he was angry at the sin that was occurring. Righteous anger looks at injustice, it looks at sin, it looks at evil. So we can be angry at things in that sense.

The word translated “angry” here in verse 22 does not mean a sudden temper flare, but rather a deep-seated hostility, a settled anger or resentment. This is what we would call nursing a grudge. Jesus says anyone who is angry with his brother in this way will be subject to judgment.

The anger that is wrong for us to have is one that is settled against someone. They have done something in the past, they have wronged us somehow, and so we are holding on to that anger within our hearts. Jesus gets real practical then and says that if you call someone Raca you will be answerable to the court and calling someone a fool would be in danger of hell.

We don’t go around calling people Raca today, but this is a word that insults someone’s intelligence. It literally means empty headed. This would be like us calling someone an idiot or stupid today.

If the word “Raca” is aimed at the person’s mind, the word “fool” is aimed at the person’s heart. It is an attack on who they are as a person; it is a judgment on their heart and their motivations. You are basically saying that they are good-for-nothing or worthless in your sight. Jesus said anyone who says “You fool!” will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Jesus is getting into the heart issues. The law wasn’t just about following external rules, it was meant to reshape the people of Israel’s hearts.

Therefore...

Matthew 5:23–24 NIV

“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

How do we handle our anger then? What are we supposed to do when we are confronted with our anger and the broken relationships that we have?

Jesus paints a startling picture here. Imagine you have traveled all the way to Jerusalem. You have purchased your sacrifice. You are standing in the holy temple, about to engage in the most sacred act of worship possible for a Jewish person at that time. And suddenly, you remember: "My brother has something against me."

Jesus says, stop. Leave the gift.

Notice the priority here. We tend to think that our relationship with God is vertical (us and Him) and our relationship with others is horizontal (us and them), and that we can keep them in separate boxes. We think we can be "right with God" even while we are at war with our neighbor.

But Jesus teaches us that you cannot be right with God if you are wrong with people.

He isn't saying worship isn't important. He is saying that reconciliation is a form of worship. If we claim to have a heart changed by God, but we harbor hatred or refuse to reconcile with others, there is a disconnect. As John would later write,

1 John 4:20 NIV

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

The "righteousness that surpasses the Pharisees" doesn't just check the religious boxes; it seeks peace with others. It values the person over the ritual.

Jesus then moves to a final illustration in verses 25 and 26.

Settle Matters

Matthew 5:25–26 NIV

“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

He uses a legal metaphor here. If you are in debt or in the wrong, and you are marching toward the judge, you better settle it before the gavel drops! Once the judgment is rendered, it’s too late; you’ll be thrown in prison until you pay every last penny.

On a practical level, this is great advice. Don't let conflict fester. We’ve all seen what happens when we let anger simmer for days, weeks, or years. It grows. It becomes harder to fix. The "interest" on that emotional debt piles up. (Think about our pop can from the children’s message. If we let it continue to build and build and build, it will lead to us sinning in our anger.)

Have you ever noticed that when you are nursing a grudge, you are the one who suffers most? You lose sleep. You re-play the argument in your shower. You feel that tightness in your chest. The other person might be sleeping soundly, but you are trapped in this anger.

Jesus is inviting us to freedom. He is saying: Deal with it now. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Kill the root of bitterness before it grows into the fruit of murder—whether that is physical murder, or the assassination of someone's character.

Conclusion: A Heart Check

So, as we look at this first antithesis, Jesus has moved the goalposts.

The Law said: Don’t kill their body.

Jesus says: Don’t kill their spirit with your words. Don’t kill the relationship with your anger.

It is easy to sit here and say, "I'm a good person because I haven't committed a felony." It is much harder to look in the mirror and ask, "Is there contempt in my heart?"

Where is your heart today?Is there a "Raca"—an insult or a dismissive thought—that you constantly use against a coworker or family member? Is there a gift you are trying to offer God today while ignoring a broken relationship that you have the power to fix?

(As we go into our closing Song and into Communion, I want to challenge us with something. I want us to get real practical with what Jesus says here. He says if we are at the altar and remember someone has something against us, go and make it right and then come back. As we pray and sing this last song, I want you to ask God if there is someone that has something against you. If you have anger towards someone and you have not sought to make it right yet. If Spirit brings someone to mind, if you know you have been storing up anger towards someone and haven’t made any kind of move for reconciling with them, I am going to challenge you to not receive communion this morning. If you are at the altar and know someone has something against you, go and reconcile with them.)

The righteousness of the Kingdom isn't about perfectly following rules; it's about a heart that is soft enough to forgive, humble enough to apologize, and brave enough to seek reconciliation.

Let’s not just honor Him with our lips today while our hearts are far from Him. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit to do the hard work of surgery on our anger, so that we can look more like Jesus.

Prayer

Communion