A New Path--Week 2 (Anger)

Good morning, everybody! How are you doing today? Make some noise if your high school football team won this week!

Intro

It is important to know where messages come from, right? If you got a random text that said, “I love you,” but the number was unknown, how would you take that message? Or how about a message that says, “Really, bro?” Without context, we don’t understand the full meaning behind the message.

So WHO is speaking is often just as important as WHAT is being said.

Review

Review

Jesus had left Nazareth to go to Galilee to launch His ministry,

and His home base, so to speak, was in this town called Capernaum.

This was where He called His first disciples and essentially began His ministry.

He gathered His disciples on the side of a hill. He was about to address His disciples publicly for the first time.

Think of it like when we get a new president, and they have that first speech, the Inaugural Address.

Or when you are selected to be a team captain, and you address your team for the first time.

They were intrigued about what He was going to say,

and in a few minutes of time,

Jesus doesn’t just give them rules on how to live;

He radically transforms their perception on how to live

from the inside out.

Last week, we talked about the Beatitudes and what it meant to be salt and light.

Many of the people gathered to hear Jesus were Jewish, so they had studied the Scriptures.

As Jesus was giving this message,

He started by recognizing their human condition,

found in the Beatitudes,

and then showed them how to be a light in society.

Many of the people gathered viewed Moses and Elijah as heroes of the faith, believing that God had sent them.

The next part of Jesus’ message is important,

because it recognizes the people who came before Jesus to point people to God,

which we will see as we jump into this.

The law points to sin.

Matthew 5:17–20 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

(NIV)

Have you ever heard someone say, “It doesn’t matter if it was in the Old Testament”? Jesus does exactly the opposite. Now, as we talked about last week, Jesus keeps telling the people, “You have heard it said … but I say …” This is to counter any teaching that went against the true understanding of the Scripture or what God’s intention was.

Romans 3:20 ESV

For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Here is the reality: none of us can live up to the standard of God, so all of life is spent trying to figure out how to have a relationship with God. And some of us work and work and work, thinking that we are under a law or a set of religious rules, obligations, or instructions. Hear this Scripture:

(NIV)

Through the law, we become conscious of our sin. So Jesus, in verse 17, is saying, “I have come to be the fulfillment of the consciousness of your sin, to pay the price for you. Not to abolish the concept of sin, but rather to fulfill the payment for it.”

That is why not even the smallest letter or stroke of a pen will disappear from the law until all things are accomplished. If you set aside the law, essentially, you’re saying that this thing or that thing is not a sin, even though God has said it’s a sin.

Romans 5:6–8 ESV

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Back to … what the law does is point out very clearly that we are lawbreakers. However, we are no longer under the power of the law, but here is the paradox: the law is truth. Now, if the law is truth, and we are lawbreakers, then there has to be compensation or retribution to pay for breaking the law, for sinning.

(NIV)

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

So, unless you can live a perfect, sinless life, or your righteousness can surpass that of the Pharisees,

you need grace!

We ALL need grace because you are not perfect and never will be.

race frees us from needing to be perfect.

Grace frees us from needing to be perfect.

Now, after this is established, we get our first, “You have heard it said,” statement.

Let me ask you a question: is there a sin you can commit that does not involve someone else?

We will keep coming back to that question in this series.

Sin is often the result of anger.

(Throwing Schwabe into holly bushes)

When was the last time you had a fight where you yelled out something in anger? Go ahead and talk about it in your groups.

OK, any stories you’d like to share with the whole room?

Naturally, Jesus has some things to say about this.

Matthew 5:21–26 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.

Matthew 5:21–25 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.

Matthew 5:21–24 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.

Matthew 5:21–22 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.

“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.”

First, the reason we have the ability to forgive is because we have been forgiven.

Forgiveness is from God.

It was His idea from the beginning.

The greatest gift we can receive, first and foremost, is forgiveness from God,

the greatest gift we can receive from others is forgiveness,

The greatest gift we can receive, first and foremost, is forgiveness from God, the greatest gift we can receive from others is forgiveness, and the greatest gift we can offer to others is forgiveness. But how do we do that, not just in the little things, but in the big things of life?

and the greatest gift we can offer to others is forgiveness.

But how do we do that, not just in the little things, but in the big things of life?

The best thing to do with the best things in life are to give them away.

Like we talked about earlier, we know that we have ALL fallen—not a few of us, not some of us, but ALL of us have failed to live up to God’s standard.

And the law made us conscious of that,

so first, Jesus took care of that by offering forgiveness through His death on a cross.

Jesus died for us so that our sins and mistakes and failures would not disqualify us.

This is the message of grace, the message of hope: you get another chance, as many as you need.

This does NOT mean we have permission to sin, but it means freedom to live without the eternal consequences of sin. And for all who are in Christ, this is the promise and the gift.

So we have forgiveness from God, or if you have not received it yet, forgiveness is available to you. But what about forgiveness with each other?

Sin is often the result of a lack of forgiveness.

Anger and bitterness lock us in a prison that only forgiveness holds the keys to. See if you can relate to any of these words:

Anger

Loss

Desire

Regret

Frustration

Pain

Rebellion

Escape

Desperation

Confusion

A research study of music, conducted by the University of California, found that these were 10 of the main themes in music over the last 50 years. One in four songs written has some sort of regret or apology message contained within the lyrics.

(NIV)

Matthew 5:25b–26 ESV

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.

… 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.

You will never get out of that prison until you have paid the last penny.

Not seeking forgiveness is a crime;

it is a path that will lock you in a prison cell of anger and bitterness and will cost you so much—in fact, it already has.

Anger can ruin our future if we don’t take care of it.

Anger has already destroyed big chunks of our past.

Forgiveness is not easy, it is just better.

And the ironic thing is, God has already forgiven us for our lack of forgiveness for others.

Forgiveness is not a denial of our feelings of anger, hurt, or pain.

Jesus is not telling us to stop feeling like that.

Don’t you hate it when people tell you to stop feeling like that?

It’s not helpful at all; don’t tell me how to feel.

Some things are supposed to hurt.

If it wasn’t important, it wouldn’t hurt.

If it wasn’t wrong, it wouldn’t hurt. That is how we know it is wrong.

It is not a sin to get angry or be angry about something that is wrong.

However, it is easy to sin when we are angry.

So if forgiveness is not a denial of our feelings, then what is it?

Jesus defines it this way.

I have to be honest … I get a bit nervous saying this, because it is counter-cultural, it’s counter-intuitive, and it goes against pop psychology, and pop theology, but it is Biblical.

These two truths define forgiveness, according to the Bible:

Forgiveness is a decision that we make in spite of our feelings.

Forgiveness is a decision we make BEFORE our feelings change, if they ever do.

Forgiveness is not based on your feelings.

Feelings are a result of something that happened first.

Your heart and your emotions might never come around to a place where you can forgive.

So we have to make a choice, a conscious choice.

Forgiveness has little to nothing to do with the person being forgiven,

or with the person you need to forgive is worthy of forgiveness.

Whether the person or people who hurt you deserve to be forgiven or not is irrelevant.

Forgiveness is not about them.

A Christian author named Anne Lamott says it this way, “Lack of forgiveness is like eating rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.”

Forgiveness has nothing to do with the rat in your life. Forgiveness is a conscious decision, often daily, to be free from the way someone blew up your life in the past.

Forgiving is not easy, it is just better!

Forgive and Forget

I did a word study this week from the original languages that the Bible was written in—Hebrew, Greek, Aramai, and Latin—on the word “forget,” and the English understanding is different than the ancient context.

“Forget” doesn’t mean you don’t remember anymore.

You might always remember that night, that comment, that blow, that ruling, that courtroom, that hospital, that person, that hurt.

“Forget” means, “I am just not going to drag it around.

I am laying it down, and I am not going to pick it up anymore.”

That is the biblical definition of forgetting.

It means “setting it down.”

If all this is true, it’s time to take a step to demolish the stronghold, to put the rock down.

Today, we are going to get to the heart of the matter. But our will gets weak, and our thoughts often scatter. But it’s all about forgiveness.

There are people in our lives who might have come and gone, and they let us down and hurt our pride. But if we hold onto it and don’t set it down, that anger that we carry around will hold us in prison.

You all have a rock. Some of you need to set it down, so as we listen to this song, get out your sharpie and write down the initials, name, or situation that you need to set down on this altar. Who do you need to forgive?

Who needs forgiveness from you?

God has already forgiven us for our lack of forgiveness for others.

Forgiveness is a decision that we make in spite of our feelings

It is not easy; it’s just better.