The Red Letters #5

Anger-Lust

We have been diving in deep to Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7. A couple weeks ago, we looked at Jesus’ command that our righteousness must be greater than the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees. It was a mandate that in their minds would have been impossible to follow. In these verses we are going to consider this morning, He begins to clarify and describe how their righteousness could surpass these law abiding, obedient religious leaders. We are going to look at two areas this morning, how can our obedience surpass the letter of the law obedience that the Scribes and Pharisees had? It all comes down to allowing God to change us at the level of our desires.

Matthew 5:21–30 NRSV

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell 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 lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

In the Spring of 1894, the Baltimore Orioles came to Boston to play a routine baseball game against the hometown Boston Beaneaters. But what happened that day was anything but routine.

The Orioles’ John McGraw got into a fight with the Boston Third baseman. Within minutes all the players from both teams had joined in the brawl. The warfare quickly spread to the stands. Among the fans the conflict went from bad to worse. Someone set fire to the stands and the entire ballpark burned to the ground. Not only that, but the fire spread to 170 other Boston buildings as well.

It may seem simplistic to say it, but anger is destructive. It poisons relationships. It often brings violence.

Jesus, as usual, hit the nail squarely on the head. Obviously our text refers to some legal niceties from Jesus’ time with which we are not really familiar. His point however is clear.

Don’t let your anger fester and grow. Act quickly. Get rid of it. It will do you no good.

Author Kent Crockett tells about Sam and Jacqueline Pritchard, a British couple, who started receiving mysterious phone calls to their home in the middle of the night. The person on the other end never said anything. After a long pause, he would hang up.

The Pritchards changed their phone number to stop the harassing night calls. The stalker changed his tactic. He started sending them obscene and threatening anonymous letters in the mail. Then the problems escalated. The couple discovered their house had been dabbed with paint, and their tires on their cars were slashed. The Pritchards became prisoners in their own home and spent a small fortune on a security system. Here’s what was puzzling: they had no idea what they had done to deserve such cruel treatment.

After four months of unexplained terrorism, they finally met the perpetrator. Mr. Pritchard caught James McGhee, a 53 year-old man, while he was damaging their car. As they looked at each other, Pritchard asked McGhee, “Why are you doing this to us?”

McGhee responded, “Oh, no I’ve got the wrong man!”

McGhee thought he was terrorizing a different man named Pritchard, who had been spreading rumors about him. He found the Pritchards in the telephone directory and assumed the husband was the person responsible for slandering him. He got the wrong Pritchard. (2)

Anger has a tendency to do funny things to us. It blinds us to reality. It blinds us to consequences. It blinds us to the irrational harm that may come from our rage. For your own best interest, if you are angry with someone, let it go. Act quickly before you cause yourself and them, or some innocent bystander any harm.

The same is true when it comes to temptation. Act quickly.

Jesus often used hyperbole to make his point, and I believe that is what He is doing here. He doesn’t really expect us to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand. But the principle is the same. Do not let sin take root in your heart. The consequences can be tragic.

Andy Andrews in his book Mastering the Seven Decisions That Determine Personal Success tells a revealing story about a well-known, wealthy industrialist in the 1920’s. This man was said to have single-handedly controlled a vast portion of our country’s prosperity.

With his wealth, this wealthy industrialist purchased a zoo. It wasn’t a public zoo. He had no desire to benefit the public. No, it was his personal zoo, located on his estate, for the pleasure of this one man and his family. National dignitaries were occasionally invited to visit his zoo, but the rest of the population was shut out.

This man collected animals from all over the world, and it wasn’t long before his zoo was one of the most complete collections the zoological world had ever known. One day, the man heard about a rare and beautiful type of gazelle from Africa. No zoo in the world had yet captured this animal for their collection. So, naturally, he became obsessed with the idea of becoming the first to own one of the these amazing creatures.

He mounted an expedition to Africa where he contacted the natives to learn about this animal and its whereabouts. Over and over he was told, “You’ll never catch one. They’re too fast and too strong. You can shoot and kill them from a distance but you’ll never get close enough to take one alive.”

This made the challenge even more appealing to him, He told a reporter who was on the safari with him, “Don’t listen to them; I’ll get as many of them as I want! And it won’t be a problem.” And he did. Here is how he went about it.

When his men located a herd of these gazelles, he would pour sweet feed - a blend of oats and barley rolled in molasses on the ground in an open area in the middle of the night and then leave. The next night, he would scatter the feed again. For 2 weeks, he spread the feed, night after night.

The animals, of course, came in and ate this delicious concoction. On the first night of the third week, he scattered the feed and sank an eight-foot post into the ground twenty feet away. The next night, he scattered the feed and sank another post into the ground twenty feet in the opposite direction. Every night, he added a post. Then he started putting boards between the posts while scattering the feed.

Six weeks rolled by. He continued adding posts and boards until he had a corral built around the feed. Every night the gazelles would find the gaps between the posts and would come into the corral and feed They seemed to be impervious to the fac tthay they were gradually being closed in. Finally, he watched one night as the entire herd squeezed through the final gap. He moved in behind them and nailed the last board into place. the Animals were trapped inside the corral. He then proceeded to choose the animals he wanted to take back to his zoo. He let the others go.

When he was asked how he knew how to catch the, he said,: “I treat animals the same way I treat people: I give them what they want. I give them food and shelter. In exchange, they give me their beauty and their freedom.” (3)

This is the way temptation works. We are drawn in little by little until a fece is built around us. It may begin with a glance…a casual remark…a phone call…and eventually heartbreak. Do not let sin take root in your heart whether it be anger or lust or whatever it may be. Get rid of it. Act quickly. Let it go.

But how do you do that?

The best way to let go of negative, hurtful emotions or desires is to turn to God. Don’t try to handle it alone.

Leslie Dunkin once told about a dog he had when he was a boy. His father would occasionally test the dog’s obedience. He would place a tempting piece of meat on the floor and give the command, “No!” The dog was not to touch the meat. The dog, which must have had a strong urge to go for the meat, was placed in a most difficult situation to obey or disobey his master’s command.

Dunkin said, “The dog never looked at the meat. He seemed to feel that if he did, the temptation to disobey would be too great. So he looked steadily at my father’s face.” Dunkin then made this spiritual application:

“There is a lesson for us all. Always look up to the Master’s face.”

(4)

That may sound a little simplistic, but it is also true. The best thing you and I can do when we are tempted by anger or lust or any other desire is to keep our gaze fixed on Christ. If you have committed yourself to Christ, you know what is right and what is wrong. Don’t even allow yourself a glance in the direction of that which would pull you down. And pray with all your might that God will help you deal with your anger, deal with your lust, deal with your harsh tongue or whatever there is in your life that could hurt your reputation or cause you to hurt someone else.

And if you have already gotten yourself in a bad situation, remember that God is a God of healing, reconciliation, and second chances. There is still hope if you are wiling to yield to God’s control.

Years ago, Dr. Charles Sheldon sat on the side of a hill at Winona Lake with a thousand other men and listened to the life story of the speaker on the platform. Here is what that speaker had to say, “25 years ago, I was in a saloon in Chicago. I was not dead drunk, but I had been drinking all the evening and I was pretty well under the influence. The barkeeper came out from behind the bar and threw me out into the street. I got up and started for Lake Michigan to drown myself. I said as I went along, ‘I am of no use. I have spent my last cent for drink. I am separated from my wife. I have committed nearly every crime in the state of Illinois except murder. I haven’t a friend in the world, and I might as well end it.’

The speaker continued: “I passed an open door on Clark Street, and without knowing to this day why. I went up the steps and into a hall filled with men and women. It was the Pacific Garden Mission, and I went stumbling down the wide aisle clear down to the platform on which a tall man was talking. I fell down right in front of the platform and lay there in a drunken stupor. The man who was talking kept right on, speaking over my fallen body. When he was through and the people in the hall had gone out, he came down, lifted me up, took me into a room, put me into a clean bed, and I slept off my drunkenness and woke up the next morning sober. I had a bath and a good breakfast, and I haven’t the time to tell the whole story, but in that Pacific Garden Mission under the ministration of Col. Clark and his devoted wife I was soundly converted by the Lord Jesus Christ, was baptized, and became a new man.”

The man up on the platform paused a moment, then he said: “Tonight I plan to take the evening train to Chicago, and tomorrow night I shall be speaking on that same platform in front of which I lay drunk that night 25 years ago, and preach the same gospel to fallen men and women that Col. Clark preached to my salvation. I am reconciled to my wife and we are living happily together. I have a good job, money in my pocket, and more friends than I can count. And I am one of the happiest men in the world, because by the power of Jesus Christ I have been born again.”

The man up there on that platform was named Harry Monroe and when he died 10 years later it took all day for the men and women he had helped bring to Christ pass by his casket. He was one of the most useful men that Chicago ever knew, says Charles Sheldon. Yet if any of us had seen him that night he was drunk in that saloon we might have aid, “Let him drown himself. He is of no use to anyone.” But the Divine power laid hold on Harry Monroe and created him anew. (5)

You see, when sin has us in its grip, the worst thing we can do is to depend on our own willpower, our own ingenuity, our own strength to avoid it. We need the power of God to come into our lives and make us new people. The important thing is to act quickly before you cause yourself and anyone else any hurt or harm. Too much is at stake. Ask God’s help today.

Cadillac News in Wendy Northcutt, The Darwin Awards 4 (New York: Penguin Group Inc., 2006), pp. 159 & 161

I Once Was Blind, But Now I Squint (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2004), p. 71.

Richard De Haan, http://peceptaustin.org/hebrews_12_sermon_illustrations.htm

Diogenes Allen, Between Two Worlds (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1971), p. 25