Jesus' Warning Against Anger
Notes
Transcript
Intro/Refresher
Intro/Refresher
****Disclaimer****
The next couple of weeks may be rough for some people. You may or may not find that some things will be exposed to you and you may even become uncomfortable. However if you stick with this teaching and if you seek to apply what is taught you will experience tremendous spiritual growth.
Lifting weights for the first several weeks is not a joyous thing, but if you stick with it, you will reap benefits. If we stick with the word of God.....we will benefit from it.
****End of Disclaimer****
Last week we dealt with Jesus’ intentions concerning his preaching and teaching. We left off with Jesus saying that his intentions was not to abolish the law but to fulfill the law. There are two ways in which he came to fulfill the law:
He came to fulfill the messianic prophecies which foretold of his coming, his death, resurrection, ascension, and establishment of his kingdom rule.
He came to teach the true intent and purpose of the law of Moses.
I would like to start with the last scripture that we left off with:
For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Last week we ended with how Jesus levelled the playing field if you will, concerning sin:
Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
The Pharisees and Scribes were considered to be executers of religious law. Meaning that they enforced religious laws and sought to be outwardly religiously righteous. However, Jesus saw through all of the facade and knew what was truly in their heart and was obviously aware of their secret faults.
Scriptural instance:
2 examples-
Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”
Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
This is what Jesus was referring to in regards to the righteousness of the Pharisees. How does that relate to today’s time?
Jesus says unless your righteousness is better than the “righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!”
Now understand that when Jesus said these words....they were shocking to them at the time, because many of them were oblivious to the underworking Pharisees and Scribes. Basically their thought was “You mean my righteousness has to exceed or go beyond the righteousness of the religious elite....the righteousness of the preacher of righteousness?” Yep.
Teaching about Anger:
Teaching about Anger:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Point 1:
Point 1:
“Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement:”
“Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement:”
At verse 21, Jesus begins to expound upon the law of Moses. He begins to systematically break down the heavier parts of the 10 commandments and to teach about the true intent of the law. Herein Jesus begins to not address the problem itself but He addresses the root of the problem.
The first thing Jesus addresses is the law concerning murder. This is the 6th commandment in the 10 commandments:
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not kill....or to be precise, thou shalt not commit murder.
Murder was a serious crime. Jesus says whosoever commits murder will be in danger of the judgement. Will be in danger of the judgement in the KJV almost sounds a little passive. When we think of the word danger.....we think of the possibility of harm happening. This is not what the original languages suggest. To interpret this accurately, what Jesus is saying is two fold here:
You will be guilty before the court. Culturally, when the Jews committed murder and it was brought to the attention of the courts it resulted in capital punishment meaning they were put to death.
You will be guilty in judgement before God.
So as Jesus says these words you can imagine that the Scribes and Pharisees who may be in attendance is concurring with Jesus. The crowd in which Jesus is talking to also know the Mosaic Law as well. But then the next statement that Jesus makes is very interesting. I believe those heads which were previously shaking up and down are probably at a stand still because Jesus now says “But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgement.
Whoever is provoked to anger without a cause or significant reason.
However, when reading the original languages “without a cause” is not part of the original language, it was translated in the KJV to kind of explain the situation. The original languages says if you are angry with someone you are subject to judgement.
Now we have to figure out here what judgement is Jesus talking about.
Well, what usually happened within Jewish communities was a process that took place when someone was done wrong.
There was what is called a synagogue which was a center for worship, teaching, and learning. There were elders who were appointed as leaders of these centers who were responsible for worship and teaching, these same elders were also responsible for discipline.
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
So now we see here that in a sense Jesus is warning his disciples, it is two fold, keep a lid on your anger because it will cause you to be in precarious predicaments. Let’s stop there:
Is that statement true today? Can your anger cause you to be in precarious predicaments? Matter of fact, your anger can get so out of control that it could lead to someone getting hurt or possibly even killed.
Hurt.....there different ways an individual can be hurt: Physically & Psychologically. The same can be said of killing: you can kill someone literally/physically and you can kill someone mentally, you can destroy their name, you can destroy their dreams, you can destroy their family.
Getting back to the text:
Jesus introduces three levels of punishment which seems to go from bad to worst.
So wait a minute is Jesus saying that we are not to be angry at all. Well lets look at the word angry. In the english standpoint, angry is angry it is one word, but then there is another word that we tend to use which is upset.
Although in the New Testament we see the use of angry in multiple contexts, depending upon that context there is actually a different greek word used, although we see the word angry:
Let’s look at two scriptures:
If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Okay so in John 7:23 Jesus says “are ye angry at me”. The original language says are you “cholao” at me. Are you irritated at me or are you mad at me.
But then in Ephesians 4:26 it says “Be ye angry, and sin not”.
Now wait a minute preacher you are confusing me.....Jesus says we are not suppose to be angry but then Paul says we can be angry. Let’s look a little closer at the word “anger” according to Paul’s context.
Be “orgizo” it is a passive anger....meaning that you’ll experience agitation in the mind but when it is passive it doesn’t emit an active response.
What is the difference between the two? Well let’s consider the two context:
When Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath it made the Pharisees and Scribes angry to the point that they were ready to execute Jesus because they thought that Jesus committed some great sin. Jesus did not sin, Jesus uses an illustration to prove that what they were thinking was totally wrong:
For if the correct time for circumcising your son falls on the Sabbath, you go ahead and do it so as not to break the law of Moses. So why should you be angry with me for healing a man on the Sabbath? Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly.”
Paul says here:
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
or
And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,
Is Paul contradicting Jesus here? Absolutely not, if anything he is reinforcing what Jesus is saying.
Now I know that on the surface level Jesus seems to be indicating, don’t get angry because if you do you are going to judgement. Well we did clarify judgement, but then there are two types of judgement, man’s and God’s. For the sake of clarity Jesus is telling his disciples that if you allow your anger to get the best of you, most likely it will lead you to a path straight to the courthouse.
Point 2:
Point 2:
“Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council.”
“Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council.”
What does “Raca” mean? It mean worthless one, empty-headed one. So what is so wrong with that? It was a utter-vilification. It was during Jesus’ day an insult. So what can we gather here? Jesus is saying you should insult your brother or your sister. Oh so you mean Jesus is only referring to my brother or sister in the Lord....everyone else is fair game? No.....humanity believe it or not is your brother and sister. Why? Because we were all created in the image of God. So Jesus is saying: work on not insulting anyone (the basic understanding of what He is saying).
To call someone “Raca” was a slanderous accusation. Slander is false accusation and according to the law of Moses, God instructed Moses to tell the Israelites “Thou shalt not bear false-witness”. We are speaking from a law standpoint, because after all Jesus is teaching from the law at this point in scripture. Now, if someone bore false-witness against someone Deut 19:18-19 says that the harm in which the false accuser intended to do to the victim would be returned upon the false accuser. Usually this process played out into the court or the council in which the council would hear a matter and then make a judgement.
What spiritual law applies to this concept?
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Point 3:
Point 3:
“But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
“But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
You fool. The word Moros is translated Fool, Moros is where the word moron comes from. Those words were fighting words back then. Moros is a dull or stupid person, without learning, without wisdom, it could also mean a godless person a person who rejects the wisdom of God, a person who rejects the teaching of God or the things of God.
Some were fools; they rebelled
and suffered for their sins.
So what exactly is Jesus saying? If you implicate someone to be a fool, if you insult them, if you curse them....because at this time in history when you called someone a fool it was equivalent to cursing someone. Jesus says you are in danger of hell fire. This seems rough but it is what it is. Why because Jesus is getting to the root of murder, He is dealing with the underlying motions that can cause someone to commit murder or that could cause someone to commit acts of harm. Every sin has an underlying cause!
Let’s look at another scripture:
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.
Whoever hates, whoever detests, to love less, to postpone your love or esteem, to slight someone, to be indifferent to, to feel some kind of way against, to dislike them. First John says that they are a murder....remember I said at the beginning of the lesson there are more ways to hurt individuals than physically hurting or physically killing them.
Moses who is recording the words of God writes that if you harbor hate in your heart against your fellow countryman it’s okay to reprove or tell them how they wronged you, discuss it with them, get it off your chest, but if you keep hatred in your heart you will incur sin because of him.
Point 4:
Point 4:
“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”
“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”
Before you come to worship, before you come to offer God an offering there is a matter that you need to take care of before God can accept your offering. You can not please God if you have hatred in your heart, you cannot please God if you have something in your heart against your brother, you have to get it right. It doesn’t matter if they agree or not, it does not matter if they apologize or not, God, the LORD Jesus commands that you do what is right......and leave the rest up to Him.
Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
Before they even leave their city or their town, they had to settle things with the offender, if they offended someone and it was done deliberately, they had to get it right. If they were offended and was nursing hatred in their heart, before they could appear before God and offer a sacrifice, they had to have it right:
If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
Remember last year I taught a lesson on priests could tell if an offering presented to God was accepted from the individual that would bring sacrifice. The person would offer up a sacrifice unto God and if the priest saw the smoke ascend up to heaven it meant that God accepted the sacrifice and was pleased. But if the smoke did not ascend up it meant that God did not accept the sacrifice.
You can pray, but God won’t hear your prayers. You can sing, but God will block out the sound of the tune. You can dance, but God will put his hand over his eyes. The Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees looked good on the outside but inwardly were dying. The offered up sacrifice, they gave tithes and gave offering but God was not pleased with the outward appearances......God wants your heart to be right!
We are going to end hear, next week we will resume with the remainder of the scripture and then approach the next section.