Great Reversal: Anger

VISION: Paint

The loophole

There is something about the human condition that loves a good loophole.

Have you ever heard of the people who traveled all over the world for free on credit card points...

The Credit card companies are wise to this now so don’t go trying this. What people would do is get a travel credit card, they would go to a gold broker and buy gold, they would max out their credit cards then sell the gold and pay off their cards.

They would do this every day and amass millions of miles of credit card points…Once the credit card companies figured this out they closed the loophole

Here’s another one:

A few years back popular radio station held a contest…if you could guess the next song then you could win all kinds of concert tickets

There was a random woman that would call in and win all the time and they just couldn’t figure out how this woman with no connection to the station kept winning. When they finally stopped the contest they asked the woman what her secret was...

She said, its easy, on your website you show the current song and what’s coming up next...

She found a loophole...

We find loopholes automatically and really without thinking too much about it.

We look for how we can follow the rules but work around them just enough to get by...

Why? This is just what we do as humans…Its human nature...

So in leading in the church for nearly twenty years now, I have seen enough times where we get to a section on the sermon on the mount or another tough scripture and the tendency is to find a loophole and to not sit with the difficulty and the tension of the word of God

There is a quote that is attributed to an unknown Jewish Rabbi that says this

“The history of Christianity is the history of christians trying to evade living out the sermon on the mount and avoid its plain meaning”

So all of this to say...

The text that we are looking at today is tough

Try to avoid giving yourself a pass and saying…oh thats not me…Because this scripture today hits all of us

Because God wants to do work in your soul today…And if you look for a loophole and say…well thats not me, then you will utterly miss the plain meaning of what God is trying to do in you...

So before we get into the sermon on the mount…Flip with me over to Genesis 4...

Angry Brothers

Now most of you are thinking…Isn’t the sermon on the mount in the New Testament…Yes it is…But as it turns out this is a really impotrant text to understanding what Jesus is talking about in the sermon on the mount...

So maybe your not super familiar with the Bible…Let me set this story up for you...

God created humans and he took them and put them in this Garden…Called Eden…Eden means Delight...

In the Garden, Adam and Eve’s responsibility was to rule over all of creation and

God told Adam and Eve that they could eat from any tree, except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil...

Adam and eve were deceived to believe that God had a loophole and they ate from the tree

Because of this they were banished from the garden

And their kids would live out the same mistakes that their parents made...

Angry Brothers

Genesis 4:1-9

Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

There is so much here that we could spend an entire sermon just on this but there are a few things that I want you to get about this interaction...

1. These were brothers bringing an offering to God...

Verse 3 says: in the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil

Verse 4 says: Able brought fat portions from the firstborn of the flock

The conflict between these brothers happens surrounding making an offering to God...

Now Able’s was more of a sacrifice because giving up some of the firstborn of your flock was a risk

While Cain just brought some of the food he had grown…The text doesn't say that he brought the first fruit...

See Able brings the firstborn because God has first position in his life and Cain brought what was left over because that is where Cain puts God in his life

So its no wonder that God looked at Able’s offering with favor...

The Core emotion that God identifies in Cain is the emotion of Anger.

And he never tells him that his anger is wrong...

He says that you have to rule over it

So God gives Cain this choice...

It is the same choice that he gives to his parents

Choose Good....Don’t choose Evil

Do the right thing…Don’t eat off of the wrong tree Cain...

And God warns Cain that Sin is crouching at his door…You have to rule over it...

You must rule over your anger or it will rule over you

See in the Garden God told Adam and eve to rule over the animals right...

But what happened…An animal..a Snake…ended up ruling over Adam and Eve

Sin inverted the ruling relationship....

So now Cain is left to contemplate his anger…and God reminds him..

You have to rule over your anger…Because your anger is like an animal that is crouching over your door…Don’t forget …Your mom and dad were ruled by a snake…You don’t get ruled by the beast of sin too...

Instead Cain gives into his anger and Anger ends up ruling Cain...

This story was living in the minds of the people who Jesus was talking to...

This would have been among the CORE stories of faith in 1st century Israel...

So now Jesus has been teaching the sermon on the mount...

And now he gets to his first really difficult part

Jesus’ Plan to Master Anger

SO lets look at the Text Matthew 5:21-26

The New International Version (Chapter 5)

21 “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.’

22 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.

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.25 “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. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Now…Did you see how The scenario that Jesus gives here is more than don’t commit homicide?

The Scenario that Jesus talks is that Anger is the catalyst for all kinds of sin...

Even talking trash is so sinful that Jesus says..your in danger of the fires of Hell..

Jesus never explicitly mentions Cain and Able but everything that he says parallels the cain and able story...

It is clear that Jesus is saying…when your masters by anger…Your anger will rule you

You will not experience the rule and reign of God because you are already being ruled by anger...

If only Jesus just said…Don’t commit Homeside right? Then we could probably all walk away as happy campers . We can pretty much all live within the fence of that rule...

But the problem…and the even disturbing thing about this is that Jesus goes much further than just don’t murder…

Jesus has this three fold way of speaking in this section of the Sermon on the mount

He gives the Traditional Righteousness: Your have heard...Don’t Murder

He gives the original meaning: But I tell you

Then he gives a transforming initiative: Go and be reconciled

We probably all know the analogy of the iceberg right.

ICEBERG PICTURE

That what you see on the top is just a small portion of what is under the surface...

What Jesus will do in the sermon on the mount is he will point to what you can see out of the top of the iceberg and he will say things like...

You have heard what what was said long ago…Do not murder...

But then what Jesus actually does is he flips the iceberg over and exposes the pats than no one is even looking at..

To be even more precise, Jesus exposes the things that we give a pass to every day...

Let’s really narrow down what is under this iceberg:

Matthew 5:22

22 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.

What is Jesus saying?

Let’s notice something first: Whenever I hear anyone talk about this they say…see anger is just as bad as murder…but you have to be careful because that is not what Jesus said...

He said that Anger deserves punishment just as much as murder does...

He is saying that Anger is the root emotion of murder…It obviously isn’t the same thing…But it is just as deserving of punishment

So this is the point in the sermon where we start looking for loopholes to the text and evade living out the plain meaning of this sermon...

Jesus doesn't say that often…Hey…If you live this way you are in danger of the fires of hell

When you let your anger take charge in your life, that is hell for you

When you call people names and insult others and you laugh at others expense...

You are actually in danger of Hell..

It is so easy to just read past this sentence…But the reality is that you and I get angry all the time...

and when we allow our anger to rule over us, it is pure prison

So Jesus said that when we insult others Raca was an insult that meant: Empty Headed one

And the word fool is Moros…How often have you called someone a Moron?

The reality is that when you begin to think of just how often we have all fallen short on this, it is absolutely staggering

Do you see how Jesus is just riffing off the Cain and Able story...

And right now you might be thinking of some sort of loophole that makes you think…Well my hands are clean…But there are no loopholes here

Matthew 5:23-24

The New International Version Chapter 5

23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

So like I said…We look for loopholes and we avoid the plain meaning of the text...

There is a very obvious and plain meaning here that you can apply to your life every single day...

That is Anger is sin crouching at your door…It desires to rule you…And if you don’t rule it then you are liable to do gown a destructive road

When you get angry…what comes out in you?

Now you have to understand that Jesus’ sermon here isn’t his whole counsel of the Bible on anger

Ephesians 4:26-27

The New International Version Chapter 4

26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.

Paul recognized that people get angry…But its how you handle it...

Paul goes as far as saying…allowing anger to fester in your life gives the devil a foothold

Its almost as if everyone writing in the Bible looks at anger and looks back at Cain and Able...

And just imagines that when anger flairs up there is this little demon

Every time Anger flairs up…Its an opportunity for the devil to gain a foothold in your life...

And when you think about it…Jesus calls Satan the father of all lies…falsehood is his native tongue...

And this is precisely the problem with anger...

We begin to believe things that are just not true...

We begin to act and get angry and break relationships with others because of assumptions we make of other people...

EHS

The reason why we do ministries here like Emotionally Healthy Spirituality is because the church for years has not done a great job at looking at emotions

But God identified right in the beginning of the Bible that emotions can lead to sin and other huge issues...

But it is in that spark of our emotions where we have a split second decision to allow anger to pounce and rule over us vs we rule over it.

Our emotions are where we can allow sin to either blossom or die....

So what is Jesus’ plan to combat anger?

Seek reconciliation over correct ritual

If your here and you have someone who you are angry with, maybe you never thought about it…but for sure the idea will eventually come to you that…its good to be at church…Like I am angry at someone so I should go to church

And this is probably the only place in the Bible where Jesus says…NO don’t go to church…Go make it right…then come

But then come back

Because if you want forgiveness from God you have to be willing to model it with others

Following Jesus is never about correct ritual....Its always about seeking right relationships...

When you give in to anger…relationships go out the window

So Jesus uses the example of settling matters with a brother or sister…Then he talks about settling matters with an Adversary...

Matthew 5:25-26

25 “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. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

Why do we keep conflict alive?

If you are angry, if you have a dispute with someone, the wisdom of the God who created all of humanity is to settle it quickly

And we are going to look at this in the next few weeks, it doesn't mean you let people walk all over you…It simply means that you go make relationships right.

So what is keeping any of us from keeping the plain meaning of Jesus’ words?

Most of us come to church every week because we want a better relationship with God right?

But the message of Jesus today is that if you want a better relationship with God then you should leave and go make things right with others…right now

If you really want to work on your faith…Then figure out who you have a rough relationship with and go make it right

I told you at the beginning of this series that the sermon on the mount is what it looks like when God’s kingdom is extended through you

And when God extends his rule and reign through you, you become a reconciler, a forgiver, someone who desires to make relationships right everywhere you go.

Challenge

So typically I’d do a sermon and then say come to the alter...

Come to the alter and leave your anger here

And we are actually going to sing oh come to the alter next...

But what I want you to see is that Jesus fundamentally changes the location of the alter...

The alter is out there…God will meet you when you are making things right

God will meet you in your earnest attempts at being a peacemaker

God will meet with you at the alter of relational forgiveness

So maybe you’re here and you need to let some stuff go...

Then go to the alter

Then go make it right

Go ask for forgiveness

Go offer forgiveness

Go to the alter…Jesus is calling