Sermon for Sunday February 12, 2023: 'An inside religion… (Matthew 5: 17-26)'
(Please read, Psalm 119: 1-8; Deuteronomy 30: 15-20; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Matthew 5: 17-26)
The bible contains, literally, hundreds of references to murder and anger. I challenge you to watch any news broadcast and you will find these awful realities, sadly, front and centre in a world of suffering and evil.
Everyone knows what anger is, what it feels like to be angry. We may have heard it said that, as “good Christians”, we should never be angry. But that is not true; it is possible to be angry and not sin, as Paul plainly teaches… 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 (Ephesians 4:26-27).
No, anger is a God-given emotion, and one experienced by God. God’s wrath and His love are not incompatible. The sinless Jesus gave vent to his own (righteous) anger on several occasions when confronted by injustice. His anger was always justified and always under control (Matthew 21: 12-13). Some kinds of anger are not sin.
[Jesus said to the disciples:] 21“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’
Everyone knows what murder is, too. The taking (or ending)… to whichever degree of premeditation… of another person’s life; and it is the most heinous sin of all, the taking of that which God gave and is most precious to God. The view of the Pharisee was that if the human court rendered a verdict of ‘not guilty’ to the breaking of the sixth commandment then there was the end of the matter. I am righteous. I’m home free and heaven bound. You’ve never seen me angry! I have never committed murder.
This highly respected group of religious experts prided themselves in their rigorous keeping of God’s commandments. Sadly, the majority of the rules they kept were external ones and rules of their own making. The court of human opinion, however, is not the same as the council of God. There are many people who have “got away with murder” in human courts of law. Such people should not be complacent, because ultimately everything done and said, even in secret, will come to light… and an account will have to given.
22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment…
According to Jesus, every single person here is guilty of violating the commandment in question here! His concern is not the letter of the Law so much, as with the spirit of the Law. Here Jesus is talking about another sort of anger altogether… unrestrained, long-term anger (resentment) which is likely to have been entertained, and nurtured over time, sometimes over months, years or lifetimes, or even stoked down through the generations.
The word for anger in this verse is not the same as the temporary blow up which is gone almost as quickly as it came. It doesn’t describe the one-off road rage incident which, frankly, any one of us can be prey to! It is related to the word for “orgy” (emotions out of control). Unchecked and uncontrolled anger not only harms others but hurts the one who’s angry. Mark Twain once observed, “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
You’ve never committed murder, by the grace of God. But you know the internal process by which it can become a possibility. Now, Jesus is not saying that this is the same as murder or as bad as murder per se, but he is saying that it is out of the heart that such things can come (Matthew 7). If you insult someone or even harbour resentful thoughts about them you have sinned in the eyes of a holy God and you are liable for judgment. That’s the law. That’s hard, we say. We may say we love one another deeply but our hearts betray the truth about us.
The true faith is not some sort of “tick-box” religion or point-scoring affair whereby we can earn our way into God’s favour or kingdom. It is the religion of the inside… and that should make the good people and the I’m-so-much-better-than-him merchants very scared indeed!
20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Well, a cursory glance at any of this stuff is enough to make us throw up our hands in despair. One sin is enough to bar you from Heaven? Hating is enough to get you thrown into Hell?! Surely not LORD! So if you’ve assumed you’re going to Heaven because you’ve never killed someone, think again. The bar is set very high. The commandments cannot be kept perfectly. God’s standard for Heaven? That standard is Jesus.
So, what do we do now? Jesus explains with two illustrations. 23So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you…
There once was an older man who went out jogging. He was running around the school football field while the team was in practice. When the football players began running their sprints up and down the field, the man said, “I’ll just keep running until they stop.” So they ran. And he ran. And they kept on running. So he kept on running. Finally, in total exhaustion the man had to stop. When he stopped, an equally exhausted football player walked over to him and said, “Boy am I glad you finally stopped, Mister. Coach told us that we had to keep running wind sprints as long as the old guy was jogging!”
Don’t we sometimes find ourselves in similar sorts of situations when it comes to anger and conflict? We argue and disagree. Voices are raised. Then bitter silence sets in. Neither party wants to be the first to give in. Both say, “I’ll just keep on till they stop.” So the grudges grow deeper. And on we go, eventually finding ourselves emotionally and even physically exhausted by the ongoing animosity (Preachersword).
24… leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25Come 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. 26Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Suddenly, a man who is coming to worship remembers he has a fellow Jew (“brother”) who has something against him. At some point in the past, this worshipper offended his brother, yet has never repaired that relationship. In effect, he has broken the sixth commandment. He didn’t kill anyone, but this offence against his brother violated the spirit of that law…
We don’t need a rule book to understand what righteousness requires. Our own conscience convicts us of our sin. And so those who rely on a technicality, like not having killed someone, should know that will not please God. Your conscience testifies that you’ve sinned. If you are truly seeking to please God, you will acknowledge your sin and do what righteousness requires (S. Armstrong, VBVM).
You know what to do… you just don’t want to do it! “It’s not the parts of the bible I don’t understand that trouble me so much… it’s the parts I do!” (Mark Twain)
So, if we want our praises to be acceptable to God, we ought to act sooner, rather than. He prefers mercy to sacrifice (Hosea 6: 6). Jesus’ religion is an inside religion. Make good. Make up. Make friends. Make Amends. Make Restitution. Avoid court. Do what needs to be done. Don’t rationalize or procrastinate. You want mercy… then give it; you want forgiveness… then extend it; you want peace… then make it…
8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
MFR 12-02-23
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