We are going to pick things up this morning in verse 21 of Matthew 5. If you can have that open, that would be great.
! I asked Paul to read the whole chapter, though, so that we could be reminded that we're landing into a sermon.
This is a sermon that Jesus has preached, and we're jumping in, as it were, and we'll do the same with the next section this evening.
Do come back for that if you can, but it gives us context and it helps us to remember that we're not just having this
sort of separate sermon on a topic. Well, I think you'll agree, life is noisy.
There's traffic all around us. We put earphones in a lot of the time. There's background music in shops,
in lifts, wherever you go there's always noise, and many of us have busy homes that are noisy.
And we're surrounded by distractions wherever we turn. Advertising boards, I noticed in the warm-up games for the Rugby World Cup.
It may have been happening before, but I only noticed it yesterday that not only do they now have advertising hoardings around the edge,
but they move while the game is going on. And there's distractions even if you're trying to play an international rugby match.
Television, lots of us, we walk into the living room and the first thing we do is put the TV on,
regardless of what is on. It's on in the background. It's there. It's distracting all the time.
We've got, of course, then, our phones.
It seems like we can't put them down. Do you ever think, I say this maybe particularly, well, this is true for all of us,
but teenagers, why is it when we're sitting with our family or we're travelling on a bus or we have any down time at all,
we lift our phone. We check, we check, we check all the time.
I'll tell you why, because they're designed to make us do that.
The little hit that you get when you hear the ping in your head, that little hit of dopamine,
that's addictive, and that's why you do it.
We're distracted. Life is distracting.
So, being present is difficult.
So many of us, so much of the time, are trying to do many different things at once.
We're on our phone. We're talking to people.
Who among us isn't when we're on a phone, put it on speaker, respond to emails?
You know you do it.
And so on and so on.
If being present is difficult, taking time to have a good, hard look at ourselves is almost impossible.
Do you, I wonder, ever take time to examine why you think and act the way you do?
Why you want the stuff that you want?
Where those desires come from?
Why those activities, those actions are a pattern in your life?
Do you stop to consider what kind of person you actually really are?
I'm not talking about the self-obsession that our culture wants us to have.
I'm talking about what the 16th century French novelist, Michel de Montaigne,
cut short a successful career in order to devote himself to.
That is, he felt that his struggle for internal depth and personal mastery,
that is, becoming a substantial person and being in control of his appetites and desires,
he gave up his lucrative career in order to devote himself to that,
put everything else aside in order to give himself to that pursuit.
He said this,
Everyone can play his part in the farce.
The farce was what he described life as.
Everyone can play his part in the farce and act an honest role on the stage.
But to be disciplined within, in one's own breast,
where all is permissible and all is concealed.
Isn't that an interesting way to put it?
In our hearts, it's as if everything is possible, but it's hidden.
We can put on a front on the outside.
We can play our part in the farce.
And what we really think in there, well, we can think whatever we like, but it's hidden.
He said that's the point.
Montaigne knew that the inner self was the true self.
That is, the real you on the inside.
Not the person that you put on a front to show outside, the outside world,
but the inner self is the true self.
And so it was that person that he wanted to discipline and to change.
And to do that, he had to face up to things that were uncomfortable to admit.
He said this,
If others examine themselves attentively, as I do,
they would find themselves, as I do, so full of inanity and nonsense.
Boys and girls, inanity is just daftness.
Daftness and nonsense.
When we think about the inner life, we think daft things, don't we?
We feel nonsensical things.
That's true for all of us.
Boys and girls, that's true for you.
It's true for grownups.
Inanity and nonsense.
Well, as we come back to the Sermon on the Mount this morning,
Jesus is forcing us to look inside,
to consider our inner person.
And in doing this, he is making us face up to things that are going to make us uncomfortable.
We heard him say last time, very plainly, that the life of blessing,
the life of flourishing that he has come to bring in his kingdom,
doesn't rest on him abolishing the law and the prophets.
He has not come to abolish the Old Testament, but to fulfill it.
And in these examples from the Torah and from the life of Israel,
you have heard it said.
He's talking about what they've been told in the context of the life of Israel.
He explains what this actually means,
what it means to live out the law in the context of the Christian life.
He's not contradicting the law.
It's not a case that the law said this, but I tell you this.
You heard it said this in the law, but I tell you something different.
No.
It's like he's reaching back into the law
and drawing out the deepest significance of what is there.
Well, it's also challenging how the religious leaders of the day had misrepresented it.
You have heard it said by this group of religious leaders.
They missed the point.
I'm going to take you to the heart of the issue, but I tell you.
And this searches our hearts.
Indeed, God's law has always functioned in that way.
The point of the Ten Commandments was never just do these things outwardly.
Don't worry about your heart.
Quite the opposite.
We could say when he talks about the law and the prophets,
that phrase that encapsulates the whole Old Testament,
we could say that the law was always about the heart,
but also when the prophets came and proclaimed to the people of God,
calling them back to obedience,
the obedience that he was calling them back to,
that they were calling them back to, the people back to,
was a heart obedience.
Not a merely external religious performative thing,
but a wholehearted devotion to the Lord.
God has always cared about the inner person.
It is the truest expression of who you are.
And as Jesus takes this up in this next section of the sermon,
the first thing that he addresses as we shift uncomfortably in our seats,
we don't like having to go and focus on these things,
is anger.
Verse 21.
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.
Strong words.
Here's our first point.
Anger is a capital crime.
Everyone would have agreed that God's law clearly prohibits murder,
and that there was a penalty for doing it.
But Jesus explains that it isn't enough simply to not physically murder someone,
but the anger that expresses itself in insults and vindictive name-calling,
verse 22,
are part and parcel of that same spiritual sickness.
There is more than one way to murder someone.
Now, clearly, Jesus doesn't mean that there's absolutely no difference
between insulting someone and stabbing them.
Obviously, there's a big difference.
Not all sins are equally serious in one sense.
He simply means that angry insults share the same DNA as murder,
because both activities are rooted in the same hatred of other people.
And we need to talk about anger.
Whether it's social media,
ranting,
or road rage,
or people going on the rampage with guns,
or just the general,
under the surface,
bubbling away that we have in our culture.
There is a lot of anger upon.
Now, sometimes it can be amusing
when you see Basil Fawlty losing it
and whacking his car with the branch of a tree.
That clip on YouTube hasn't been watched millions of times
because it isn't funny.
It is.
It's very funny.
Some comedians,
their whole shtick is angry ranting.
The Welsh comedian Rod Gilbert,
he's hilarious.
And it's all,
the way he does his thing is he starts a story
and he gets more and more angry as he goes through.
And at the end,
there's saliva flying out of his mouth as he rants.
And it is very funny.
But it's important that we don't think that that's okay
when it's placed into the context of everyday life.
What are we prone to do with anger?
Well, lots of cases we play it down.
So there's an outburst of some kind,
maybe at home.
Perhaps we've yelled or we've thrown something
or we've had a fight with somebody
and that's got all of the,
it's kind of blown it out of our system.
And we look around at the people that are cowering,
whether it's our siblings or our spouse,
and we say,
what's wrong with you?
Wasn't that bad?
Very sensitive.
We play it down.
Wasn't that bad?
Well, we try and justify it.
We're good at that.
Often we feel sheepish
because of something we've said or done.
We realize that in that explosion,
we did the wrong thing.
And we say,
listen, I only reacted like that
because you dot, dot, dot.
We justify it.
We also just deny it outright, don't we?
Someone says something cheeky or smart,
and you're just not in the mood,
and you just think,
I am.
Or your expectation goes unmet.
That's where it normally happens.
You're tired.
You want some peace.
And someone cuts across that expectation
of peace and relaxation,
and you don't show it outwardly.
You don't do this with your mouth, maybe?
But inwardly,
you're simmering with resentment.
Are you cross?
No.
Everything's fine.
I'm all right.
Everything's okay.
We just deny it.
Sometimes it comes out of nowhere.
The Romans,
the ancient Romans,
had a saying that described anger
as a brief madness.
Doesn't it feel like that sometimes?
We think to ourselves,
I don't know what came over me.
When the red mist has gone
and we've settled down,
we think to ourselves,
where did that come from?
I came into the room
in a perfectly good mood.
Where did that come from?
It was a brief madness.
The truth is,
we probably know people,
we might be those people ourselves
for whom this madness
actually isn't that brief.
Their lives always seem
to find the way to conflict.
So, whether we're laughing at it,
playing it down,
justifying it,
or suppressing it,
the truth is that we know
that anger is a problem.
Because we know,
when we're honest with ourselves,
as David Powlison says,
quote,
in real life,
anger is the reaction
that incinerates marriages
and disintegrates families.
It energizes gossip
and guns down classmates.
It divides churches.
It turns friendship to enmity
and erupts in rude rage.
It is the stuff of every form
of grievance and bitterness.
And then on top of all that,
Jesus tells us,
verse 22,
that unchecked,
it will incur the same judgment
as murder.
Anger is way more serious
than most of us assume.
So, we must allow Jesus
to get under our skin here
and to confront us
on this matter.
Now, I'm sure
that part of this,
part of the problem,
is living in an angry city.
Car horns,
angry hand-waving,
and signals,
shouting,
yelling,
those things are going on
around us in a city
like London all the time.
The busyness
and the intensity
of a place like London
draws impatience
out of people.
It draws anger
to the surface.
And what that means
is that for us,
we're existing
in this context
all the time,
and it means then
that it's more normal.
We just think
that's how things are.
And when you think
that's just how things are,
you become immune to them.
You go,
ah, that's just how it is.
It also means,
it's not just that it's normal
and we tolerate it,
but it also means
that there are plenty
of worse examples
for us to compare ourselves to.
So we say,
well, I might have exploded there.
I might have just blown up
about that situation,
but at least I'm not like that.
I haven't ventured
into knife crime yet.
So,
we're in a particularly
difficult context
to address this issue.
We need to work hard
to look within.
We need to call
what we see in there
what it is.
So our first instinct
is always to try
and explain it away,
to do those things,
to play it down,
to deny it,
to blame shift,
whatever it might be.
But Jesus says here,
nothing about fault.
Did you notice that?
He is interested in the heart.
So let's admit our anger
when we see it
and let's root it out
in repentance.
And because of what we've said
about it being normal
and because we've other examples
that we can pass away
and kind of justify
our anger with,
and because we are
so easily self-deceived,
it's true, isn't it,
that we can see
other people's sins
much more clearly
than we can see our own.
We need each other.
We need each other
in the context of the church
to help us.
Even suppressed anger
is obvious to those
who know us well.
So we need to welcome
the clear sight of others
to remind us
how perilous it is
to harbor bitterness,
to cultivate animosity,
to let resentment
grow towards others,
even those who have wronged us.
Because the stakes are too high
to just ignore it.
Everyone,
Jesus says,
who is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment.
Now,
in the interest of health and safety,
a word on process.
I am not suggesting
that you try and confront
the person
when the red mist has fallen.
It doesn't matter
how right or well-meaning you are.
When that person
is all steamed up
in the moment,
it's best probably
to get out of the way
rather than to open
Matthew 5
and point at this passage.
But do choose
a suitable time
and do have a word.
They need you to.
We need you to.
Because
unchecked anger
is a capital crime.
Jesus doesn't just leave it there.
In the verses that follow,
he moves from the negative
to the positive.
The two are bound together.
They're linked.
If we aren't
to engage
in physical
or verbal murder,
we are
to be committed
to reconciliation.
That's our second point.
If murder
is a capital crime,
point number two,
reconciliation
is a Christian characteristic.
Reconciliation
is a Christian characteristic.
The examples
that Jesus uses here
illustrate the point
in two ways.
We are to pursue
reconciliation,
first of all,
actively.
So,
verse 23,
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.
Jesus pictures
the man or woman
in church.
They're about to take
their seat for worship
or they're about,
as the church has
understood this for centuries,
they're about to come
to the Lord's table,
that most profound
expression
and picture
of our unity.
but they know
that they have not
been enjoying fellowship
with their brother
or sister.
There's animosity
or awkwardness
between them
and Jesus says
that they should stop
and they should seek
out that brother
and be reconciled
before returning
to worship God
with a clear conscience
and an undivided heart.
Now, notice there
that Jesus expects
the person
who knows
that there is
a relational problem
to take the initiative.
The statement,
your brother
has something against you,
again,
it doesn't apportion fault.
It doesn't say anything
about who's right
or who's wrong.
That person could have
something against you
because you actually
wronged them
or it could be
that they have taken
offense inappropriately.
The reason for enmity
isn't actually the point.
It doesn't say,
it doesn't even say,
look,
you're the more mature
Christian in this situation,
it's down to you
to sort it out.
It doesn't say that.
It's just very straightforward.
If there is an issue
between you
and someone else
in the church,
don't wait.
Take the initiative.
You go and pursue reconciliation.
Jesus is highlighting
the point
that in the context
of the church,
we never relate to Him
as mere individuals.
We do relate to Him
individually
in our walk with Him,
but we don't relate
merely in that way.
We always come to God
as those who are
related to others.
When we are called to Christ,
when we are brought to Christ,
as it were,
from all over the world
in all different contexts,
we are brought
to the one Christ,
well,
we are brought together
with other people as well.
When we are united to Christ,
we are united to others.
And so,
the way that we relate to God
is connected to how
we relate to others.
So,
if there is enmity
between us,
between you
and a brother
or a sister
in the church,
how can we come
into God's presence
with a pure heart?
We can't.
He knows
when we are being hypocritical.
He knows
when there is anger
in our hearts
towards those other people,
or vice versa.
Put simply,
being at odds
with another Christian
is detrimental
to your relationship
with God.
Not just your relationship
with them,
but with God.
Right relationships
with others
are part of the meaning
of the commandment
not to murder.
Paul mentioned that
earlier on.
They are a vital element,
a vital element
of our righteousness
exceeding that
of the scribes
and Pharisees,
the command in verse 20.
Unless your righteousness
exceeds that
of the scribes
and Pharisees,
you will never
enter the kingdom
of heaven.
That verse 20
is the kind of doorway
to what follows.
He's saying,
you have heard it said.
There was this kind of thing
that people adopted
externally.
I want your righteousness
to exceed that
of the scribes
and Pharisees,
so I want you
to do the inner work.
I want this to come
from the heart.
That is what religion,
righteousness,
that exceeds that
of the scribes
and Pharisees means.
It is that it comes
from the heart
and is genuine.
Well,
if the first illustration
is taken from the church community
and it's calling us
to pursue reconciliation actively,
the second calls us
to do it urgently.
Urgently.
Here,
Jesus takes us
out of the church context
and into the middle
of an argument
on the way
to the courthouse.
Verse 25,
come to terms quickly
with your accuser
while you're 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'll never get out
until you have paid
the last penny.
Jesus' point is
that the two men
should settle the matter now.
Don't wait to get to court.
Settle the matter now
before they stand
before the judge.
It might be costly
to settle now
and it will likely
be humbling.
There may be a climbing down
that's required
but you want to do
whatever you can
to avoid experiencing judgment.
Anger and enmity
are so serious
he's saying
do whatever you can
to sort it out
and to do it now
and do not delay.
One author says this,
animosity is a time bomb.
We do not know
when it will go off.
We must deal with it quickly
before the consequences
of our bitterness
get completely
out of control.
Now look,
we know the wisdom
of this from our own experience,
don't we?
Whether we've been
part of it ourselves
or we've seen it
up close with others,
the destruction
of relationships
that could have been preserved
if one or both
of those parties
had sought to reconcile quickly.
If the problem
had been addressed here,
it would have been small
and resolvable
as it is.
It's now over here
and it's just vast.
We've seen the cancer
of bitterness
consume people.
We've seen the joy
in people's lives
evaporate
because of simmering anger
and the effects
of that played out
through their families
and their friendship circles
if only the two parties
had sought to reconcile
when the grievance occurred.
Their lives,
their friendships,
they would not have suffered
the way that they did.
But we can also see
the wisdom of it
in Jesus' words
because of the contrast
that He draws.
Do you notice?
He's just shown us
how anger is a capital crime
and then He uses the word
so.
Do you see that?
Verse 23,
so if you are offering.
He's saying there,
therefore,
that is in light
of the fact
that anger
is a capital crime,
we just talked about that,
we must do all we can
to eliminate the outworking
of that anger
from our relationships.
Reconciliation should be sought
lest we fall into judgment.
It's a serious warning.
And yet,
much as I might want
to take heed,
whether to avoid judgment
or because I really desire
to do the right thing,
when you're in the midst of it,
it's far easier said than done,
is it not?
When your blood begins to rise,
you're rarely thinking,
huh,
reconciliation will be best here,
especially when the person
who is the cause
of your blood rising
is the person
with whom you need
to reconcile.
When your anger comes
from having been wronged,
legitimately wronged,
it gets even more complicated.
And then there are harder questions
to do with forgiveness
in specific difficult cases.
There are a whole lot
of potential situations
where there is more to say
than these verses say.
That is true.
But there are steps
that we can take
that will help us
to deal with our anger
towards someone,
help us to be reconcilers,
help us to be,
5 verse 9,
peacemakers.
Do you remember them?
Then,
blessed are the peacemakers
for they shall be called
sons of God.
The first step
to reconciliation then,
it must be
to acknowledge
the person's humanity.
That person
with whom your blood
is beginning to rise,
that person
that you are angry with,
whatever they have done,
that person
is a divine image bearer.
The connection
between anger and murder
that Jesus draws here
is often easiest to see
in the way
that we think about
and speak about
those that we're angry with.
We use words,
don't we,
that dehumanize them.
In really bad cases,
they're monsters
or they're dreadful people,
horrendous,
and yet their humanity
carries an inherent dignity.
A well-known quote
from C.S. Lewis
in The Weight of Glory,
there are no ordinary people.
You've never talked
to a mere mortal.
It is immortals
whom we joke with,
work with,
marry, snub,
and exploit.
When your anger
begins to rise,
never forget
that the person
that you want to destroy,
whether verbally
or physically,
is someone
who bears the image
of God
and their destruction
is not something
that you are at liberty
to pursue.
Of course,
alongside that,
we must turn again
to Christ.
In every case,
the one thing
that will ultimately
transform your angry heart
is to see afresh
the Lord Jesus
and in particular
to consider the cross.
When we look at the cross,
we see there
the Son of God
wronged more deeply
than you or I
will ever be.
He was misrepresented.
He was betrayed.
He was flogged.
And He was killed
unjustly
all the way down.
And yet,
and this is the profound reality
at the heart
of the Christian faith,
He endured all of this
for us.
He endured all of this
injustice,
all of this being wronged,
all of these things
for which anger
in His heart
would have been legitimate.
He did that
so that you could be forgiven
and reconciled
to your Father in heaven.
See,
whatever way
you've been wronged,
whatever that person
has done
to cause the anger
in your soul,
it doesn't get close
to the offense
that our sin
caused to God.
And yet,
in His great mercy,
He took the initiative
to actively pursue us.
While we were still sinners,
we weren't giving Him
so much
as a second thought.
He sent His Son.
He was active
in coming for us.
He sent His Son,
this Jesus,
not just to teach us
how to live,
but to die in our place
so that we could know
the gracious gift
of reconciliation
that His death brings
for all who put
their faith in Him.
And the truth of the matter
is it is as we meditate
on that reality,
as we spend time
bringing that reality
into our inner life,
as those truths
grip our hearts,
we are enabled
to show patience
and mercy
and grace
to others.
when there is enmity
between you
and someone else,
particularly in the church,
and you opt to actively
and urgently
pursue reconciliation
with them,
you are treating
those people
the way Jesus treated you.
That is why I'm saying
that reconciliation
is a Christian characteristic,
because it embodies
what you have been shown
in the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Christ.
And the truth is,
I'm thinking about this
and I'm thinking to myself,
it's all well and good
saying this,
but this is impossible.
Well, however impossible
you might think
reconciliation would be
in your situation,
think about what we confessed
earlier in our confession
of sin.
We said this,
our transgressions are many
and often seem
to overwhelm us,
but you have given us
your Son,
Jesus Christ,
who is much stronger.
That's true.
The power of the Holy Spirit
is at work in you.
The same power
that raised Christ
from the dead
can make it happen.
He can make you
someone who actively
and urgently
pursues reconciliation
and eradicates this anger
from your soul.
Why?
Because he who is in you
is greater than he
who is in the world.
I'm saying to you
that anger and enmity
are not inevitable.
And in the gospel
of Jesus Christ,
through the Holy Spirit
of Christ,
you have the resources
that you need
to put off anger
and to embrace
reconciliation.
This is the key.
This message,
this reality
is the key
to the healthy inner life
and to our righteousness
exceeds that of the
scribes and Pharisees.
Opening our hearts
to the finished work
of Christ
again and again
and again
so that by his Spirit
he might change us
and renew us
and give us
the strength
and the grace
that we need
to pursue reconciliation
and put off anger.
Amen.