We've been in the Gospel of Matthew since last December.
!
Heavenly Father,
I want to ask that you will
elevate a few things this morning
in our minds and in our hearts.
I ask that you would elevate your Word and your law,
your great high standards,
so that all those who are self-righteous and legalistic
despair of their own righteousness this morning.
And I ask, Father,
that you would elevate your mercy and grace,
so that having seen how woefully inadequate we are
and how far we fall short of your glorious standard,
that we would revel in your great mercy and grace
that have bridged that chasm for us.
And, Father, as consequence of that,
I ask that you would elevate your name.
Your name and the name of your Son, Jesus Christ,
would be exalted high above all things,
that we would bow in worship in humility
because of who you are
and all that you have done for us.
Meet with us this morning.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
If you are able, please rise
for the reading of God's Word
so that we can honor God
as we read from His Word.
Matthew 5, verses 21 to 26.
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.
So 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.
Come to terms quickly with your accuser
while you are 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 will never get out
until you have paid the last penny.
This is God's holy and authoritative word.
Please be seated.
Scripture is full of warnings about sinful anger.
The Bible's wisdom literature says,
it associates a quick temper with folly.
Ecclesiastes 7, 9 says,
be not quick in your spirit to become angry,
for anger lodges in the heart of fools.
All of us at some point are going to feel angry
because things that make us angry happen.
There is real wrong in the world,
real injustice in the world
and we are going to at some point feel anger
if we live in this world.
However, a wise person does not let anger lodge there.
He doesn't let anger rest there in his heart.
So Proverbs 14, 29 says,
whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
It's not that anger is always sinful.
Some anger is actually righteous.
God himself is described as displaying
throughout scriptures righteous anger.
And if we, as God's people,
are indifferent and apathetic toward evil
and injustice,
then that's not a virtue.
That's a sin.
And that means we don't love the things that God loves
nor hate the things that God hates.
However, even in our righteous anger,
we ought to be slow to anger
because that's what God is like.
The Lord, the Lord,
the gracious and compassionate God,
slow to anger,
abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Why do we need to be slow to anger?
James 1, 19 to 20,
be quick to hear,
slow to speak,
slow to anger.
For the anger of man does not produce
the righteousness of God.
We have to be slow to anger
because we are especially sinful people.
And as sinful people,
it's very hard not to sin
when we are angry.
Often we misperceive wrongs.
So we get angry
even though we shouldn't be angry.
We get angry
not because someone has wronged us
but because of our own pride
and selfishness
and self-righteousness.
And sometimes even when
we are rightly angry,
we misdirect our anger
at people,
at things that don't deserve it.
Or we mismeasure our anger
so that it's disproportionate
to the offense
that has been caused to us.
We can sin in so many ways
when it comes to anger.
That's why we ought to be slow to anger.
There are many warnings
in scripture about anger
but the scariest one of them all
I think is Ephesians 4,
verse 26 and 27.
Be angry and do not sin.
Do not let the sun go down on your anger
and give no opportunity to the devil.
If we let the sun go down on our anger,
if we prolong our anger,
it says that we are giving
an opportunity to the devil.
The Greek word translated opportunity here
is a word that literally means place.
A place, like a spatial word,
place for the devil.
Many pastors and theologians
have warned against this
throughout church history.
In the first 17th century,
Puritan pastor Thomas Manton wrote this,
nothing makes room for Satan
more than wrath,
giving space,
room to the devil.
Charles Spurgeon wrote,
I have no more right as a Christian
to allow a bad temper to dwell in me
than I have to allow the devil himself
to dwell there.
John Calvin explains Ephesians 4, 27 this way,
I have no doubt that Paul was warning us
to beware lest Satan should take possession
of our minds
like an enemy-occupied fortress
and do whatever he pleases.
Sinful anger gives the devil
a foothold in our lives.
It gives the devil a beachhead
from which to launch his assaults
in our spiritual warfare.
It gives the devil real estate
in our minds and in our hearts
so that he can,
through that sinful anger,
destroy relationships,
divide communities,
devastate homes,
and dead in our souls
to joy and gratitude,
compassion,
and mercy,
which is what anger does to our hearts.
In fact,
Jesus in this passage
connects anger to murder
and to the hell of fire.
It's no wonder that Jesus teaches us
in this passage
to forsake anger
and seek reconciliation
as God in Christ did for us.
That's really the main point
of this passage.
We're going to first talk about
the heart of obedience,
and second,
we'll talk about the priority
of reconciliation,
and lastly,
we'll talk about the certainty
of judgment.
Jesus says in verse 21 and 22,
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.
The phrase,
you have heard that it was said
to those of old,
is an allusion to the scriptures,
to the word of God,
to the law of God.
That passive form,
it was said,
is a formula that is used
specifically in the New Testament
to refer to the scriptures.
So he's not referring here
to the words of men,
he's referring to the word of God.
And every single one
of these phrases,
you have heard that it was said
to the people of old
in Matthew 5,
introduces an identifiable
piece of scripture.
Shockingly then,
Jesus is here
pitting his own teaching
against the Old Testament scriptures.
Well, not exactly.
If you're here for Ed's sermon,
you know better than that.
Hopefully that was a red flag
that went up right
when I said that to you.
Because Jesus is not actually
challenging or contradicting
the scriptures,
but challenging
the Jewish misinterpretation
of the scriptures
during his day.
I've heard another pastor
who's funnier than me
refer to this as the RSP.
Not the RSV,
the revised standard version,
but the RSP,
the revised standard perversion.
That's what he is trying to correct.
If you scan the rest of chapter 5,
you'll find the same formula
over and over again.
You have heard that it was said,
but I say to you,
you'll find it a total of six times.
This formula is commonly called
the antitheses
of the Sermon on the Mount.
Antitheses or the contrast
that Jesus uses
to contrast his teaching
from the teaching
of his contemporary Jews
about the Old Testament.
So the following six pages,
six passages rather,
then serve as illustrations
and examples of what we saw
in the preceding passage.
What Jesus said
in the preceding passage,
I have not come to abolish the law,
but to fulfill them.
For I tell you,
unless your righteousness
exceeds that of the Pharisees
and the scribes,
you will never enter
the kingdom of heaven.
So in these antitheses,
Jesus is showing us,
here's what the righteousness
of the scribes
and the Pharisees look like,
and here's how your righteousness
must exceed that of the Pharisees
and the scribes.
But before we dive
into the details of that,
we need to note
that these antitheses
simply imply,
what they imply
about Jesus' identity
and authority.
In our country,
we have some lawyers here
and law students here,
there are Supreme Court cases
that are considered
so definitive
and foundational
for our society and law
that no one
seriously questions them
or seeks to ever overturn them.
Those cases are called
super precedents.
The most commonly cited example
of a super precedent
is Marbury v. Madison
and Brown v. Board of Education.
These cases have been established
by many decades
of judicial support
and thousands of cases,
subsequent court cases,
have cited them
and have relied on them
as authority.
So no one,
virtually no one challenges them.
It's accepted as fact.
Now compare this to this,
compare that
to the fact that
by the time of Jesus,
the Old Testament law
has been around
not for mere decades
or even centuries,
but for over a millennia.
1,500 years.
For 1,500 years,
Jewish rabbis
and Sadducees
and Pharisees
and scribes
and lawyers
and teachers
have taught
the Mosaic law
and they regarded it
not merely
as the laws
of men,
but as the law
of God.
Imagine that.
What do you call that?
Super, super, super precedent.
Imagine that context
and then hear
what Jesus says.
You have heard
that it was said
to the people
of old,
but I say
to you.
It's a shocking statement.
Who does Jesus think
he is?
How does Jesus think
that he has the authority
to overturn
nearly two millennia
of legal precedents
and interpretive tradition
around the law
of God itself?
We find a clue
in verse 26
when Jesus says,
I say to you,
again,
but this time
he adds a little word,
truly,
I say to you.
Jesus said this
in the preceding passage
also in verse 18,
truly,
I say to you,
until heaven and earth
pass away,
not an iota,
not a dot
will pass from the law
until all is accomplished.
And Jesus will say
that exact phrase
again and again
throughout the gospel
of Matthew,
truly,
I say to you,
truly,
I say to you.
It seems like
a common phrase,
but more literally,
the word truly
is amen.
Amen,
I say to you.
It's a Hebrew word.
The word amen
is often used
in the Old Testament
as a solemn
declaration of faith
that God will indeed
do what he has
promised to do.
And because of
the meaning
of the word amen,
it was also
frequently used
in the Old Testament
to confirm
the validity
of an oath
that you were taking
before God.
You can see that
in Numbers 5.22
and Deuteronomy 27,
verse 15 to 26.
In light of that background,
no Jewish teacher
ever before Jesus
used the word amen
to introduce
his own teachings.
when Jesus applies
this word amen
to his own teaching
and pronouncements,
it's the equivalent
of the Old Testament
expression
that God says,
as I live,
declares the Lord.
To emphasize
the certainty
of his pronouncement,
God sometimes invokes
his own authority
when he says,
as I live,
as surely as I live,
this word is true.
And when Jesus says,
amen,
I say to you,
he's invoking
divine authority,
his own authority.
20th century theologian
Heinrich Schlier
is correct
when he affirms
that this one little word
contains in a nutshell
the whole of Christology.
when Jesus says,
amen,
I say to you,
he's claiming
divine authority
for himself
and that's why
Jesus is called
the amen,
the faithful and true witness
in Revelation 3.14.
And that's why he says
that the promises of God
find their yes
in Jesus
and that it is
through him
that we utter
our amen
to God
in 2 Corinthians 1.20.
This is why
Jesus can overturn
millennia of legal precedents
and interpretive traditions
around the Old Testament law
and authoritatively
pronounced to all
of his followers,
you have heard
that it was said,
but I say to you.
The particular command
that Jesus is commenting
on here
is the sixth
of the ten commandments.
You shall not murder.
You find that
in Exodus 20
and Deuteronomy 5.
And the following clause
and whoever murders
will be liable
to judgment
is taken from
Numbers 35
verse 30-31.
The problem
with the Jewish
understanding
of this command
wasn't that they
thought that murder
was okay,
but that they thought
this command
dealt only
with murder.
Their understanding
of the command
was incomplete.
So Jesus elevates
and expands
upon their understanding
of the sixth commandment
in verse 22.
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.
With these words,
Jesus definitely
exposes the legalism,
the shortcomings
of pharisaical legalism.
Legalism is concerned
with the letter
of the law
and not with the spirit
or the heart
of the law.
it seeks
to circumscribe
and limit
God's law
in order
to make it
achievable.
It's like
when the Tariff Act
of 1883
imposed taxes
on imported vegetables
and then there
was a family,
the Nix family
who imported tomatoes
refused to pay taxes
on tomatoes
because they insisted
tomatoes are fruits
and not vegetables.
even though
the government
intended for tomatoes
to be taxed.
So of course
it goes to court
and it goes all the way
to the Supreme Court
and then the Supreme Court
rules that for the purposes
of tariffs,
yes,
tomatoes are vegetables.
It's closing a loophole.
Or it's like the kid
whose mother told him,
don't you think
about touching
that birthday cake
until after dinner.
and then the kid
proceeds
to eat the entirety
of the cake
without ever
using his hands.
I told you not
to touch the cake.
I didn't touch the cake.
It got the letter
of the law.
He didn't touch
the cake technically
with his hands
but it totally
missed the spirit
of the law.
Why did his mom
tell him not
to touch the cake?
Because if you eat it
before dinner
it's going to spoil
your appetite
for dinner
and because
if you eat it
before dinner
then you can't
celebrate your birthday
with your family
who's waiting.
Oh,
but I didn't touch it.
I'm a good kid.
That's legalistic thinking.
Isn't this the problem
with so much
of Christian obedience?
Why do so many of us
seek where the lines
and the boundaries are?
Tell me where the line is
and then I won't cross it.
I might get very close
but I will not cross it.
How far is too far
when God's word says
to not be drunk
with wine?
Am I not a drunkard
as long as I don't black out?
What?
That's what some people say.
Surely being tipsy
is okay, right?
Why do we focus
only on the negative obedience
not sinning
not crossing a line
rather than on
positive obedience?
Why do we focus
only on specific prohibitions
and not on the general principles
that are behind them?
Doesn't God's word
forbid drunkenness
and debauchery
because God wants us
to be sober-minded
and self-controlled?
Because God wants us
not to be controlled
by spirits,
drinks,
alcohol,
but rather to be controlled
by the Holy Spirit?
Why then do we not strive
to be maximally obedient,
maximally self-controlled,
and maximally sober-minded?
How much should I give
as an offering to God?
Do we have to do
like the full tithe,
like 10%?
Is like 7% okay?
Where's the line?
Can I give
not out of the gross income,
but out of the net income
after I pay taxes
and take deductions?
Is that okay?
Does God really care
about those extra dollars?
Or does God care
about our hearts?
Isn't the point
to recognize
that God is the provider?
He's the one
from whom all
of the good gifts
that we enjoy in life
come,
and we gratefully
give to Him
as thanksgiving?
Don't we give
to Him
because we trust
that He's going
to keep providing
for us
and because
we are declaring
our allegiance
to Him,
paying our tribute
to Him,
saying,
you are our King,
we do not serve money.
Isn't the goal
to be maximally generous
toward God
and toward the needy
among us?
Let me ask you a question.
When you drive
on the highway,
do you try
to stay
in the middle
of the lane
or do you say
to yourself,
you know,
I'm going to see
how close
I can get
to the line
and how close
I can get
to the line
before I hit
the car next to me?
Who drives like that?
Nobody.
Why do we think
like that
when it comes
to obedience
to God?
You cross
that line
and you hit
the car,
that's death.
And God's word
teaches us
that the wages
of sin
is death.
Who flirts
with death?
If we believe
that God's commands
are restrictive
and stifling,
that God
is withholding
good things
from us
and then
we're going
to be legalistic.
Then we're going
to have a minimal
standard mindset.
But if we believe
that God's commands
are meant
for our thriving
and for our flourishing
and that God
is seeking
to preserve
good for us
by these commands,
then we're going
to strive
for maximal obedience.
what Jesus
is getting
at is this.
Do you think
that all
that God
is after
in the sixth
commandment
is a physical
murder?
Because I mean
that's a pretty
low bar,
isn't that?
Isn't that
what everybody
says?
Like most people
in the world
think of themselves
as pretty good
moral people.
And you ask them,
why do you think
you're a pretty
good moral person?
Usually the go-to
answer is like,
well, I mean,
I haven't murdered
anyone.
Yeah,
I still have
many billions
of people.
But what about
murder of the heart?
What if a person
never commits
physical murder
but murders
someone over
and over again
in his or her
heart through
sinful anger?
What if that
sinful anger
poisons and
destroys
relationships?
Is that
murder?
Oh, yes.
writes D.
Martin Lloyd-Jones
in his book
Studies in the
Sermon on the Mount.
There are ways
in which man
can be destroyed
short of murder.
We can destroy
a man's reputation.
We can shake
somebody else's
confidence in him
by whispering
criticism
or by deliberate
fault finding.
That is the kind
of thing which
our Lord is here
indicating and
his whole purpose
to his show
is to show
that all that
is included
in this commandment
thou shall not kill.
You see,
the laws of our
country deal
primarily with
actions and
not with thoughts,
right?
Thoughts alone
do not constitute
a crime.
It's when you
start to take
concrete steps
toward acting
on your plans,
when you start
to conspire
with others,
deliberate,
when you attempt
crimes that you
can be prosecuted.
and that is
rightly the case
because human
beings are
incapable of
discerning and
judging what's in
people's hearts
and minds.
But when it
comes to God,
that's a different
story.
I, the Lord,
search the heart
and test the mind
to give every man
according to his
ways, according to
the fruit of his
deeds, Jeremiah 17,
10.
That's why King
David charges his
son Solomon in
1 Chronicles 28,
9, serve God
with a whole heart
and with a
willing mind,
for the Lord
searches all hearts
and understands
every plan and
thought.
God, unlike man,
can and does
judge our
thoughts.
and that's why
it matters to
God what's going
on in our
hearts.
That's why not
murdering someone
is not enough.
We also must not
harbor sinful
anger toward
others in our
hearts.
Jesus continues
in verse 22,
whoever insults
his brother will
be liable to the
council and
whoever says,
you fool,
will be liable to
the hell of fire.
not only is
murder punishable,
Jesus says
insults are also
punishable.
Again, Jesus is
getting to the
heart, drilling
down to the
heart.
How many times
have you
had to repent
of this,
thinking about it,
how many times
have you called
someone a
fool?
you idiot?
Maybe you
haven't called
people names,
but you have
thought in your
heart, you have
regarded someone as,
oh, that person is
stupid,
dumb.
God takes these
things seriously
because the
attitude of the
heart ultimately
dictates the
actions of our
hands.
God searches our
hearts and our
minds when a
group of people
start dehumanizing
another group of
people and they
start calling them
savages.
and beasts.
Does that not
pave the way for
and provide the
rationale for
racial, lifelong,
hereditary, chattel
slavery?
Didn't the mass
murder of the
Holocaust begin
with insults?
With propaganda?
Didn't Nazis
there many first
demonize Jews and
blame them for
their economic
struggles and
their defeat in
World War I?
Didn't they
include books like
The Poisonous
Mushroom in
their children's
curriculum in
schools to teach
children to tell
poisonous mushrooms
apart from edible
mushrooms and then
they taught them
that you need to
distinguish Jews
from Gentiles
because the Jews
are the poisonous
mushrooms.
Didn't they
produce films like
The Eternal Jew
which compared the
Jews to rats who
were a disease to
society?
The Holocaust did
not start with
murder.
It began with
murder of the
heart.
It began with
insults,
contempt.
You see that
connection over and
over again throughout
history.
Whoever says you
fool will be
liable to the
hell of fire.
if you know your
Bible, you might
object at this
point.
Wait a minute.
In Matthew
chapter 23, when
Jesus is pronouncing
his woes against
the Pharisees and
the scribes,
doesn't Jesus say,
you fools?
So he does.
it's the exact same
word.
Matthew 23, 17.
But let me tell you
why Jesus can do
that and you
can't.
I can't either.
First it says in
James 4, 11-12,
do not speak evil
against one another,
brothers.
The one who speaks
against the brother
or judges his brother
speaks evil against
the law and judges
the law.
But if you judge
the law, you are
not a doer of the
law but a judge.
There's only one
lawgiver and judge,
he who is able to
save and to destroy.
But who are you to
judge?
Your neighbor.
We are not to
insult or speak evil
against our
neighbors or against
our brothers because
when we do, we are
pronouncing judgment
on them.
It is inappropriate
for us to do that
because we are not
the judge.
We are not the
lawgivers.
Rather, we ought to
be law keepers and
law doers.
Only the judge can
pronounce final
judgment and
verdict because only
he sees all things,
only he knows all
things, and only he
has the authority to
save and to destroy.
Jesus is the son of
God.
He is the law
giver.
He is the word of
God.
In John 5, 22,
he says,
the father judges
no one but has
given all judgment
to the son.
If God hasn't
told you that to
you, that means we
don't get to do
that.
There's a second
reason.
At the end of that
same chapter in
Matthew 23, where
Jesus pronounces his
judgment of the
Pharisees and the
scribes, he, at the
end of that same
chapter, he laments
and mourns their
unbelief.
And he says this,
O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, the city
that kills the
prophets and stones
those who are sent
to it, how often
would I have
gathered your
children together
as a hen gathers
her brood under
her wings, and you
were not willing.
See how tender and
compassionate Jesus
is, even with the
Pharisees and the
scribes who reject
him and will crucify
him in the coming
chapters.
His heart longs to
gather them as a
mother hen gathers
her cheeks.
Her chicks, sorry.
There is no glee, no
vindictiveness in
Jesus when he
pronounces judgment.
But can we say that
about ourselves?
When we call someone a
fool, when we whisper
criticisms about them
to others, is there
pride, is there
hatred, is there
contempt?
That's the difference.
whoever says you fool
will be liable to the
hell of fire.
Hell of fire.
Isn't that a, doesn't
seem a little extreme
to you?
The severest punishment
that a human court can
pronounce is the death
penalty.
But God who searches
the heart and the mind
can sentence people to
eternal death, to
eternal condemnations.
Hell, which Revelation
calls the second death.
Jesus says in Matthew
10, 28, do not fear
those who kill the body
but cannot kill the soul.
Rather fear him who can
destroy both soul and
body in hell.
Here was another problem
with the legalism of the
Pharisees.
They were more concerned
about the perception and
judgment of other humans,
of the human court, than
with the judgment of the
divine court.
As Jesus says in Matthew
23, they did all their
deeds to be seen by
others.
For they loved the place
of honor at feasts and
the best seats in the
synagogues and greetings
in the marketplaces and
being called rabbi by
others.
So likewise, there are
people in the world who
are very concerned about
not committing crimes that
are punishable by law but
have very little concern
about sins that are
technically not illegal.
people.
Because they care more about
what the human court says
than what the divine court
says.
So likewise, there are
people who confess and
repent of sin, but only
when they are caught doing
it and never voluntarily.
Why?
Because they care more about
human perception, human
judgment, than about God's
judgment because God sees
it all.
Do we care more about the
glory we get from men or the
glory that comes from God?
In this passage, Jesus is
getting to the heart of
obedience.
Having addressed the heart,
Jesus turns to some specific
applications and implications
of his teaching in verses
23 to 24.
So 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.
When we have sinful anger
within our own hearts, we
must deal with it right away
is what Jesus is saying.
Mark 11, 25 says,
whenever you stand praying,
forgive.
If you have something against
anyone, forgive them so that
your father also who is in
heaven may forgive you your
trespasses.
But the flip side is also
true and that's what Matthew
5, 23, 24 is addressing.
What if someone else has
something against you?
Is that not your responsibility?
Oh, that's their
responsibility.
No, Jesus says that's your
responsibility too.
Because God has redeemed us
to be peacemakers.
Blessed are the peacemakers
for they shall be called
sons of God.
Notice that this text
specifically mentions your
brother.
This is a reference to
Christian brothers and
sisters.
That's what we see clearly
later on in Matthew 12,
46 to 50 when Jesus gathers
his group of disciples and
while his mother and brothers
are waiting outside, he
turns to his disciples and
says, you are my brothers
and sisters who obey the
commandments of God.
But does this mean that we
only need to seek peace and
reconciliation with fellow
Christians?
No.
Once again, we're trying to
circumscribe and limit the
commandments of God.
Jesus addresses this later on
in verses 43, 44.
You have heard that it was
said, you shall love your
neighbor, my fellow
compatriots, my fellow
Jews, my fellow Christians.
You shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your
enemies and pray for those who
persecute you.
We are to obey this command
with regard to both believers
and unbelievers.
There is, however, an emphasis on
seeking reconciliation among
fellow Christians in this
passage.
That's why we see the word
brother four times in verses
22 to 24.
I think the principle of
Galatians 6, 10 holds here,
which says, so then, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to
everyone and especially to those
who are of the household of
faith.
We do good to everyone.
We seek peace and reconciliation
with everyone, but especially
within the household of God.
If we are to seek peace and
reconcile with even unbelievers,
even our enemies, not that all
unbelievers are enemies, they're
not, how much more than should we
love our brothers and sisters in
Christ?
If you are to seek and peace, seek
peace and reconciliation with even
non-Christians, how much more
should we seek peace and reconciliation
with the members of the body of
Christ, the same local church?
It says in Ephesians 4, 2 to 6, that
we are to relate to one another with
all humility and gentleness, with
patience, bearing with one another in
love, eager to maintain the unity of
the spirit in the bond of peace.
Why should we do that?
It continues.
There is one body and one spirit,
just as you were called to the one
hope that belongs to your call.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all who is
over all and through all and in all.
Just as God the Father, Son, and
Spirit are one, three in one, we are
many, yet we are one in Jesus Christ.
If one member of the body suffers, we
all suffer together.
If one member is honored, then we all
rejoice together.
When Jesus shed his own blood to
reconcile us to himself and to God
and to one another, how can we
persist in harboring anger, resentment,
and contempt toward one another?
Reconciliation is such an important
priority that Jesus says, if you are
offering your gift at the altar, and
then there remember that your brother
has something against you, you should
leave your gift there before the
altar and then go.
First, be reconciled to your brother
and then come and offer you a gift.
Note the priority first.
And note the urgency of verse 25.
Come to terms quickly.
This urgency is highlighted when we
recognize that Jesus is preaching here
in Galilee.
We know that from chapter four.
There was only one place in the world
where you could come, if you're a
faithful Jew, to offer an offering, a
gift to God.
But it's at the temple, which is in
Jerusalem, which is 80 to 90 miles
away from Galilee.
Let's say you come to worship with
the body of Christ on Sunday morning,
and as you're singing in praise, you
remember, oh, this brother that lives
80, 90 miles away has something against
me.
Imagine leaving, driving 80, 90 miles,
reconciling, coming back, and trying
to worship again.
And remember, they didn't have cars.
That's a five to seven day journey on foot.
Think about how inconvenient that is.
That's how you obey Ephesians 4, 26.
Do not let the sun go down on your
anger, because that's how important the
unity of the body of Christ is to him.
God says to his people, his unfaithful
people in Isaiah 1, 11, what to me is
the multitude of your sacrifices?
I have had enough of burnt offerings of
rams and the fat of well-fed beasts.
I do not delight in your blood of bulls or
of lambs or of goats.
Why does he say this?
He continues in verses 15 and 17,
your hands are full of blood.
Wash yourselves.
Make yourselves clean.
Remove the evil of your deeds from your
eyes, from before my eyes.
Cease to do evil.
Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Correct oppression.
Bring justice to the fatherless.
Plead the widow's cause.
Again, in Isaiah 58, God says that he
will not accept the prayers and the
fasting of his people.
So this is especially appropriate as
we go into a time of prayer and fasting
as a church this month.
Why does God say that he will not accept
their prayer and fasting?
He says, behold, in the day of your
fast, you seek your own pleasure and
oppress all your workers.
Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to
fight and to hit with the wicked fist.
In other words, to obey is better than
sacrifice.
Harboring sinful anger against one
another in the body of Christ hinders
our worship of God.
A disturbed fellowship between brother
and sister in Christ disturbs our
fellowship with God himself.
That's why we always have the time of
passing of the peace in the middle of
our service.
Go make that right.
Then come and offer your gift.
That's how precious the people of God
is to him.
But what if you try to reconcile, but
it hasn't worked?
What if you confessed all the sins you
could possibly think of and you've
you've owned everything you can
possibly own and maybe even taken
responsibility for things maybe you
weren't really responsible for?
Which you shouldn't do, by the way.
But the other party is still holding a
grudge against you.
There's no forgiveness.
There's no reciprocation of seeking
reconciliation.
That sadly happens in this world because
we still live in a sinful and broken
world.
Then you remember the admonition of
Romans 12.
Bless those who persecute you.
Bless and do not curse them.
Live in harmony with one another.
Repay no one evil for evil.
If possible, so far as it depends on you,
live peaceably with all.
That's the key.
So far as it depends on you,
live peaceably with all.
Beloved, never avenge yourselves,
but leave it to the wrath of God,
for it is written, vengeance is mine,
I will repay, says the Lord.
That's what it looks like to be a
peacemaker in a sinful,
unbelieving world.
We live peaceably with all so long as
it depends on us.
And then we trust God with the rest.
We trust God for justice.
Then in the last two verses,
25 and 26,
Jesus asks one more factor that
contributes to the urgency and the
priority of reconciliation.
The certainty of judgment.
He says,
Come to terms quickly with your
accuser while you are 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 will never get out until you
have paid the last penny.
This is true at a literal level,
of course.
If we have wronged someone and
someone is suing us,
taking us to court,
then it is to our advantage to
settle out of court because once
you're taken to court,
you will be condemned and then you
will be jailed and then you will
be in there until you pay the last
penny.
Assuming this is a debt that has
been defaulted on,
then you'll have to pay it back in
order to be released from prison.
Once again,
the same main point.
Forsake pride
and seek reconciliation.
Don't let relationships that have
gone sour continue to putrefy.
Be salt.
Stop the decay.
But the logical progression in this
passage from the judgment of human
counsel to the judgment of God and
the hell of fire in verse 22
suggests that verse 25 also points
beyond human judgment,
human court to the ultimate judgment
of God.
Jesus' emphasis in verse 26 confirms
this.
Truly I say to you,
amen I say to you,
you will never get out until you have
paid the last penny.
There have been plenty of human courts
where evildoers have gotten off easy
without paying the last penny.
But that never happens in the court of God.
The divine judge of all the earth
sees all offenses,
overlooks no fact,
and takes no bribes.
He is perfectly just,
and when the verdict is announced,
there is no higher court to which you can appeal.
Jesus uses the human court as an analogy,
as an illustration of the divine court,
again in Matthew 18,
in the parable of the unforgiving servant.
In that parable,
Jesus tells us that we are a servant
that has been forgiven an insurmountable debt,
a dollar equivalent of 7.2 billion dollars,
by our master who is God.
And then,
and therefore we should not begrudge
forgiving the relatively insignificant
and small debt that other people owe us,
the way other people have sinned against us
and wronged us.
Of those who show no mercy to others
and those who do not forgive others their sins,
Jesus says this in Matthew 18,
in anger his master delivered him to the jailers
until he should pay all his debt.
So also my heavenly father will do to every one of you
if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.
It's the same comparison.
So I think it's pointing beyond the human court
to the divine court.
Usually, if not always,
wherever there is human conflict
and broken relationship,
there is some guilt on both sides,
although that guilt is certainly not always even.
However, that was not the case,
decidedly not the case
in our broken relationship with God.
We did all the wrong.
He did everything right.
He gave us everything we have.
He was our creator, our benefactor,
our father,
our king.
And yet,
even though he gave us everything we had,
and even though he had never wronged us,
we sinned and rebelled against him,
we doubted his goodness,
and we impugned his character,
and we besmirched his name,
and we sought to usurp his throne
by worshiping idols
and setting ourselves up
as lords and gods
and kings of our own lives.
If anyone was responsible
for that broken relationship,
it was 100% you and me.
And yet, who took the initiative?
God the Father takes initiative,
and he sends his only son.
He says in 1 John 4, 9-10,
in this, the love of God
was made manifest among us,
that God sent his only son
into the world
so that we might live through him.
In this is love,
not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us
and sent his son
to be the propitiation
for our sins.
What does it mean
that Jesus is the propitiation
for our sins?
To propitiate is to appease
or to satisfy someone's wrath,
to conciliate.
As it says in Isaiah 53,
upon Jesus was the chastisement,
the punishment
that brought us peace.
With his wounds, we are healed.
It was the will of the Lord
to crush his only son,
to put him to grieve.
Jesus was punished,
and Jesus absorbed
the Father's wrath
in our place
so that we,
the just and proper object
of God's wrath,
can become
the just and proper object
of his mercy.
God so loved us
that he sent his only son
to be the propitiation
for our sins.
It's the love of God
that paves the way
for the wrath of God
to be propitiated.
They're not contradictory.
They exist together.
And therein lies
the power
for us
to forgive,
seek reconciliation,
to humble ourselves.
How many times
have I lost my temper,
been angry at someone,
and judged someone in my heart,
and condemned them in my heart,
and had contempt for people
in my heart,
when I am no better
than they are?
Yet how many times
has God,
who has every right,
to condemn me,
denounce me,
reject me,
there's no name
that he could call me
that would be unjustified.
And all I have noticed
is mercy,
grace.
That's what
changes us,
transforms us,
enables us
to be peacemakers
like this.
Let's pray.
Amen.
O Father,
we thank you that
even when we were dead
in our trespasses and sins,
even while we were still
your enemies,
that in love
you gave your only son
to satisfy
your own wrath,
your own just
and righteous wrath.
O God,
help us
to never lose sight
of what great mercy
we have received,
what great wrath
that we have been spared
from
so that mercy
exudes
from our hearts
so that sinful anger
cannot
make lodging
in our hearts
but quickly departs
so that we can be
gentle,
patient,
forbearing,
forgiving
with one another.
in Jesus' name
we pray.
Amen.