Anger Series

I. Introduction

A. A woman was taking her time browsing through everything at a friend's yard sale, and said to her, "My husband is going to be very angry I stopped at a yard sale." "I'm sure he'll understand when you tell him about all the bargains you found," her friend replied. "Normally, yes," she said. "But he just broke his leg, and he's waiting for me to take him to the hospital to have it set."

B. This passage is a very important passage

1. Remember that Jesus is teaching His disciples

2. Lets turn to Matthew 5:21

Matthew 5:21 KJV)

"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.'

a. Jesus begins to explain the real meaning of God’s Law

(1) He uses the phrase, “You have heard that it was said to those of old” 5 time in the chapter to underline the error of the Pharisees’s rules and to point out the real meaning of God’s Law

(2) You have been taught that murder is wrong, murder has always been wrong

(a) This comes from the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:13

(b) The Old King James says

Exodus 20:13 (KJV)

Thou shalt not kill

(c) The New King James says

Exodus 20:13 (NKJV)

You shall not murder.

b. The Hebrew word means murder

3. Lets define murder

a. Murder is the deliberate taking of another human beings life

(1) It could be in a momentary fit of anger

(2) It could be in a cold calculated deliberate manner

(3) Or it could be for pay

(a) Such as hiring a hitman

(4) There are other ways of taking another’s life

(a) Say by accident with a car

(b) This is not termed murder

b. Jesus used the word that means murder, the deliberate taking of another’s life

(1) Keep this in mind as we continue

(a) Now we shall turn to Matthew 5:21 - 22

II. Body

A. Anger

Matthew 5:21-22 (NKJV)

(Matthew 5:21-22 NKJV) "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' {22} "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire.

1. The very first thing we need to know is just who our brother is

a. The first thought is a male sibling

(1) John Thomas Vary is my brother, he is the son of my mother and my father

(2) Marc Franklin Brown is my brother, he is the son of my mother, but not the son of my father, he is my half brother

b. The second thought is my Christian brother

(1) Larry is my brother

c. The third thought is some one who belongs to the same fraternity

(1) Dean is my brother because we both served in the US Army

(2) And we both served in a combat zone

(a) Lets turn to Matthew 18:21

d. Jesus in using the words “brother” and "whosoever" is saying that every human being is a brother under God's creation.

(1) Therefore, His words applies universally to every human being.

Matthew 18:21 (NKJV)

Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"

(a) Peter was not necessarily referring to Andrew

(b) He probably meant any Jew, any peer

2. Now lets define anger

a. Lets turn to Ephesians 4:26

b. Anger is a violent emotion

c. But as we see in Ephesians 4:26 anger is not sin

Ephesians 4:26 (NKJV)

"Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,

(1) Anger is an emotion

(2) A God given emotion

(3) It is not anger that is sin

(4) It is what we do with it, do about it

3. There is another word we need to understand, Raca

a. Raca can be interpreted to mean empty head

b. How is it that you have the stupid audacity to disagree with me, you Raca, you empty head

4. Jesus uses the words in danger of

a. There is still the concept of reconciliation to consider, we will consider reconciliation in a while

b. He uses this phrase four times

(1) In danger of judgment in verse 21

(2) In danger of the council, judgment, and hell fire in verse 22

(3) This comes from Patsy Clairmont in Under His Wings Hurling humor like hand grenades is a popular sport. We think it's acceptable to pull the pin on our anger as long as we toss it in a casing of humor. The problem is it's still explosive, and someone ends up hurt. How many times have you heard or said, "I was only kidding?" If we have to defend our humor regularly, chances are we're not as funny as we think. A good humor rule is, if it hurts someone it isn't funny. Just because people are laughing doesn't mean what we said was appropriate. Don't use humor as a hideout from tender, honest relationships. A healthy sense of humor is a precious gift intended to promote good news, good health and goodwill.