I'm So Angry! Series

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION

A NEW BRIDE

[excerpt taken from Chapel Chats II by Dennis Lynn, Cascade College, pg. 23.]

A man once recalls the story, now part of the family folklore, beginning when, as a new bride, his Aunt Edna put a shoe box on a shelf in her closet and asked her husband to never touch it. For fifty years Uncle Jack left the box alone, until Aunt Edna was old and dying. One day as he was putting their affairs in order, he found the box again and thought it might contain something important.

Opening it, he found inside 2 doilies and $82,500 in cash. He took the box to his wife and asked about the contents. Aunt Edna explained, “My mother gave me the box the day we were married. She told me to make a doily to help ease my frustrations every time I got mad at you.”

Uncle Jack was touched that in 50 years she had only been angry with him twice. “What is the $82,500 for?” he asked. Aunt Edna replied, “Oh, that’s the money I made selling doilies.”

We all get angry from time to time. I don’t know anyone who never gets angry. It is a part of the human condition and why anger is addressed so often in Scripture. Anger is an emotion we all experience. It is unavoidable. When we were children and didn’t get our way, we may have thrown a temper tantrum. When we drive on the highway and someone is in the left lane, not passing traffic, and going slow, we might get angry. Maybe it’s something justifiable. Someone was mean to you or ignorant about life and said something about you. Maybe you are a victim of a crime. Maybe even worse, someone abuses you or has taken advantage of you. Someone has been unjust, bigoted, and prejudiced against you for your skin color or your religious convictions. These are all reasons why we would get angry.

Today’s passage reminds me of a recent Dennis the Menace comic strip I saw:

“Mr. Wilson lost his temper, but we helped him find it…REAL QUICK!”

In our passage from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we are going to hear what he has to say about anger and what to do and what not to do when you are angry. Let’s read our passage this morning.

MATTHEW 5:21-26

21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 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. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 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. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Last week, we moved from beatitudes to this teaching that Jesus had come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. We spent some time talking about what that means for Jesus to be the fulfillment of the Law. Today, Jesus begins to speak in a compare and contrast about that Law and how he fulfills it in every way and how he is trying to get the people to understand what the Law’s intent was.

This set of passages in the Sermon on the Mount are called the Six Antithesis. Here Jesus contrasts the interpretation of the Law by the scribes and the Pharisees with his own interpretation—the interpretation God wishes the people had known and seen.

So commandments like “You shall not murder,” “do not commit adultery,” “an eye for an eye,” and “love your neighbor” are exposed. The antitheses contrast Jesus’ ethical demands with those of the Old Testament Law as interpreted by the scribes. Jesus’ teaching and His interpretation of the Old Testament transcend the literal demands of the Law. He surpassed the Law by insisting that one should avoid sinful attitudes as well as sinful actions showing that the behavior of His followers is to be guided by God’s own character rather than merely by His commands.

The phrase, “you have heard that it was said” fronts each of the six antithesis. We will see this each of the next six weeks. And let me take a moment to plug our Bible class on Sunday mornings. We are going through a study of Exodus right now and will be taking a Sunday to address the Ten Commandments and the Law. So if you are wanting to hear more about what the Law teaches, we will take a Sunday to go into some detail about it. I just worked on this this week. That class will happen in about 3 weeks or so but the whole of Exodus is interesting and I would love for you to join us Sunday mornings at 9am.