Matthew 5:21-26
Thoughtcrime – murder and anger
Manuscript
Last week we looked at the Old Testament Law in relation to the Law of Christ, and I know that many of you were away for that sermon, but that sermon really serves as the foundation for understanding the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, so I’d encourage you to grab a copy of from the sound-desk if you missed that sermon (either the print version or recorded version), or grab it off the church’s website at www.gympie-baptist-church.com. And last week we noted that the Old Testament laws were given as a national law for a specific nation – Israel. And they were designed to be policed by other people - that meant that they concerned themselves only with actions – not the heart or our thoughts, because other people can’t see our thoughts, they can only see our actions. And we noticed that the Law of Christ. That is – how Christ comes not to do away with the Old Testament Law, but He came to complete it, to fulfil it, to perfect it. We noticed that Jesus is not just concerned with what we do, but also with how we think and say, what is in our hearts. And we learnt that when we become a Christian He writes His Law on our hearts. Our thoughts are just as important as our actions. My thoughts reveal who is the real me, your thoughts reveal who is the real you.
And today we are going to look at one commandments in the Old Testament Law that Jesus came to complete. Murder, which Jesus completed by including anger in with that. And next week we will look at adultery, which Jesus completed by including lust and flirting with that. And they are both big big issues. In both cases, Jesus is concerned not just with the act of murdering or committing adultery, but with with the thoughts of doing so.
So let’s jump into the first commandment here, the one we will look at today – murder, which is in Matthew 5: 21-26 (pg 810). Jesus starts by quoting the 6th commandment:
Matthew 521 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
Now most of us think we are fine because we haven’t done any murders lately, or maybe never at all. We think we are off the hook. And when you ask the average person on the street, “are you a sinner?” or “do you think you are good enough to go to heaven?” The response is often, “Well I think I’m okay, I haven’t murdered anyone or anything like that”. And sometimes as Christians we can have the same attitude. We reckon we are pretty okay because we haven’t done anyhing really bad like murdering someone. And that’s probably what the people listening to Jesus 2000 years ago also thought. Yep, 6th commandment, I’ve kept that. I’m okay. But Jesus is about to shock them – and us. Jesus says in verse 22:
Matthew 522 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.
Now when I reed this passage I squirm. Why? 2 things. First – although I know I’ve never actually murdered someone in reality, I have been angry with people. And then the big thing that makes me squirm is the last bit of the sentence - that bit about hell fire. So let’s unpack this verse
Jesus starts by saying, “But I say to you.” This is interesting. What it means is that in verse 21 He’s quoted an Old Testament Law, in this case, the 6th commandment, and then He says, “But I say to you.” The “I” is emphasised. Remember last week we looked at verse 17 where Jesus says:
Matthew 517 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Remember, Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Old Testament Law. Sometimes as Christians we think that He did and we don’t have to follow any laws. No Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Old Testament Law, but to fulfil it, to complete it. And now here in verse 21, when Jesus quotes an Old Testament Law and then says, “But I say to you,” it means that Jesus is about to explain how he fuffills, or completes, one particlarly law - in this case, the law of murder. And He says the same thing in verses 27-28 when He completes the law on adultery. Jesus as the Son of God, the Messiah, has the authority to complete the Law.
Okay , so let’s look at this completion in the case of Murder and anger. Now in the case of actual murder: that is, you actually kill someone and your opponent is dead as a result, then as it says in verse 21, if you murder someone, you are liable to judgement. In the Old Testament, that judgement was the death penalty. And even though we don’t have the death penalty in Australia anymore, we generally sentence someone for life in prison, at least on paper. That is, if you snuff out someone else’s life, then you lose yours too. Whether in the OT times it is by the death penatly, or today where you are shut in jail for the rest of your life.
But now Jesus says that anyone who is angry with his brother will also be liable to the same sort of judgement. Now Jesus emphasises this with three parallel statements, which basically say the same thing but repeat it using different words for emphasis.
1. everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment;
2. whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council;
3 and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
Now in the second statement it is actually literally, “whoever says to his brother, “Raca” will be liable to the council” - as the NIV has it. Raca was an Aramaic word which meant “idiot,” and Fool in the 3rd statement was the Greek word μωρος mowros, from which we get the English word “moron,” and that’s basically what the Greek word meant too. That is, if you are angry at your brother or sister, or you call him or her “idiot” or “moron,” then you are liable for judgement. What sort of judgement? The hell of fire.
Well before we get to the hell bit, what does it mean when it says “brother”? Does it just mean your relatives? No. In the context of Matthew, when Jesus says, “brother,” which by the way was a general term meaning sisters also, He means fellow members of the believing community. That is, our Christian brothers and sisters.
And now what about these words “Raca” and “Fool” or “idiot” and “moron”? Well like, idiot and moron, these words were not particularly bad swearwords. There’s a lot worse things you can call someone that “idiot” or “fool” or “moron”. But the judgement for doing so, is not just any judgement - but hellfire. Whew, don’t know about you, but I’m starting to squirm, it’s feeling a little hot in here. Yep, I’ve never murdered someone in reality, but I can tell you I don’t have to think back very far to when I was last angry at someone, even a fellow Christian, or even called someone an idiot of fool.
Now doesn’t it seem a bit harsh that I should go to hell for that? Well, in our eyes – yes. But you see, it’s what’s in your heart, your thoughts, that is the real you. Jesus is concerned with our thoughts, because our thoughts, and in the is case our speech, do reveal our heart and the real you and the real me. And it’s not just that, but our thoughts do overflow into our relations with others. And you know, we cannot have discord, hate and anger between Christians. This is so serious that in verses 23-24 Jesus says:
Matthew 523 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.
Offering a gift at the altar in the Temple at Jerusalem was a pretty signficant thing for a Jew. But Jesus says, your right relationship with your brother is even more important. How can you come to God, how can you expect to have right relationship with God, if you don’t have right relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ? First fix that up, and then bring your gift to God. This is serious business. If you are in wrong relationship with another believer, don’t let it fester - it will ruin your relationship with God.
But let’s have a closer look at this verse to see what it’s saying. Firstly - I would have expected verses 23 to say something like: “If you remember that you have something against your brother, go and sort it out.” But it doesn’t say that. It says, “If you remember that your brother has something against you.” Now of course we don’t always know if our brother or sister in Christ has something against us. Note that it does says here, “if you remember” - we can’t remember if we don’t know that someone has something against us in the first. So you don’t need to worry about if someone has something against you that you don’t know about. You only need to be concerned about things that you do know about, that you can remember. But if you do know that someone has something against you, you need to go and seek that person out, and be reconciled with them. So what it’s talking about here is when there are Christians who don’t get on with each other, because they have something between them. A grudge. A wrong or perceived wrong. O friends, what a tragedy it is when two Christians are out of fellowship with each other!
Now what do we do if we are out of fellowship with another Christian, harbouring a grudge? Well, we usually just sweep it under the carpet. Avoid that person. If necessary, change churches, skip town. But that’s not reconciliation. That’s avoidance. Sometimes we don’t deal with it because we know we are the one in the wrong, so we don’t want to face the music. But most of the time we think we are the one in the right. And usually both parties think they are the one in the right! Such is our fallen human nature that we usually blame the other person. But note here it doesn’t say only be reconciled to your brother if you are in the wrong. It doesn’t say that. Whether we are in the right or wrong, or think we are in the right or wrong, we need to be reconciled to each other. And whether you are in the right or the wrong, if you know another Christian has something against you, it’s up to you to seek reconciliation.
Well that’s tough you might say. And it is tough. And you might say – it doesn’t really matter does it? What happens if I don’t get it sorted out? Well in the next few verses Jesus talks about what happens if you don’t sort out differences with your brother or sister. Firstly, your brother now becomes your accuser – your enemy. And your brother – who is now your accuser - may take you to court, and might win. And you’ll get thrown into prison and have to stay there until you’ve paid every last cent. But it would seem that in verse 26 that Jesus is using language about eternal consequences when He says:
Matthew 526 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
That is, our sin, if we don’t deal with it, we will have to pay for it. It’s not just other people who may have something against us. Because of our sin - our actions – and thoughts and words that don’t honour Christ - God has something against us too. And if we aren’t reconciled with Him, what will happen? He’s just told us in verse 22 that our anger makes us liable to hell fire. And so Jesus is now emphasising that we will stay in hell until we pay every last cent for our sin. Now – problem is, we don’t have enough righteousness to pay up, which means if we are sent to hell – we will stay there - forever.
Wow this is pretty grim isn’t it? We often think of Jesus as being meek and mild, but here He seems to be talking about Hell a lot. And I squirm as I reed this passage. Why? Because I know I haven’t murdered anyone in reality. But as to anger, calling someone “fool” or “idiot,” I’m as guilty as hell – literally. That’s where I deserve to go. What shall I do! Oh thanks be to Jesus who saved us, who provided the righteousness that I couldn’t. He’s the one who pays every last cent for my sin. And who already paid for it as He died there on the cross nearly 2000 years ago. He’s the one who fulfilled the Law on my behalf
And this leads me to say a little bit about how we should deal with this saying of Jesus about anger, as well as the rest of the Sermon on the Mount. You know the first time I read the Sermon on the Mount, I thought it was wonderful. Why did I think it was wonderful? Because I thought if everyone did what Jesus said to do here, everything would be wonderful, we’d all get on marvelously. And it’s true. If we all did what Jesus says to do in the Sermon on the Mount, there would be no problems at all in society! That is, if everyone else did what Jesus said. But then I realised - hey, I don’t do this stuff that Jesus says. It’s not just other people who are the problem, it’s me too. I’m part of the problem. And so now as as I reed throught the Sermon on the Mount, I hear the judgement of “guilty, guilty”. “Thomas Hemphill – tried: guilty. Punishment – hell”. Ouch. I don’t wanna go to hell. But then I remember, that Jesus is my righteousness. Jesus paid the price for my sin. Only Jesus has ever been able to keep all these commandments. He fulfils righteousness on my behalf. Later on in chapter 5 in verse 48, Jesus tells us
Matthew 548 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Only Jesus was perfect, and He died in my place. Ao if I call out to Him, and trust Him for my righteousness, then He fulfils the Law for me. He fulfils these commands for me. And if you are here and you haven’t done that, haven’t called out to Jesus to share His righteousness, please see me afterwards, because on your own, there is no way you can keep these laws - there’s no way you can pay every last cent to escape hell.
But then that raises the question: what do we do with these commands? These impossible commands? Jesus has fulfilled my righteousness for me, so can I just ignore these commands, because, let’s face it, they’re impossible to keep? You know, in the history of the church, because the Sermon on the Mount has been such a big ask, people have tended to explain it away. Some have said that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount before He died on the cross, so that means the ethics in them only applied to the Jews before the church was born. In other words, they don’t apply now. We live after the cross and things are different now. The only problem with that is that it doesn’t make sense why Matthew included them in His Gospel for us to read if they were only valid for a year or two until Jesus died and rose again. It also doesn’t make sense in the light of Jesus’ last command to us in Matthew - which was given after He died and rose from the dead:
Matthew 28 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
That is, Jesus’ command is to teach us to observe everything that He commanded, and that includes everything in the Sermon on the Mount. Others have said that the Sermon on the Mount only applies sometime in the future – either in heaven, the millenium, or the final state. But with any of these explanations, the same thing can be said: Jesus said at the end of Matthew that we need to teach each other to observe everything that He commanded us – Now!
But you might ask, “how can I keep these commands, they’re impossible!”? Well, we need to understand the Sermon on the Mount forms part of Jesus overall message,
which is, Matthew 4:17b “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That is, the kingdom has not completely arrived yet – but it is coming, and it’s close. And it’s so close that it is actually arriving right now, and in part has already arrived. There’s a lot of debate about when the Kingdom of God, or as Matthew calls it, the Kingdom of Heaven, arrived, or will arrive. Some say that the Kingdom of Heaven has already arrived. Jesus brought in the Kingdom, and there’s plenty of Scriptures in the New Testament that would point to that. Others say that the Kingdom of God is for the future age. After all, when you go out on to the streets, who rules Australia? Are God’s laws the laws of the country? No, not necessarily. They are man’s laws. But one day they will be God’s laws. When Jesus comes back and establishes His eternal kingdom, we will live under the direct soveriegnty of Christ. And we’ll also be perfected. There will be no sin, so we’ll be able to keep His law. But in the meantime we live in between the times. That is – in between the two comings of Christ. After His first coming – and His death and resurrection and ascension into Heaven. But before His second coming when He will decisively establish His kingdom for ever. We live in the time when His kingdom is being established, particularly in the hearts of those who follow Him. Which is no doubt what Jesus meant when He said, Luke 17.21b “for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” Or as the NIV says – it is within you. The “you” is in the plural. That means, it’s not some abstract thing inside you, but something that happens in the community of believers, which is the church as we let God write His law on our hearts. As we work with God, to live the way He wants, the way He requires.
Yes, these ethics in the Sermon on the Mount are ethics for the Kingdom of Heaven. And the Kingdom of Heaven, right now, is on it’s way in. That means that when it fully comes in when Jesus returns, then we’ll follow these ethics completely. But as it comes in now, with God’s help, we will strive to follow these commands as best we can as He writes them on our hearts, and gives us the desire and power to keep them. But we must work with Him to keep them.
If we understand that, then we will avoid the two extremes. The first extreme: getting frustrated because we can’t keeep these commands and losing hope. The other extreme is relegating them to some future or past age only, and ignoring them for today. No, they are for us, now, as a goal to strive for, but realising that our righteousness is found in Christ. But also realising that unless we do take them seriously as a goal, then that says something about how we aren’t really following Christ, and means we are in danger of hellfire.
Friends, what have we learnt today? Well we’ve learnt how Christ has fulfilled the command not to murder. That is, it’s not just the physical act of killing someone. It includes those angry thoughts, those words of ridicule and anger when we put someone down. We’ve learnt that right relationships with others - particularly other Christians - aren’t an option, but are essential. We’ve also learnt that the commands of the Sermon on the Mount are impossible to keep, and that means that we are deserving of Hell.
But thanks be to God for Jesus, who fulfilled my righteousness when He died on the cross, and who fulfills your righteousness too as you repent of your sins and cry out to Him. That is, acknowledge you are a sinner, and determine with His help to change and to do your best, to live the way He wants.
And I want to challenge us all here today. If you are in the habit of getting angry, of insulting people and calling them names, remember that if you are in Christ, He has written His law on your heart. Repent of your former ways, and ask Him to give you the strength to think and speak rightly to others. And if another Christian has something against you, seek them out, seek reconciliation, as much as is possible on your side.
And when you fail, which, like me, you will, then call out again, crying out for His forgiveness, and for His refining fire to make you more like Him.
