INTRODUCTION
“I hate you”
“You are an idiot”
“You are so stupid”
“I wish I never married you”
“I wish I never had you”
“I wish I had other parents”
Have you ever said these words or similar words to anyone?
We all, if you are being honest, have used similar phrases in our lives.
And we usually have an excuse for using those phrases, for example:
• You MAKE me angry
• I have a short temper
• I can’t help it. This is who I am.
And if all else fails:
• I was just joking
The fact remains, however, that words spoken in anger can have a very bad, very negative effect.
And when we look at the word anger you will see that it is one letter away from the word “Danger”…
The fact of the matter is this:
We need to reexamine the idea we have with regards to anger.
SCRIPTURE
Jesus addressed this issue in the following scripture:
Matthew 5:21-26 ESV
(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.
Let’s Pray
Now we are busy with a series on the Sermon on the Mount.
This is already week 6.
Last week we spoke about what out righteousness should be like.
Jesus said that our righteousness should be more than that of the Pharisees and the Scribes.
He was saying to us that we need to understand true righteousness found only in Jesus Christ.
The Pharisees and the Scribes had self-righteousness.
We needed to be on a higher level.
Jesus also said that He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.
So to show the listeners what He meant by being more righteous than the Pharisees and the Scribes and that He came to fulfill the law, He uses examples from the Law of Moses.
In fact He starts of by using the 6th Commandment, which is “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13)
UNRIGHTEOUS ANGER IS EQUAL TO MURDER
Jesus starts of by saying to the crowd: “"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder;” and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.'
So Jesus takes the Old Testament, the Mosaic Law, and He tells the crowd what they already know.
They know that it is against the law to murder someone.
And they know that there is a punishment connected to this law.
So if anyone was to murder another, they know that what they have done is wrong and they know that they are supposed to be punished for their crime.
I think at that stage they probably looked at each other and thought to themselves.
Yeh, yeh, I know it’s wrong to murder someone.
I know there is a punishment connected to anyone who commits such a murder.
But I have never murdered anyone.
I have never even had the urge to murder anyone.
So this is not really applicable to me.
I am alright.
We are good people, morally sound.
We have good ethics
So go ahead. Preach on.
Isn’t it funny that it is easier to listen to someone preach when they preach to someone else and not to you?
But when the preacher starts addressing problems in your own life, when he starts meddling in your salad, it is then when you start to shuffle in your seat.
It is then that it becomes difficult to listen to the preacher.
Because know he is hitting home.
So they are thinking, as many Christians today also does, that this commandment is not really applicable to them as they did not murder anyone, right?
But then Jesus derails their train.
He takes the popular, well-known, accepted interpretation of the Law of Moses and He does not abolish it.
No, in fact He fulfills it.
He makes it full, by adding the following: (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.
The KJV says it as follows:
Matthew 5:22 KJV
(22) But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
So in the preceding verse Jesus affirms what was written in the law by saying “You have heard” and now He starts off this verse by saying “But I say unto you”.
What is Jesus doing here?
He is affirming the Old Testament Law, but He is also fulfilling it.
In other words He is filling it with meaning.
Jesus is in fact saying that the law was interpreted and taught on a superficial way, but now He wants to get to the heart of the law.
He wants to get to the essence of the law.
He wants to show them the original intention and interpretation of the law.
In order for Him to do this He needs to move from the fruit of murder to the root of murder.
Jesus is saying that we are all guilty of murder because we are angry with our brother and or sister.
By not murdering someone does not impress God.
God looks much deeper.
God looks at our hearts.
And when He sees unrighteous anger there in your heart you become liable to God’s judgement.
Jesus makes a statement in verse 22.
He says that if we are angry with our brother (or sister) we shall be in danger of the judgement.
And if we call our brother (or sister) Raca, we shall be in danger of the council
Now the normal implication would be that judgement would refer to the court of law where you are tried and that council refers to the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of the Jews.
But the thing is this.
No court and no council will try you if you are angry with someone or for having an internal anger.
So Jesus is not speaking here about the earthly legal system, is He?
No, He is speaking about a spiritual judgment and a spiritual council.
But He goes even further, in fact He goes to the extreme, by saying that they can go to hell if they kept acting in this way.
So Jesus is saying that, to be angry with someone so much so that there is action or murder involved is bad, but to be angry with someone in word, thought and attitude is just as bad as murder.
It is so bad that it deserves hell.
However, Jesus died on the cross for all our sins; otherwise we would have spent eternity in hell for mere insulting someone else.
The Insults
Let’s look at these insults Jesus speaks about
The first part of the verse says the following:
“Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment”
That, I believe, is very difficult to do, don’t you agree.
If we read it in the English translation we might start to think that this is an impossible task.
I get angry every day.
If Jesus was living in South Africa today and He had to drive on our highways I am sure He would get angry two.
So in this sentence Jesus is saying that, if we are angry with our brother, or sister, we should be judged.
This is again where it is important to look at the original words used as well as the original intent of the writer or speaker, in this case.
The English word translated to anger is the Greek term orgizō, which means settled, nurtured, non-forgiving, long term, bottled up anger.
In other words the person continues to be intensely angry.
He or she has it locked up inside of them.
The problem with this kind of anger is that it doesn’t always go against the person who you have this anger for.
Many times it is used against your husband or your wife or your children or people close to you.
Have you experience this in the past.
Your husband or wife will come home and then for the smallest thing be angry with you, all because of a situation involving someone else at work.
We are hurting those close to us because of a built up anger for someone else.
I want you to look at the following movie clip from the movie Waterboy.
I want you to see what I am talking about when I speak about long term, bottled up anger.
Just for interest sake, the latter part of that sentence, “without a cause” was added in the KJV and was not found in the early Greek manuscripts or the Vulgate, but is found in other early manuscripts.
The consensus among scholars is that the sentence without these words is almost certain.
I do believe, however, that these words were added to benefit us who are not so familiar with the Greek language, because if we read it in English we get the idea that we are not allowed to ever get angry.
That is just not true.
We are allowed to get angry as long as it is righteous.
Jesus Himself got angry, for example when He went into the temple and threw the tables over and many times he showed anger towards the Pharisees and Scribes.
The difference was that Jesus got angry at what people were doing and how they were acting, not at them personally.
“Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council”
Jesus used the word “Raca”.
Now we all know what the word Raca means don’t we?
How many times have you called someone Raca?
No, Raca is not a word that we use these days.
In fact I don’t believe that many people even knows what it means what more where to use it.
Raca is an Aramaic word, which means “an empty-headed person incapable of life.”
It denoted a good-for-nothing person.
It is equivalent to saying to a person he or she is an idiot.
So, in Jesus’ time, when you wanted to attack a person’s self-worth and dignity you would call him or her Raca.
So for us, as modern Christians who does not use this word, we can just scratch this part out of our Bibles as it does not apply to us, am I correct?
NO!
The emphasis in the verse has nothing to do with the word or what we call people.
It has to do with the attitude, the meaning behind a word.
It is the way we want to show people what we think of them.
So whether you say to someone Raca or idiot, it does not matter.
It matters what you mean when you use that word to describe someone.
“Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire”
Jesus also mentions signifying to a person that he or she is a fool.
The word “fool’ is translated from the Greek word “moros”, from where we get the English word “moron”
Now in Jesus’ time the word “moros” was used to describe the mental ability of a person and or his or her moral character.
In other words if you called a person a “moros” you were in fact calling that person a stupid liar or a stupid cheater.
You were basically insulting a person’s morals and character.
So although the words raca and moros seems to be synonyms we can see that Jesus was in fact addressing raca as disrespect for a man’s intellect and “moros” for disrespect for a person’s character.
In Jesus’ Time
In our time name calling is not as bad as it was in Jesus’ time.
You need to realize that in Jesus’ time it was an honour-and-shame society.
Most people in those times had only their honour to trade with.
So if you attacked a person’s honour, if you belittled a person publically, it was a very serious matter.
If you attacked a person’s honour in public you were setting that person up to lose their good reputation.
If this happened, if that person was to lose his or her good reputation, it was comparable to actually dying.
Jesus is thus saying that, if you treat a person by dishonoring him or her you are in fact sentencing them to death and are indirectly causing their death.
You are murdering them.
Reconcile with those who are angry with you
Jesus then says the following words
(23) Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
(24) Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
(25) Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
(26) Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
Again Jesus, as always, covers all areas.
In this piece of scripture He addresses the worship context as well as the legal context.
Jesus says that “if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”
In other words, reconciliation takes precedence over worship.
“first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift”
This talks about priority.
Jesus is saying that, reconciliation for Him so imperative that it warrants an interruption of worship.
Now for me that speaks of utter importance.
For God to say stop worshipping me until you have made peace with your brother or sister speaks about importance above all.
Jesus is saying that our relationships with our brothers and sisters need to be in harmony BEFORE we are able to truly worship Him.
Now when Jesus speaks about bringing their offering to the altar the assumption is that He is speaking about an offering brought to Jerusalem to the temple.
Jesus was presumed to have spoken in Galilee; therefore the idea was that a person from Galilee would travel to Jerusalem to the temple to bring an offering.
The offering would normally be an animal.
That trip would take around 7 days of traveling.
Jesus is thus saying to them that, if you have taken a trip to Jerusalem with your sacrificial animal to offer it and you realize that your brother has something against you, leave that animal on the altar, make your way back by traveling the 7 days to Galilee, make peace with your brother, make the 7 days trip again to Jerusalem and then offer your animal and then travel back the 7 days to Galilee again.
That a person would do this was very unlikely, won’t you agree?
But Jesus wanted to make a point here.
Jesus wanted to show them the importance of dealing with bad relationships.
The thing that should stand out for you here is that Jesus is not taking about people you have something against.
He is talking about people having something against you.
The thing is, if you have something against your brother or sister you have to let it go.
You are the person who can fix it right there an then.
But if someone else have something against you, it needs to be resolved from the source.
If someone offended you, let it go.
If someone insulted you, let it go.
Maybe there is something about the person you do not like.
Let it go.
Proverbs 19:11 ESV
(11) Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
Jesus then continues by saying: “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.”
For me this has to do with the urgency of the matter.
Jesus wants to emphasize the fact that, if someone has something against you, be it legal or otherwise, quickly make things right with that person before it is too late.
Jesus says that we should avoid being taken to court for legal aspects.
Make things right with the person.
If you owe him or her money make it right.
Make arrangements to pay it back and trust God to assist you in this.
It is your responsibility to make things right.
If you have offended someone, make it right.
And please, as far as possible do not do it over the phone or in a whatsapp message or via sms.
Do it in person.
Tell that person that you were wrong.
Tell the person that you are sorry.
If there are people out there who you have sinned against, it is your job to reconcile.
And this does not just have to do with money or owing stuff to someone.
This has to do with everything in life.
Jesus is saying do not wait until tomorrow to make things right.
Tomorrow might be too late.
Do it quickly.
Do it today.
Do it now.
The longer you wait the more you get hurt and the more the other person gets hurt.
Listen to the author of Hebrews:
Hebrews 12:15 GW
(15) Make sure that everyone has kindness from God so that bitterness doesn't take root and grow up to cause trouble that corrupts many of you.
Conflict cannot be eliminated
We all understand that conflict cannot be eliminated.
That is not the idea of these scriptures.
The idea is that conflict needs to be resolved.
It needs to be dealt with.
We need to focus on resolution.
So what do you do if you have tried to reconcile but the other party just will not budge?
Paul says it nice.
He says:
Romans 12:18 GW
(18) As much as it is possible, live in peace with everyone.
If you have done everything in your ability, both natural and supernatural, then you have honoured God.
We cannot make another person to forgive you.
It has to come from both parties.
If you have done all you can, if you have forgiven the other person, if your anger and insults and self-righteousness have been replaced with humility and a willingness to reconcile then I believes that even if the other person is not willing, you have done your part.
You are free from the burden satan has placed on your shoulders.
You might have hurt someone so bad that that person is not willing to forgive you, and it is understandable.
It does not matter.
The fact is that it is your responsibility to make things right.
Humble yourself, be the least and go and attempt to make things right.
Even if it isn’t your fault, make things right.
After all, we are only here on earth for a short time.
Thereafter it is eternity in either heaven or hell, depending on how you lived your life.
Make things right even if you are not wrong.
Let me ask you this question.
Imagine you are at the doctors and the doctor gives you 1 week to live.
Who would you make things right with?
What would you say?
Why are you waiting this morning?
How should you deal with anger?
Admit to yourself and to God that you have an anger problem
Stop making excuses
Confess your sins.
Allow God to change you and be patient.
Recognize the consequences of angry outbursts
Some words are never to be said.
“I want a divorce”
“You are ugly”
“You are stupid”
“I hate you”
There is an English saying that goes as follows:
Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words can never hurt me.
If you believe that then you have never been at the receiving end of an insult.
If you were on the other end I need you to reconcile quickly.
I have a saying that I like.
If you don’t have anything good to say about someone rather say nothing.
And please, do not speak to others in the congregation when you have something against someone else.
It has become an acceptable thing where one believer will tell another believer what they think about someone.
That is one thing and one thing alone – GOSSIP
Don’t do it!
Angry words have consequences even on judgement day:
Matthew 12:36 GW
(36) "I can guarantee that on judgment day people will have to give an account of every careless word they say.
Understand that your words can really hurt people badly
David likens our tongues to a sharp razor:
Psalms 52:2 ESV
(2) Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
If you have ever seen a sharp razor blade in action you would know that it is capable of cutting very deep, to the core of your being.
Your tongue, David says, is like that.
It is capable of causing a lot of damage, cutting to the core of a person.
Cutting to their heart.
Be prepared to have your buttons pushed
People who knows you best knows what buttons to push in order for them to get under your skin.
They know what to say to get you angry.
They know what to say to hurt you.
Be prepared for that.
Many times we retaliate with nastier words, because we want to hurt that person back.
In fact, we want to hurt that person more that he or she hurt you.
You want to cut them to the core.
But what should you do?
Solomon says the following in
Proverbs 15:1 ESV
A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
I know it’s not easy.
I know it is extremely hard to do, trust me I am married.
Watch your tone of voice and your facial expressions.
And if you are prone to violence, put your hands in your pockets.
It’s hard to hit someone with your hands in your pockets.
CONCLUSION
South Africa is in turmoil regarding people who are angry with others.
We see on the news how people are fighting against each other at the universities because of language.
Off course this has escalated to be a race thing.
What is happening to this country if people who are supposed to be educated, who have come to an institution to get education, fight amongst each other because of language and then proceed to burn down parts of the very institution that they come to to get education from.
Is that not defying the purpose of the entire situation?
If Afrikaans is not abolished in the university then no one will be educated.
That’s anger becoming danger.
That is a deep rooted anger materializing into taklin fuel.
We need to start at ourselves.
We need to show people who we are.
We are children of God.
That is why I am so proud of those students that came together, students made up of all races and languages, men and women, black, white, colored, Indians, you name it, standing up and saying that we are not going to be defined by our color or our language or our gender or where we came from or who our forefathers were or what our forefathers did.
We are going to be defined by our citizenship as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.
We are going to be defined as Children of God.
