Matthew 5:19-26 Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the Scribes, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. 21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25 "Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Introduction
The heart and soul of this passage is in verse 24: Go and be reconciled to your brother. There are two different kinds of relationships between human beings – good ones and broken ones. When there is love and harmony and peace and goodwill between two souls, that is how a human relationship is supposed to be. But when something happens to introduce anger, animosity, resentment, discord, or hostility – then it is broken and needs to be fixed (reconciled).
And Jesus is pretty straightforward about it here. Basically He says, “When a relationship is broken, fix it or go to hell.” Now, I don’t know if there were people who got up and walked off in the middle of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, but if they did, I am guessing this part right here was where He lost some folks, because when Jesus commanded this He was commanding us to do the exact opposite of what everything in us wants to do when we are angry at someone. When someone has hurt you, is angry with you, hates you, you hate them – the last thing you want to even think about it pursing friendship with them. In extreme cases you want to hurt them, in less extreme cases you just want to keep your distance from them, but not very often is our desire to restore closeness with that person.
And yet Jesus not only commands it, but He does so in some of the strongest terms imaginable – threatening hell. God’s people are Christ’s Bride, and one thing that is essential to the beauty and loveliness of His Bride is unity and harmony and peace in our relationships. And if you want to know how important that is to Him all you have to do is think of the price He paid to get it. According to Ephesians 2:14-15 Jesus died to abolish the hostility and bring about peace among His people. He paid a steep, steep price for our harmony with one another.
Psalm 133:1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil
God loves peace and oneness of heart and love among His people.
And it is easy to understand why that is if you have ever loved two people who hated each other. If the two people you love most in this world are your wife and your child, but they hate each other, that is a source of tremendous grief and pain for you. You cannot just live with that. You want them to reconcile.
Have you ever had someone say these words to you: “I hate you”? That can be incredibly painful. But it is even more painful to hear someone you deeply love say that to someone else you deeply love.
The reason God requires us to have reconciled relationships in the Church is because He really, really loves you – and He really, really loves that person you are at odds with, and He hates it when you don’t love each other. He will not tolerate it. He commands us to reconcile. But He knows it is not easy for us, and so in this text He gives us three motives to help us be willing to reconcile broken relationships.
Review – Anger
We are returning this morning after a short break to our verse-by-verse through the Sermon on the Mount. We left off in verse 21, where Jesus begins to expose what was wrong with their religious system.
Matthew 5:20 unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Their righteousness was inadequate so in the rest of the chapter Jesus goes on to convict the Scribes and Pharisees on six separate counts of bad righteousness, and He sentences them to life in hell without possibility of parole or appeal.
Last time we began studying count 1, which is murder. The defendants are found guilty of inadequate keeping of the “no murder” law.
21 "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
Their inadequate, skin-deep righteousness was a system where all you had to do to obey the sixth commandment was avoid killing people. But Jesus points out that anger is a violation of the sixth commandment because it has the same DNA as murder – both are an assault on the image of God.
Motive #1 – Hostility Deserves Damnation
Contempt
In the second half of verse 22 Jesus moves from anger in general to contempt.
22 Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. And anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Anger in your heart generates a hostile attitude toward the person, and that hostile attitude comes out of the mouth in terms of contempt. The name Raca probably meant something like empty-head. Basically it was like calling someone an idiot.
They don’t translate it because it really has no translation – it was just one of those derogatory epithets people used when they were mad at you. You know when you cut someone off in traffic and he rolls down his window and offers his assessment of you in a single word – it’s this word. I have heard it a few times in my life. It didn’t come out “Raca” but it was Raca.
The word fool carried more of a moral connotation. It went beyond just insulting intelligence, and spoke to the person’s character. That is kind of like in our day calling someone a jerk. “Jerk” means the person is not just lacking intellectually, he is also mean or rude or something along that line.
And really there is really a certain moral component even with Raca. When you call someone stupid, you are not just saying the person lacks intelligence. You are saying the person has less intelligence than he ought to have. If someone is in the fourth grade you don’t call him names just because he doesn’t have a college education. Epithets like “stupid” or “idiot” mean the person is not only dumb but they have no business being that dumb.
And “raca” and “fool” are just a couple of examples, but the principle is not limited to those two words. The context is anger. Jesus is talking about verbal hostility that comes up out of an angry heart. Sometimes it comes out as name-calling, other times it comes out in your tone of voice, or in sheer volume, and other times it doesn’t come out at all. You have enough self-control to build a dam at your mouth so none of it actually gets verbalized, but still your heart is filled with it.
Think about what is taking place in your heart when you call someone a name like this. It is contempt – looking down on the person as an inferior. When you say someone is an idiot, the implication is he is an idiot compared to you. Nobody says, “Boy, that guy is really dumb. He’s still a lot smarter and morally better than me, but in general he’s an idiot.” No, “you’re stupid” always means “you’re stupid and I’m not.” Name-calling is a form of snobbery. It is sheer pride. If I call you a moron, then I am assuming that I am in a position to make evaluations like that. I am the judge of intelligence and goodness and worthiness, and I set the standard, but you aren’t up to my level and for that you deserve ridicule. That is contempt. It is not just hostility – it is arrogance.
Someone has the audacity to pull his car into that spot on the highway pre-ordained for me before the foundation of the world, and in one second anger rises up in my heart and flies out of my mouth – “Jerk!” He is a jerk? And I’m not a jerk? By what standard am I not a jerk? Isn’t it true that countless times I have been foolish and inconsiderate to others? Don’t I routinely make poor decisions, and very often do unloving things? So by what standard am I measuring myself and this other guy and coming up with him as a jerk and me as a non-jerk worthy to pass judgments? The only standard is my own colossal pride.
You see our problem is that each one of us suffers from an acute superiority complex. If there is any psychosis in our time it is that. Delusions of superiority. And that arrogance and attitude of superiority is probably a lot more evil than whatever that person did that supposedly makes him such a jerk.
Some people are snobs because of money – they look down their nose at people who do not have as much. Other times it comes from fame – someone is well-known and so he thinks of himself as being better than the common people. Sometimes it comes from advanced education. Those are some obvious kinds or arrogance, but most of us are more subtle about our arrogance. If someone asked, “Do you think you are better than everyone else?” you would say, “Oh, no – not at all.” And yet out of your heart flows a continual stream of criticism. Maybe it comes out of your mouth or maybe you hold it in, but in your heart you are constantly looking down on most people. Constantly finding fault. Constantly noticing mistakes. And the next thing you know you are one of those people who are perpetually critical. Bring up pretty much any name in the church that they know and their first thought is about something that is wrong with that person.
Hell
Three times in verse 22 Jesus tells us what people like that deserve.
22 anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.
anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin.
anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
The phrases “subject to,” “answerable to,” and “in danger of” are all the exact same word in the Greek. And that word basically means “deserving of.” The word judgment in this case refers to the penalty for murder – the death penalty. The Sanhedrin was the term for the Supreme Court. And the fire of hell means…the fire of hell.
There is no record that there it was a crime in ancient Israel to call someone Raca. But we do know that in early Jewish literature they used the word “Sanhedrin” to refer to the heavenly tribunal where all men would ultimately be judged. So I am convinced all three terms here are referring to essentially the same thing. If you are guilty of anger or contempt or name-calling, you deserve to be judged and found guilty and condemned to the fire of hell.
There is a cult located in Kansas that goes by the name of Westboro Baptist Church that has built their entire ministry around name-calling. They are the ones who picket the funerals of American soldiers with signs that say, “God hates fags” and “All faggots are going to hell.” I wonder if they realize that Jesus said, “All name-callers are going to hell.” Every kind of unrepentant sinner is going to hell, including unrepentant name-callers. Those folks from the Westboro Baptist Church who get such a kick out of using the most demeaning, offensive, derogatory words they can to insult the people they hate, are in for a shock when they die and find they have a spot right next to the people they so hated.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither … homosexual offenders 10 … nor slanderers … will inherit the kingdom of God.
I John 3:15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
And I think most people who have been exposed to the extremes of the Westboro cult are not too shocked at the news that those people will be going down rather than up when they die. But it is a lot harder to come to grips with the fact that Jesus does not limit the principle only to the most extreme cases. He says “anyone” who calls someone a name is going to hell. Think of what an extreme statement this is. Someone cuts you off in traffic, you mutter under your breath, “What a jerk” – you deserve to burn in hell forever for that.
Of course if you repent you can be forgiven, but…
Hebrews 10:26-27 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.
If you call someone a fool or have some other display of contempt, unless you repent you are lost.
Exceptions
Jesus called people fools
So anyone who is angry with his brother is a murderer and anyone who calls someone a fool deserves to go to hell. But what are we to make of the fact that Jesus Himself got angry and called people fools?
Matthew 23:17 You blind fools!
And in Mark 3:5 it says Jesus was angry and it uses the same word for anger used here. So did Jesus deserve to go to hell for getting angry and calling people fools? And if not, how do we discern when to follow Jesus’ example in Matthew 23 and call someone a blind fool; and when to refrain from calling someone a fool lest we go to hell?
Could it be that Jesus is just exempt from the “no name-calling” rule because He is God? No, because even apart from Jesus’ example we have to deal with the fact that Scripture requires us to deal differently with fools than with other people. Proverbs 26 gives us a whole bunch of warnings about dealing with fools. We are told to be careful when hiring a fool, don’t give honor to a fool, don’t entrust an important message to a fool. There are times when you would respond to a normal person, but if it is a fool it is better not to respond. And there are times when you would normally let something slide, but if it is a fool you should speak up.
And so if we need to deal with fools in a different way than we deal with wise people, then we have to discern who the fools are. So it is not always wrong to determine that someone is a fool. Nor is it always wrong to tell the person that that is your judgment. Nor is it always wrong to tell someone else that you have made that judgment. There are times when we need to make the determination that a person is a fool. And there are times when fools need to be told they are fools. And there are times when fools are so dangerous to others that the loving thing to do is to warn people about them. That is what Jesus was doing in Matthew 23.
Make sure it is like Jesus did it
So if you are the type who feels it is your role to continually point out everybody’s folly and stupidity, and you justify it as being the same sort of thing Jesus did in Matthew 23 – fine. Go ahead and be critical all you want. Just remember – you do it wrong and it is a crime worthy of the fire of hell. So be careful. If you are absolutely sure that you are doing it just like Jesus did it, and that there is no selfish anger mixed in, no condescending prideful contempt - then go right ahead – knock yourself out. But you had better be absolutely sure, because if you call someone a fool in the Matthew 5 way, you deserve to go to hell.
So how did Jesus do it? What was the difference between what He did and what He forbids? What is the right way and the wrong way to call someone a fool?
Jesus’ Way
Not selfish anger or retaliation
For one thing, Jesus rebuke of the Pharisees was not a response of selfish anger – where they did something to hurt Him and He retaliated with hostile words.
Necessary
Secondly, what Jesus did was necessary. These were men who were influential, and they were leading many people astray. They were wolves in sheep’s clothing, and God’s people needed to be warned. Jesus was not just griping and complaining about them – like when we hear the news and say, “That stupid congressman is such a fool” What Jesus did was not just idle complaining – it was purposeful and necessary.
Compassion
Third, Jesus’ heart was full of compassion. The people at Westboro hold up their signs with big smiles on their faces, and on their website they say they celebrate every time God brings His wrath on people through some school shooting or act or terrorism or a soldier being killed. Compare that to the heart of Jesus, which we saw two weeks ago when He rode into Jerusalem weeping because of the wrath and punishment that were going to come upon them. If we are quick to call people fools, but our eyes are dry as a bone – we are not doing it like Jesus did it.
Resulted in righteousness
Fourth, Jesus’ anger over sin never pushed Him into sin. He responded to it with righteous actions and words, never sinful ones. If your distress over evil pushes you in the direction of retaliation, mocking, belittling, contempt, gossip – then it is not like Jesus.
Complex judgment
And then fifth, Jesus’ rebukes were only one side of the coin. Jesus was not a negative person. He did not just walk around rebuking and criticizing and complaining about everyone and everything. He certainly had the right to. He was the one human being who actually was better than everyone else. And yet, He did not look down on everybody. In fact, quite often He praised people and rejoiced over good things they did. He even marveled at one man’s faith.
Think for a minute about why righteous anger is righteous. Why is a righteous person upset over evil? Isn’t it because he loves what is good? And if he really does love what is good, he will be just as quick to praise good things as he is to criticize evil things. If all he does is rail against evil but never praises or rejoices in good, then it probably is not coming from a heart that loves the good.
Think of Jesus’ assessment of the churches in Revelation 2-3. Do you know off the top of your head, out of those seven churches how many were good and how many were bad? According to Jesus, five of the seven were bad and six of the seven were good. Jesus rebukes five of them and praises six of them. And if that doesn’t sound to you like it adds up, that may be because we are so prone to think that if a church is bad then it cannot also be good. But Jesus is a Judge who is capable of complex judgment. The church in Thyatira was terrible – and great. They were a church that tolerated false teaching, sexual sin, and idolatry – that is terrible. But then Jesus praised them for their love and faith and service and perseverance and progress – that is great.
And Jesus has that some kind of complexity of judgment when He evaluates individual people. So if we are going to have affections like Christ’s then we are going to have to rise up out of our mental laziness and make complex evaluations like Jesus did. Jesus was simultaneously grieved over what was bad and delighted by what was good.
And aren’t you glad He is like that? Aren’t you glad God is a God of complex perception? I love it that God does not take one sin in my life and smear it across the rest of His thoughts about me as though that one thing were all that defined me. It is because of this attribute that you can be guilty of terrible sin and be deserving of punishment in hell forever on the one hand, but at the very same time you can be in the right on some minor little issue over here, and if you are treated unfairly you can cry out to God for justice in that area, and He will keep that separate from the evil parts of your life and grant you justice in that one little are where your were in the right. I love it that God can look at the big, horrible sins in my life and be angry over those, but at the very same time be pleased with me and commend me and even reward me for areas of righteousness. What a wonderful thing it is to serve a God who has the attribute of complex perception! If it weren’t for that He would be impossible to please.
We need to remember that when we find ourselves starting to become impossible to please - when we get so eighty percent of our speech is criticism, and the other twenty percent is small talk and there is almost no praise, no acknowledgement of the work of God in people’s hearts, no appreciation of the Holy Spirit’s sanctifying ministry in people’s lives, no real delight or joy in the righteousness God is working in His people. When that starts to happen, it is a symptom that our anger or grief over evil is rising up out of pride rather than out of love for the good. If it comes from loving the good then where there is good there will be plenty of joy and praise of that good.
How to Reconcile
OK, so verses 21-22 are all about not being angry. When people hurt you do not get angry, do not call them names – if you do you deserve to be condemned to hell. Now take a look at what the next few verses are about.
Matthew 5:23 Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25 "Settle matters quickly with your adversary…
So verses 21-22 are about not getting mad when someone hurts you, and the next paragraph is all about what to do when you make someone else mad. In the first paragraph you are the one who gets hurt, and in the second paragraph you are the one doing the hurting. In either case, you are the one responsible to take action. When you get hurt, forgive. And when you do the hurting, go to the person and reconcile.
“How do I reconcile?” If you know of sin you committed, confess that to the person and ask forgiveness. If you don’t think you did anything wrong, ask the person, “Is there anything I could do to be right with you?” It is amazing how far that one little question can get you. So many times I have asked that question and discovered what the person required was tiny compared to what I thought they would require. If you deal with things right away it usually takes very little to make things right. If what they require is something you cannot do in a clear conscience, then just come as close as you can to what they are asking for, and that is all God requires of you.
Let’s teach this to our kids. Let’s teach this in Sunday school. Three steps to reconciliation – forgive, confess, and humble yourself. Forgive the other person instead of getting angry. Confess the part where you were in the wrong. And ask, “Is there anything I can do to make things right?” That is how you go and reconcile.
“Therefore” (because anger deserves hell, reconcile)
So those are the two things this passage is teaching – when you are hurt don’t get angry, and when you do the hurting go and reconcile. But if you want to see something really fascinating, notice the first word of verse 23.
Therefore
That is not the word I would expect. What I would expect would be something more like “furthermore,” or “additionally.” On the one hand, don’t get mad when they hurt you, and additionally, when you hurt them – reconcile. But that is not the kind of relationship between the two paragraphs that he gives. The word “therefore” means the second paragraph is the logical conclusion to draw from the first. Anger deserves hell, therefore when you make someone mad, go reconcile. Do you see His point? Anger and disunity and hostility are such a terrible things that they deserve hell – therefore do everything possible to get rid of anger – and not just your anger at others, but also their anger at you. Anger is so bad it deserves hell, therefore reconcile broken relationships immediately.
That is motive #1. The first motive Jesus gives us to help us be willing to reconcile broken relationships is the fact that anger and hostility – whether it is from them toward you or from you toward them –calls for damnation for the angry person.
What if you are not at fault?
So reconcile when someone is upset with you. “But what if I didn’t do anything wrong? I’m just going about my life, minding my own business, and I just get wind of the fact that someone has something against me, and now all of a sudden it’s on me to go get it taken care of? Or does this only apply when I agree that I’m at fault?”
The issue is anger
Well, if the point is to guard your brother from the capital crime of anger, then you want to do that regardless what the cause of his anger is, right? Whether your offence is real or imagined – either way his anger is very real. And you want to rescue him from that if you possibly can.
The value of reconciled relationships
And besides that, think of the value of reconciled relationship to God. When I have found myself saying to God, “Lord, this person is mad at me but I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not my fault – so do I still have to be the one to go try to reconcile?” – when I have asked that question to God it reminds me of when my kids ask a similar question to me. When you tell one of your kids, “I want you to clean up that mess,” and they say, “But I didn’t make that mess” – do you respond by saying, “Oh, well, in that case, just leave it there. The only reason to clean up a mess is if you made it. I certainly wouldn’t ask you to clean up a mess just to make the place clean!” Is that what you tell your kids? No, you say, “Look, the reason for cleaning up a mess is to make the house clean. Even if you didn’t make the mess, you should have a mentality that sees something out of place and says, ‘I think I’ll pick that up just so this place will be clean’.”
Do you think God would say to us, “Oh, you’re not the cause of this shattered relationship? Well, then, by all means – leave it shattered. Let the disunity that I so despise just continue in My Body. Let the person continue on the path toward hell. If it’s not your fault then just forget about it. I certainly wouldn’t ask you to reconcile just for the sake of having peace in the body of Christ.”?
I don’t think God would say that. In fact, just the opposite. Reconciliation is all the more beautiful when it comes from the innocent party. I love the line in the song, This Fathomless Love – “Why would You, the pure, give Your life for the vile, The innocent seeking the guilty, To be reconciled?” What a great statement of the Gospel! Aren’t you glad God did not have the attitude that says, “It’s not My fault that human beings are at odds with me, so I’m not going to take any initiative.” He was the Innocent party seeking out the guilty to be reconciled, and when we do that we are walking in His steps The next time you catch yourself thinking, “If she’s angry, it’s her problem – not mine” just remind yourself what lengths to which God went to be reconciled to you when the estrangement was one hundred percent your fault, not His.
Colossians 1:21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation
We should be eager to reconcile just because of the value of reconciled relationships – regardless of whose fault the whole thing was.
Motive #2 – Hostility Destroys Worship
So that is motive #1 – God’s hatred of broken relationships and ongoing anger. Motive #2 has to do with worship.
Reconciliation is Required for Worship
Matthew 5:23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Jesus dramatizes the whole picture of worship here. The people did not just walk up to the altar and offer their sacrifices. The altar was in the court of the priests; non-priests were not allowed in there. The way people offered a sacrifice was they would bring it as far as they were permitted to approach, then the priest would take that animal inside the court of the priests and put it on the altar. But just to make it more vivid Jesus says “Imagine you yourself are right there at the altar offering the gift.” And there remember…(not that you have something against your brother, but…) your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother, and then come offer your gift. This is meant to sound extreme – even ridiculous. There is only one altar for the entire nation of Israel. You travel to the Temple in Jerusalem, you get to the front of the line with your sacrifice, you are about to offer your gift, suddenly it occurs to you that someone back home is mad at you, and you turn around and say, “Hold the phone…” and you lay the animal down in front of the altar, travel back home, take care of the issue with that other person, then come back to Jerusalem to finish up with the sacrifice. It is almost like a political cartoon. You have been gone a week and a half, the line is out the end of the Temple and winding all around Jerusalem, your sacrifice is all bloated and rotted. This is not a literal scenario. The point is Jesus is painting the most extreme picture to make the point as emphatically as possible.
And the point is clear – reconciliation is urgent, because God will not accept your worship until you do it. “I’m waiting for the right time.” No – the right time is right now. The time is not going to get any righter.
Now is the time, because until you get it done you cannot worship God! How is that for a motive! If you are not a believer then that may not sound like any big deal to you, but for a child of God that is an absolute horror. To be barred from the presence of God in worship?
Worship is Essential
There are some people who are perfectly content not to worship God. They will happily postpone approaching God in order to avoid reconciling right away. They sit in church and let the communion tray pass and say, “I can’t take communion because I’m still mad at so-and-so.” Instead of doing what Jesus said and immediately reconciling, they just pass on communion.
But notice what Jesus said.
Matthew 5:24 Leave your gift there in front of the altar, first go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift.
The whole point is to worship. Do not be content not to worship; reconcile immediately so you can worship.
Does this mean that human relationships are more important that worshipping God? No, not at all. What it means is worship is not worship while there are broken relationships and no effort to reconcile. Nothing is more important than worship, which is why it is so supremely important that we do not do anything to hinder worship – like leave a broken relationship unreconciled.
I John 4:20-21 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar.
I wonder about people who let the communion tray pass because they are not right with God. Why not just get right with God? I wonder if those people also refrain from praying. Communion is not the only kind of worship. We worship God every single time we pray (or at least we should). A true child of God worships God all day long.
But if you are not fit to take communion, you are not fit to pray.
Proverbs 28:9 If anyone turns a deaf ear to the law, even his prayers are detestable.
Psalm 66:18 If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened
How long are you willing to go without being able to pray? How long are you willing to have all your worship and all your prayers be detestable to God?
As far as it depends on you
“What if I make an effort to reconcile but the other person is unresponsive?” In that case, you are not responsible.
Romans 12:18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
When you have done everything possible, your conscience is clear and you can worship God. But until then, God will not accept your prayers or your worship.
Motive #3 – Hostility Escalates Quickly
So motive #1 for reconciling immediately is the severity of the sin of anger. You do not want to be guilty of that and you do not want the other person to be guilty of that. Motive #2 is worship. God loves that person, and as long as you are at odds with them there is a problem between you and God. Until you make an effort to reconcile your worship and prayers and all detestable to God – just as they are any time you continue in unrepentance after a sin. And then starting in verse 25 Jesus gives us a third motive to move quickly.
Matthew 5:25 "Settle matters quickly with your enemy who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
In other words – take care of it before things turn ugly. A third reason why we should reconcile immediately is if you wait things will usually get a lot worse.
Prevent Extensive Damage by Acting Quickly
In this second scenario it is you and an enemy, and he is taking you to court. So once again it is you who have offended the other person. And Jesus basically says, “Settle out of court!” If you don’t, the whole thing could go to trial, and you might lose, and there might be consequences, and you could end up with a much bigger mess than you had to start with.
There are so many times when a person gets mad at you or offended by you, and if you deal with it right away the whole thing can be forever done with in a matter of ten minutes. But if you wait, the anger festers, and then something else happens that the person interprets through a grid of anger so they take offense at that, and then they talk to someone else about it, and that gets the other person down on you, and the whole thing just builds on itself until finally the person has so many complaints against you, and his attitude has become so embittered that there is no way out. No matter what you do that person is not going to like you. And the relationship will be ruined for years and even decades to come. And it all could have been avoided if you had just been willing to humble yourself, go to the person, and make an effort to reconcile.
Proverbs 6:3,4 since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor! 4 Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. 5 Free yourself
And again – the point is not to just smooth things over. The point is the restore the closeness of the relationship. The word translated settle matters in verse 25 literally means “make friends.” It is more than just settling up. It is an effort to win that person’s friendship back.
Avoid Divine Punishment by Acting Quickly
Do what you can to win that person’s friendship back as quickly as you possibly can, because if you don’t that person might turn you over to the judge. Who is that? The context is talking about the heavenly court, so the judge is God. When you sin against a brother or sister in Christ, what if that person cries out to God for justice? And what if God answers that prayer? Then you are in real trouble. Then you are going to receive some chastisement that no one will be able to rescue you from. You do not want that to happen. God tends to listen to the prayers of people who have been treated poorly, so you take steps to win back that person’s friendship before they take their case to God and you find yourself in real trouble.
Conclusion
Imagine you are part of a large, loving family. And tonight after a wonderful evening of fellowship with your family, you are real tired and so you are the first one to go to bed. Not long after that the rest of your family turns in, and pretty soon the house is quiet. But just as you’re starting to drift off to sleep you smell something. You get out of bed and see that there is a fire in the kitchen. Right next to you is the fire extinguisher. It is just a small fire at this point – easily put out. But you think to yourself, I’m not responsible for this fire. I didn’t start it, and it’s not my fault. Are you going to just go back to bed and let it burn down the house and destroy your whole family including you? All Jesus is saying in this text is this – Just grab the fire extinguisher, and put it out. Do it because I don’t like fires in My house. Do it because as long as you let My house burn down, you are going to be at odds with Me. And do it immediately because if you don’t, the damage will increase exponentially for as long as you put it off.
Benediction: Ephesians 4:1-3 I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Q&A Questions on the Recording
1 Was Job wrong to say his wife was speaking like a foolish woman?
2 What if people use this passage to control you?
3 - What about using the law to protect yourself from injustice?
4- What if it's a person you just don't hit it off with? Do you have to be friends with everyone?
5- Do you have to reconcile with unbelievers?
6- What if you need time to figure out how to handle the situation?
7- What if the person doesn't want to hear from you?
