Anger & Liability                                      Matthew 5:17-26

The greatest sermon ever given is Jesus Sermon on the Mount.  I’ve had non-believers talk to me about things in the sermon. I don’t think it’s farfetched to say that the majority of people whether Christian or not can tell you it says if you look at someone with lust in your heart you have committed adultery in your heart.

I wanted to look at these verses because as I look out at the world I see a lot of anger. There is a war going on. There seems to be shootings every week, and just look at our politics lately. I have my political leanings and you have yours but are these differences reason to get mad at friends and family over? Yet it seems the vile, insulting and inflammatory comments people hurl at those with different ideas is escalating. And a consequence of this is an increasing strain and widening gap between conservative churches and denominations and more liberal ones. And each side can find scripture verses to justify their point of view.

Sadly this is happening in local churches. I have a friend who I graduated seminary with who tells me his church is split and friendships have been dissolved over our last presidential election and the aftermath that is still going on.

Conservative or liberal, left or right; if we believe in Christ and the cross we are God’s children.  Let’s look to God as we try to get a grip on the anger that percolates through our society.

We’ve been angry, we’ve all been really angry. I’ve had occasions where I just wanted to throttle someone and we all know we just can’t do that. Murder is a sin; in fact it’s one of the top ten sins. Today we have Jesus pushing this issue of anger farther than it’s been done in the past.

In our first few verses Jesus tells us that we need to live a righteous life; that the laws and the prophets need to be followed. The underlining theme for ancient Israel and our modern church is; God wants you to follow all the law but in your quest to do so you have broken it into pieces making the law a shell of what it was meant to be.

And then Jesus starts a series of statements that all follow the same format: “You have heard it said…but I say to you.” By saying it this way Jesus acknowledges the law and Jewish teachings but then goes on to clarify it and explain what the heart or spirit of the law really is. He points out to us that God wants us to try to obey the law as it was intended. By saying it this way Jesus explains to his followers that he is not dismissing the law but that he himself is fulfilling it.

This morning I am not going to look at all the law Jesus mentions but just the passage on anger. As I read through this I saw three sides or facets about anger that Jesus is addressing.

First; anger can be evil. Verses 21 and 22; “You have heard it said…you shall not murder…But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.”

There is no doubt that those on that mountain as well as people today know that murder is evil but Jesus is now saying that anger can also be evil. I think many listening to Jesus that day and many today are surprised by this. We have no problem with murder being sin and subject to God’s judgment, but anger? And then Jesus goes even farther; verse 22, “…whoever insults his brother…whoever says ‘You fool’ will be liable…”

I’ve had people say to me, “Come on now, getting angry or insulting someone is not the same as murdering them.” I don’t deny that. If you read this carefully you’ll see Jesus never says murder and anger are the same thing, he says they are both subject to God’s judgment. Why? Murder is sin because it is a physical violation of someone who is created by and in the image of God. Insulting is sinful because it is a verbal violation of someone created by and in the image of God.

And not only can our anger be sinful, it can open the way for more sin to enter our hearts; things like name calling, insults and defamation. And anger is usually selfish, vengeful and hateful; all sins.

Second; anger can be reconciled. Verse 23 and 24, “If you are offering your gift at the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift in front of the altar and go. First be reconciled with your brother and then come and offer your gift.”

Jesus tells us there is hope for us and an expectation by God that anger can be reconciled between us. Jesus believes so highly in our reconciliation that he instructs us in this passage that we can even pause in our worship of God in order to make things right.

Look at this, think of the implication of this. God who is the creator of the universe, God who is worthy of all our worship and praise, and yet we are told to put that on hold in order to resolve the anger between ourselves and another. At first I thought this can’t be right; worship God more, then go see others. But then as I usually do I came back to Jesus commandments; love God above all else, love your neighbor above yourself. I felt drawn to these verses and as I read them I began to think that in order to show the sincerity of the first; love God, we must act on the second, love our neighbor. Once I started to see this I could understand why we’re told to reconcile with each other and then offer praise to God. Now is this always easy? No but it is still something we should be intentional about.

Now there is one thing we should notice here, Jesus doesn’t say one word about who is right      and who is wrong. The truth here is that in God’s eyes we are all wrong. God’s forgiveness and Jesus righteousness are gifts given to us and our understanding of this should lead us to forgiveness and righteousness with others. Again, is this easy? No, living for Christ is not easy because even though we have been set free from sin and spiritually are given Jesus righteousness, we still live in a fallen and sinful world. Even so, if we claim to love God and do not love our neighbors, we are not very good Christians. It has always been God’s vision for his church to be a beacon of love and forgiveness for mankind.

Third, anger has consequences. Verse 25, “Come to terms quickly with your accuser…lest he hand you over to the judge…and you will be put in prison.” If I have a disagreement with a co-worker and I work things out between us, it goes no farther. If I don’t work it out and the situation continues to escalate eventually the judge; in this case my manager or human resources will get involved and I will face consequences, perhaps even losing my job.

The same can happen in any relationship; couples break up, families are estranged, and it’s usually because one or both parties are trying to prove themselves right instead of trying to make things right. And the longer we wait to take action the harder it gets because our egos enter and fan the flames of anger.

We should all remember Jesus didn’t crush men into dust to prove he was right in his teachings; Jesus went to the cross to make things right between mankind and God. And this points to the spiritual meaning in this verse. As Christians, if we continue to hate others, continue to live out our anger with our actions, continue to refuse to act in ways that lift up others and demonstrates our love of our neighbors; then we need to look deep inside ourselves to see if we really do believe what we claim to.

Verse 26, “…you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.” If we don’t really believe what we claim we do then we are in a great deal of trouble. In Matthew chapter 25 Jesus addresses those who claim to love him and yet don’t understand this, “…as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment.” (Matt 25:45-46)

If we continue to live by anger and hate instead of in the love and righteousness of Jesus then we will have to pay our last penny; and the last penny of our mortal and spiritual being is eternity in a place far different from heaven.

We all know that murder is wrong and cause for God’s judgment to be leveled on us. I don’t think many people question that. But today Jesus is explaining that the spirit of God which is weaved through this commandment is that to God anger is also worthy of his judgment.

Some have told me “Jesus got angry.” Yes he did, but it was always because someone was going against God the Father. He never got angry because his ego got bruised.

Today Jesus tells us that to follow him we must work at putting anger and insults behind us. We must work at being holy not only in our outward actions but holy in our hearts.

We see today that it is of vast importance to God that we make honest attempts to reconcile with each other; that the love and forgiveness that God gives us should be the model of what we give each other. By doing this we are living out Jesus two great commandments.

And last, we learn that holding onto anger has consequences. It can destroy our earthly relationships and it can point to a lack of true faith and belief in Christ. And that can and does have dire consequences for our eternity.

We can all get angry and that in and of itself doesn’t mean you don’t love Christ. But I believe that if anger is the rule of your life you need to look deep inside and see where Christ is in your life and what your heart and soul are really striving for.

Let me end with Paul’s prayer to the Corinthians as my prayer to all of you. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” (2 Co 13:14)

Amen