Sermon
Attitudes that Dictate our Actions
January 9-10, 1999
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles and join with me for our lesson today in Matthew's gospel chapter 5. We have spent a number of weeks here in the Sermon on the Mount, and we will be for many, many more weeks. But we've arrived at verse 21 chapter 5 of the gospel according to Matthew.

Lord Jesus, please speak to us now from Your word I pray. May Your precious Holy Spirit be our teacher, in Christ's name. Amen.

Verse 21 says, You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever, says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire. "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, "leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. "Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. "Assuredly, I say to you, you will be no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. 

Now last Lord's Day we concluded our study at verse 20. It said, I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. And we observed that the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees was a superficial religious act that had no heart to it whatsoever. They were only interested in rituals and in ceremonies and in fulfilling traditions, but theirs was not a religion of the heart. You see righteousness has to do with man's standing with God. Doing what is right in the sight of God. Living the life that seeks to be Christ like and God honoring in word and in thought and deed. It's the subject of Godliness, holiness, and purity. And these self-righteous scribes and Pharisees who were considered to be the most religious people in their community...Jesus makes it very clear that unless your righteousness is more than theirs you will never get to heaven. Well what was their righteousness like?

Go with me to Matthew 23. In this entire chapter Jesus talks about the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, but I'll start at verse 25. Verse 25, it says, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, Matthew 23:25, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. "Blind Pharisees, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, "and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 

Now that's what Jesus thought of the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. He said it's worthless. Now, what Jesus does now in the remaining verses of our chapter that's before us, Jesus is going to take six different situations or issues of life and He is going to compare the righteousness taught by the scribes and the Pharisees and the righteousness taught by God. You will notice in verse 21 it says, You have heard that it was said to those of old. And then He talks of the subject which we are going to talk about today, the subject of murder and anger and reconciliation. Verse 27. It says, You have heard that it was said to those of old. 

And Jesus discusses the teachings and the subject of adultery and reveals God's attitude on this very serious matter. Verse 31, "Furthermore it has been said, and there Jesus talks about the attitude of marriage and divorce. Verse 33, Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, and here Jesus talks about the issue of oaths and the importance of words. Verse 38, You have heard that it was said, and here Jesus takes up the subject of retaliation and revenge. And verse 43, You have heard that it was said, and Jesus discusses here the matter of friendship and relationships with those who may love us and with those who may not. Six different situations in life and He's going to draw the comparisons of the righteousness of the scribes and the righteousness of God. Jesus turned the matter of righteousness from external demonstration to internal attitude and condition of the heart. And contrary to the external superficial and hypocritical righteousness that typified the scribes and the Pharisees, the righteousness that God requires is first of all internal. It starts in the heart. And if it does not exist there, then it doesn't exist at all. 

Jesus is saying, you spiritual leaders, you have a superficial way of acting religious, but it doesn't have any value whatsoever as far as God is concerned. Now what Jesus is saying is not something new. It was a truth found throughout all of the Old Testament. Solomon prayed, "then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men). In Proverbs 16:2 it says, All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weights the motives of the heart. Jeremiah 17:10 says, I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give each man according to his ways, According to the results fruit of his deeds. 

And in Revelation 2:23 it says, I am He who searches the minds and hearts and I will give to each of you according to his deeds. Now, God has always been extremely interested in the attitude and the condition of the heart. For it is at the heart, out of the heart flow the issues of life. And Jesus is saying your religion is external. I want to talk to you about what pleases God from the heart. Now you'll notice that He introduces these six different illustrations, which we will have time to talk about in the weeks to come, but He says you have heard that it was said by those of old. 

Now some would say maybe He was talking the words of Moses, those words of the ancient text. No, He's not. Because if he would have said Moses said this to you but I am saying this to you, would be a way of negating or devaluating the teachings of Moses. And Jesus has already made it very clear not a jot nor a tittle of all of the Old Testament words will ever be diminished until the world shall exist no more. So He's already told us that whatever Moses wrote was eternal until this world passes away. So Jesus would not be saying what Moses said to you, I want to clarify. No. What Jesus was referring to here was the twisted and the warped concepts taught by the scribes and the Pharisees. Concepts that totally altered the deep and the sacred teachings of Moses and the Old Testament writers. And He is showing that they being religious leaders had twisted, had inverted, had warped the teachings of the ancient text and brought them in traditions that had nothing to do with God's righteousness. 

Now when He used that phrase. He uses a phrase that was understood by His hearers, because the rabbis of the past generation were often called the fathers of antiquity, or the men of long ago. So when Jesus said you have heard that it was said by those of old. Those who listened to Him that day understood. He's talking about the teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees, not the teachings of Moses. So the question that we have which is at the heart of our lesson today; how had the scribes and the Pharisees changed the teachings of Moses about the subject of murder? 

Now the specific commandment to which Jesus here refers is from the Decalogue which every Jew knew very well. It was from Exodus 20:13. "You shall not murder. Now just a little history. The first murder in the Bible is recorded in Genesis chapter 4. It was the son of the first parents Adam and Eve. You remember Cain and Abel, and Cain slew Abel. You know we often pass over that historical bit of information, and yet I want you to pause long enough with me to feel the pain. You're Adam and Eve. There're two children, and there comes that evening time where no longer is Abel there because Cain has slain him in the fields and his blood cried out from the ground. It must have been a painful night in the little home of Adam and Eve. Their children, the first, one is a murderer. 

And Genesis 9:6 says "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. Now here God gives specifically the seriousness of the crime of murder. He is saying to take the life of a fellow human being is to assault the sacredness of the image of God. Now the command you shall not murder does not prohibit every kind or every form of human killing by human beings. The term used has to do with criminal killing. And from many accounts and the teachings of scripture it is clear that capital punishment, just warfare, accidental homicide, and self-defense are excluded from this commandment. The commandment is against the intentional killing of another human being for purely personal reasons whatever those reasons might be. 

And Jesus knew that those hearers who listened to Him that day, once He brought up the subject of murder, they would immediately say but I've never killed. But now Jesus attacks such self-confidence by charging that no one is truly innocent of murder because the first step in murder is anger. The teachings of the scribes and the Pharisees had reduced the commandment of almighty God to a social or a civic injustice and made the human courts the judge. And yet God has said in ancient past when you take the life of a fellow human being, you have attacked the sacredness of the image of God. The scribes and Pharisees had moved it out of God's domain and they brought it down to the earth and said, what they simply said is if you killed somebody you're going to be liable to go to court and you're going to have to live with their human judgments of the human courts. And yet God has said when someone takes the life it has much more to do than with human courts and human decisions. 

A. W. Pink writes, Thus they were guilty of restricting the scope of God's command, and by connecting it with earthly courts both suggested to their hearers that only external deeds were sinful and also they removed the very wholesome fear of the judgment to come when God shall lay bare not only the actual deeds of men but even their innermost thoughts. They had made it something earthly. Something that the decision as to how the judgment would come to the earthly courts. And Jesus is saying God is the higher power and He's the one who cherishes life and mankind is made in His image. Have we not done the same in America with this tragic sin of legalized abortion? We have placed the value of human life at the discretion of society and the courts of the land, and have taken the fear of God's judgment out of the heart of society.

The commandment thou shall not murder is against the intentional killing of another human being for purely personal reasons whatever those reasons may be. And we have allowed the supreme court of our nation to tell us the value of life, and what you can take and what you can't take. We've taken the decision out of almighty God's hands and made it an earthly decision, and God doesn't like that. And that's why He didn't like the teachings of those scribes and the Pharisees. They had removed the sacredness of life out of the hands of God and put it into human hands and human courts. And Jesus counters the twisted and warped teaching of the scribes and the Pharisees with these words, "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And Jesus declares that a person guilty of anger is guilty of murder and deserves a murderers punishment. 

Now that puts God's standard of righteousness at a very high place. You see all anger is incipient murder. For John says everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. Everyone who hates is a murderer. And sociologist and psychologists report that hatred brings a person closer to murder than any other emotion. And hatred is but an extension of anger, and anger and hatred are so deadly that they can even turn and destroy the person who harbors them. That's true. Ask Moses. 

The Lord spoke to Moses saying, "Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals." God said I'm going to supply the need of this nation by having water come out of a rock, and all I'm asking you to do Moses is just speak to it. But Moses is angry. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He had commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, "Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?" Then Moses lifted up his hand and stuck the rock twice.

God said listen, I only told you to speak to it, but out of his anger he yelled at those people and struck that rock twice. And God honored His word the water did come, but then listen to what God says to Moses. "Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. God says listen, Moses, I'm not going to tolerate that kind of anger. You shamed Me in front of this entire congregation. I told you just to speak to that rock. You smote it and in anger. You dropped a curse in your words upon my congregation. And I won't tolerate that Moses. And because of that, you're not going into the Promised Land. You're going to die before you get there. He paid a tragic price for his anger, and anger always has a tragic price. It always does.

Now in verse 22 Jesus gives us three examples that show the divine definition of murder. Listen. The divine definition of murder. Number one, being angry with another person. Number two, saying 'Raca' to that person. And number three, calling him a fool. Now Jesus is talking about selfish anger. Anger against a brother whoever that might be. It has to do with brooding, simmering anger that is nurtured and not allowed to die. It's the anger that cherishes resentment and does not want reconciliation. That's the anger He's talking about.

The Bible says, looking carefully lest anyone falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled. The scriptures teach us that anger never sits within the human breast. It has to erupt and often many people are hurt by it. So Jesus is saying listen, you talk about just the actual act of killing. I'm going to start from the heart because that's where murder begins. It starts with anger. And Jesus said to slander a creature in God's image is to slander God Himself and it's the equivalent of murdering the person. 

Now Jesus then went on to show how anger erupts. It always erupts in the lips, starts in the heart, corrupts the heart, messes up the relationship with my fellow man. But anger, you can't keep it quiet very long it starts to talk. And He says when you say to somebody 'Raca'. What did He mean by that? Well 'Raca' was an epitaph commonly used in Jesus' day that has no current or any exact modern day equivalent. And so the commentators say when you said 'Raca' you called the person a brainless idiot. You called them a worthless fellow. A silly fool; an empty headed person. It was a word of arrogant contempt. And Jesus said you call a person 'Raca', you're just as guilty and just as needful for the punishment as a murderer because you've taken and slandered a creature made in God's image, and God will not allow that. 

Oh the power of words to bless or hurt. A careless word may kindle strife, a cruel word may wreck a life, a brutal word may smite and kill, a gracious word may smooth the way, a joyous word may light the day, a timely word may lessen stress, and a loving word may heal and bless. But Jesus said anger won't sit in your heart for long. It's got to come out through the lips and it often comes out in slandering, arrogantly God's creatures. Jesus said let me take this a little deeper. Don't you ever say to someone, you fool. It's the word in the original from which we get the word moron. It's often used to describe a godless person. 

Remember in the book of the Psalms it says, The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God." And so when you called a person a fool, you were making judgment as to their relationship with God. To call a person a fool is the same as cursing him, and murdering him, and to be guilty of that sin Jesus said you are worthy of eternal punishment in fiery hell. To call a person in that day a fool was the equivalent of saying to someone today, go to hell. When I hear somebody say that, I shiver inside. Because what happens with the Jews, the word fool signified a rebel against God. An apostate, so that the one using this term arrogated to himself the passing of judicial sentence consigning this fellow to hell. And very interesting, when Moses addressed that congregation he said you bunch of rebels. He used the same word as used here in this text; fool. He's saying why don't you all go to hell. And God says to Moses I will not allow you to address My people that way. That's My judgment as to whose going to hell. Not yours. And because you said that and because you've called them that, Moses, you're not going into the Promised Land.

You see what happens. Anger simmers in the soul, corrupts the individual, corrupts the relationship around him, then it springs forth into slanderous word, and then it arrogantly moves the spirit around to take the position of God and said you go to hell. God said I won't tolerate that. And Jesus said when you say that, you're the equivalent of a murderer and you should be placed in the fiery burnings of hell. I didn't say it folks, Jesus did. It is a tragic thing to tell somebody to go to hell, because what you're doing is usurping God's authority. Only God will make that judgment not us. 

Jesus said you scribes and Pharisees you said don't murder and you left it to the human courts and made it a human decision. Look, I, He said I want you to know murder starts in the heart and murder corrupts the man's heart. It corrupts his lips and it corrupts his spirit. So Jesus said I want to deal with something deeper. I'm going to tell you the heart problem of what creates murder. Now look at He goes to verse 23. Not only does it corrupt the heart. Not only does it corrupt the lips. Not only does it corrupt the spirit, but it corrupts a man's relationship in his worship with God.

Look at what he says. Verse 23, "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you. You leave your gift there and go correct it with your brother and then come back and worship. What's He saying? Anger destroys a man's capacity to worship God. And Jesus is probably standing there and He recognizes those days when the people would bring their sacrifice and their lamb and just in the process of handing it to the priest. And Jesus would say, Stop! Right here. Put this lamb down. You get out of the sanctuary. You go correct your problem, and when you've corrected it, you can come back to worship and don't come back until you do. That's what He's saying. 

You and I know that anger corrupts a spirit and destroys the capacity to worship. I have looked across this congregation over the past 40 years and from time to time I've watched people walk through doors and you could tell by their facial expressions they've been fighting all the way to the church. Telling each other off. Criticizing each other. Fighting the family. And then they walk in here and hypocritical try to think they're going to worship God. That is absolute nonsense. You can't do it, and worse still, you bring in your evil spirit and you corrupt the very environment of worship. Jesus says get out of here. If you've got anger in your heart, you don't belong in the sanctuary of God because you don't have one ounce of capacity to worship. You and I know that's true. 

When you walk into the house of God and you've got anger in your heart, you can't genuinely worship God. I feel so sorry for churches that are riddled with problems and bickerings and fightings because those are churches that cannot worship God. Here's Jesus' point. You talk about just taking the life and then worrying about how the courts are going to give you a judgment. Listen, it's worse than that Jesus said. If you've got anger in your heart, you're the equivalent of a murderer. And if you harbor that and you nourish it, it's going to corrupt you. It's going to corrupt the people around you. It's going to corrupt your lips. It's going to corrupt your own spirit, and it's going to corrupt your relationship with almighty God. We know that to be true. Right? You let hatred and anger simmer and it ruins everything that's beautiful and everything that's lovely. 

And then Jesus gets very practical. Look at verse 25 and 26, He says, "Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. "Assuredly, I say to you, you will be no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny. What's He saying? Reconciliation is imperative and do it now. He is saying if you've got an adversary, wisdom says clear the matter as soon as possible. Now. Not tomorrow. Because if you don't, it just could grow and grow. You and I know that. An argument starts here. We let it go on and it gets bigger and uglier and stinkier and hurtful and bitter. Then finally it erupts into something we've lost all control over. We go back and say, if I was wise, I would have stopped this thing right here at the beginning. I would have agreed with my adversary, and that's a very interesting phrase. It says your opinion doesn't count. You agree with your adversary. What if he's wrong? So what! It's not important who's right and who's wrong. It's the matter of clearing the issue and stopping it before it destroys and before you face the judgment of God. 

You know I have found this to be a very practical thing in business...in life. When something starts, stop it here. I take this position, over the life of our church. I keep my ear always to the ground listening and if I hear of any possibility of something, a misunderstanding or a disruption, I immediately no matter what time of day or night, I'm going to get right on that because I've learned if I can stop it here it will never get out here and so big I can't stop it. And I believe that that may be one of the reasons why for 40 years this church has never had a split, never had a deep injury that hurt the body of Christ. I believe the words of Jesus. When you know you've got an adversary, stop right here, now, correct it now. 

And He uses an Old Testament; I mean He uses a picture. In those days if you owed somebody money they could go and grab your neck and pull you into the court. And the court could declare your fine or whatever it is and if they couldn't extract the funds from you, you were turned over to an officer and threw you in prison. Once you were in prison you couldn't pay your bill because you had no source of income. 

And here's Jesus' point. Reconciliation at the earliest possible moment is imperative. Not tomorrow. Not the convenient time when you're comfortable and they're comfortable. Nonsense! Jesus said right now. You leave your gift, and you get out of here, and you hurry to the person who you've injured or who you may feel injured you. Whatever it is. Correct that relationship now otherwise it becomes massive. It will only end up in the judgment hands of almighty God. We are never guaranteed a time frame to make reconciliation. Never.

Last night at our evening service a lady came after the service. She sat right here and she was weeping. She said, when people were leaving, she said Pastor I'm the one you talked about. She said I listen to you on radio and she said this is my first time here and she said you spoke to my heart. She said, you know Pastor, a month ago my father and I had an angry argument and I knew that as soon as it happened I should have said 'Daddy I'm sorry. I don't want this to go any further.' But she said Pastor, I didn't and she said that night he died of a heart attack. And she said I've lived in hell ever since because I can't go to him now and I can't ask him to forgive me, and I can't straighten out the harm that I did out of anger, and I'll live with this the rest of my life. What do I do Pastor? 

That's what Jesus was talking about. None of us are guaranteed a timeframe for correcting the problems in our relationship. We're not. They may not be here tomorrow to correct. I've watched that over and over in my ministry. And to live with that judgment, to live with that pain till you arrive at your coffin when it could have been corrected here. I've found that to be true here at the church. 

You know we have nearly 1,100 children and 150 workers and oft times little children will fall and get hurt. The parents will come a few hours later screaming at our office, 'You didn't pay attention to my child. You didn't give them all the care they should and we're going to sue you.' The first thing they say. We're going to sue you. And I come running to the office, sit down and I'll listen and say we did our very best, we had it covered but what is it going to take to resolve this matter now. And over the past 36 years there have been times I've called the business office and said write a check for this amount. We give that to the parents and get their release. You say Pastor, why do that? Because I'm doing just what Jesus said. When you know you've got an adversary you resolve it now. Not according to your opinion. The issue is solving it and once it's solved, it never gets any bigger. 

That's why after 40 years we've never as a church gone into court. I won't allow it. Jesus made it very clear. If you've got an adversary, clear the issue immediately even if it costs you. Because you never, never win in the courts. There is always that pain that you go through. Those long hours of litigation and the costs just keeps piling up and you get bitter, and more bitter, and more bitter, and you may get a resolution and a few bucks at the end of the journey, but you've destroyed your soul in getting it. I've watched it over and over again, Jesus said if you've got an adversary find out how you can solve it and solve it. Wonderful practical advise for living. If you've got an issue in your home don't let that argument grow.

Paul says to the Ephesians, let not the sun go down on your wrath. Because it always grows overnight. It always does. So here's what He's saying in our lesson today. Scribes and Pharisees you've twisted, you've warped the teachings of this whole subject of murder and brought it down to just a human level and to human courts. I want you to know there is something much more sacred. There is the life of human beings that are created in My image. And I'm not going to have them slandered, and to do that you're the equivalent of a murderer and you deserve the punishment of a murderer. The standard of God's righteousness is so high, but what He wants folks. He wants a heart that is pure and a heart that is anxious to do what's right, and a heart that lovingly serves, and a heart that cares. That's what Jesus is saying about. It's not the exterior. It's what's here. That God is deeply concerned and He wants a heart of purity and a heart of love and a heart of forgiveness. That's righteousness. And that's the kind of righteousness that will get us into heaven.

Let's pray. Father in heaven, give us hearts filled with Your love, quick to forgive. Hearts that will honor our fellow man even through they may do us harm. Hearts that will cherish the joy of relationships. Hearts that will be quick to make amends and to correct where correction is due. That's the kind of people we want to be. So give us, Lord Jesus, that kind of heart. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit we pray. And everybody said. Amen. God bless you.