Anger Management, You Shall Not Murder!
Notes
Transcript
Intro; We now come to the meat of the message that Jesus is preaching. He has served appetizers and drink with the Beatitudes/Similitudes, and has set the table for the main course with His fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets. Now we are fixing to dig into a feast!
Usually at a feast [buffet], there are a variety of main course dishes like chicken, fish, beef, pork and all the vegetables and bread anyone can eat. But even with such a variety to choose from, not everyone will like all of them and some will not like anything on the buffet and order off the menu.
That will be the case with this spiritual feast we are fixing to partake of. Some will eat it all up, some will pick and choose what they like, and others will not want to hear any of it. But as the pastor here at Westview, I’m gonna serve it up the way God cooked it!
Jesus is now taking six areas of the Law and will bring them to fulfillment/spiritual understanding in what God intended. And the six main course dishes deal with our relationships with one another. They include; murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation and love.
This morning we’re going to talk about “Anger Management, You Shall not Murder!”.
Text; Mt.5:21-22
Matthew 5:21–22 (NKJV)
21 “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.’
22 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.
1. God’s Intent;
1. God’s Intent;
In each of the six different area’s of the Law that Jesus will discuss, we have two major phrases that we must understand to know God’s intent;
“You have heard that it was said”
“But I say”
Jesus is making a clear distinction of what is being said or taught by the scribes and Pharisees about the law, and what God really means.
Jesus referred to the Scriptures by such phrases as “Moses commanded,” “the prophet Isaiah said,” “it is written,”.
Matthew 8:4 (NKJV)
4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
23 He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
And there is no less than a dozen times in the gospels where Jesus used the phrase, “it is written.”
Matthew 4:10 (NKJV)
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Matthew 21:13 (NKJV)
13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ”
Mark 7:6 (NKJV)
6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
[v.20] Remember last Sunday morning, missionary Jerry Claxton talked about the 613 laws that the religious leaders had added to the Law of God. In doing so they circumvented what God actually meant. They had a perverted righteousness that was keeping them from heaven!
When Jesus uses the phrase “But I say”, He is making a clear distinction of what is being taught by the religious leaders and what God’s Intent is!
2. Murder; 21
2. Murder; 21
Murder- to kill or slay a man, to unjustly take a life
13 “You shall not murder.
This command is not saying it is wrong to kill animals for food.
It is not saying it is wrong to go to war to defend yourself against an enemy. The Old Testament is filled with examples of God commanding His people to go to war.
It is not saying that capital punishment or the death penalty is wrong. Leviticus 20 gives a whole list of capital crimes. The law is clear about the punishment for the person who commits murder. It is death. The fact that death is the penalty for the murderer is emphasized in Numbers 35. Six times in that chapter it plainly states that the murderer is to be put to death (Numbers 35:16, 17, 18, 21, 30, 31), and then the chapter closes by stating that “the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it” (Numbers 35:33).
Long before the law was given to Moses, God told Noah that the murderer was to be put to death.
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
The death penalty is the only penalty that makes sense in regards to murder. It honors God, protects the innocent, and warns others about committing murder!
When the Pharisees read this law and, “not having literally murdered anyone”, they felt righteous.
But Jesus is also saying that their reading of the Law is falling short because they say one would be in danger of “the judgment” and not death.
Judgement here refers to a civil court. The Jews traditional penalty for murder had become liability before a civil court, which apparently used its own judgment as to punishment, and not the Law of God.
What often happened then, happens too often today. Either a weak judge did not impose the death penalty or laws are changed for tolerance, or bribery made many cases go away. Therefore murderer’s were set free, God was dishonored and society continued to become a cesspool of evil people doing what is right in their own eye’s!
Though the religious leaders had not physically committed murder, yet they would become angry enough with Jesus that they would soon plot his death, though they would not do the dirty work themselves.
That’s where they missed the intent of God’s Law! It’s a heart issue!!
3. But I Say; 22
3. But I Say; 22
Jesus now gives a the full understanding of what God really meant in the law!
Don’t be angry with you brother “without a cause”
Murder is the external manifestation of an internal problem.
Anger is sin in your heart, strong feelings of displeasure leading to bitterness, conflict/murder, that cannot be justified!
Cain killing Abel, [Gen. 4:5-8]
Ahab/Jezebel against Naboth for not selling his vineyard, (1 Kings 21:4)
Haman because Mordecai did not salute him, (Est. 3:5)
Jonah, because Nineveh repented and then the gourd withered, [Jonah 4:1]
Jewish council because Stephen preached the gospel to them, (Acts 7:54-58)
Pharisees/religious leaders, Jewish people towards Christ, they Crucified Him [John 19:6, Luke 23:21]
The growth of anger is dangerous. Unresolved anger will fester. It can start with name calling, become uncontrollable and give birth to murder.
Raca- empty headed person; insinuating a person’s stupidity or inferiority. It was an offensive name used to show utter contempt for another person.
3 They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips. Selah
A Jewish legend tells of a young rabbi named Simon Ben Eleazar who had just come from a session with his famous teacher. The young man felt especially proud about how he handled himself before the teacher. As he basked in his feelings of knowledge, wisdom, and holiness, he passed a man who was especially unattractive. When the man greeted Simon, the rabbi responded, “You Raca! How ugly you are. Are all men of your town as ugly as you?”
“That I do not know,” the man answered, “but go and tell the Maker who created me how ugly is the creature He has made.”
When one has that much contempt towards a person, Jesus says you have murder in your heart!
Fool- moron, moral character; Fool is actually calling God into account because he created man in His image.
People may do foolish things, but no one has the power or the right to “damn someone to hell”. That position of judgement belongs only to God.
“Anger” is the basic evil behind murder;
“Raca” is taking it a step farther, because it gives expression to that anger;
“Fool” is even more slanderous and has crossed a line that some might not be able to come back from before the physical act of murder is committed!
[22a] Jesus says that anger is in danger of judgement [civil court]
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.
[22b] The council [Sanhedrin, Jewish judicial authority]
18 “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
[22c] Above all, judgement from God [hell fire].
15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
God’s intent of the law is a heart issue, not just an external action as the scribes and Pharisees taught.
10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.
Close;
Anger is like a skunk that gets in the house. You don't feed it to encourage it to stay. You get rid of it immediately! That’s how we need to treat anger.
The best weapon against murder is “Anger Management”, and that begins with the love of God!
5 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.