Matthew 5:21-26

http://biblehub.com/parallelgospels/The_Sermon_on_the_Mount.htm

Anger is the heart problem that, if left unchecked, can lead to murder.  In fact, from God’s perspective anger is murder.  Men look at behavior and make judgments based on the acts that people commit so we do not concern ourselves with anger too much because it is just a feeling and not an action.  However, God looks at men’s hearts and judges men based on the sins of the heart; not just our actions.  There may be different consequences for murder and anger, but in God’s eyes they are the same sin.  Jesus has just called His disciples to be salt and light in the world and declared that He was here to fulfill the Law.  Now He begins a long series of comparisons between God’s way of judging the Law and man’s way of judging the Law.  Men tend to judge what a man does but God is able to judge who we are.  Jesus teaches us how to avoid anger and keep from being judged as a murderer.  

REMOVE CRITICISM: Anger in our heart will turn into words of criticism.  Eventually that criticism will lead to other ways of hurting the people we hate to the point of murder in some cases.  As kids, we would say: “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  The truth is that words can hurt us very much.  If we want to be salt and light in this world and live according to God’s Law we will deal with the sin of anger at the heart level before it leads to words of criticism and then ends up with picking up sticks and stones.  Our words and actions all flow from the same corrupt heart.  God wants to transform our hearts not just modify our external behavior.  This is what Jesus meant by saying that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees.  They considered themselves righteous as long as they didn’t commit murder, but they tolerated harsh words, hatred and anger.  God has called us to love Him and love others.  Anger that leads to calling names and yelling insults does not show love and is condemned before God.  If we want to please God, we must control our anger and our words.

RESOLVE CONFLICT: The practical means of dealing with anger is to not allow conflicts to build up between us.  Resolving conflict with our brothers is far more important to God than our religious rituals and offerings.  Jesus taught that if we are at the altar presenting an offering and during a time of evaluation remember an area of conflict that we have with a brother; we must go and resolve that conflict to the best of our ability before we continue presenting our offering.  Obedience to God is far more important than religious rituals, offerings or sacrifices offered to God.  We cannot allow bitterness to take root in our hearts.  The root of bitterness, if left unchecked, will sprout, grow and begin to produce the fruit of harsh words, violence and many other sinful expressions of anger.  In God’s eyes this is just like murder.  If we have an enemy that is taking us to court, Jesus tells us to try to resolve these conflicts before we stand before the judge.  This will take care of the problem a lot quicker, with less pain and have a much better chance at really resolving the issues than the decision of a judge.  God wants our hearts to be loving and holy.  In order for that to happen we must be transformed by the Gospel at the heart level.

APPLICATION: Don’t allow anger to go unchecked in our lives.  Learn to use our words to encourage and build people up instead of criticizing and hurting others.  Resolve any conflicts that we have with our brothers in Christ before we try to do any other types of ministry.  Do our best to settle disputes with anyone outside of the courtroom in a way that truly resolves whatever the issue may be.