murder

27 A.D.  –  Don’t Be Offendable —   The Year of the Lord’s Favor #59

David Chupp The 70 Weeks with Jesus Blog , , , , ,

Week 40 ———  Don’t Be Offendable
Matthew 5:21-26

Last week, we talked about murder and anger and how, in God’s view, they are very much alike because both come from the same place in the heart. We looked at these verses:   

Matthew 5:21-26  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

My men’s Bible study group discussed this, and some very interesting questions were raised. My friend Ken suggested a book that opened my eyes to this subject: Unoffendable by Brant Hansen. So, I want to dive deeper into this discussion.

If you read the footnote in the previous entry (TAY #58), you would know that a few versions of the Bible include the phrase “everyone who is angry with his brother without cause…”.  “Without cause”  was added over 200 years after the gospel was originally written.  The earliest manuscripts do not have that phrase, so most modern versions of Matthew do not contain it (other than the King James or New King James Version.)  It is easy to understand why someone hand-copying the Bible decided to add this phrase. 

‘Of course, some anger is good,’ someone thought.  So, someone around 200 AD decided to help us by telling us what he thought Jesus meant to say.  So he added “without cause,” perhaps in the margin of the text.  Then, the next guy copying the Bible assumes the previous copyist accidentally left it out, so he writes it in the verse just like it was always there.   (You can prove several instances of similar additions to the text from just such a process.)

After all, it is okay to be angry when you have a good cause, right?  And righteous anger is not bad, in fact, it is essential that we get angry at some things, isn’t it?  Christians are supposed to have righteous indignation, aren’t they?  I have heard these statements all my life.  But are they true?

What do you think? We could vote on it.  Who says righteous anger is a good thing?  All for, all opposed.   Wait a minute!  That is serpent thinking.  We don’t get to vote on right and wrong.  It is not our job to discern good and evil. That kind of thinking will get you kicked out of the garden.  God is the only judge.  Only God can decide.

In our scripture passage, Jesus took murder and said what’s behind the murder — it is anger. What is behind the anger?    Why do we get angry?  Because we were offended.  Someone did something or said something that offended us.  Aren’t Christians supposed to be offended by some things?

So look through the Bible — Do you see ‘righteous indignation’ or ‘righteous anger’?  Is there a command to be offended?

Well, you say, we have an excellent example of righteous anger by Jesus when he threw the money changers out of the temple.  Was Jesus right to be angry then?   If so, then righteous anger is a good thing.  Or is it?  Yes, Jesus was right to be angry, but there is a big difference.  Jesus has the right to judge because he is God.  Let me let you in on a little secret.  You are not God, and you have no right to judge anyone.  You aren’t supposed to eat the fruit of that tree.

Looking closely in the Bible, you will find many examples of righteous anger.   But all of them are God getting angry.  Because God is the only one who can express righteous anger because he is the only righteous judge.   That’s why we like righteous anger so much — we enjoy being right and pretending we are righteous, taking the moral high ground.

There are plenty of examples of Bible characters acting out of anger in the Bible, but they are examples of what not to do.  Samson often acted out of anger, but Samson’s whole story is an example of how not to act and how God can use people who are moral failures.1   David got furious with Nabal because he didn’t pay David what was due.  David was ready to send 400 men with swords to kill him.  But that story is not in the Bible as an example of how to act.  God doesn’t want you to imitate David in his anger, nor does he want you to imitate David when he committed adultery or when he killed Uriah.  Righteous anger is only for God.   The Bible is clear that for everyone who is not God, all anger is sin.  That is why you will find anger in the various lists of sins in the Bible.

Let’s look at Paul’s what not to do list:

Colossians 3:5,8,9    Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you:  sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry….now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  Do not lie to one another…

In case you have wondered, there is also no such thing as ‘righteous slander,’ ‘righteous sexual immorality,’ or ‘righteous idolatry.’  But we have created this category of ‘righteous indignation’ or ‘righteous anger’ because we want it to exist despite it not being in the Bible.

So, how do you respond when someone offends you, and you feel the urge to become angry?

First, how does the world tell you to respond?  How does the world tell you to handle your anger?  “Count to 10”, that’s what I was told.  I’m not sure it handled my anger, but it’s more like I delayed it.  Perhaps for some people, taking the time to count to ten helps deal with their anger, but for others, it is like the last 10 seconds on the countdown timer on a bomb.  It is undoubtedly going to explode when the ten count is up.  Other suggestions are to “meditate,” “center yourself,” go scream somewhere, or hit a pillow or punching bag.  Of course, in our capitalistic country, someone has figured out how to profit from anger reactions.  I was not aware of “Rage Rooms.”  These businesses are springing up everywhere.  The closest one to me is about an hour away.  (I could count to ten many times driving that far.)   You pay to enter a room with multiple glass objects or electronics and a baseball bat to break them.  The one near me is called “Smash and Dash.”  They supply windshields to break, and you can do “Group Rages.”  They also offer ax throwing (hopefully not in the group rage.)  They do birthday parties and there is currently a post-election special going on if you are angry about that.  

So what does the Bible say to do when someone offends you?  How do you respond to evil acts against you?  Right after Paul’s “what-not-to-do-list” in Colossians, he has a to-do list.

Colossians 3:12-17   Put on then, as god’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 

Paul says, “Put on then…”  The Greek uses the word for getting dressed. Paul tells us to wear these clothes.  This is the way you get dressed in the morning if you are God’s people: with compassionate hearts (looking for the needs of others above your own), kindness (goodness, treating others well), humility (modesty, not thinking you are the most important), meekness  (willingness to submit to God’s rule over your life), and patience (the ability to endure difficult people and situations without giving into anger or giving up hope.  If you are starting the day like this, and these are the characteristics you wear, then it will be hard for someone to offend you.

Back to Paul’s discussion:

Colossians 3:12-17   Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,   bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another…

Okay, here we go. Paul says if you have an honest complaint against someone, they did you wrong, insulted you, cheated you, cut you off in traffic, or lied to you. These are all things that could result in you taking offense and becoming angry.

So what do you do, Paul?

“…bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

Paul’s answer to the question of how to respond when someone does something that might offend you is to forgive them—forgiving each other.  You have probably recently prayed that prayer Jesus taught us to pray.  “Forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  We pray, “God, please forgive me the same way you see me forgive others.”  Jesus didn’t tell us to pray: “Father, get angry with us as we get angry with those who trespass against us.”  

Here is the concept we see through the Bible that I somehow missed applying to my life because I had heard all my life that anger can be good.  When you are wronged, when people are rude or careless –  you have two choices.  You can be offended, or you can forgive.    But Paul doesn’t hedge at all.  You must forgive.  Not if they apologize, or if they make it right, or if you feel like it.  You must.  When I mess up, I know how I want God to react to me.  I want forgiveness from God.  But I have not always held myself to that same standard.  I thought it was ok to be offended.  It is not.  

Now, the whole passage, because it is so good:

Colossians 3:12-17   Put on then, as god’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,   bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.   And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.   And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.   Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.   And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

This is abundant life.  This is the way of love.  This is how God wants us to live.  And look, if you choose to respond with forgiveness rather than be offended, you get peace.  Being offended is not peaceful.  Being offended is stressful.  That is not how God wants us to live.  

We live in a fallen world.  People are going to do you wrong.  Jesus said don’t murder them; don’t even get angry with them.  And Paul is saying, if the Holy Spirit abides in you, don’t even be offended by them.  You choose to be offended.  You don’t have to be offended.  Put on those clothes of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.  Then, when someone acts against you, don’t choose to be offended; don’t choose to be angry; choose to forgive them.

Hansen points out in Unoffendable we live in a world today where being offended has almost become a national pastime.  We have invented new and easy ways to be constantly offended.  We have 24-hour news.  They will give you a constant running flow of things to offend you.   How about social media?  It won’t take more than a few seconds of scrolling on Facebook to be offended by something.  Christians should be the least offendable people in the world.  Instead, I am afraid we have become known as the easiest people to find offense.   

But instead of going through the day finding things to be offended about, try deciding at the beginning of the day not to be offendable.  Decide today you are going to put on those Colossians 3 clothes.  Then, no matter what someone does, I will react with forgiveness.  But what if someone really deserves it?  What if someone mistreats us or wants to harm us?  Isn’t anger right then?  Amazingly, Jesus says no!  Those are the very people and situations that Jesus specifically tells us to forgive.  Forgiving means surrendering your claim to be offended, angry, or resentful.

Forgiveness is hard,  but the Bible says to forgive.  So the question people asked in Jesus day was, “Well, how many times do I have to forgive someone?    The rabbis debated this and mostly agreed on the following (found in the Mishna).

“If a man commits an offense once they forgive him, a second time they forgive him, a third time they forgive him, the fourth time they do not forgive him.”2 

“He who begs forgiveness from his neighbor must not do so more than three times.”3

In Jesus’ day, this was the accepted norm: You should forgive someone three times. The disciples grew up learning this rule. But Peter heard Jesus talk over and over about forgiveness that seemed to be above the three-strike rule he learned as a child. So Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive someone. And Peter (likely trying to impress Jesus) suggested way more than three… seven times! 

Matthew 18:21-22   Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  As many as seven times?”  Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Jesus answers 77.  And this is not a math exercise.  75…76… almost there…  (That would be like me counting to 10 – not dealing with it but postponing it.)   Jesus didn’t choose that number randomly.  He wants you to recall something in Scripture.  “Seventy-seven” is only in the Scripture one other time.  And Jesus wants you to remember the other story….

In Genesis, five generations down from Cain (the murderer) is a man named Lamech.

Genesis 4:23-24   Lamech said to his wives: 
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;  you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:  I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.  If Cain’s revenge is sevenfold,  then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”

Lamech is the biblical poster child for revenge and retaliation.   He certainly did not abide by the “eye for eye” idea.  You hit me, I’ll kill you.   I revenge to the extreme.  Jesus’ point is to forgive to the extreme, like Lamech revenged to the extreme.  Jesus said our forgiveness should be way our of proportion to someone’s actions against us.  Jesus’ followers should be known for their extravagant forgiveness.

Follow Jesus’ example.  Everyone wants to follow Jesus’ example of throwing out the moneychangers in the temple.  Sorry, you can’t follow that one.  You aren’t God.  You don’t have the role of judge.  That is way above all of our pay grades.

Follow Jesus’ response to the offensive people of the day.  Jesus surrounded himself with people that the world considered offensive, but Jesus was not offended by anyone.  The Pharisees were all offended by the woman caught in the act of adultery; Jesus was not offended.  He said, “I don’t condemn you.” The man possessed by a demon starts shouting out in synagogue.  Jesus is not offended by him, and he heals him of his possession.

The most offensive people in the Jewish world in Jesus’ day were Roman soldiers.  Jesus shows him compassion and heals his son.  The lepers that everyone found ultimately offensive – Jesus touched and healed them. 

One day, a pharisee named Simon asked Jesus to dinner.  A woman comes in, a known prostitute, and anoints Jesus’ feet.  The Pharisees were shocked and offended.  

Luke 7:39  Now, when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

Jesus knew, but he did not take offense. Because Simon jumped straight to offense rather than forgiveness, Jesus needed to teach him something—something Simon may not want to hear. And we know that when Jesus wants to teach something to someone who doesn’t want to hear it, he tells a parable.

Luke 7:41-47  “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he canceled the debt of both. Now, which of them will love him more?”   Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he canceled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”   Then, turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.   You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet.  You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.   Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Let me follow Jesus’ example and end in a story that Hansen tells in Unoffendable. 

Tony Campolo writes about her in his book The Kingdom of God Is a Party. He was in a diner in Honolulu, very late one night—three thirty in the morning, actually—when he couldn’t sleep from jet lag. It was just him, his donut and coffee, and the guy behind the counter, when suddenly, a group of prostitutes came in. They sat down on either side of Tony, and they were very crude and very loud. He was about to leave. But then he overheard one of them saying tomorrow was her birthday, her thirty-ninth. Another woman made fun of her for bringing it up. “What do you want, Agnes, a party? You want a cake? You want us to sing ‘Happy Birthday’?” Agnes said no, she didn’t. She’d never had a party, or a birthday cake, so why start now? When I heard that, I made a decision. I sat and waited until the women had left. Then I called over the fat guy behind the counter, and I asked him, “Do they come in here every night?” “Yeah!” he answered. “The one right next to me, does she come here every night?” “Yeah!” he said. “That’s Agnes. Yeah, she comes in here every night. Why d’ya wanta know?” “Because I heard her say that tomorrow is her birthday,” I told him. “What do you say you and I do something about that? What do you think about us throwing a birthday party for her—right here—tomorrow night?”1 The guy behind the counter—his name was Harry—loved the idea, and so did his wife, who did the cooking in back. In fact, he wanted to make the birthday cake.

Tony told him he’d be there earlier the next morning, in time to decorate. And he decorated, complete with crepe paper streamers and a sign that read, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” Apparently, word of the party got out, because the place was filled with prostitutes before Agnes’s arrival. When she came in at three thirty with a friend, the whole place erupted, “Happy birthday!” She was stunned. Mouth agape. “Flabbergasted,” Tony writes. Her friend had to steady her. And when they began to sing, she began to cry. Harry lit the candles, and as she blew out the cake, she was in tears. She didn’t want to cut it. Instead, she asked if she could keep it a little while. She wondered if that would be okay. Harry said she could. Then she said, “I want to take the cake home, okay? I’ll be right back, honest!” She left. Everyone was stunned silent. Tony said he didn’t know what else to do, so he broke the silence with, “What do you say we pray?” Looking back on it now, it seems more than strange for a sociologist to be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning. But then it just felt like the right thing to do. I prayed for Agnes. I prayed for her salvation. I prayed that her life would be changed and that God would be good to her. When I finished, Harry leaned over the counter and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said, “Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?” In one of those moments when just the right words came, I answered, “I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning.” Harry waited a moment and then almost sneered as he answered, “No you don’t. There’s no church like that. If there was, I’d join it. I’d join a church like that!” You know what? I have a new rule: I won’t join a church that doesn’t do that. Because that’s the Jesus I recognize, the One who mends the brokenhearted and is never, ever scandalized by sinners  

  1.   A great book on how Sampson is a Bible example of how not to act is Brad Grey’s Make Your Mark.
  2. Second-Century Rabbi Jose ben Jehuda.
  3. Third-Century Rabbi Jose ben Hanina.

27 A.D.  –  Don’t Be Angry —   The Year of the Lord’s Favor #58

David Chupp The 70 Weeks with Jesus Blog , , ,

Week 37 ———  Don’t Be Angry
Matthew 5:21-26

Jesus sent out 70 disciples on a two-month mission. He is teaching and healing, but because all the disciples are away, we don’t have any scripture that tells us exactly what he is doing. So, we are taking this opportunity to review some of his previous teaching.

Last week, we talked about the woman caught in adultery, and I introduced the idea of how Jesus reads the Old Testament, looking for the wisdom behind the law.  God has an ideal, but that was back in the garden where everything was as God created it – good.  And God will bring his world back to that state where everything is good one day.  But for now, we live in a world where God’s will is not done as it is in heaven, so there is much evil in this world.  God chose this man, Abraham, to be the father of a people who would do God’s will and be a kingdom of priests to take the message of God’s will to all the world.    To do this, He gave them instructions to live by – The Jews call them Torah, a Hebrew word that means ‘teaching’ or ‘instruction,’ but our Bibles usually translate it as ‘law.’  Because God is good and wants us to be good, these instructions to us reveal God’s character.

We saw last week Jesus said that some of the laws were really not God’s ideal, not exactly what God wanted, but were concessions due to our rebellion.  We looked at a story in Matthew 19, where the Pharisees were confused because the Scripture said in Genesis that God never intended for divorce to exist, and later, God gave instructions for divorce.  It seemed the Bible was contradicting itself. 

They asked Jesus why the Old Testament allowed people to divorce if God never wanted that to happen.  Jesus answered, ‘Because of your hardness of heart.  That’s not the way it was in the beginning.’  In the beginning, God’s plan was for everyone to get along and treat each other appropriately.  So, in this world God built where there was no sin, marriages would never end in divorce because no one would ever treat their spouse poorly, and no one would ever be unfaithful to their partner.  There would be no need for divorce. But instead of living in the sinless world God built, we live in a fallen world where sometimes people would need to get a divorce because their partner was so deep in sin that they were not safe in the relationship.  So God made allowances for that fact and allowed divorce because sometimes there are no options.  Now, we have friends where one spouse was unfaithful, and the other could have sought a divorce, but they both decided to seek reconciliation.  And that is a beautiful thing. That is God’s heart.  However, both partners have to be willing to work through it.  And in this fallen world, that doesn’t happen often.

Some people say divorce is never the right thing to do.  No matter what.  Even if the wife is being abused.  Even if one of them has completely abandoned their vows.  They point to a verse and say, “See right here, the Bible says so.”  Many people misuse the Bible.  You have to read the Bible as a unified book. It is a story of God and people.  You can’t pick out one passage and use it however you want.  

Matthew 5:17-19   “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.   For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 

Jesus made it very clear that he was not doing away with the law.  The instructions aren’t going anywhere.  You might want to take a break, step outside for a second, and ensure the earth and sky are still here.  If they are, the Torah is still in place.  These instructions are still in place until God accomplishes everything in His mission to restore the world when Jesus returns.  

Jesus said he was here to “fulfill” the Torah and the Prophets.  Some may tell you that ‘fulfill’ means bring to an end, but that contradicts what Jesus just said.  I think Jesus said he would explain the instructions fully so that we would not view the laws as a checklist of things we must do but as a revelation of God’s character that we should imitate.

Matthew 5:20   “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Wait!  Weren’t the Pharisees righteous? Didn’t they keep the law meticulously?  There is a fundamental misunderstanding of the Biblical concept of righteousness.   I want you to think for a moment and come up with a definition of righteousness.  Go ahead, I’ll wait…..

Okay, perhaps your definition is like this dictionary definition:  “The quality of being morally right or justifiable.”  That may be Webster’s definition, but it is not the Biblical definition (though it is part of it). Biblically, righteousness means living in the right relationship with God, other people, and all creation. We must understand righteousness as a relational concept, not a legal one. It is about relationships, not about being right.

*Of course, part of being in a good relationship with God is following God’s rules.  It is difficult for children to have a good relationship with their parents if they never obey them.  But the goal is the relationship, not being right.  Let me illustrate that with an example.  My wife went to a conference once where the lecturer said after his first year of marriage,  he looked back and realized he had won every argument.  But in doing so, he almost lost his marriage.  His constant need to be right created such tension that it jeopardized the relationship.

It was the Pharisees who placed such emphasis on keeping every little detail of the law. Their goal was to keep the law, and they were so focused on the law that they forgot about the relationship.  Jesus says to them:

Matthew 23:23   “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.  These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

“Justice, mercy faithfulness” — does that remind you of that verse from Micah we looked at last week?   Righteousness is not about being right but about being in a relationship.  With this in mind, let’s look at how Jesus looks for the wisdom behind one of the ten commandments: Do not murder.

Matthew 5:21-24   “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ’You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’   But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.   So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

This is the first of six examples of God’s instructions that Jesus gave, explaining the wisdom behind the law. Six times in Matthew 5, he took a very familiar Old Testament command and said, “You have heard it said….” Then he teaches them God’s wisdom behind those commands, saying, “But I say unto you.”  Again, Jesus is not changing the law or doing away with it; he is bringing it to its fullest expression of what the law means.

Jesus says he is looking for the wisdom of God that was the reason for the law.  He wants to fulfill them – express them fully, to explain the heart of God behind the law.  So, he takes some examples of God’s instructions and demonstrates the wisdom of God behind the law.  Six times in Matthew 5, he takes a very familiar Old Testament command and says, You have heard it said….” then he teaches them God’s wisdom behind those commands. “But I say unto you.”  Again, Jesus is not changing the law or doing away with the law; he is bringing it to its fullest expression of what the law means.

So, don’t murder.  That shouldn’t be too hard to follow.  What is the wisdom behind not murdering?  What gets someone to the point that they would consider taking someone’s life?   We only destroy what we do not value.  If something is worthless, we toss it in the trash.  You don’t throw things that you value in the garbage can.  To come to the point of wanting to kill someone, you must think they have no value.  Murder is the ultimate expression of saying someone has no value.  God values all of his creation. 

Matthew 10:29-31   Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.   But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. 

If we can only grasp this concept.  God loves us. The God who created the universe knows us and values us more than you value your children.  God values all of us.  God values the person who drives slow in the left lane, the one who cuts you off on the road, the one who is rude to you in the store, the person who messes up your order, the people who vote for the other person, the people fighting in wars – the ones on both sides.  God values us all. 

God wants us to value everyone also.  Now, we don’t have to love everyone equally.  God loves everyone, but there is a special love, a covenantal love, that God loves those who have joined with him in a commitment or covenant.  The love between a man and his wife differs from how he loves others.  But God values all life. And he wants us to value all life.

Jesus looks at the commandment to not murder not as a civil law but as a revelation of the character of God.  Skip Moen said it this way:

“We don’t kill someone else because God is the author of life.  God holds life sacred and is the only judge of human behavior. Murder is an act of treason against God. Murder says, “I am god over this person’s life.” 1

Murder says, “I am the judge who decides who can live or die.” 

It all goes back to the garden.  God said eat of all the trees but one. don’t eat of the tree of “the knowledge of good and evil.” (I like to call it “the tree of who gets to decide what is good and evil.”)   So enjoy God’s good world, but the authority of deciding for yourself what is good and evil instead of depending on God to the be judge, don’t take that, it will result in death.

Genesis 3:4  But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.  For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

They wanted to be their own boss and judge for themselves what was right and wrong.  They wanted to take God’s position as judge.  This is the sin of Genesis 3.

So we get ‘do not murder,’ but then Jesus says anger is the same thing as murder.  How is anger the same as murder?  What is behind the anger?  My anger says, “My way is more important than yours.” My anger says, “I deserve better than you have treated me.” My anger says, “You and I are not the same. I am valued more than you.  I have the right to judge you.  I am god over you.”  (We are still eating the fruit of that tree.)  Anger comes from the same place murder comes from.2 

You might say, “Well, anger is not bad because the Bible tells us God got angry.”  Yes. He did.  And it is alright for God to get angry.  Because God is God. He is not doing wrong by acting as the judge because he is the judge.  Is it that bad?  Look at what Jesus said: the punishment for murder was: “You will be liable to judgment.”  And the sentence for anger:  “liable to judgment.” This is because God looks at the heart, and both crimes come from the same place in the heart.  Now, how about insulting someone?  Your version may say “Raca.”  That is an Aramaic word that means “an empty person.”  A more modern equivalent would be to say someone is  “good for nothing”  (empty of worth, no value).  Then Jesus brings up saying, “You fool.”  That is the Greek word “moros” from which we get our English word ‘moron’  (someone of very low intelligence).  All of these have in common the devaluation of another.  It is the same judging.  Now, of course, you are going to get angry at times because we live in a world full of sin.  But you get angry, and then you get over it.  Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath… Don’t give place to the devil.

Jesus continued in Matthew 5:23-24:

So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

This is an ancient story that Jesus has taken from Scripture. Can anyone think of a story in the Bible about brothers who were feuding and an offering being made? Jesus has Genesis in mind because this story is told in Genesis 4.

Genesis 4:3  In the course of time, Cain brought to Yehovah an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And Yehovah had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. 

Why wasn’t Cain’s offering accepted?  I’ve heard people say it was because he brought part of his harvest and not animals, but there are many grain offerings in the Bible, so that is not it.  What does God say next?

Genesis 4:6-7  Yehovah said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?   If you do well, (the right thing) will you not be accepted?   And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door.  Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”

(By the way, the wording for sin’s relationship with Cain, “Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it,” is the same as God’s punishment of Adam and Eve after the forbidden fruit episode in Genesis 3.  “But your desire will be for your husband, but he will rule over you.”Don’t let anyone tell you that this verse is how marriages work.  This is about a fallen world.  God’s ideal is a chapter back.)

Gen. 4:8   Cain spoke to Abel his brother.  And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 

These weren’t their first words. Anger has been brewing in Cain for a while.  It would be hard to imagine that Cain and Abel had a perfect relationship before this incident.  Does a man kill his brother over the first difficulty between them?  Quite clearly, God expects us to initiate reconciliation with others.  Then God will look favorably upon our offerings.  Why was Cain’s offering not accepted?  He was not righteous; he was not in good relations with his brother.

So, don’t bother with your offering if you have done anything against someone and have not tried to make peace with them.  God won’t accept it.  God loves peacemakers.  There are stories after stories of this in the Old Testament.  Read the first chapter of Isaiah for one.

We are responsible for seeking reconciliation, but you are not responsible for ensuring it. If you make a sincere attempt and they do not reconcile, you are off the hook.

Paul talks about this in Romans.

Romans 12:14-18   Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.  Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight.   Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.   If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.

“As far as it depends on you.”  You are not going to have perfect relations with everyone.  Jesus wronged no one, but many (by their choice) weren’t in good relationship with him.  Yet his mission here was to reconcile people to God who had wronged God.  That is the heart of God.  On the cross, Jesus prays for the people who are currently torturing him.  “Father, forgive them.”  And Jesus forgives us because he wants that relationship with us.  He will forgive us for everything if we confess and repent.  That is who God wants us to be: people who are slow to anger and quick to forgive.  Our ministry is a ministry of reconciliation.

Your goal this week is to consider your relationships. Before you return to church on Sunday, is there anyone you need to approach to reconcile?  

  1.   Moen, Skip. From “The Cult of Self-Esteem” at skipmoen.com.
  2. A few versions (The King James Version and the New King James Version most notably) add a phrase: “ But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment…”  This phrase is not in any of the earliest manuscripts and only appeared sometime after 250 AD.  That is why every modern translation (except the two above) does not include it.