This week, we are looking at a
section of perhaps the most famous sermon that Jesus ever preached, called the
Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded for us in a section of an account of
Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. And it is in Matthew
5:21-22, as Jesus talked about the issue of murder, that we
see Jesus reveal for us a timeless truth about the true nature of what it means to obey the message and
teachings of Jesus and the true nature of a lifestyle that is living a right
relationship with Jesus.
And that timeless truth is this: We
are guilty of murder when what comes from our heart damages another’s heart. We
talked about the reality that our words and our actions are the overflow from
what is going on inside of our hearts. And as the wisest man who ever lived,
King Solomon stated in Proverbs 4:23 “Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.”
And because of that reality, we are guilty of murder
when we respond to our desires being blocked in a way that damages another. We
are guilty of murder when we respond in anger either to the wrong things or in the
wrong way in a way that damages another. We are guilty
of murder when we angrily verbally bully another, whether that verbal bullying is face to
face or on social media, in a way that damages the heart of another. We
are guilty of murder when we angrily speak in a way that disrespectfully
slanders another person in a way that damages the heart of another.
We
are guilty of murder because Jesus is not simply concerned with our external
behavior. We are guilty because at the end of the day Jesus is concerned with
our internal heart condition. Jesus is concerned with our internal heart
condition because Jesus knows, and human history has shown, that what is in the
heart will eventually spill out.
And
because of that reality, as Jesus continues His sermon, we see Jesus reveal how
we are to respond when what spills out of our heart reveals what is inside of
our heart in a way that results in us being guilty of damaging another’s heart.
So, let’s look that response together, beginning in Matthew 5:23:
"Therefore
if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your
brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there
before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and
present your offering.
Again, to fully understand the significance of Jesus
words here, we first need to understand a few things. The first thing that we
need to understand involves how the Jewish people worshipped God during this
time in history, which was referred to as the Jewish sacrificial system. In the Jewish sacrificial system, there were two times
every day that sacrifices were made to God for the sins of the people, one
early in the morning and one in the in the late afternoon at 3 p.m.
The sacrificial offerings involved animals who
were offered as a substitute to pay the penalty for acts of selfishness and
rebellion that had been committed against God. In addition, the Jewish people
would offer up what were referred to as burnt offerings. The burnt offerings
were expression of worship and thanksgiving to God.
Also, it is important to understand that, during this time in history, there
was only one church; and that church was the Temple that was in Jerusalem. So,
every Jewish person would travel to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, where
they would offer up acts of worship on an altar to the Lord.
Now that leads us to the second thing which we need to
understand, which is where Jesus was preaching this sermon. Jesus was preaching
this sermon on an elevated area near the Sea of Galilee in the Northern part of
what was known as the Jewish nation. That is why this sermon is known as the
Sermon on the Mount. Now the distance from where Jesus was preaching this
sermon and the Temple in Jerusalem was approximately 80 miles. For the average
person, the journey between the Temple in Jerusalem and the Sea of Galilee
would take approximately one week to complete.
So, Jesus here is basically saying “If you are down in
Jerusalem at church and you are getting ready to worship God and then remember
that you have wronged your neighbor because of the reality that something came
out of your heart that damaged their heart, leave your act of worship at
church, make the eighty-mile trip from Jerusalem back to see your neighbor. You
need to first make the eighty-mile trip from Jerusalem back to see your
neighbor in order to do what needs to be done to make sure that you restore a
sense of harmony and normalcy back to your relationship with your neighbor.
Then, after restoring a sense of harmony and normalcy back in your relationship
with your neighbor, then make the eighty-mile trip back down to Jerusalem and
worship God.”
Jesus here is telling a parable, which is an earthly
story designed to reveal the deeper spiritual truth that the reconciliation and
restoration of relationships really matter to God. Jesus uses this parable to
reveal the reality that our response to damaging another’s heart is to make
great effort to restore harmony and normalcy back to the relationship we have
damaged. Jesus hammered this point home with a second parable in verse 25:
"Make
friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so
that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the
officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 "Truly I say to you,
you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.
In this second parable, Jesus paints a scenario
between a person who has had a charge brought against them because they wronged
another. Jesus explained to the crowds listening that the person who has had a
charge brought against them because they wronged another should make every
effort to settle the case and right the wrong that they had committed against
the person who was taking them to court before seeing the judge.
Jesus that warned that failing to take such action
would result in a hearing before the judge where they would most certainly be
found guilty of wrong and experience a harsh punishment for their wrong. When
Jesus uses the phrase “you will not come out of there until you have paid up
the last cent” He was reinforcing the reality that failing to make great
efforts to restore harmony and normalcy back to the relationship that has been
damaged will result in the loss of everything that a person has.
You see, reconciliation, a restoration of harmony and
normalcy in our relationships, really matters to Jesus because, at the end of the day,
Jesus is concerned with our internal heart condition. Jesus is concerned with
our internal heart condition because Jesus knows, and human history has shown,
that what is in the heart will eventually spill out. And, as Jesus points out
in this part of His famous sermon, we are guilty of
murder when what comes from our heart damages another’s heart.
So, with that in mind, here is a question to consider:
What do your words and your actions reveal about what is going on inside of
your heart? Are you guilty of responding to your desires being blocked in a way
that damages another? Are you guilty of responding in anger either to the
wrong things or in the wrong way in a way that damages another?
Are you guilty of angrily verbally bully others, whether that
verbal bullying is face to face or on social media, so as to damage the heart
of another? Are you guilty of angrily speak in a way
that disrespectfully slanders another person so as to damage the heart of another?
Because,
as Jesus points out, if that is the case, we are guilty of murder. We are guilty of murder because Jesus is not
simply concerned with our external behavior. We are guilty because at the end
of the day Jesus is concerned with our internal heart condition. We are guilty
because we are speaking and acting from anger instead of love…
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