HAVE YOU MURDERED ANYONE LATELY?
Matthew 5:21-26
1. One of the major challenges of preaching through a book of the Bible or extended sections of a book is that you are forced to deal with some of the tougher and more uncomfortable passages of scripture.
• It would be so much easier and more enjoyable for me and, I assume, all of us to just skip over passages and topics like murder, hatred, sexual immorality, cursing, and retaliation and stick to those that speak of God’s love and goodness, His faithfulness, mercy and forgiveness.
• Besides, we read and see way more than we can stomach of murder, rape, immorality, and violence in the media and movies – why should we still have to deal with that stuff when we come to church? Isn’t church supposed to provide us some kind of a safe haven from all that horror?
2. Well, the answer is YES and NO.
• YES, the church community needs to most assuredly be a safe haven from those kinds of behaviors. The church, and I am not just referring to sanctuaries like this or gathering places where the church meets, but to the entire community of God’s people – should never be the place where any immoral, vicious, violent, or hateful behavior is practiced. Sadly, though, it happens all the time, among the clergy and lay folk. The tragic reports of priests and pedophilia, of Mary Winkler’s brutal murder of her pastor husband in March of this year, of adulterous relationships that make the headlines when a pastor runs off with the church secretary or music director, but that never make even the local news when it happens between church members, of bitter feuds and animosities that simmer and boil without any thought of resolution between members - ought to be enough evidence for us.
• NO, in the sense that the church is intended to be God’s Emergency Department and General Hospital for all the various wounds, ailments and diseases that plague our planet and God’s people – that’s us – are the ones staffing the facility. And since helping to heal human brokenness is our business, talking about human brokenness is an absolute requirement.
3. And so here in this next segment of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, He deals with some of the major causes of our human conflict and confusion. Today’s focus is on the root cause of murder.
• Now maybe we’re all thinking to ourselves, “Well I’ve never murdered anyone, so this doesn’t really apply to me”. Hold on a second before you turn your mind elsewhere!
• Notice how Jesus sharpens and clarifies our understanding of murder to include much more than just the physical act of taking another human life.
o If all that the sixth commandment referred to was only what we commonly understand as murder – the deliberate taking of a human life, it would be bad enough – and without taking into account the over 47 million aborted babies since 1973, there are over 25,000 such crimes in the US every single year. Seattle reported 25 murders in 2005, Washington DC had 195, Phoenix had 220, Philadelphia (the city of brotherly love) had 377, Los Angeles came in with 489, and New York City took the record with 539.
o Just as a malignant tumor may not be visible until it is too late to treat it, so Jesus is saying that the physical act of taking another human life is the final and end stage outworking of a vengeful and hateful process that began in the mind and heart. The final outward act resulted from exactly the same destructive inner seed.
o And God is concerned about the entire process – not just the end result.
o We might like to excuse and justify the preliminary attitudes and behaviors of anger and insults as “not being that bad” and believing that “we would never allow those emotions to get out of hand – we know exactly where the brakes are”
I guess that might have been the very same thing that King David might have said – a godly and upright man who had written in Psalm 5: “For thou, Oh Lord, art not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not sojourn with thee…Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness…” – that he would never let his emotions get the better of him, until…until late one Spring afternoon when his soldiers were off on the battlefield and he was relaxing out on his balcony and his eye just happened to catch the naked Bathsheba down in her courtyard taking a bath. And soon one thing let to another and another and another and she was pregnant and her husband Uriah had to be eliminated.
I guess dear old Simon Peter – had you asked him a few weeks before Jesus’ arrest if he would ever deny that he knew Jesus, would have looked at you with fire in his eyes and unbelief across his face at the very thought and said, “Are you out of your mind? I am willing to lay down my very life for this man! Deny that I know Him? What would even possess you to ask me such a preposterous question?” But one thing eventually led to another and another until the unthinkable deed took place.
4. So let me ask you the question, “Have you murdered anyone lately?” Are you at some point on the road that leads in that direction?
5. Jesus is warning us here to not even get on the road of anger and insults because sooner or later it becomes the slippery slope leading to murderous behavior and besides what it does to others, held within us, anger is a virulently corrosive emotion.
• Seneca, the Roman philosopher from 50 AD stated, “Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.”
• Dr. Sandra Nelson, a member of the American Counseling Association and the American Association of Christians Counselors, wrote on her website “One of the main effects of anger is on the release of chemicals and hormones, mainly adrenaline and noradrenaline. The adrenal hormones act on all body organs connected to the nervous system, stimulating the heart, dilating coronary vessels, constricting blood vessels in the intestines, and shutting off digestion. When the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline is chronic or prolonged, resulting in chronic or prolonged anger (resentment), some of the most serious effects are heart attack, stroke, and kidney problems.” (http://tell-me-about-it.com/life101/whatangerdoes.html)
• You want to stay physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy and well? Don’t allow anger and resentment to gain a controlling foothold in your life. Don’t nurse it. Don’t defend it. Don’t justify it. It will destroy you as you focus it on others.
• If you get angry over someone’s behavior, deal with it immediately. Schedule a time to confront and talk. Paul’s advise in his letter to the Ephesians is to “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil”. (Ephesians 4:26) The longer we allow anger to stew in our gut the more it starts to consume and possess us.
6. In addition to the physical danger of anger, Jesus underscores the serious spiritual danger we place ourselves in through unresolved anger. “Whoever insults his brother – saying ‘Raca’ (an Aramaic term of contempt and derision – like calling someone a ‘Jerk’ or ‘good for nothing’) shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire”.
• Jesus is not here giving us another set of rules or terms never to use – so that as long as we don’t use those words, we’re okay and can feel satisfied that we are not guilty.
• The whole point of the commandment to not commit murder is that human life is absolutely precious because we were made in the image and likeness of Almighty God.
• Your life, my life, the person in front and behind of you’s life, the annoying and irritating person’s life, the person from whom you are alienated – every human’s life is precious and valuable and needs to be regarded with utmost respect not because of the things they do or don’t do – but because the Creator’s signature is inscribed at the very core of their being, whether they know that or not.
• And any action from us that results in the destruction of a person’s name or character or reputation or value or life is ultimately directed at God – the One who gave life to that person and we will have to answer to Him. How can we have any blessed relationship with the Almighty if we do not value those He values and for whom His Son laid down His life?
7. And to expand on what or who God values, and to underscore the absolute priority He places on forgiveness and reconciliation, Jesus opens our eyes to the heart and spirit of the law that goes way beyond the letter.
• The letter of the Law required an offering of atonement to be brought to the altar for sin. But Jesus says that as important as that act is, it must never take precedence over action to seek a reconciliation with one from whom you have been alienated.
• And you notice that Jesus places the onus for seeking that reconciliation not on the one who has something against you, but on you and me as His disciples.
o And if the issue is between two disciples, two Christians, then the responsibility lies with the first one who remembers that the other has something against you.
• Since He took the initiative to come as God’s reconciler, we as His disciples share in that same ministry and likewise have the responsibility to act first – even to the point of stopping right in the middle of our own ritual of atonement.
o The issue is not primarily on who is at fault, but of who first grasps and understands our calling as reconcilers and peacemakers.
• By taking that initiative we demonstrate that we are children of our Heavenly Father.
8. Now, unfortunately, not every conflict, not every disagreement, not every alienation is going to be repaired. That’s just reality.
• Even the greatest act of reconciliation on the planet is not going to draw every human back to God.
• No matter how wide those arms were stretched back on the cross, some will continue to harden their hearts and refuse the embrace.
• However, Romans 12:18 states: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” And Hebrews 12:14 says, “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy”.
• We commit to doing that and we leave the results in the hands of God.
9. If you’ve murdered someone lately – assassinating someone’s name, character, or reputation with insults and slurs – if resentment and bitterness towards another is simmering in your gut, don’t let another moment go by to seek reconciliation.
• Make it your #1 priority before doing anything else so that you give no foothold to the devil
• If the person you have offended or who has offended you or who has something against you is here in this sanctuary this morning – after we sing our final hymn and as we move to our closing circle, take the opportunity to move towards that person – you can have a private conversation together afterwards – but by taking that step you are giving the signal of your willingness to do whatever you can to bridge the divide and heal the relationship.
• The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with us all.
AMEN
