As we begin, let me remind you where we’ve come to in the Sermon on the Mount.
In Matthew 5:17 we learn that Jesus did not come to end or abolish the OT but to came fulfill it or bring it to its completion. Jesus follows this statement in v17 with six examples that finish out the rest of Matthew 5. In each of these examples Jesus will quote either the OT directly or the interpretation of the OT taught by the scribes and the Pharisees. What Jesus is doing in these six examples is not comparing the teaching of the OT with His new teaching, no. Rather He’s comparing the scribes and Pharisee’s wrong interpretation of the OT with the true interpretation of the OT.[1] In other words, He’s pointing out what the OT was truly teaching all along. For far too long the scribes and Pharisee’s handled God’s Word in the OT as a matter of mere external obedience, in effect teaching that as long as you don’t physically commit these sins or cross these lines you’re living in obedience to God. To them, obeying the mere externals was what made them righteous. Yet, Jesus’ teaching reaches deeper. He goes beyond the letter of the Law to the heart and spirit of the Law, showing in all six of these examples how the OT deals not only with our external life but with our internal life too. In this way we see what true righteousness looks like.
In each of these six examples Jesus will say one phrase repeatedly, “You have heard it said…but I say to you.” That Jesus does this in each example shows us how He does not hesitate to set Himself up as the authority.[2] Do you see how He is claiming to speak not just for God but as God? This is no mere teacher, or prophet, or just another scribe giving just another interpretation. This is the very Son of God teaching us the very Word of God.
Well, today we come to His first example, v21-26, where Jesus teaches on murder. ‘Murder?’ you ask, ‘I’m no murderer. What does murder have to do with me?’[3] LOADS.
In his book Good and Angry David Powlison begins with this thought, “We all have firsthand experience with anger gone wrong. We’ve dished it out. We’ve been on the receiving end. We’ve heard and seen others get angry at each other. At some point in each day you are probably affected by some form of anger gone bad – either your own or someone else’s.”[4]
Anger is, therefore, a reality that touches us all. This is true whatever your anger looks like. Some of you get angry like a gunslinger, lashing out in loud outbursts of anger. Some of you get angry like a volcano, slowly building and building beneath the surface until you explode. Still others of you get angry like an iceberg, you’re calm and quiet on the surface, yet just beneath lies a dense and massive block of resentment hoarded up coloring your speech and interactions with others. All these various kinds of anger, though seemingly worlds apart, are very similar at root. It’s all anger being expressed in different degrees showing itself in irritability, argument, bitterness, resentment, self-righteousness, sarcasm, withdrawal, or violent outbursts. We must admit it, we have a problem.
What do we do about this? Jesus has much to say to us on this very subject.
There are many ways to come at this text to mine it, understand it, and apply it. I’ve separated it into two points.[5] First, we’ll look at the heart of anger in v21-22. And second, we’ll look at how we deal with anger in v23-26.
The Heart of Anger (v21-22)
“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.”
Jesus begins here in this first example with the sixth commandment, quoting Exodus 20:13, “You shall not murder.” He also adds the penalty for murder which is judgment. This penalty of judgment is not found in any one passage in the OT but was generally the way the sixth commandment was understood in that day.[6] And as we’ve said, the common way this commandment was taught was that one only broke this commandment by committing actual murder. That’s what the scribes and Pharisee’s taught, and that’s what is given to us here in v21. Yet in v22, Jesus goes deeper to give the true way of understanding the commandment against murder by speaking of anger. By doing this Jesus fixes our attention onto the motives and attitudes which exist beneath the surface of murder.[7] He even applies of the same penalty to anger, that anger towards a brother makes one liable to judgment, that anger brings one before the council (a well-known seat of judgment in that day), and ultimately that anger brings one to hell. All this means, to Jesus, anger towards another is as offensive and inexcusable in the sight of God as murder.
Now that He’s laid out the main idea, we might ask how this is the case. To show this to us, Jesus brings up our speech and how our speech betrays us and reveals our murderous hearts. He says whoever angrily insults someone or calls someone a fool is liable to judgment. The word for “insults” here in the Greek is the word raca meaning something like the word idiot while the word “fool” in the Greek is the word moros which is of course where we get our word moron. Taken together and used against another person, raca and moros, insults the whole of that person. We’re insulting their worth, their intelligence, their dignity, implying that such a person is worthless. These words reveal the posture of our hearts and the thoughts we often nurse against others, thoughts that Jesus would call murderous.
Why does Jesus speak like this? His whole purpose here is to show how the sixth commandment has all of this in view. It isn’t just about not physically ending one’s life, but rather the sixth commandment is about anything we do toward another in anger. This really shouldn’t surprise us. Deep down we know this to be true. We know this to be true from Jesus Himself in other places. For example, in Matthew 15 we hear Jesus teach us what comes out of our hearts. He says, “…what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.” We often believe our hearts are truer and brighter than they really are. Jesus is clear, there is a murderous streak within every one of us. And I would argue also we know this to be true from our experience. Examine your anger when it flares up. Examine what happens within your soul when someone does something against you. The contempt, the scorn, the disrespect, the disdain, and the vitriol it brings…are these things godly feelings or inclinations? No, not at all. They’re the vile and foul ingredients that form the on-ramp that leads to murder.
If we’re honest with ourselves, what’s the verdict? We are, all of us, murderers in mind and heart and thought. Our anger shows this to be true. But is anger always this wrong. No, it’s not. Not all anger is wrong. Jesus Himself was angry when He flipped the tables in the temple, when He looked into the death and darkness of Lazarus’ tomb, and He was angry when the religious leaders attacked Him for healing on the Sabbath. There truly is a place for anger. But Jesus’ anger is always a righteous anger. Is that our anger normally? When someone is rude to you in public or cuts you off in traffic, is that righteous anger stirring up within you? HA! Yeah right! Our anger is almost entirely, 99.9% of the time, unrighteous anger filled with all manner of colorful insults.
So the main thrust here to see is that just because you’ve not actually murdered another person doesn’t mean you’re living in obedience with the sixth commandment. If you’ve been angry with another, you’ve murdered them in your mind and heart. What then does obedience to the sixth commandment look like? It looks like a far more internal reality than just avoiding murder, and it even looks far more than just avoiding anger. The heart and soul of the sixth commandment is about respecting others, valuing others, and esteeming others. It looks like honoring the life of all those around you, regardless how they treat you.
This means much for our lives. We must not only do the negative thing and avoid sin, we must do the positive thing and seek to prevent the sin. See this next in v23-26.
Dealing With Anger (v23-26)
“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. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”
Notice in v23-24 the context of worship is in view. Jesus speaks of offering gifts on an altar, which is certainly describing a kind of sacrifice, or a worshipful setting. This is how Jesus chooses to illustrate how to deal with our anger, that is even effects our worship of God. How? See it in these verses. If we are worshiping God, in the very act of worship and we just so happen to remember that “a brother has something against you…” Pause there, what does that mean? It means anger, it means relational strife, it means another is at odds with you and is very likely harboring resentment and offense towards you, that’s clear. Now, if that is has occurred and you remember this in worship, see what Jesus would have you do? He’d have you leave the altar, go and be reconciled with the brother, and then return to altar to worship.
How strong is this, Church? Jesus teaches here that anger, our anger against another and even another’s anger against us, disturbs worship to such a severe degree that we’re to leave worship to deal with it. In other words, to Jesus it’s far more important to be reconciled to your brother than to go through the mere external actions of worship.[8] Theologian A.W. Pink is helpful here when he comments, “Before bending the knee in prayer, let us call to mind that we are to draw near unto Him who is as much the Father of the offended brother as He is ours, and that He will not receive us while we continue…under the influence of a malicious spirit.”[9]
Jesus even goes further in v25-26 saying that we’re to seek reconciliation immediately, warning us that if we don’t something worse could happen to us, like the offended party suing us and bringing us to court before a judge, who then might hand us off to a guard, who might take us to prison. What do we make of this? Well, many see this as a metaphorical argument, meaning our unconfessed and undealt with anger brings us ultimately before the very judgment of God resulting in hell, like v22 says. God, after all, is the just judge of all the universe, and James 2:13 says God will judge without mercy to those who show no mercy. Others view v25-26 a bit more simply, saying this teaches it is far better to come to terms with those you’re in angry conflict with sooner than later because unresolved anger generally leads to more dire results for all involved. If we view this more simply, Jesus’ words here are very good advice. If we view it metaphorically, Jesus’ words here help prevent us from coming face to face with the judgment of God and hell itself. The bottom line is this: in the sixth commandment God holds us accountable not just for our external acts of violence done to others, but for our angry thoughts toward others. In this the radical and revolutionary character of Christ’s Kingdom is seen and felt.[10]
Here’s a hard question, Church. How many churches would be temporarily emptied if this was taken seriously?[11] This is no joke. Anger towards another that we allow to exist undealt with…will diminish our worship of God. Our worship of God! The worship of God is the very fountain of joy and delight for a Christian, and it can be wrecked if anger has got its teeth in us.
Because the stakes are this high, that worship of God is in view, ought to move us to deeply desire reconciliation. What then does reconciliation look like after anger has taken root? It looks like doing hard things like owning up to sins and wrongs done, acknowledging fault, apologizing, asking for forgiveness, and making peace. And after all that hard work has been done, we must seek to be what God is, slow to anger.
Conclusion:
After all of this I’m sure some of you are thinking, ‘C’mon, this seems a bit much. It’s only human to get angry.’ I would agree. For sinful men and women, anger is normal. But I’d also say our anger is never innocent. Today we’ve seen the lethal streak present in our anger, and have had to face the label, murderer. You ever viewed yourself like this? It’s hard and heavy and sobering for sure, but it’s true.
But there is hope for the murderous heart in the gospel. Jesus was tested, accused, betrayed, denied, spit on, beaten, mocked, scorned, and was killed unjustly. You see, we have no right to be angry because of all our many sins. Only Jesus had a real right to be angry because He never sinned, at all. He’s the only One in history whose anger and wrath would’ve been justified. But…He chose a different way. In great kindness and love, He chose to die, for us. Because He chose this way, we have hope. Because He chose this way angry murderers like us have great hope. Hope to be saved from God’s anger. Hope to be saved from our own anger. And hope to be made, slowly but surely, into a person who is slow to anger. Only the gospel can change the angry heart.
Do you believe that? There are tons of self-help books and courses and YouTube videos you can watch about mastering anger or overcoming anger. The answers they give are awful, telling us that anger is just depression in a more active form, or that we must seek to have a more positive energy field around us, or that we must rid all the negativity from our lives. These are all dead ends.
Only the gospel is honest about our anger. Only the gospel teaches us that we’re part of the problem. Only the gospel teaches us that others anger against us is usually always justified. And only the gospel teaches us that our sins against God are far more grievous than another’s sin against us.
Only in the gospel is our anger confronted and comforted by grace. Only in the gospel is our anger met by love. And only in the gospel is our anger mastered by Christ who is ever slow to anger. “If He can calm the sea, He can calm the storm in me.”
[1] Donald A. Hagner et al., Matthew 1-13, ed. Bruce M. Metzger, David Allen Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker, WBC (Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1995), 111.
[2] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon of the Mount (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1981), 1:213.
[3] R. Kent Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, Preaching the Word Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001), 104.
[4] David Powlison, Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2016) 1.
[5] Donald Alfred Hagner, Matthew 1-13, Volume 33A, ed. Bruce M. Metzger, David Allen Hubbard, and Glenn W. Barker, Revised ed. edition (Zondervan Academic, 2018), 115.
[6] Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, PNTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1992), 113.
[7] R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007), 199.
[8] Hughes, The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom, 107.
[9] A.W. Pink, An Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1969), 75.
[10] Hagner et al., Matthew 1-13, 118.
[11] Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture, NAC (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 1992), 108.
