Living Toward the Day: “Anger” (Matt 5:17-26)

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today we’re going back to Matthew 5:17-26, which we missed due to being locked out of this property one Sunday. Matthew 5:17-26 is the start of the section where Jesus gives six commands. I also wanna touch on chapter 5:27 to 30, which I only looked at very briefly, so I’d like to just quickly visit that too.

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And if you didn’t get Stuart’s talk last week, it was excellent on judging, so make sure you, listen to that. So to recap, Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount very graciously with the Beatitudes. Then He calls us to be salt and light in the world, and then He gives us His commands. And in the Great Commission at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

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So Matthew’s Gospel is the command gospel, and Jesus’ commands in Matthew are incredible. But to introduce Jesus’ commands, we need to say a few things. The Beatitudes, the blessings that Jesus starts with lead us then to the commands. So He starts with grace, He starts with blessing, and then moves to how do we live this out?

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It’s also true that the commands lead back to grace. If we take the commands of Jesus seriously, they will drive us back to our need of Him to help us. There’s gotta be Jesus’ cross, His resurrection power, and the giving of the Spirit, so that we have the Spirit. It’s gotta be all those things so that we are then able to keep Jesus’ commands.

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There are six, “You have heard that it was said, but I say to you” statements, dealing with anger, lust, adultery, oaths, retaliation, loving enemies. Now the old Protestant orthodoxy said that Jesus’ only purpose here is to teach us that we can’t keep these commands. And yes, the first purpose of the commands is to bring us to our knees.

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You know, “Lord, help me, I can’t do it.” But then the second purpose of these commands is to Jesus… Jesus gets us to, on our feet again and, calls us to try to keep them. And it’s not fair to say that they’re there just to show us that we can’t keep them. No, Jesus really means us to be living this way.

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And he says, “These commands I’m giving you are not setting aside the Old Testament scriptures.” Chapter 5, verse 17, “I have come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.” That’s the Old Testament. I’m not here to abolish the Old Testament scriptures. I’m trying to show you what they mean at a depth. That’s his basic thing.

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He’s giving us a depth dimension of the great commandments of the Old Testament in the Ten Commandments, the great commandment to love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind, soul, and strength and your neighbor as yourself. Those great commandments, Jesus is teaching us what they mean at a depth.

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Um, and Jesus loves the Old Testament scriptures. Verse 18, “Not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen is going to be disappear.” The whole thing’s going to happen, and the Sermon on the Mount is kind of Jesus’ book review of the Old Testament, if you will. He has a high view of the Old Testament scriptures, and during his temptations in the previous chapter, Matthew chapter 4, he uses the Old Testament scriptures three times to ward off Satan.

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On the cross, he says, “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Psalm 22. He’s soaked in the Old Testament, and he says there’s not one part of it that’s going to drop out. It’s all going to be fulfilled. Verse 19, “Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

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But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” I think he means the commands that Jesus is about to explain. And at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount 7:24, he says, “Anyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”

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Here he’s saying, “Whoever does these commands,” meaning the commands Jesus is about to give, which are his interpretation of the Old Testament commands, “that person will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” And Jesus says, verse twenty, “Your righteousness must surpass the phony righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.”

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I’m putting the word phony in there. The, the way that they did it wasn’t what Jesus wants for us. It’s gotta come from the heart, and a heart that wants to obey God. So firstly, the anger command, verses twenty-one to twenty-six. “You’ve heard that it was said long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’

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But I tell you…” By the way, the I here is emphatic in the Greek. The Greek word ego is used. It doesn’t just say, “But I tell you,” it adds an extra word for I into the Greek for emphasis. “But I tell you,” and these six but I tell you statements in Matthew’s gospel are as strong as the I am statements in John’s gospel.

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In John, I am ego eimi. Here, it’s ego again, I tell you. Um, how would you like it if I quoted the Bible then, then said, “But I tell you,” Uh, you’d throw me out of leadership. I can’t say the Bible says X, but I tell you, uh, but Jesus can, because He is the incarnate Word of God, capital W Oof. Sorry. Um, he, this, this is the divinity of Christ is on view here.

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But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister or gives them omonos in Greek, I’m giving you some Greek words today. A participle meaning anyone who continues to be angry. Participles are I-N-G words. It means ongoing action. It’s a way of saying, “I’m going to nourish this anger I have.”

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It’s continuing to carry around anger. There’s an English proverb, “He is a fool who cannot be angry, but he is wise who will not remain so.” We’ve, we’ve got to be angry, uh, just at whatever is happening in the world, which is terrible and horrible. Um, and if we’re not angry with what’s going on, uh, there’s something wrong with us.

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But the moment that the anger comes to us, we’ve got to start to work on it and deal with it and say, “Dear Father, help me with this.” And Jesus continues, “Anyone who is remaining angry,” I’ve put that word remaining, um, “with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ meaning you idiot or imbecile, is answerable to the court.”

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I’ve always wondered, what if the person is an idiot? Can I say it then? Apparently not. How, how often are you driving and there’s a sea of idiots? You know, and they’re coming in be– too close in front of you, and you’re putting on your brakes. “Idiot,” you know? Uh, Jesus says, “No, you can’t say that.” Um, “And anyone who says, ‘You fool,’ will be in danger of the fire of Gehenna or hell.”

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This is verbal contempt. You idiot questions the mental competence of somebody, and you fool, the Greek word is moray, questions the moral competence of somebody. They are vile and not to be loved. Liable to judgment, liable to the court, liable to the fires of Gehenna. Gehenna was a smoldering garbage tip outside of Jerusalem, which became a metaphor for God’s judgment.

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These are three ways of saying that this behavior is liable to God’s judgment. We think seething anger and contempt is no big deal, uh, but Jesus sees it as heart murder. There are many people in psychiatric wards because hateful names and words are lodged in their psyche like bullets in their spine.

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Words that question our intelligence or our character have hurt them deeply. Words that throw mental ability into question or call us morally vile reach places in our nervous systems that even lasers can’t reach. Jesus warns us of the seriousness of God’s judgment. His holiness is at war with this kind of hatred and hurting.

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And Jesus is particularly talking about a brother and sister here, part of the people of God, and calling them a brother or sister reminds us fa- of our connection to one another, our value, our valuing of one another in the people of God, where a seething anger and harsh words spoken are a way of putting distance between our, us and others.

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Um, “I don’t need you. I’m not connected to you. I don’t care what happens to you. I wish harm on you.”

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But Jesus is saying, “No, you’re connected. They are your brother or your sister.” And of course, Jesus is going to die for those brothers and sisters

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And Jesus gives us two remedies. Verse 23, “Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar,” this is an illustration from the Jewish context of the time. You’re bringing your gift, so this is the altar. You’re bringing your gift to the altar, although it was huge. Um, like the altar was that big to the wall and anyway, uh, at Jerusalem.

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And you’re bringing your gift to the altar, but you, you remember, oh, my brother or sister has something against me Uh, again, it’s your brother or sister that he’s talking about. And the Greek word here is something is the word ti, which means anything. You remember that somebody, s- a brother or sister has something against you.

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It’s not you have something against them, it’s that they have something against you. Um, when you realize a brother or sister has something, whatever it is, against you, drop your gift and c- don’t continue the worship of God. God says, “I don’t want to talk to you ’cause there’s a problem. Um, drop the gift right here.

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Don’t put it on the altar yet. First, go back.” And the Greek word first is proton, which means first thing. “Put people before me sometimes, uh, because I don’t want to be talking to you unless you are trying to be in conversation with your brothers and sisters. And if there is anyone who has anything against you,” Jesus says, “first go and, and sort it out.”

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And how many of us are grateful for this? We’ve gone and said to a brother or sister, “Something’s wrong. Can we talk it through? I have a feeling that you have been hurt by me or that there’s something that we need to sort out.” And we ought to be seeing many Christians knocking on doors. Apparently actor John Wayne, American Western actor, said his life motto was, “Never say you’re sorry, never apologize.

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It’s a sign of weakness.” Whoa, what a way to live. No, it’s not a sign of weakness to apologize. It’s extraordinarily hard to say sorry. Every married couple knows this is crucial. I’m very sorry, I was stupid, I don’t know what I was doing. First go, put people before God sometimes because God says so. First go, verse twenty-four, and be reconciled to them.

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Then come and offer your gift. Then he gives another example. This time it’s not a brother or sister, it’s an adversary. He says, “Settle matters quickly.” The word taku, speedily, right now. Don’t leave it till tomorrow. Make a phone call today, right away, now. With rec- reconciliation, speed is the essence of Jesus’ teaching.

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Nine times out of ten, dealing with it quickly will help mend the relationship. It’s impossible not to be angry when something horrible happens, but as quickly as possible, we’re to try to get on top of our anger and do something creative and productive with the anger. In other words, go and seek reconciliation.

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And the great thing about anger is it’s the energy that God gives us. Anger is energy to do something about a situation. So use that energy productively. Verse twenty-five, “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.”

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We’re going to be angry, it’s a given, but then we have to rely on the Holy Spirit to give us the resources and wisdom to settle things. And we’ve had enough bad experiences where we’ve blown our top, um, and it’s been very unproductive. Don’t do that. Get a grip on that anger and use the anger creatively and trust the Spirit to help you.

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Proverbs sixteen thirty-two says, “Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty. And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” And again, this drives us to Jesus for his help. Please help me. I like the English proverb, he is a fool who cannot be angry, but he is wise who will not remain so.

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Ephesians four twenty-six says, “In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” We’re going to be angry about certain things, rightly so, but deal with that anger quickly before the sun goes down. Um, we’re not to remain angry. We’re not to be grudging, resenting, continuing to be mad, uttering careless, bitter, hurtful words.

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No. We’re to ride the tiger of anger to a productive place. Uh, the anger is often good in itself because it drives us to deal with some injustice or sort things out or seek reconciliation. Anger is God-given e-energy to sort things out. Ride that energy, ride that tiger to a good result, and the Holy Spirit will help us.

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That’s what I’m trusting in the gospel. Um, as I believe in Jesus and follow Him, I’m trusting that He will help me through His Spirit with wisdom and with, um, resources to do what needs to be done. But when we explode or when we r-ride the tiger badly, um, it doesn’t end well And handling our anger well is part of being salt and light in the world.

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So reach out in love to the other person. Twice he says, “Be reconciled quickly, settle matters quickly.” The moment anger comes, immediately we’ve gotta shift gears. Um, I’ve gotta do some thinking and some processing, how to handle this and go to them and see if we can work things out. Go and talk with them, Jesus says.

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Now there is an exception we need to make, and that’s when there is abuse and trauma, and in that case, resolving it quickly is not the right idea. And elders and church leaders can’t come to people and say, “You should reconcile right away. Don’t wait,” when actually there’s been abuse and great trauma, and all you’re doing is re-triggering the trauma.

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It’s gonna be a much longer process. A friend of mine was saying it took her two years before she could even talk to the, the person who had hurt her. Um, and I, and she said she was shaking for, like, three months, uh, after a certain thing that had happened. And, you know, it’s not always straightforward and quick.

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But as far as we can, let’s, uh, use our anger creatively towards reconciliation. Likewise, lust, and I wanna say a little bit more on this than I had time for a few weeks ago. You’ve heard it said, “You shall not commit adultery,” but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman, blepo, it’s a present tense participle again.

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Anyone who is looking at a woman and then it’s pros to, um, which means in order to… I’m kind of amazed that translators keep saying anyone who looks with lust when the Greek words mean anyone who looks in order to lust, and the ESV translation brings that out. We can’t help looking with desire and attraction at a beautiful woman or man.

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Our appreciation of men and women, their looks, their gifts, their graces can’t be wrong. It’s the joy that God has given us. We’re meant to enjoy one another and our beauty and our, our graces and gifts, but continuing to look in order to lust, that’s what Jesus is condemning. Nip that in the bud, get a handle on it quickly.

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So it’s similar to anger. Deal with it quickly. Whoever is looking, present continuous tense, in order to desire a woman, uh, who is inappropriate for that to be happening with- Uh, then deal with that quickly. Now, it’s talking about a particular person here. We can apply this to looking at online images, but the context here is an actual person in your life you could possibly pursue.

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Jesus says, “Cut out your eye,” you know, rather than indulge that pursuit of that wrong person. Uh, he’s using hyperbole, exaggeration to make the point. And the same with, “Leave your, uh, gift at the altar and go back to that person.” Well, that’s, that’s hyperbole. Um, that would have been a three-day journey for many or even weeks journey for some Jews who were visiting the temple.

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Um, so he’s just making that point very, very strongly. In other words, do anything you have to do to nip that in the bud. The word lust here can be a bit misleading. The Greek is epithumasi. It’s not just sexual. It has a more general meaning. It means strong, passionate desire, to long for. It’s broader than sexual desire.

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While modern translations often restrict it to lust, the term is neutral. It can refer to a deep longing for positive things, like Jesus anticipating the Passover. He uses the word epithumasi. “I am epithumasing the Passover. I’m longing for it. I’m passionate about it.” You know? Um, or the word can refer to destructive cravings Epithumasi is made up of epi, which means upon or intently focused on, and thumos, meaning soul, mind, or passion.

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So it means fixing your mind and soul o- upon something, fixing it. It’s like coveting. It’s an– There’s another… That’s another way you could translate this, coveting. Um, this is important because sexual affairs often start with an emotional affair. They begin the day someone else begin- becomes the, the first person you wanna tell good news to, the first person you run to after a bad day, the person whose opinion matters most to you more than your spouse.

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Because when someone else is receiving the best parts of you, the affair has already started in a sense, or is well on the way. You are epithumasi, masi- ing, masi-ing those f- that person. And Jesus says, “Nip that in the bud.” Sometimes we’ll even resign our workplace, right? Or move to a different department at work if we can’t control ourselves in relation to someone at work.

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Jesus is advocating decisive action. Jesus isn’t against desire. There’s nothing wrong with attraction to beautiful people. But don’t let healthy attraction, chemistry, friendship turn into an emotional affair and then an actual physical affair. Don’t meet up with that person behind closed doors. Don’t text them without CC’ing your spouse, and so on.

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Don’t spend time alone with them. Um, and keep your sexual relationship with your spouse healthy because sex bonds you together. It keeps the epithumasi strong between you. Uh, remember what Paul says in one Corinthians seven, five? We looked at this last year. “Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of control.”

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He’s talking about sexual temptation. Our bodies belong to one another as husband and wife. Don’t withhold, uh, sex from one another Don’t let Satan tempt you because of your lack of self-control. Paul is saying that we will be more vulnerable to looking elsewhere if we don’t have a healthy sex life with our spouse Now, some of us are like a ball of wool with strands coming out, and this is Glenda’s illustration.

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And this is a painting by John Olsen, an Australian painter, which is kind of similar to a strand of wool with strands coming out, s– I mean, a ball of wool. Um, there’s a lot of anger and pain and hurt inside of us, um, wrapped in there, and we need counseling to unravel the strands, to tease out the threads so that healing can happen, so that we can have a healthy sex life within marriage.

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Um, I like that illustration. Thank you, Glenda. And Jesus says, “Deal with these things,” you know, whether that’s counseling, whatever it is. Be decisive. Fight to protect, uh, your marriage and to make your marriage healthy. And if you find yourself falling in love with another woman or man, maybe you need to put distance between you and them and focus instead on building a stronger marriage, including your sex life.

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Could it be that we talk too much about don’t lust and not enough about creating strong marriages with good sex lives? And could it be that we don’t talk enough about enjoying attraction and more generally when an attractive other is in our life? That’s a good gift from God. It’s lovely to have chemistry and be attracted to other people.

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Martin Luther said of this passage, “We must not pull the bow too tight here.” Uh, we’ve been given this wonderful gift, the sex drive, and Luther said, “The old saying is that you can keep the birds from flying over your head…” Sorry, “You can’t keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair and pecking off your nose.”

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Uh, you, you can’t keep yourself from being attracted to other people, and you shouldn’t want to. You know, you should enjoy that. Enjoy being attracted to beautiful people and enjoy romantic movies or fashion parades or whatever, you know, friends who are attractive, going out, everyone’s getting dressed up, and they smell great.

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You know, uh, enjoy… You know, we’re, we’re meant to enjoy these things. Um, but don’t turn that into an emotional and then physical affair. And Jesus is not anti-sex. He’s not– He’s trying to keep marriage healthy and good. He’s trying to prevent adultery. And a lot of us come home faithfully after being with many attractive other people.

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And we come home to our wives and husbands happily and in love because of these words of Jesus. That we have kept nipping in the bud anything that was going to lead us away from our spouse. Um, He– Jesus is one of the few moral guardians in our culture. Jesus is protecting us here. English historian and writer J.R.

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Seeley said, “No heart is pure that is not passionate. No virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic.” No heart is pure that is not passionate. A pure or authentic heart cannot be passive or apathetic. A pure or authentic heart must be driven by deep feeling and investment in another, and care and so on. Um, you see, what is sexual purity?

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I’m almost finished here. Look, yes, it is not pursuing someone that we ought not to be pursuing. But sexual purity is not just saying no to something, right? It’s not just saying no. Sexual purity is also having a robust, healthy, passionate sex life with our spouses, which may look different as we get older.

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And sexual purity is about being passionate, not apathetic, about beauty and attractiveness generally. No heart is pure if it’s not passionate You know, it’s not just abstinence that’s in view with sexual purity. No virtue is safe that is not enthusiastic. C.S. Lewis writes a lot about this, and I recommend him.

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There was a movement in the late 20th century called the Purity Culture, which was promoting sexual purity, but it had an unintended negative effect, uh, particularly on women, of creating a lot of shame around sex, at least according to a book called Talking Back to Purity Culture by Rachel Joy Welcher.

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She says the purity culture gave the impression that purity is all about sex rather than all about God, and that purity is all about abstinence rather than about a healthy, robust biblical view of sex. Anyway, I recommend that, uh, book if you wanna follow this up in your own life. Worth a read. But this is what it means to be salt and light in the world, dealing with anger and desire well, in a way that brings reconciliation and faithfulness and joy and richness in our lives and passion, um, to the glory of Jesus Christ.

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Amen.