We have been trekking through the Sermon on the Mount and this weekend we come to both a beginning and an ending. Last week we looked at what Jesus had to say about the law and the introduction He gave to six topics he was about to address. Today we are going to look at the first one which is what he had to say about murder and anger and then we are going to end the series for a few weeks so that we can address some other issues that are very important to the life and vision of the church. We should get back to the Sermon on the Mount some time in mid summer.
“When Jesus deals with moral evil and goodness, he does not begin by theorizing. He plunges immediately into the guts of human existence: raging anger, contempt, hatred, obsessive lust, divorce, verbal manipulation, revenge, slapping, suing, cursing, coercing, and begging. It is the stuff of soap operas and the daily news – and real life.” Dallas Willard
Let’s look at the scripture found in Matthew 5:21-26
“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
“When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.” Matthew 5:21-26 NLT 
1. A Case against Murder
Taking another life is serious and dirty business. The bible certainly from the first murder has taken a strong stand on the taking of innocent life. A question is raised from time to time about war and is there such a thing as a “just war.” This is very hard to answer but let me attempt to address if for a few moments. The Commandment, You shall not kill is much more accurately translated, “Do not commit murder.” The commandment has never been interpreted as a prohibition against all taking of life but it is always against homicide or murder. There have always been Christ followers on both sides of the issues of war and capital punishment.
John Stott writes: “What needs always to be asserted by Christians in these debates is that, if the concept of the “just war” is tenable and if the retention of the death penalty is justifiable, the reason is not because human life is ever cheap and readily disposable but the very opposite, namely that it is precious as the life of creatures made in God’s image.
Those who campaign for the abolition of the death penalty on the ground that human life (the murderer’s) should not be taken tend to forget the value of the life of the murderer’s victim.”
He continues: “And those who campaign for unconditional pacifism tend to forget that, though the indiscriminate maiming and killing of civilians is utterly indefensible, God has given to society (whether the state or by extension – some international body) the right and responsibility to punish evildoers.”
We don’t spend all of our time talking about this but let me take this moment to tell you I view abortion as taking of a life. There are those who like to argue about it, there are those who look to science for all their answers and while science has a place it is not above God. In His word it was God who spoke the words through David in the Old Testament:
“You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Psalm 139:14-16 NLT
What you need to remember is that even if you have an abortion in your past it can be forgiven and there are people who will help you process that experience. The good news is someday you may have the chance to meet that baby in heaven. At the rate we accept abortions in this country heaven is being populated rather quickly with children!
The scribes and Pharisees were apparently trying to reduce the sixth commandment to only apply to murder but Jesus had a much broader application. He included thought and words as well as deeds, anger and insult as well as murder.
Just this week in Batavia Ohio we hear this story:
Irritated but calm, the homeowner called 911 and told the dispatcher that he had finally done something about the neighbor boy — the one, the man said into the phone, who had been harassing him for years.
"I just killed a kid," Charles Martin said, according to a recording of the Sunday afternoon call released by police in Union Township, near Batavia, about 20 miles east of Cincinnati. "You just killed a kid?" the surprised 911 operator said. "Yes, ma'am," the caller replied. Martin, 66, is charged with murdering 15-year-old Larry Mugrage, who lived next door to the house where Martin kept a meticulous front lawn with grass that he could sometimes be seen measuring to the inch.
Obviously here is a person who devalued the life of another human being. This is the heart of what Jesus was teaching. 
2. The Curse of Anger:
When you trace the history or wrongdoing back to its roots you will generally find some form of anger. Anger has a brother and that is contempt. Jesus demonstrates an incredible understanding of the role that both anger and contempt play in the nastiness of life and He also very capably leaves us a pattern of behavior to avoid the pitfall associated with them.
Jesus draws their attention to the very well known law against murder and then interjects these words:
“But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”
Given the nature of Jesus additional words I want to spend the rest of our time trying to understand what He means by anger and how does it affect our everyday lives.
What is anger? Anger has been defined as a spontaneous response that has a vital function in life. It is a feeling that seizes us in our body and immediately impels us toward interfering with, and possibly even harming, those who have crossed our will and interfered with our life.
“Anger is in its own right – quite apart from “acting it out: and further consequences – an injury to others. When I discover your anger at me, I am already wounded. Your anger alone will very likely be enough to stop me or make me change my course, and it will also raise the stress of everyone around us. It may also evoke my anger in return. Usually it does, precisely because your anger places a restraint on me. it crosses my will. Thus anger feeds on anger. The primary function of anger in life is to alert me to an obstruction to my will, and immediately raise alarm and resistance, before I even have time to think about it.” (The Divine Conspiracy, Willard)
If that were where anger started and stopped all would be well. There is no sin to be found in that description of anger. So what was Jesus talking about when He uses words like judgment, being brought to court and fires of hell?
I think it is because our level of anger is tied to our wills. We can and usually do chose or will to be angry. Anger may arise in us spontaneously at first but we can actively receive it and decide to indulge it or resist it. The person who continually indulges anger becomes the person who is described as being an angry person. It is that person who at the slightest incident can be in a fit of rage that they seem to keep in constant readiness just below the surface.
Incidents of road rage would be a good example. Is it really being cut off that makes someone so mad that they chase down another person and curse them or offer to fight them?
Embracing Anger
Why do people embrace anger? We need to understand this if we are to understand the ways of our human hearts. Anger indulged and embraced is always tied to some form of self-righteousness and vanity. An angry person or a person who has embraced anger is a person with a wounded ego.
The importance of self and the real and imaginary wound done to it is blown out of all proportions by those who indulge anger. There are people who have embraced anger to the point that they can’t function in their day without it. They thrive on it. Their physical bodies throb with the adrenaline rush and they dedicate energy subconsciously to keeping their anger alive by constantly reminding themselves how unfairly they have been treated.
There is nothing that can be done with anger that cannot be done better without it. You may want to ask what your options are when it comes to anger and I would submit to you that if you want to be an authentic Christ follower you will pursue persistent love and give up the idea of harboring anger.
Contempt: It’s worse than Anger
Let’s look at verse 21 again: “But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”
If you call someone an idiot (Raca) you will be condemned by the court or Sanhedrin which was the highest court of that day. The word or term raca is Aramaic and was used to express contempt for someone or to mark them as contemptible.
Today you and I might use words like dumb, stupid, dork or even nerd. When contempt really gets rolling the words become filthy and can be sexual, racial or cultural in nature. These degrading words should never be used by an authentic Christ follower.
The intent of contempt is to exclude or push someone away. Contempt breaks the bond of social connection more severely than anger. This is taking it to the next level. It sometimes takes on the form of a subtle exclusion of the other person.
You know what? This can happen in families, on a playground, and even in a church sanctuary. It can happen in a small group, a praise team or even a staff. Often those who kill others among us, especially those who are children or young people are those who seem to have no feeling or expressions of regret and in most of these cases you will find that they have felt “dissed” or marginalized by their peers.
They are the products of contempt. While mass murder is not the way to handle it, it is interesting that we are quick to talk about banning guns after a murder and yet no one ever seems to get around to the underlying causes of an anger and contempt gone wrong.
Taking it to the ultimate level
Jesus goes one step further in His condemnation of anger and contempt.
He says, “And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”
Some translations have rendered it this way: “But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (NIV)
These words are a combination of the freezing contempt and withering anger that Jesus is warning about. This is not a commentary on the word fool. You could drop the word fool from your vocabulary and get off rather easily. You and I have to think deeper than that.
Hollywood has become great at demonstrating this kind of anger for us to model. The use of the F-word has become a common adjective in way too many people’s vocabulary. That word coupled with other demeaning words like jerk and others that I will leave out of the sermon are used as extreme expressions of the contempt that Jesus is referring to.
Listen very carefully. It is not possible for people with this kind of attitude toward others to live in the movements of God’s kingdom. This kind of behavior is totally out of harmony with the teachings of Christ. 
3. The Cure for Anger: Be like Christ always!
Jesus gives two examples for us to think about and process. One is personal and involves someone we would consider a brother or sister in Christ. The other is about how we deal with someone who is an adversary or enemy. In neither case is anger allowed. “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God. “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.”
Here is a lesson in curing our anger and making past actions right.
A. We need to admit it if we have anger issues.
As with anything, admitting it is the first step to addressing the need. This illustration that Jesus gives is that of a person engaged in worship who remembers that someone has something against them. They have several options including ignoring this knowledge but Jesus advises that we should stop what we are doing and go get it taken care of.
B. We need to correct any unresolved conflicts in our life and we need to do it NOW!
“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.”
Don’t delay. Don’t put it off anther day. Get it taken care of today or as soon as possible. Some of you may be wondering why you never seem to get any closer to God. Here is a simple illustration and answer. If you know there is something in your life that is contrary to what God teaches in the Bible you need to start working on that and work on it until you conquer it. God will help you if you look to Him faithfully.
C. We must ask God to work on our heart because only He is able to change it.
I am going to use this phrase in the next five sermons when we get back to the series. The whole definition of a quest for faith would be to “be like Christ.” Hopefully there will be people moving toward this goal in areas of their life that need to be worked on.
14 If we love our Christian brothers and sisters,[d] it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister[e] is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. 1 John 3:14-15
Let me tell you what is happening with this teaching of Jesus. He is working way beyond the level of laws and rules. He wants to work on us at the level of our actions both good and bad. He is challenging us to look deep within ourselves and evaluate our love for Him and our love for others. It is those two loves that put our lives in harmony with God.
That’s what this whole series has been about. We have been on a quest for faith that would align our lives with God’s will. All of these things we have talked about for the last few weeks are really about loving God and loving others. When those two issues are made a priority there will be no shortage of God in the world. There won’t be an unemployment problem in the church. (This means we won’t have to beg and plead for people to work in the church) When our view of God and our view of how He views others is correct the impact of our lives will exceed anything we could ever imagine or dream.
Dallas Willard illustrates it like this: “When I go to New York City, I do not have to think about not going to London or Atlanta. People do not meet me at the airport or station and exclaim over what a great thing I did in not going somewhere else. I took steps to go to New York City, and that took care of everything.
Likewise, when I treasure those around me and see them as God’s creatures designed for his eternal purposes, I do not make an additional point of not hating them or calling them twerps or fool. Not doing those things is simply a part of the package. “He that loves has fulfilled the law.” (Rom. 13:8)
On the other hand, not going to London or Atlanta is a poor plan for going to New York. And not being wrongly angry and so on is a poor plan for treating people with love. It will not work. Jesus never intended it to be such a plan. For all their necessity, goodness and beauty, laws that deal only with actions, such as the Ten Commandments, simply cannot reach the human heart, the source of actions. Graceful relationship sustained with the masterful Christ certainly can.” (Willard pg. 155)
A young girl who was writing a paper for school came to her father and asked, "Dad, what is the difference between anger and exasperation?" The father replied, "It is mostly a matter of degree. Let me show you what I mean." With that the father went to the telephone and dialed a number at random. To the man who answered the phone, he said, "Hello, is Melvin there?" The man answered, "There is no one living here named Melvin. Why don’t you learn to look up numbers before you dial" "See," said the father to his daughter. "That man was not a bit happy with our call. He was probably very busy with something and we annoyed him. Now watch...." The father dialed the number again. "Hello, is Melvin there?" asked the father. "Now look here!" came the heated reply. "You just called this number and I told you that there is no Melvin here! You’ve got lot of guts calling again!" The receiver slammed down hard.
The father turned to his daughter and said, "You see, that was anger. Now I’ll show you what exasperation means. "He dialed the same number, and when a violent voice roared, "Hello!" The father calmly said, "Hello, this is Melvin. Have there been any calls for me?"
What we have done today is look at an interpretation of the law through Jesus eyes. It always amuses me to hear someone running around making a big deal that we are not under the Old Testament law anymore since Jesus came to earth. Jesus fulfilled the law but He laid out a pattern of faith for us to follow and His desire His that we are daily growing more and more like Himself. Our goal is to be like Jesus. Not someone else in the church or somebody who is thought to be a spiritual person. Our goal is always to be like Jesus. Now today we have talked about murder and more importantly anger. All of us have a bit of anger in us. We are going to give you a balloon over the next few minutes and then we are going to give you the opportunity to release whatever level of anger you have toward something or someone else. It may be that you need to let this balloon go as a sign that you have some work to do. You may need to do it as a covenant with God that you are going to go and talk with someone. Let this moment of release be significant in your life as a response to this message and as a response to God.