“Anger Issues” Matthew 5:21-26

Anger

“Anger Issues” Matthew 5:21-26

Anger seems to fill the world around us. Angry people protesting, angry people hurting each other. Anger tears apart individual lives, families, communities, and nations. Anger is fueled by economic inequality, racial prejudice, bullying, jealousy and so many other things. People are angry at work, at home, on the road, and even at church.

We all suffer with anger to some degree, at least I do. So, this sermon is to myself as much as anyone else. I get angry at my poor health and those who are supposed to be helping me with it. I get angry when I think about past wrongs that have been done to me. I get angry because people don’t come to church like they should, and the church is not growing fast enough. I get angry with myself when I do or say something stupid.

Anger is such a primal thing that it can consume us. The second sin recorded in Genesis was fueled by anger.

We may even have a just reason to be angry. “Without cause”

Even God gets angry.

Genesis 4:3-7
In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So, Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Numbers 14:18&19
 The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”

Mark 3:1-6
Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

John 2:13-17
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.   14In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.   15And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.   16And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”   17His disciples remembered that it was written, £“Zeal for your house will consume me.”

Micah 7:18&19
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

So why is Jesus confronting anger? James put it this way.

James 1:19-21
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;  for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Your anger may be justified, even righteous, but it seldom accomplishes anything good.

Colossians 3:8-10
But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

So what can we do about it?

Ephesians 4:25-32
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin;

do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

I challenge myself and I challenge you to stop focusing on the things that anger you and instead focus on the blessings that God has poured out upon us each day. There really is so much more to be thankful for than there is to be angry about. “for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires.”

 

Jesus and the Law Matthew 5:17-20

Jesus and the Law Matthew 5:17-20

Rules, laws and ethics are all the rage in the news. Russian involvement, which email server did you use, who had sex with who and who paid for it, who was in whose motel room and what drugs did you take? Who gave you money and what for. Accusations, denials, inappropriate behavior, careers over before there is ever a trial. One Christian leader has been investigated by 3 different and independent committees none of which found evidence of wrong doing, yet the people keep taking their discredited accusations to the news who keep reprinting it. How far under the microscope do you want to go?

If I never said anything or did anything inappropriate or wrong, I would not need Jesus. But I am a sinner, don’t expect to look at my life and anything but that. Don’t you dare ask me to look at your life and expect me to not find a sinner.

This is what Jesus is all about.

The woman in the elevator at the library.

To the Pharisees the law was the big thing not God.

They looked for clever work-arounds and loopholes. The wire between houses.

People wanted Jesus to get ride of the Law as they understood it.

Personal holiness is the goal, but grace is the end.

We think people should follow the rules, but when the rules get in the way.

Sexual harassment, Woman want to not be treated in ways that make them feel threatened or uncomfortable. Yet they want to dress in was that threaten and make men uncomfortable.

We want to load our cupboard with booze but not want our teenager to drink it.

We want to over eat but we want to not gin weight or have high Cholesterol.

The Pharisees looked for ways to soften the law. Many Christians want to soften the law. Particularly with regards to sex.

1 Cor 5:2 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.”

1 cor 6:9-11 “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

Romans 1:18-32

Jesus does not change what is right and what is wrong.

Jesus does not change the penalty for our wrong doing.

Jesus, changes who pays the bill.

Jesus changes why we try to live a holy life.

Don’t change the rules to fit how you want to live, change your life to please God.

Live to show honor and respect for the sacrifice and gifts of God.

Salt and Light Matthew 5:13-16

 

Salt and Light Matthew 5:13-16

We finished the beatitudes which were descriptions of Jesus’ people. Who are they and what the people of God look like. Now Jesus gives us one last description of His people. Jesus says His people are salt and light. What is Jesus saying about His People?

Jesus is saying that His People are people that make a difference, they influence the world around them. Salt that flavors and effects the world around it. Light that removes the darkness around it. People who are more about blessing others than being blessed themselves.

God has always had this in mind for His People. Genesis 12:1-3 “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God’s intention was to bless all nations through Israel. God’s intention was to reach all the nations through His chosen people.

This is still the desire of God.

Acts 1:6-8 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Two attitudes in the church, I come to get vs I come to give.

A.      I come to get

a.       Forgiveness and grace

b.       Blessings

c.       Healing

d.       Answered prayers

e.       Importance and recognition

f.        entertainment

g.       The consumer church.

 

Bruce Wilkinson, “The Prayer of Jabez”, Secrets of the Vine, The life God Rewards

 

B.      I come to give

a.       Forgiveness and grace

b.       Blessing

c.       Healing

d.       Answer prayers

C.      Some people

a.       Rolle

b.       Peggy

c.       Sharon

d.       Linda

e.       17 people who came

Kirk Cousins. a groundbreaking, fully guaranteed, three-year, $84 million deal as the new quarterback of the Vikings. The Vikings are giving Him 1.75 million dollars per game even if he never plays. They expect this man to make a difference.

Jesus took the beating that belonged to you, humiliated and herded through the streets to the cross where He suffered and died in your place. He has given you forgiveness, adopted you as His child, made a place for you in heaven. Jesus did this because He loves you but also, He did this because He expects you to be salt and light. He expects you to make a life and death difference.

There is no debate or question that Jesus’ people will be people that make a difference. The debate and question is, if we will be those people. Will we make a difference? Will we choose to be Jesus People?

Matthew 5:9-12 "Persecuted"

Andrew Brunson

Matthew 5:9-12
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

A.    Persecution for your faith is a reality

1.     Jesus said it would happen John 15:18-21,  John 16:33

2.     It should not surprise you 1 Peter 4:12-19

3.     Andrew Brunson

4.     Jim Elliot in Ecuador

5.     In a club or group

6.     At work

7.     At school

8.     In your family

9.     In country (in the army just not in the war)

B.     How suffering helps us
1. Romans 5:3-5 Makes us stronger
2. Suffering helps us know and understand Jesus

C.     For righteousness’ sake.
1. For your righteousness
2. Falsely
3. 1 peter 4:15

D.    If living our faith in Jesus does not produce suffering or persecution are we actually living our faith?

 

 

1 Peter 4:12-19
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And      “If the righteous is scarcely saved,      what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

Phil 3:10-11
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

2 Tim 1:8
Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages

Romans 5:3-5
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

1 Peter 3:17
For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

John 15:18-21
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also.

John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Blessed are the peacemakers Matthew 5:9 (John 16:31-33)

Blessed are the peacemakers Matthew 5:9 (John 16:31-33)

Peace, what is it? The people who listened to Jesus on the hillside needed peace. Like most people they would be happy if those fighting to gain power would just leave them alone. The Romans, Herod, religious leaders, and gangs all fighting for power, and who gets hurt? The average people who want to run their shops, farm their fields and raise their family.

The same thing is going on today. Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Detroit, Chicago, even the Twin Cities, people like you and I desire peace. We want to work, raise our family, and pursue some happiness. But because of that sinful nature each person is born with peace in any form is hard work. Along with the sinful nature is the fact that we have no idea of what to do to bring about peace.

Luke 19:41-44 “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.   For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.””

While we are called to be peace makers we are also called to defend the helpless, things that will bring us into conflict, even war.

Zechariah 8:16&17 “These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace;  do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.””

Jeremiah 22: 3 “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”

Yet Jesus told us in our passage that in Him we will have peace, and in John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” 

How can we live in a world of conflict, tribulation, and yet Jesus says He gave us peace? As Jesus wept for Jerusalem “if only you knew the things that make for peace”. Jesus must be talking about a different kind of peace. The peace He gives is “not as the world gives” it is peace with your father in heaven. This is the peace Jesus gives and it is the peace we are to make in the world. We are to be peace makers. To bring people first and foremost peace with their creator.

How can we call people to change their hateful ways with each other if God does not change the sinful nature within them.

The sinful person.
The only way to transform the world is to transform the person.

Have I been a peace maker? Have I been bringing people to peace with God? How have you been bringing people to peace with God? How has our church been bringing people to peace with God?

The people of God are to be peace makers, and their reward will be that they will be called the Son’s of God

 

 

The Pure in Heart Titus 2:11-15

The Pure in Heart  Titus 2:11-15

2:7 & 8 “Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.”

What kind of people is God looking for? What kind of people are “God’s People”? In Matthew 5, as Jesus talks to the people on the hillside, we read in verse 8; “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”

My scripture in Titus 2 started me off on the wrong track. That passage is more for blessed are the pure of life, not pure in heart. I had started off thinking about living a “Holy” life, but this is not what Jesus said. Jesus said “pure in heart”. This gets more to the intentions of our hearts not our ability to keep rules.

In Genesis 6:5&6 God says of people, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”

What God is grieved by is the impureness of the unredeemed heart. More than the actual sin is the intent of humanity to hate God and rebel against Him.

Rev 2:23 searches the heart “And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.”

1 Cor 4:5 the purposes of the heart “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

Deuteronomy 6:4&5 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

For all their claims to be God’s people and all their elaborate rule keeping, Israel failed when it came to purity in heart. Much of what they did was done out of pride. Much of what they did was in an effort to not make God angry. While all along God was looking for people to love Him back.

Why do we attend church?

Why do we read and study God’s Word?

Why do we pray?

Why do we struggle to live a life of faith and obedience?

Could it be pride? Could it be to get things from God? Could it be we just are trying not to tick God off?

God is looking for people who will love Him, desire Him and His presence in their life? To walk with us like He did with Adam and Eve in the garden.

Are you that person? Am I? Are we as a church? What is our motive, what is our purpose?

Today let each one of us take up the challenge to be pure in heart, that we will see God.

Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy Mat 6:7

Psalm 51:1-4

Have mercy on me, ^£ O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!

  For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

  Against you, you only, have I sinned

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you may be justified in your words

and blameless in your judgment.

 

Psalm 55:1

Give ear to my prayer, O God,

and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

 

 

People cry out for mercy.

The Canaanite Woman

The father whose son has seizers

Blind Bartimaeus

The people sitting on the hillside listening to Jesus

 

The merciful will receive mercy

In a world without mercy Jesus tells the people that they will receive mercy from God. The religious leaders taught extreme accountability before God, not mercy.

Matthew 12:7 And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. (Jesus quoting Hose 6:6)

 

Matthew 6:12 “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”

 

Matthew 6:14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

 

Matthew 18:1-34 the wicked servant
Matthew 18:35 “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

 

The person who forgives is the person who is forgiven

The person who shows mercy is the person who receives mercy.

Are you a merciful person, a forgiving person?

Maybe today you are thinking of someone you are not showing mercy to, someone you have not forgiven.

God has promised Blessed are the merciful for they will receive mercy.