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Sermon
by Rev. Tommy Allen
Jesus:
On Murder Matthew 5:21-26 21 “You have heard that it
was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be
liable to judgment.’ 22 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. 23 So if you are offering your gift
at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24
leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your
brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25
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. 26 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until
you have paid the last penny. (ESV) Introduction— As we
continue into the “meat” of the Sermon of the Mount, there a few things to
remember...
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It's not a “code of ethics” that one must follow to either enter the
kingdom or become a Christian.
•
Instead, it is a portrait of what your life looks like (or begins
to look like) after you've
entered the kingdom. How do you
enter?—Start with the Beatitudes.
1.
Admit your sin ("blessed are the poor in spirit...")
2.
Repent (“blessed are those who mourn...”)
3.
Humility replaces self-righteousness ("blessed are the
meek...)
4.
Desire true righteousness ("blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness...") To those
who truly “hunger and thirst” for [true] righteousness, to them it is
given. In fact the righteousness given
is the very righteousness of Jesus—credited to them. All that
follows in the Sermon on the Mount is an outworking of this righteousness. Put differently, it is what the Christian is
becoming. Today,
we’ll look at three things:
I.
Murder (vv. 21-22)
II.
Reconciliation (vv. 23-24) III. Forgiveness (vv. 25-26)
I.
Murder (vv.
23-24)
A. Jesus’
formula: “You’ve heard it said…, but I
say…”
1. Remember—Jesus,
here, is not negating
the Law, but correcting our understanding of it.
B. The
teaching of the scribes and Pharisees regarding the command.
1. They
combined a portion of Israel’s moral law ( the 6th
commandment regarding murder) with a portion of Israel’s civil code.
2. Functionally,
this created a loophole.
3. When they
said, “…will be liable to judgment,” this referred to civil judgment. C. The “law” they created was only negative and only external.
1. If their
understanding was correct you would be right in saying, “Hey, as long as I
don’t commit homicide, I’m okay!”
2. What then
is your motivation?
a. Fear—you
don’t want to go to prison.
b. Self-righteousness—”I’m
not perfect, but at least I’m not…”
3. Most of us
walk through life thinking, “As long as I haven’t murdered anyone...I’m okay.”
a. If this command
(regarding murder) was only negative and only external, you would be okay.
b. We run into
problems, however, when we view the Law not only as external/negative, but also
as internal and positive.
i.
In other words, when we come face to face with the true intention
of the Law (in this case, murder), we come up short. Story—My First Traffic Ticket
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I’d gone through a stop sign without coming to a complete stop.
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The officer made a mistake on the date when he filled out the
ticket.
•
I set a court date with the intention of “getting off on this
loophole.”
•
I stood before the judge, claimed the loophole and he replied, “Is
this California, boy?” When I said,
“No, it’s Florida.” He slammed down his
mallet and said, “Well then, we can’t tolerate California stops. Guilty!!!” |