Matthew 5:21-26 (CSB)– “You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, Do not murder, and whoever murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Whoever insults his brother or sister, will be subject to the court. Whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to hellfire. So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First, go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Reach a settlement quickly with your adversary while you’re on the way with him to the court, or your adversary will hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny.”
We have been sitting at the feet of Jesus as He teaches us about His Kingdom. The Book of Matthew was written to prove Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the King. In the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7), He gives us His Magna Charta of His Kingdom. If we are citizens of this Kingdom, then we need to know what is expected of those in the Kingdom. We need to know what the Kingdom is about.
We spoke about Kingdom Actions in being Salt and Light. We moved forward as Jesus spoke about the Kingdom and the Law. Now we will see what the King has to say about the Kingdom and the Old Testament. How does the New Testament Kingdom of Christ connect with the Old Testament? We will see six examples that Jesus gives to stress the point that we are incapable of being right with God on our own. We saw that Jesus did not come to destroy the Law, but to complete and fulfill the Law for us. Speaking to Jews, who felt that they were superior to other people, He is stressing that it is not the outward but the inward that God is judging on.
These six areas (from the Old Testament Law) murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retaliation, and love. He takes what they thought they knew and, since He is the Author of the Law, explains the full depth of the law.
He begins with the concept of murder. He says that the basic concept (5:21), The law says, “Do not murder.” So, Pharisaical as we are, we go through the day checking it off – I didn’t do that. I’m good. God is so proud of me.
But, Jesus says we need to understand the broadened concept (5:22 – 26) – Jesus says that hating someone is the same as murder. (Now, Doc, you are starting to get personal here.) He is saying that when we harbor hatred in our hearts, we have set the stage of being guilty of murdering that person. Murder is committed because we hate someone. And, as God looks at the heart and not the outside, we are guilty of harboring the attitude of murder inside of us. God judges us not on how we look outside – but on how we look on the inside.
Why? Well, Jesus is trying to get us to see that our relationship with God is demonstrated by our relationship with others. How we relate with others I how we relate to God.
Kinda tough? Yeah. Kinda hard? Yeah. Can we accomplish this ourselves? No. So, we are reminded how much we need Jesus. We will look at more this in tomorrow’s study.
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