Matthew
Behold the Man: Baptised
& Affirmed: Matthew 3.13-17
It’s a bit like David Beckham
coming to me for football lessons, or the experienced driver going to a 17 year
old novice for some advanced driving instruction.
What? Jesus going to John the
Baptist to be baptised
You see when Jesus turned up in the
queue of people waiting to be baptised down by the River Jordan, John the
Baptist was a bit thrown. He thought Jesus had got it the wrong way round:
13
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by
John.14 But John tried to deter him,
saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" Matthew 3.13-14
I shouldn’t be baptising you, you
should be baptising me. You’re the teacher, I am the student. You’re the
saviour, I’m the sinner.
You can see John the Baptist’s
point – it did seem a little topsy-turvy - a kind of upside down way of doing
things, and that’s even more so if you consider the scandal of baptism
That’s something we have forgotten
because we are so used to baptism . A baby comes to church and is baptised and
we all say ‘ah is that wonderful’ or an adult comes to faith and is baptised
and we are applaud amongst great rejoicing (rightly so), but we tend to miss
the scandal, the shock, the horror of baptism
But John the Baptist didn’t and the
thought of him baptising Jesus blew his mind. Why? Because baptism was
something that only sinners needed. Baptism was for people who were spiritually
dirty. Baptism was for those who were far from God but wanted to come close.
Originally it was only for Gentiles but now it was for everyone who knew
themselves to be a sinner.
To
be baptised was to make a statement: a very uncomfortable statement. Baptism
was scandalous because it was an admission of sin. It was a recognition that
you were separated from God. It was a way of saying you needed forgiveness even
if you said your prayers every night and attended the synagogue every Saturday
So
why did Jesus want to be baptised? Jesus wasn’t a sinner. Jesus wasn’t separated from God. Jesus did
not need the spiritual cleansing of which baptism speaks. Jesus
explanation to John was this:
15
Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to
fulfil all righteousness. Matthew 3.15
What did he mean by that? To fulfil
righteousness is to fulfil all that is right: it is to do all that the law of God commands. Jesus is the one who
has come to live a life of perfect
obedience to God. and so even though he doesn’t need to be baptised, he
is going to be. Because God calls human beings
in general to be baptised, Jesus is willing to be baptised alongside
everyone else
Jesus
is not a sinner but he is prepared to stand in the place of sinners
Jesus baptism was:
A moment of identification
As Christians we are all baptised
people, and in being baptised, Jesus identified with us. He showed that he was
one of us, that he was prepared to be like us in every way, but sin.
The story is told of an elderly churchwarden
who crouched down and sat on the floor beside a young down and out who had come
into a church service and sat down on the floor near the front. The elderly
warden wanted to express his identification with the young man, to show that he
was one with him. In the same way Jesus showed he was one with us in submitting
himself to be baptised, as we are
Some people have a picture of God
as someone remote and far off, a god who is far removed from everyday life who
has no idea what its like to live in
this world, but the Bible says God became one of us. He was born. He was
baptised. He lived the life we live,
and ultimately he died in our place, taking his identification with us to its
fullest extent - because in the end Jesus took our sin on himself and died in
our place
Whoever you may be, whether you are
Christian or not yet a Christian, there
is a message there for you: that God loved you that much that he wanted to be
completely identified with you
But as well as being a moment of
identification, his baptism was also a moment of revelation:
Matthew signals it with the
startling phrase ‘At that moment heaven was opened.’ As Jesus was baptised
there was a moment of revelation, when the curtains of heaven were drawn back,
and the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit were revealed, One God, in a
perfect Trinity of love:
16
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that
moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and
lighting on him. 17 And a voice from
heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased Matthew 3.13-17
As the Son acts in obedience to the
Father’s will, the Holy Spirit descends upon the Son as a sign of blessing and
identification, and the Father speaks:
"This is my Son, whom I love;
with him I am well pleased
When God speaks, he speaks words
that he has already spoken in the pages of the Old Testament. First he quotes
from Psalm 2.7 ‘This is my Son’ This verse, and the other parts of the Old
Testament like it, speak of the king, the ruler of the people, the king who
will come in the line of David who will rule the people with righteousness and
justice, the king who will be known as the Son of God. As heaven is opened at
Jesus baptism, the Father speaks and says here is the king you have read about
in the scriptures, my son Jesus
Then the Lord speaks from Isaiah
42.1 of the one whom I love; with
him I am well pleased. This verse, and the other parts of the Old Testament
like it, speak of the humble servant of the Lord, the suffering servant, the
servant who will give his life as a ransom for many. As heaven is opened at
Jesus baptism, the Father speaks and says here is the suffering servant you
have read about in the scriptures, my son, Jesus.
Do you see what God is saying?
In that moment, uttering that
single sentence, God reveals the secret that no one had ever guessed. Everybody
knew the Bible spoke of a promised king, a messiah, and everyone was familiar
with the suffering servant of Isaiah. No-one had guessed they were one and the
same person
But now the secret is out: the
suffering servant is also the king; the king is also the suffering servant. Jesus
unique vocation is to be the king who saves the people, and who does so not be
military might or power, but by being the suffering servant who will humble
himself even to obedience by death on a cross
God says: "This is my Son,
whom I love; with him I am well pleased” This is your king. This is the
suffering servant, your saviour. This is the one you have been waiting for
The baptism was a moment of identification: Jesus
showed that he was one of us and one with us. He was not ashamed to identify
with sinners like us. In fact, he came specifically with the purpose of being
the friend and saviour of sinners
The baptism of Jesus was a moment of revelation, when God
revealed to the world that his Son Jesus Christ was the king who has come to
rule and the suffering servant who had come to save us by dying for us .
Have you recognised him, are you
identified with him?
If you have then here is the
greatest miracle of all: if we have come to Christ as our Lord and Saviour,
then God sees us in Jesus and as such he says to us, in Christ, what he says to
His Son
"This is my Son, whom I love;
with him I am well pleased
The wonder of the Gospel is that
rebellious sinners like us can be viewed by God like that.
If on the other hand you have not yet
fully recognised who Jesus is and
identified with him - perhaps some of these thoughts are new to you, perhaps you are not quite sure what we
believe about these things - may I encourage you to think more about Jesus –
perhaps do Christianity Explored – to delve deeper into the truth about Christ.
How to make a difference Matthew 5:13-16 (Mick Hough)
That’s the message that comes
across loud and clear from Jesus Sermon on the Mount. We are continuing where
we left off last Sunday
Last Sunday we looked at the
Beatitudes. Saw that to live the life that is blessed – or approved by God – is
to live in a way that is often is sharp contrast with the rest of society. It is
to recognise our spiritual need, to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and to
live a life characterised by mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking and meekness.
Not surprising then, that when John
Stott was asked to write a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, he called it
Christian Counter-Culture. We are called to live lives that are Distinctively
Different.
Not being different for the sake of
it (being odd!) but being different because we know a better way – the way that
is approved by God and leads to eternal life.
Look back a few verses to Matt.4
v.17 Jesus calls us to ‘repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near’. Sermon on
the Mount shows us what that repentance looks like in practice – a change in
mind, which leads to a change in lifestyle. A lifestyle that is distinctively
different.
We ended last week by hearing that
to live this distinctively different lifestyle is likely to bring us into
conflict with the world v. 11 (READ)
But if that is the effect that the
world may have on us – to persecute us – then Jesus goes on today to say what
effect the Church can have upon the world.
That’s the focus of what we’re
looking at today – the impact of God’s people on the society around them.
Jesus uses two illustrations from
things common to every household then as now – salt and light.
Salt v.13 Your
distinctiveness as Christians is to be like salt – so don’t lose your
saltiness!
Lots of different uses for salt –
two of them in mind:
·
A preservative – prevents decay.
Don’t know if you’ve ever tried Biltong
- a South African delicacy! If you visit a S African supermarket, you can find
Beef Biltong, Ostrich Biltong, even Alligator Biltong for sale. It is small
pieces of meat that have been cut up and then rubbed with coarse salt…the salt
sort of ‘cures’ it. Without the salt, the meat would go rotten. With it, it
will keep indefinitely.
Jesus says to Christians – You are
salt to the world. A preservative against decay.
The world, in it’s rebellion
against God, is prone to decay – The Bible tells us that from beginning to end
- just like rotten fish or meat. It has turned away from God and is going
rotten, or perishing, as a result.
But the presence of the church in
the world – the influence of Xns in society – is like salt being rubbed into
meat. A means, by God’s grace, of hindering the decay.
God intends the church – you and me
– to exert a positive influence on society. How?
I heard a story recently of a
teacher, who used actively to think of topics of conversation to steer the staff
room conversation round – so that it didn’t just swing round to gossip and
sleaze. And he noticed that on his lunchtime playground duty – Tuesdays – one
of the younger teachers always ate her sandwiches in the corridor. He asked her
‘why?’ and she said ‘It’s the tone of the conversation. It makes such a
difference when you’re in there.’ Isn’t that a great tribute to a ‘salty’ Xn!
Preserving the decay in their small part of society. Distinctively different.
·
A flavour-giver
This is probably the most common
use for salt for most of here. Salt draws out the flavour of food, and without
it some food can taste insipid and unattractive. (Like to say that’s not a
comment on Libby’s cooking)
Xns are to be salt to the world. It
is the Xn that should bring flavour to life – an appreciation and
enjoyment of what it means to be alive in God’s world. One person put it this
way:
‘There is a radiance, a fullness
of life, a security, a sense of joy, an appreciation of beauty and an
atmosphere of vitality that ought to characterise the Xn and set them apart as
alive in a drab, dysfunctional world.’[1]
Does that describe us in our
workplace, at home, at our leisure? Is there a vitality to our life that stands
out? Do we show others what it means to appreciate the good in God’s world.
Jesus says, ‘don’t lose your
saltiness’. Easy to do so – to be moulded by this world and its patterns of
thinking and behaviour. To be looking for ways to criticise rather than praise.
Easy to shrink from the task of being salt of the earth, because it is hard,
and there is a lot of sin and rottenness around.
The Roman Emperor Julian wrote in
less than glowing terms about Xns. He was trying to have withdrawn the special
recognition that had been given to Xns by Constantine: He attacked Xns by describing
them like this: ‘Have you looked at these Xns closely? Hollow-eyed, pale
cheeked, flat breasted all; they brood their lives away, unspurred by ambition:
the sun shines for them, but they do not see it: the earth offers
them its fullness, but they desire it not; all their desire is to renounce and
suffer that they may come to die’.
Hardly the salt of the earth that
Jesus encourages us to be. Yet sadly it describes a sort of detachment from
life that some Xns even today fall into.
Being salt may not always mean that
we will be well received – rubbing salt into a wound might be a good thing to
do from a healing point of view, but it stings, and it won’t make you popular!
But if we are not being salt, then we’re not doing what God has put us here to
do. Read v. 13.
But by God’s grace, as Xns we act
as those who bring flavour to the world, and prevent its decay.
Light vv. 14-16 (READ) Your
distinctiveness is like light in a dark place – don’t hide your light!
Hold on – doesn’t Jesus say he’s
the light of the world? He does – but listen to how he says it in John 9:5 ‘While I am in the world, I am the light
of the world’ (John 9:5). Jesus knew that he wouldn’t be in the world
forever – and what he was, we are to be.
We are to shine with the light of
Christ – what does that mean?
A light bulb - A light
bulb can’t take all the credit for the light it gives! It might be
congratulated for playing its part in lighting up a room, but the real credit has
to go to the electricity that runs through it. Take the same bulb from the
electrical supply, and there may be nothing wrong with the bulb, but it is
completely incapable of shining! Trying to shine by imitating other light
bulbs, or by being near to them won’t help. It will only shine when it derives
its light from another source.
In the same way, the light we are
to shine is a derived light – it’s the light of Christ.
There is only one way that you and
I can be lights to the world, and that is through a relationship with Jesus
Christ – by being plugged into him, if you like, by coming to him, and being
filled with his Spirit. The Spirit who lights us up with life and joy and
truth. It is the Spirit of Jesus in us that gives us the ability and boldness
to speak about Jesus, and tell others of the good news of him.
The gospel is God’s means of
bringing men and women out of darkness and into his light. In our reading from
Isaiah 60 we heard Isaiah looking forward to the time when Christ would come –
and he gives that wonderful picture of God’s glory being visible in his people
– and of the nations flocking to join them.
‘See darkness covers the earth and
thick darkness is over the peoples, but…nations will come to your light, and
kings to the brightness of your dawn.’
Marvellous picture that we see
being fulfilled in the here and now, as people respond to the gospel and come
into the light of Christ. The church in every age is to preach the gospel until
Christ returns – to be a light to a world in darkness.
But again, Jesus is not just
talking about the words we might speak. Listen to what he says in v. 16 ‘Let
your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and
praise your Father in heaven.’
What are these good deeds?
There are two words for ‘good’ Gk –
one means morally upright, and the other means good in terms of being
attractive, beautiful. The word that Jesus uses here is the second one, kalos
– from which we get the word calligraphy. Jesus is talking about a lifestyle
that is attractive. A lifestyle that commends the truth about Christ because of
its goodness and attractiveness. It has been said that the most important
things in life are caught, not taught.
You and I are Christ’s ambassadors.
If people want to know what it means to live in Christ’s kingdom – to have him
as Lord of their lives – then all they have to look at is you and me. There’s a
real challenge there, isn’t there?!
We are back to being distinctively
different. Can people see in us something that attracts them to Christ?
In contrast with those we live and
work among, does our lifestyle commend itself to others?
A city on a hill can’t be hidden!
As Christ’s ambassadors, we can’t hide – people will judge what it means to be
a Xn by what they see in us – good or bad!
You are the light of the world.
So, salt of the earth and light to
the world.
Jesus sends us into the world with
a mission – to show what life can be like under God’s gracious rule, and to
make the world a better place because we are in it. We’re to be good
news as well as preach good news.
Gary spoke last week about the
great social reformers of the Victorian era – Wilberforce, Shaftesbury and co.
who turned society around by their concern for social justice, and their love
of Christ. Their Christian beliefs led to them taking action to change society
for the better. We might feel we don’t have the political power of a
Wilberforce or a Shaftesbury.
But we can all make a difference
where we are – at work, at home, at the golf club or wherever we rub up
alongside those who don’t yet share our faith and worldview. In our lifestyle
and our conversation – the things we choose to do and not to do, to say and not
to say – we can make a difference by living distinctively different lives.
Lives that are moulded by God’s word to us and Spirit in us.
And God promises that we will make
an impact on the world.
You are the salt of the earth – to
preserve it from decay and to bring life and flavour to it.
You are the light of the world - Be plugged into Christ so that his light shines in and through us to a world in darkness. And so that men and women can hear of Christ and come into his light.
How to live a
blessed life Matthew
5.1-12
Its no wonder that the soaps are
the most popular programmes on TV because people are so interesting. Its no
wonder that the newsstands are full of glossy magazines recounting all the
latest celebrity gossip about Posh & Becks, Kate Moss and all the rest,
because people are so interesting
The Bible is interested in people,
too – especially in their character
It is said that one of the
questions the Queen asks the many thousands of people she meets each years is
‘what do you do?’ But important though that question is, what we do is of
secondary importance to God, he is more concerned with who we are – with our character.
That’s why the Sermon on the Mount
begins not with actions but with attitudes
If the whole Sermon is about God’s
kingdom, the beatitudes are about the citizens of the kingdom – and especially
their character
The beatitudes describe a person
who has entered God’s kingdom and is living under his rule. They are not the
way into the kingdom. They describe the way you live once you are in it, once
you have come to Christ, put your faith in him, and received his Spirit into
your life
Each beatitude begins with the word
‘blessed’, and each concludes with a promise. In this context the word
blessed means ‘approved by God’
So
lets look at the eight beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount to get a composite
picture of the truly blessed person, the man or woman who lives under his God’s
kingdom rule and has his approval
BEATITUDE 1 "Blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (v3)
Bible teacher Don Carson says
‘Poverty of spirit is the personal acknowledgement of spiritual bankruptcy’
It
is modelled by the tax collector praying in the temple in Luke 18:
" the tax collector stood at a
distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,
'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' (Luke 18.13)
To be poor in spirit is to admit
one’s own sinfulness, waywardness, and emptiness. It is the opposite of
spiritual boastfulness and pride. It is the attitude summed up in this old
hymn:
Nothing
in my hand I bring
Simply
to thy cross I cling
Naked
come to thee for dress
Helpless,
look to three for grace
Foul,
I to the fountain fly
Wash me, Saviour, or I die
That is the attitude of the poor in
Spirit and it is an attitude deeply pleasing to God. Listen to Isaiah 66.2:
"This is the one I esteem: he
who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word. Isaiah
66.2
BEATUTUDE 2 Blessed are those who
mourn, for they will be comforted. (v4)
Of course the Christian life is a
life of joy and thanksgiving but if we mean business with God we shall
certainly mourn as well as rejoice
When Isaiah had his great vision of
God in his purity and holiness he cried:
"Woe to me!" I cried.
"I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of
unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Isaiah 6.5
When the Apostle Paul contemplated
his daily struggle with a sinful human nature he exclaimed:
What a wretched man I am! Who will
rescue me from this body of death? Romans 7.24
Whilst in the old 1662 communion
service we expressed our mourning for our sin by saying ‘We acknowledge and
bewail our manifold sins and wickedness.’
If you are poor in Spirit and you
know the reality of sin in your life, you will mourn. If you love God and his
kingdom, and you see sin at work in the world, you will mourn – it will sadden
you, and pain you to see injustice and unrighteousness in God’s world
But blessed are you if you
mourn, for you will be comforted, by the joy and the forgiveness of the Gospel
now, and by the life of the world to come:
He will wipe every tear from their
eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old
order of things has passed away." Revelation 21.4
BEATITUDE 3 Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth. (v5)
The
meek are gentle, humble, considerate, and courteous. The meek put other
people’s interests above their own. The meek follow the example of a saviour
who came not to be served but to serve
Meekness
is a rare quality in a pushy, me-first society, but it is attitude modelled by
Jesus who described himself as gentle and humble in heart:
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and
burdened, and I will give you rest. 29
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Matthew
11.28 -29
BEATITUDE 4 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they will be filled. (v6)
The person who hungers and thirsts
for righteousness cannot get along without it; he longs for it and yearns for
it and eagerly desires it. He is like a man gasping for water on a boiling hot
day, or a starving man in a famine stricken land longing for food
But what is righteousness? Not self
righteousness. Not a gloomy legalism, but obedience to God’s revealed will
To
hunger and thirst after righteousness is to yearn to obey God and to yearn to
see God obeyed. It applies not just to personal morality but to social and
political arena too. Some of the great social reformers of our nation like Lord
Shaftesbury, William Wilberforce, & Elizabeth Fry have been Christian men
and women who have hungered for righteousness in national life so much that
they have spent their lives in the cause of righteousness in the treatment of
the poor, or prisoners, of slaves
Oh,
that we would hunger and thirst for righteousness more
BEATITUDE 5 Blessed are the merciful, for they
will be shown mercy. (v7)
Mercy is compassion for those in
need: ‘The person who has recognised
his own helplessness and wretchedness is grateful for whatever mercy is shown
him; and he learns to be merciful to others’ (Don Carson). The more we recognise God’s mercy to ourselves, the more we
shall show mercy to others
BEATITUDE 6 Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they will see God. (v8)
Pure in heart means sincere,
guileless; transparent, unmixed with anything devious. Its about a kind of straightforwardness
and simplicity of motive. It is the opposite of spin, or image, of being
economical with the truth
Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they will see God, blessed are those who live like this, their reward will be
to see God face to face
BEATITUDE 7 Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they will be called sons of God.(v9)
God our Father is the great
peacemaker – he sent his Son to make peace with us by dying on the cross. The Christian
believer who is a peacemaker – at home at work or even in the church - will be
called the son of God because in making peace he reflects the character of his
heavenly father
Starting wars, having a row,
indulging in conflict is easy. But if you can bring peace where there is
discord, and reconciliation where there has been hatred and anger, you are
doing something close to God’s heart
BEATITUDE 8
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11
"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely
say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for
in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (v10-12)
Note that Jesus is here talking
about persecution for righteousness sake, not persecution for being a pain or
plain obnoxious. Some persecution, Christians bring on themselves. However much
they do not, and Jesus warned in John 15 how persecution would be part of the
cost of following him:
19
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is,
you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is
why the world hates you. 20 Remember
the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they
persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they
will obey yours also. John 15.18-20
Persecution in Britain may be mild,
it may be mocking & laughter rather than outright opposition, but where it
comes, Jesus says Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in
heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Acts 5v41 gives us a moving example
of that:
¨
The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because
they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Acts 5.41
So, then the truly blessed person,
the person who has God’s approval knows his own spiritual poverty, mourns over
his own sin, is meek, and hungers and thirsts for righteousness, is merciful,
pure in heart, a peacemaker, and not afraid to suffer persecution for the sake
of Christ
May God help us to live in God’s
way
Dealing with conflict Matthew
5. 21-26
The
author of a book about conflict in church communities got the inspiration for
its title as he walked past a building site.
A bricklayer was standing near a pile of badly made bricks. As he looked at their curved up ends he
muttered 'How can anyone expect me to build with these? They're just like bananas!' 'Building with Bananas' - that's the
title! Conflict happens because the raw
material the Lord uses to build his church into a loving community is all
misshapen and imperfect. Jesus saw the
problem coming as we can see from the passage we are looking at today.
Do have
it open at page.......................
Matthew 5:21-26
Dealing
with conflict, is not a subject that makes easy listening, let alone living
out. This is a disturbing passage. It may touch one of the least sorted areas of
our lives. We've been discovering that
in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus isn't simply talking of great theological
truths or giving us spiritual comfort - he is bringing home to us the practical
outworking of our faith.
These
words speak very directly to our life in the family of the church, (to how we
behave towards each other - here on
Sundays - at weekday groups - sitting in committees or doing practical
jobs). But if we look at the end of
this chapter, where Jesus calls us to love our enemies, we see him calling us
to take his standards into the whole of our lives. So this is relevant to life
at home this afternoon or wherever we are tomorrow.
And what
are Jesus's standards? They go way
beyond the straightforward do's and don'ts of the Pharisees. We can listen to the 10 Commandments being
recited and mentally tick the box 'You
shall not murder', feeling we are not within a million miles of doing
that. (Though if you are parents of
young children you may have been guilty of the thought!) Yes,we may laugh about that but actually
that gets to the nub of the issue. It's
what is in our minds as well as our actions that Jesus is
challenging.
So the
first point is that
Conflict matters
-
Conflict
matters to Jesus...so it should matter to us........it's not something to sweep
under the carpet.
anyone who murders will be subject to judgment, but I tell
you anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement....
God who
knows the thoughts of all our hearts weighs up our angry thoughts with
equal seriousness to our angry actions.......they will be subject to judgement.
The root of anger (hatred)is as serious as the fruit (murder).
You may
be wondering if there are any let out clauses to this clear statement.
Commentators
discuss this in great detail. Did Jesus
mean angry without a cause for instance?
Recently
Adrian preached on this passage to our midweek congregation and at the end
someone asked me if it was OK to be angry on behalf of someone else you cared
about? Well, of course, Jesus showed
his anger at the way His Father's house, the Temple, was desecrated by the
money lenders and there is a place for what we call righteous anger. Those who fight for injustice in trade and
for poverty issues are often motivated by a sense of anger on behalf of
others. There are undoubtedly times
when there is a place for what we call
righteous anger. But in many situations
we should remember the Lord's words 'Vengeance
is mine, I will repay'.....and
the advice in the book of James to be 'slow
to anger'. Let's not get too
deflected into possible excuses for our anger.
God will have the last word on that.
The big
question we need to ask ourselves is this.
Is our anger really valid or has it developed from an underlying hurt pride,
or selfish desire or a need for revenge?
If you harbour angry thoughts about someone can you honestly pray about
it and then come away from the Lord's presence still feeling justified.
In verse
22 Jesus spells out some clear downward steps that can lead to murderous
thoughts. Hurling Insults! He
refers to an everyday expression at his time.
'Raca' is thought to mean
something equivalent to nitwit or blockhead.
It's suggesting a lack of intelligence.
An awful expression these days is 'You're a waste of space'. To think or say that about someone is
denying their human dignity and worse still denying them a place in God's
creation as part of the world he so loved that he gave his Son to die
for .......for them as much as for us.
Hasty words and insults can lead to big trouble. James in his epistle gave us a vivid
picture....consider what a great forest
is set on fire by a small spark.
Anger and insult often arise when someone gets in the way of what we want, or the way we want to do things. Life would be so much better if that person or those people weren't around to spoil things for us. Anger and insult arise when our pride is hurt and we rush to defend ourselves and put the other person in the wrong.