As always, the transcript of the message is below.
Psalm 119:105-112
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet,a light on my path.106 I have taken an oath and confirmed it,that I will follow Your righteous laws.107 I have suffered much;preserve my life, Lord, according to Your word.108 Accept, Lord, the willing praise of my mouth,and teach me Your laws.109 Though I constantly take my life in my hands,I will not forget your law.110 The wicked have set a snare for me,but I have not strayed from Your precepts.111 Your statutes are my heritage forever;they are the joy of my heart.112 My heart is set on keeping Your decreesto the very end.
Matthew 5:21-26
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Psalm
119:105-112/ Matthew 5:21-26
THE BLESSING OF
RECONCILIATION
Springford Baptist Church: November 15, 2020.
There is a saying that is probably familiar from childhood: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me.”
It is not true is it?
Words that are spoken have the potential to build up or to tear down.
Jesus in his teaching here in Matthew is calling for a much broader understanding of God’s law, God’s expectations of those who follow Him.
Here is Matthew 5:21-26 from the Message translation:
21-22 “You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, ‘Do not murder.’ I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill. 23-24 “This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God. 25-26 “Or say you’re out on the street and an old enemy accosts you. Don’t lose a minute. Make the first move; make things right with him. After all, if you leave the first move to him, knowing his track record, you’re likely to end up in court, maybe even jail. If that happens, you won’t get out without a stiff fine.
“You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13) is one of the 10 Commandments and God gave these laws for people to abide by with great care.
There is blessing from God for those who live by His commands.
A society that would permit murder without consequence would be in chaos.
So people can understand that murder is forbidden.
Jesus says quoting the command, “You shall not murder…” (Matthew 5:21)
And then what does Jesus say?
Four very important words: “But I tell you…”
Jesus has a deeper understanding to reveal and if we want to learn the way of blessing than we will need to pay attention here.
It seems obvious that murder, the taking of another life is wrong. Jesus maintains that anyone who is angry with another person and who speaks angry words of judgement will be accountable. (Matthew 5:22)
Why does Jesus take this so seriously?
Human relationships matter greatly to God.
How we treat each other says so much about our relationship with God.
Someone may say with confidence and perhaps some degree of pride, “Well I would never commit murder.”
We need to step back from that statement and recognize that when we become angry and when we speak angry words to another person, we are causing harm. Careless words do injure and sometimes words spoken in anger and frustration kill a relationship.
How sad it is when people refuse to speak to another person and it is as if that person has died.
Jesus knows how fragile relationships are and if we are following His law and looking for blessing then we cannot try to pretend that our attitudes towards others and our words do not matter.
Verses 23 and 24 of Matthew 5 contain some both helpful and challenging instruction from Jesus:
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you,24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
This presents an approach that demands that when we come to worship God, if we think of someone with whom we have an issue, we need to look for that relationship to be restored. If we have said or done something that has damaged a relationship, then there needs to be reconciliation.
There is blessing in reconciliation!
Our reconciliation with each other prepares us to come freely to God who offers us reconciliation with Him when we have sinned and damaged our relationship with God.
This whole process takes honest assessment on our part. Notice Jesus says, “if you…remember that your brother or sister has something against you…”
Generally, our tendency is to think about how others have said or done things that have hurt or angered us.
Jesus is talking here about taking responsibility for what we have said or done to damage a relationship and taking action to make things right.
Jesus urges that we “Settle matters quickly” (Matthew 5:25)
This is to prevent things from getting worse and then we will bear the outcome.
When we take responsibility for our thoughts and words and seek to make things right then relationships can be repaired. A sincere apology and a desire to be reconciled can preserve and heal a broken relationship and increase respect for each other.
Our Psalm writer in Psalm 119 does take God’s word and God’s instruction for right living seriously.
Since God’s word is “a lamp for his feet and a light for his path” (Psalm 119:105), he is looking for God to guide him on the right path.
We have heard people describe “getting off track” or losing their way”.
This happens when any of us are not living our lives according to God’s instructions. It is like stumbling in the darkness. When we have become angry and spoken harsh words to someone, God lights the way for us to restore that relationship and to get back on the path He has for us.
We can see how determined this Psalm writer is to follow God’s righteous laws. He says, “I have taken an oath and confirmed it… (vs.106)
How
determined are we to follow God’s ways?
When we read,
“Accept
O Lord the willing praise of my mouth and teach me Your laws.” (vs.
108), we
can recognize that although God’s laws are demanding, the Psalmist
wants to keep learning what it means to follow them.
Is this true of us?
There is, for this man writing the Psalm, a cost to obeying God’s laws. “Though I constantly take my life in my hands,I will not forget your law.” (vs. 109)By publicly honouring God’s law, he faces threats and hostility.
We cannot expect that other people will always understand why we do what we do and how much we are committed to live God’s way. Our priority is always to please God!
111 Your statutes are my heritage forever;they are the joy of my heart.112 My heart is set on keeping Your decrees to the very end.
This is to be our motivation in following God’s ways. Jesus highlights that so much about our relationship with God and our commitment to Him will be revealed in our thoughts toward other people and in our spoken words.
What we think and what we say matters. We need God’s help to guard our thoughts and words so that they do build people up and not tear people down.
There is plenty of opportunity for us to put this teaching into action in a time when people are often feeling frustrated and fearful. I have heard words of blame and judgement directed towards people because of their actions during this pandemic. We need to continue to respect and to care for each other even when some people’s decisions are irresponsible and potentially dangerous.
Rather than focus on what we see others doing that we consider wrong, we need to be accountable for our own day to day living, for our thoughts and our words.
Are the thoughts that we have and the ways that we speak to each other, reflecting the love of Jesus? Are there people that we need to seek reconciliation with because we have said something we regret?
There is blessing that comes when we listen to God’s Word and God’s way and when we ask God to guard our thoughts and words every day.
We thank God that it is possible to be reconciled to each other and to Him!
With God’s grace may we learn the blessing of reconciliation!!