Matthew 5:21-26 (ESV)
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.
Day 1: Loving God
Reflect:
In this passage, Jesus teaches us that the Sixth Commandment is concerned, not only with physical murder, but also with sinful anger. With this teaching, Jesus exposes the shortcomings of legalism. Legalism is concerned with the letter of the law and not with the spirit or the heart of the law. It seeks to circumscribe and limit the law in order to make it achievable. Too often, when Christians speak of obedience, they want to know where the lines are: “Tell me where the line is, so that I can get as close to it as possible without crossing it.” How physically intimate can I get with my boyfriend or girlfriend without crossing the line? Is kissing okay? Is petting okay? Can I cuddle and sleep next to them as long as we’re not having intercourse? How far is too far when it comes to alcohol? Am I not a drunkard as long as I don’t black out? Surely, being tipsy is fine, right? Why do we focus only on negative obedience, not sinning, rather than on positive obedience? Why do we focus only on the specific prohibitions and not on the general principles that are behind them? Doesn’t God’s Word forbid drunkenness and debauchery because God wants us to be sober-minded and self-controlled, because he wants us not to be controlled by spirits, but by the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:18)? Why not strive to be maximally self-controlled and sober-minded? When you drive on the highway, do you drive in the middle of the lane, or do you get as close to the line as possible to see how close you can get to the car next to you without hitting it? A car accident on the highway at full speed most likely means death. Well, “sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (Jas. 1:15), “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Why are we trying to get as close to that line as possible?
If we see God’s commands as a straitjacket intended to stifle us, we are going to wear it as loosely as possible, and sneak out of it as much as possible, to push the boundaries as far as possible, but if we see it as a lifejacket intended to help us flourish, we are going to make sure we fit into it snuggly, and keep it strapped on properly.
Recommended Song: “Your Words Are Wonderful (Psalm 119)” by Sovereign Grace Music (Find it on our church’s Spotify playlist, “Trinity Hymnal,” at http://bit.do/trinityhymnal)
Pray:
• Confess the ways in which you have been legalistic in your obedience to God, focusing on the letter of the law rather than the spirit/heart of the law.
• Ask God to help you grow in your trust and confidence in His Word, so that you see His commands, not as a straitjacket, but a lifejacket.
• Pray that you would grow in humility, patience, gentleness, and forbearance, so that you might be slow to anger.
Day 2: Loving One Another
Reflect:
What if a person never commits physical murder, but murders someone over and over again in his heart through sinful anger? What if that sinful anger poisons and destroys the relationship? Is that murder? “Oh yes,” writes D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his book, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, “there are ways in which men can be destroyed short of murder. We can destroy a man’s reputation, we can shake somebody else’s confidence in him by whispering criticism or by deliberate fault finding. That is the kind of thing which our Lord is here indicating, and his whole purpose is to show that all that is included in this commandment: ‘Thou shalt not kill!’” Unity within the Body of Christ is so important to God that Jesus tells us to prioritize reconciliation (v. 24) even over offering our gifts to God in worship, because harboring sinful anger against one another in the Body of Christ hinders our worship of God. A disturbed fellowship between brothers and sisters in Christ disturbs our fellowship with God Himself.
Recommended Song: “Church’s One Foundation” by Norton Hall Band (Find it on our church’s Spotify playlist, “Trinity Hymnal,” at http://bit.do/trinityhymnal)
Pray:
• Confess the ways in which you have harbored anger, bitterness, and contempt toward another brother or sister in the church, and have whispered criticisms about them or engaged in deliberate fault-finding.
• Pray that our church would “have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind” (1 Pet. 3:8).
• Ask God to bring reconciliation to strained or broken relationships in our church.
Day 3: Sharing the Love of Christ with Others
Reflect:
In verses 25-26, Jesus says, “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. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.” This is true at a literal level. If we have wronged someone, and someone is suing us, then it is to our advantage to settle out of court. But the logical progression from the judgment of the human council to the judgment of God and the “hell of fire” in verse 22 suggests that verses 25 also points beyond the judgment of the human court to the ultimate judgment of God. Jesus’s emphasis in verse 26 confirms this, “Truly, I say to you,” “[Amen], I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.” There have been plenty of human courts that have let evildoers go free without paying the last penny. But the divine judge of all the earth sees all offenses, overlooks no fact, and takes no bribes. He is perfectly just, and when the verdict is announced, there is no higher court to which appeals can be made.
But thanks be to God! Even though we are guilty as charged, in Matthew 18, Jesus speaks of how God has forgiven us our insurmountable debt, every last penny. Even though we were responsible for our broken relationship with God, it was God who took the initiative. 1 John 4:9-10 says, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” What does it mean that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins? To “propitiate” is to appease or satisfy someone’s wrath. As it says in Isaiah 53, “upon [Jesus] was the chastisement that brought us peace, with his wounds we are healed.” “It was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief.” Jesus absorbed the Father’s wrath in our place, so that we, the just and proper objects of God’s wrath might become objects of mercy. God so loved us that He sent His only Son to be “the propitiation for our sins.” The love of God paved the way for the wrath of God to be propitiated.
Recommended Song: “Grace and Peace” by Sovereign Grace Music (Find it on our church’s Spotify playlist, “Trinity Hymnal,” at http://bit.do/trinityhymnal)
Pray:
• Pray that we would grow in our urgency for evangelism, knowing that people are, by nature, children of wrath, and in need of Christ’s propitiation.
• Pray that God would make us bold and winsome witnesses among our friends and neighbors. Write down the names of unbelieving friends and neighbors that you know and feel called to pray for, and pray for them specifically.
• Thank God for providing our church with an office space, and ask God for a permanent, stable location for our Sunday worship.
• Pray that God would raise up teams of full-time missionaries from our church who would go to the unreached people groups to proclaim the gospel.
