Believe and Behave
Mt 5:21-37
Believe it or not, Jesus was against sin. We do not get a free ride through life and a key to the
pearly gates at the end. We are called as believers not only to believe, but also to behave. As Jesus said,
“. . . whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will
be called least in the kingdom of heaven. . .” (Mt 5:19a)
From Mt 5:21-37, Jesus teaches about anger, adultery and lust, divorce and swearing. Today I
want us to focus on adultery and lust (vv. 27-30) and anger (vv. 21-26).
Give a look at v. 28: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus does not confine lust to action; that is, one does not
become an adulterer only when one engages in the act that we normally associate with adultery. Jesus
teaches that intent is part of the equation, too. If we think that we would engage in acts normally
associated with adultery if we only had the chance to do it without getting caught, then we have
committed adultery, according to Jesus. We deceive ourselves into believing we can handle the thought
without carrying through on the action.
It is not a coincidence that one of the most beloved television programs in America is “Two and
a Half Men,” a sitcom designed to feed our fantasy about unbridled lust free of negative consequences.
But the Bible says (of course I would drag the Bible into it):
“But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it;
then, what that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin,
and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15).
Death is where lust leads. Death of marriage. Death of our relationship with our children. Death
of our relationship with our friends, our work, our creativity, our joy and happiness. Death of dignity.
Take a look at the personal life of the star of the show and ask yourself if there is any dignity left. Lust
always appears beautiful at first. No one would bite if they saw the rotten corpse that it becomes.
A wealthy man bought a zoo in the 1920’s. One day, the man heard about a rare and
beautiful type of gazelle from Africa. No zoo in the world had such a gazelle. He mounted an
expedition to Africa. The natives told him he would never catch a gazelle. “They’re too fast and
too strong.”
“Let’s see,” he said. He and his men located a herd of gazelle; he poured sweet feed - a
blend of oats and barley rolled in molasses - on the ground in an open area in the middle of the
night. Then he left. The next night, he scattered the feed again. For two weeks, he spread the
feed, night after night.
The animals ate this delicious concoction. On the first night of the third week, he
scattered the feed and sank an eight-foot post into the ground twenty feet away. The next night,
he scattered the feed and sank another post into the ground twenty feet in the opposite direction.
Every night, he added a post. Then he started putting boards between the posts while scattering
the feed.
Six weeks rolled by. He continued adding posts and boards until he had a corral built
around the feed. Every night the gazelle would find the gaps between the posts and would come
into the corral and feed. They had no idea that they were gradually being closed in. Finally, he
watched one night as the entire herd squeezed through the final gap. He moved in behind them
and nailed the last board into place. The animals were trapped inside the corral. When he was
asked how he knew how to catch them, he said: “I treat animals the same way I treat people: I
give them what they want. I give them food and shelter. In exchange, they give me their beauty
and their freedom.”
This is the way temptation works. We are drawn in little by little until a fence is built
around us. It may begin with a glance . . . a casual remark . . . a phone call . . . and eventually
heartbreak. The best thing to do with the sin of lust is dismiss it before it has a chance to trap
you. You might have the best looking barley and honey on the planet chasing you, but if you
give it one inch it will take everything you love. The heartbreak will be maddening. Is it worth
it?
I want us to turn our remaining time and attention to anger (vv. 21-26). I am no psychologist,
but I have a thought that standing behind all the heartbreak caused by adultery and lust, divorce and
swearing, is the monster of anger. In his preaching, which very closely follows the Ten Commandments
of Ex 20, Jesus took anger very seriously.
Listen to what he says: “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not
murder’ (Ex 20:13); and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that
if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment;
and if you insult a brother or sister you will be liable to the council;
and if you say, ‘you fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”
There is no wiggle room in these pronouncements.
Let’s look in detail at what Jesus is saying. First of all, he is putting murder and anger in
the same league. He sees anger as a problem that progresses through stages that could very well
end in the act of murder.
Listen: “If you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment” (v.
22a). The brother or sister to whom Jesus refers can mean a ‘sibling.’ It can mean ‘fellow
believer.’ It can mean ‘any person in the world.’ Jesus tells us that we are related to everyone –
even our enemies. In Mt 5:44 Jesus teaches, ‘Love your enemies.’ So no one is excluded. Jesus
says if we murder we will be liable to judgment. He also says if we are angry with anyone we
will be liable to judgment.
“Jesus extends the reach of the commandment beyond the act of murder to the thoughts,
feelings, and actions that cause people to commit murder. He challenges us to deal with the
problem of evil while it still resides as evil thoughts or feelings in our hearts -- before it finds
expression in the evil works of our hands or the evil words of our mouths.” (Donovan, Sermon
Writer)
The second thing he says is this: ‘If you insult a brother or sister you will be liable to the
council’ (v. 22b). Insult comes from the Aramaic word ‘raca,’ which means ‘empty,’ or ‘emptyheaded.’ It could mean to say one is ‘stupid,’ or ‘devoid or bereft’ of any gifts for living. We
must ask ourselves how often parents, in a fit of frustration, take that course of action with their
children? Or how often do we who have weathered the economic storms or been born into
privilege or even clawed our way to the top of the heap, how often do we look at those on a
lower economic rung of the ladder as empty-headed? Liable to the council means that at some
point our anger will be publicly exposed.
The third thing Jesus says in his discourse on anger is this: “and if you say, ‘You fool,’
you will be liable to the hell of fire” (v. 22c). Fool comes from the Aramaic word ‘moros,’ from
which we get the English word ‘moron.’ Scholars are not sure if raca (insult) and moros (fool)
mean the same thing or different things. Whatever they mean in particular, they are insulting to
others and will result in serious consequences. The consequences point to a progressivity,
moving from judgment, to public exposure, to the hell of fire.
So anger causes us to turn on others. It can lead to murder. Bottom line: Anger is
consequential. It hurts and damages others, even taking human life. And that’s not the whole of
it. Anger can also cause us to turn on ourselves. In his book, Deadly Emotions, Dr. Don Colbert
entitles one chapter, “The Path from Damaging Emotion to Deadly Disease.” Dr. Colbert says
there are links between anger and hypertension and coronary artery disease, rheumatoid arthritis,
lupus, autoimmune disorders, headaches, lower back pain, and fibromyalgia.
One writer I read this week says: “Of the 7 deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To
lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the
prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain
you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The
chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.”
Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, p. 117.
Just as there is a way out of lust – to quit feeding it - there is a way out of anger. But it
may seem radical. You might know that in Jesus’ day they were still bringing animals of various
sorts to the Temple to offer a sacrifice to God – bulls, goats, lambs, various kinds of birds, etc. I
am not sure of the exact mechanics of it, but basically they would stand before an altar and a
priest would take the animal and slaughter it. Jesus came along and said this thing about anger is
so serious, that it does not matter where you came from (hundreds of miles away on a donkey or
camel), or how complicated your life is right now, what you MUST do is walk away from the
altar and go to your brother or sister (remember, that means anyone in the world) and first be
reconciled to them. It is that important! It does not matter if they are mad at you or if you are
mad at them, leave your gift at the altar and go! Be reconciled! The alternative is judgment,
embarrassment in front of others, or the hell of fire.
I would water it down if possible, but I just couldn’t find a way this time.
John Wesley put it like this: For our vertical relationship with God to be intact, our
horizontal relations with others must be right, first.
Marsha and Michael met the first day of college, 1968. They liked each other
immediately. As they began to date they discovered that they both had grandfathers who worked
in the same office building. One was an accountant; the other was an insurance man. The two
grandfathers were both in their seventies. When the two grandfathers were young boys they had
gone to school together. They had been best of friends. In the 1920s, though, they had a feud.
Hyman and Louis were furious with each other. They stopped speaking to each other. In the
elevator, they would talk to others but they would not even look at each other. If they happened
to find themselves with just the two of them in the elevator, the two boyhood friends would ride
upstairs in total silence. Fifty years of this.
Meanwhile, the romance of their grandchildren Marsha and Michael was growing more
and more serious. In 1974 they became engaged.
One day Hyman and Louis were riding upstairs in the elevator and one of them remarked
casually, "Well, it looks like the kids are going to get married." The other one said, "Yes, it looks
that way." The silence of fifty years had been broken.
A month before the wedding the two grandfathers were invited to an engagement party. It
was the first time they had been at a social occasion together in over fifty years.
"They were sitting next to each other all through the party," Marsha recalls. "They were
talking about their days in school back when they were boys. It was as if no time had passed at
all." Their friendship seemed to grow immediately. Both had forgotten what that original
argument had been about. It was a business argument, but neither one of them remembered the
details. Marsha and Michael were married; Hyman and Louie were restored to being the best of
friends.
Marsha kept thinking that she and her new husband had changed history in a way ” not
prominent, worldwide history, ” but by meeting and falling in love, they had changed the
personal histories of their two grandfathers, ” Hy and Louie, ” and somehow that seemed very
important to her. Bob Greene, He Was a Midwestern Boy on His Own (New York: Atheneum,
1991), pp. 237-239.
It makes you wonder. How many Hy’s and Louie’s are out there, mad at each other for
things they cannot even remember? How much joy and sharing, how many weddings, how many
Super Bowls or rounds of golf, how much support and love, how many funerals of dear friends,
had they missed in those fifty years? Probably an awful lot. Are you a Hy or a Louie?
Let’s try something different today. Rather than sing the whole closing hymn, we’ll sing
just the first verse. Before we do that, I want to ask us to just sit in our pews for 60 seconds. I
will time us. For 60 seconds, ask the Lord for two things: One, ask the Lord to help you see if
you are holding a grudge in your heart toward a brother or sister – anyone in the world. Two –
ask the Lord to help you go to that person and do your best to resolve things. If you go, you
cannot go trying to be justified. You just want to be forgiven for holding a grudge. Period. It will
free you of turning your anger outward or turning it inward. Either way, if you try, it will free
you. You will be let out of the corral in which you have been imprisoned. Sixty seconds begins
now.