Matthew 5:21-26
Introduction:
“And JESUS went about all Galilee
teaching in their Synagogues, preaching The Gospel of The Kingdom and Healing
all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His Fame
went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were
afflicted with various diseases and torments and those who were
demon-possessed, epileptics; and He Healed them all. Great multitudes followed
Him – from Galilee and Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and beyond Jordan. And
seeing the multitudes He went up on a mountain and when He was seated His
disciples came to Him; then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:”
Matthew 4:23-5:2
:21-22 “You have heard that it was
said, ‘You shall not murder.’ (Exodus 20:13) and whoever murders will be in
danger of the Judgment (Numbers 35:9-34).’ But I say to you that whoever is
angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the Judgment
(Matthew 6:14-15, 18:21-35)! And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca (Lit. in
Aramaic, empty head; James 3:1-10)!’ shall be in danger of the council (in the
Greek it meant a tribunal council or a joint session of the Jewish Sanhedrin
for the purpose of punishment; Matthew 10:16-18, Mark 13:9-10). But whoever
says, ‘You fool (“You fool!” is a Judgment that only GOD can give, Psalm 14:1-2;
Luke 12:16-21; do a word study of fool in Proverbs)!’ shall be in danger of
hell fire (this is Eternal in the lake of fire; 1 John 3:10-15; Revelation
21:8)!”
:23-24 “Therefore if you bring
your Gift to the Altar and remember that your brother has something against
you, leave your Gift there before the altar and go your way; first be
Reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your Gift.” This sounds straight
forward, if your brother has an issue with you, go and make it right. But, in
Israel, every male was your brother, even if you did not know them; all Hebrews
were descendants of Abraham, therefore brethren. To the Hebrew people everyone
was a spiritual and natural relative. In
the Church today we limit our spiritual brethren to those in our Church
Fellowship and maybe our denomination, we may exclude our natural siblings if
they do not agree with our religious beliefs. JESUS is saying that every person
in our nation is our brethren and if any of them has an issue with us, we have
to reconcile with them (this is why you have to read scripture in context to
understand who was talking to whom about what, then you can apply it to your
own life)! Here is the reverse of this commandment, Matthew 18:15-17, “Moreover
if your brother sins against you, go and tell him alone; if he hears you, you
have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two
more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he
refuses to hear them, tell it to the Church; but if he refuses even to hear the
Church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.”
So what is JESUS teaching us in
these two situations? That whether we are offended or the offender it is our
responsibility to go and fix the matter before GOD.
:25-26 “Agree with your adversary
quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to
the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer and you be thrown into
prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you
have paid the last penny.” So this is the worse-case scenario, your brother has
now become your adversary (or enemy), the one who wants to do you harm for your
offence. Here JESUS puts the responsibility on the offender to make things
right or face judgment as we saw in Matthew 18:15-17 where the offender is put
out of fellowship because of his unrepentance; but we still must forgive them,
Mark 11:25-26, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against
anyone, Forgive him, that your Father in Heaven may also Forgive you your
trespasses. But if you do not Forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven
forgive your trespasses!” This is a serious matter, JESUS talked about it a
lot, even when He taught the disciples how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13, in versts
14-15 He said, “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father
will also Forgive you. But if you do not Forgive men their trespasses, neither
will your Father forgive your trespasses!”
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