Daily Devotional For Monday, September 16, 2024
Well, Merry Monday. You are either off to work or school or both or retired and enjoying today. Today, we pick up where we left off on Saturday and Sunday. We are making our way through the most famous and best sermon ever – Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount. It is found in Matthew chapters 5, 6, & 7. So let me remind you of what I said on Saturday, September 14:
And for the rest of chapter 5, Jesus demonstrates and exhibits six examples of the “deeper righteousness” that God expects from us. Pastor and author Chuck Swindoll highlights these for us (Source: Charles R. Swindoll, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary, “Matthew 1-15,” Vol. 1A, p. 99).
- Murder (Matthew 5:21-26)
- Adultery (Matthew 5:27-30)
- Divorce (Matthew 5:31-32)
- Oaths (Matthew 5:33-37)
- Retaliation (Matthew 5:38-42)
- Love (Matthew 5:43-48)
For each of these six topics Jesus repeated a phrase, “You have heard” – meaning from the religious leaders – “but I say to you . . .” (referring to the correct interpretation). What Jesus does here is shift the emphasis from eternal observable acts to internal unobservable attitudes. So for the next few days, we are going to look at each of these six. So, let’s start with the first one in Matthew 5:21-26:
“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ (22) But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ (Raka) shall be guilty before the supreme court (Sanhedrin); and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. (23) Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, (24) leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering. (25) Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. (26) Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent” (NASB).
When we look at crime, humanity’s first crime was a homicide or murder. Look at Genesis 4:8, “Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother and killed him” (NASB). Ever since that first murder, murder has been a part of every culture. Currently, there are on average 25,000 murders a year in the United States. That is around 70 each day in this country (Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm).
You add suicide to that, which is around 50,000 per year or 137/day (Source: https://afsp.org/suicide-statistics/) in the US, then that total rises. You add abortions to that total, which average around 625,978 or 1,741/day (Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/03/25/what-the-data-says-about-abortion-in-the-us/#how-many-abortions-are-there-in-the-us-each-year), that total increases even more. So, living in America is a dangerous place to live. And it seems that unless the murder is bizarre or massive such as a school shooting, those murders may not even make the local news.
Jesus began this text with, “You have heard that the ancients were told . . .” This is a reference to the teachings of the religious leaders such as the rabbis and scribes. These religious leaders added traditions to God’s Word and Law which by the time of Jesus had surpassed the authority of Scripture. Before God had given the Ten Commandments, with the sixth commandment being, “Thou shalt not commit murder” (Exodus 20:13), God had already given a command prohibiting murder in Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God, He made man” (NASB). Here both the seriousness of this sin and its punishment are given.
Jesus is referring to the command in the Ten Commandments. This command is not a prohibition against killing a person, but against murder and homicides. We are still allowed to exercise self-defense. This command is for intentionally killing another person for personal reasons, whatever they might be. Years ago, a comedian by the name of Flip Wilson had a routine where he would say in character, “The devil made me do it.” It would be easy to blame the devil for our sin, even murder, but we cannot. While the devil tempts us, it is us who choose to commit the act of murder.
The Apostle Paul in Romans 1:28-32 puts it this way:
“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, (29) being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, (30) slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, (31) without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; (32) and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them” (NASB).
In addition, the Bible says this in Proverbs 6:16-19:
“There are six things which the Lord hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: (17) Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, (18) A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, (19) A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers” (NASB).
Pastor and author John MacArthur writes this:
“The Old and New Testaments are filled with the names of murderers. In the Old are Cain, Lamech, Pharaoh, Abimelech, Joab, the Amalekites, David, Absalom, Zimri, Jezebel, Haziel, Jehu, Athaliah, Joash, Manasseh, and many others. The New Testament list includes Herod, Judas, the high priests, Barabbas, Herodias and her daughter, and others. Biblical history, like human history in general, is filled with murderers” (Source: John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, “Matthew,” p. 291).
The people listening to Jesus would have agreed with Him on being against murder, but Jesus says that murder begins not first as an act, but with an attitude in the heart. Jesus says that murder first starts in the heart before it starts in the hands. It is anger in our hearts that leads us to commit murder. What Jesus does is make it clear that all of us are murders to one degree or another. None of us are innocent of murder.
And Jesus says it is this internal attitude of anger that impairs our worship of God and relationship to others. This means any of us can be just as guilty of murder as anyone sitting on death row for physical murder. Jesus says that if we hate anyone, we are a murderer. Look at 1 John 3:15, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (NASB). One of the proofs you have salvation and are going to heaven is you do not hate anyone.
Jesus’ point here is to strip us of our self-righteousness and pride. Jesus denounced all the traditions of the religious leaders and He denounces all self-justification we have for hating someone. In essence, Jesus indicts all of us. Tomorrow, we will look more at this issue of anger Jesus talks about in Matthew 5:22.
Questions To Consider
- Read 1 John 3:15 again above. Is there anyone you have ever hated or said or thought, “I hate them!” What does this verse tell you about this?
- While the Jews have their own traditions and interpretations of God’s Law that excused them from thinking they had sin, so do we. We say things such as, “Well, that was just a little white lie.” The point is – “It wasn’t that bad or that horrible.. It didn’t hurt anyone.” Jesus might say to us, “You have heard that it is okay to tell a little white lie, but I say to you . . . “ What would Jesus say and why?
- All of us struggle with self-righteousness and self-justification because we compare ourselves often to the worst in society. But they are not who we should compare ourselves to because they are not the standard for righteousness. Jesus Christ is. How can you change this in your own life?
Scripture To Meditate On: 1 John 3:15, “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Jesus, please forgive me for self-justifying myself in thinking that because I have not physically murdered anyone. But in Your eyes, if I have hate for them or wish them harm, then I have murdered them. Please help me see that my sin starts in my heart before it starts in my hands. I pray that You will forgive me for such pride. I love You Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly