Anger makes us do crazy things.

When we get to a place where we are blinded by how upset we are, our judgment often goes right out the window.

In February 2009, a 27-year-old woman from Fort Pierce, Florida, walked into a McDonald’s restaurant and ordered a 10-piece McNuggets meal. You know how it is when you’re hungry and you have a taste for something particular. Your imagination starts working and you can almost taste those McNuggets now.

Well, that’s when things got really tough for this hungry woman. The person behind the counter took the order and received payment. The McDonald’s employee then discovered that they were out of those bite-sized, warm, tasty McNuggets. 

The employee told the customer that the restaurant had run out of McNuggets, and she would have to get something else from the menu. 

The customer asked for her money back. 

The employee said all sales are final, and she could have a larger priced item from the menu if she wanted.

The customer got angry. She wanted McNuggets—not a Big Mac, not a McRib, not a Quarter Pounder. She was angry, this was clearly an emergency, and she knew what to do in an emergency: she took out her cell phone and called 911 to complain. Apparently the 911 workers didn’t take her seriously, because the McNuggets-loving woman called 911 three times to get help!

She never got her McNuggets that night, but she did later get a ticket from police for misusing 911.

Anger twists our perspective. It skews our judgment. Anger makes small things big and big things small. When we’re angry, having to eat a burger instead of McNuggets is a disaster, and calling 911 is not a big deal.

Besides causing us to call 911 to help us with our fast food emergencies, anger can lead to murder.

Right now, you may be saying, “Pastor Fred, how the heck did we get from McNuggets to murder?”

Well, as our text for this this morning shows us, in God’s eyes, when anger takes over, there isn’t much difference between McNuggets and murder.

The lectionary has us returning to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount for the third week in a row now to spend some time hearing about God’s desires for us when it comes to life and love.

In this morning’s portion of Jesus’ sermon, Jesus is talking about God’s desires for us when it comes to murder, anger, the words we use, and finally, reconciliation.

Let’s hear together from the disciple Matthew’s biography of Jesus, specifically, Matthew 5:21–26, now.

The text has Jesus’ preaching this message:

[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.

When we read this part of Jesus’ sermon, we hear words that make sense for those of us that know God’s 10 Commandments as well as for those who understand the basic rules of right and wrong.

We hear the 5th Commandment which says, 

“You shall not murder.” (Exodus 20.13)

When we hear those words, we think, “Yes! Of course! That makes perfect sense, murder is wrong.”

So, how many people have you murdered in your lifetime?

The majority of the human race would answer, “Zero. I have never physically stopped another person from living.”

So, far, most of us are on track and in agreement with Jesus’ words thinking, “I have obeyed this commandment of God, put a check next to the ‘completed’ box on the list.”

But, then Jesus says something a little strange.  He goes on to say:

“[22] But I [also] 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.”

When we hear these words, we think, “Say what?,” or using the words of Arnold Drummond from one of my favorite childhood shows, Different Strokes, “What you talking about Willis?”

In these words, Jesus is equating our anger—the anger that often leads us to use our words to put down, make fun of, and insult the one or ones that we are upset with—with murder.

Do you see the gravity of Jesus’ words in this part of his sermon?

Jesus is saying that every single word that comes out of your mouth matters to God.

That means if you use your words for anything except encouragement, support, thanksgiving, and building others up, you are guilty of breaking God’s command for your life.

If you use your words to make fun of someone, you are guilty of sin and deserve to be punished eternally in Hell.

If you use you words to tear someone down, you are guilty of sin and deserve to be punished eternally in Hell.

If you use your words to spread gossip, you are guilty of sin and deserve to be punished eternally in Hell.

If you use your words to tell dirty jokes, you are guilty of sin and deserve to be punished eternally in Hell.

It is not uncommon to hear the misconception that God is love and would never send anyone to Hell.  Many even claim that Jesus never talked about Hell.

Well, as this morning’s text shows us, these are nothing but lies.

At this point, we may be thinking, how can Jesus equate some silly like the words that come out of my mouth with murder?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran Pastor who lived in the first half of the 20th Century, is best known for his opposition to Adolf Hitler, the Nazi regime, and their genocidal persecution of the Jews.

In one of Bonhoeffer’s books, The Cost of Discipleship, he comments on the text from Matthew 5 that we are hearing from this morning and answers that questions about the equality of murder, anger, and words in God’s eyes.

Bonhoeffer comments this:

“The judgment [the murder] passes on others falls on the murderer himself.  In this context “brother” means more than “fellow-Christian”: for the follower of Jesus there can be no limit as to who is his neighbor, except as the Lord decides.  He is forbidden to commit murder under pain of divine judgment.  For him the brother’s life is a boundary which he dare not pass.  Even anger is enough to overstep the mark, still more the casual angry word (Raca), and most of all the deliberate insult of our brother (“Thou Fool”). 

Anger is always an attack on the brother’s life, for it refuses to let him live and aims at his destruction.  Jesus will not accept the common distinction between righteous indignation and unjustifiable anger.  The disciple must be entirely innocent of anger, because anger is an offense against both God and his neighbor.  Every idle word which we think so little of betrays our lack of respect for our neighbor, and shows that we place ourselves on a pinnacle above him and value our own lives higher than his.  The angry word is a blow struck at our brother, a stab at his heart: it seeks to hit, to hurt and to destroy.  A deliberate insult is even worse, for we are then openly disgracing our brother in the eyes of the world, and causing others to despise him.  With our hearts burning with hatred, we seek to annihilate his moral and material existence.  And the murderer will himself be judged.

When a man gets angry with his brother and swears at him, when he publicly insults or slanders him, he is guilty of murder and forfeits his relation to God.  He erects a barrier not only between himself and his brother, but also between himself and God.  He no longer has access to him: his sacrifice, worship and prayer are not acceptable in his sight.”

Jesus’ brother James also speaks to this issues of the power of words to both give life and kill in the letter that he wrote that is now including in the New Testament part of the Bible.

James 3:4–12 says this:

[4] Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. [5] So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! [6] And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. [7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, [8] but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. [10] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. [11] Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? [12] Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. (ESV)

In fact, the importance and power of words to give life and to kill, to build up and tear down has been pointed out by God’s people throughout  history and recorded for us from the beginning to the end of the Bible.

Listen to these texts:

Proverbs 18:6–7:

[6] A fool’s lips walk into a fight,

and his mouth invites a beating.

[7] A fool’s mouth is his ruin,

and his lips are a snare to his soul. (ESV)

Proverbs 18:21:

[21] Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

and those who love it will eat its fruits. (ESV)

Ephesians 4:29–30:

[29] Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. [30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (ESV)

Colossians 4:6:

[6] Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (ESV)

And, 1 Timothy 4:15:

[15] Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. (ESV)

Here is the flow of Jesus’ thought so far.

1. Murder breaks one of God’s commands.

2. Anger that leads you to use your words to say things that communicate the idea that someone else’s life isn’t of value or of any worth or is less important than yours is equal to murder because it disrespects another one of God’s creations.

And then we move on to

3. Do everything in your power to seek forgiveness and reconciliation after anger has led you to use unkind and sometimes untrue words.

What this text is ultimately telling us is that reconciliation is of utmost importance to God.

One of the rightfully most respected scholars of the last Century, John Stott, says this about Jesus’ words in this morning’s part of The Sermon on the Mount:

“If you are in church, in the middle of a service of worship, and you suddenly remember that your brother has a grievance against you, leave the church at once and put it right.  Do not wait till the service has ended.  Seek your brother and ask forgiveness.  First go, then come.  First go and be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your worship to God.”

Did you hear that?

Jesus is saying to you that if you are aware that your anger has caused division between you and another person, you should get up from the pew that you are sitting in and go seek forgiveness and reconciliation with that person.  And, don’t come back into this place until that is done.

Reconciliation is of utmost importance to God.

So much so, that the entire Bible from beginning to end is about God’s great desire to be reconciled to you—you who have been disobedient to his commands for life and love over and over again—you who have used your words to make fun of other people, tear people down, spread lies, and pass along gossip.  

Jesus speaks of God’s great desire to forgive you and be reconciled to you when He shares about the reason that God stepped into the flesh to come to you to rescue you from being separated from Him.

Jesus speaks of God’s great desire to forgive you and be reconciled to you in what is probably the most famous words from the entirety of Scripture.

In John 3.16-18, Jesus says to you:

[16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. [17] For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. [18] Whoever believes in him is not condemned. (ESV)

And, following that good news that God, our Father in Heaven, has no greater desire than to forgive you and be reconciled to you and live with you eternally in His Kingdom of Heaven, regardless of how many times you broke his commands about watching your words, anger, and ultimately the murder that he considers those things, the apostle Paul shares this good news as well in several of his letters to the churches gathered in the Mediterranean region during the first Century with encouragement like:

[21] …you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [22] he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, (Colossians 1:21–22, ESV)

[10] … while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, [how] much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10, ESV)

And,

[32] Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32, ESV)

Are you guilty of letting things like McNuggets turn into something that God equates with murder? 

Yes, over and over and over again.

But, God’s grace is ALWAYS bigger and stronger than the sin of murder.  As hard as that is to believe and as mind-boggling as it may be, it is the truth.

There is nothing in all of creation that God will allow to keep you separated from him.

Have faith in Jesus.

Be forgiven and reconciled to God.

Then go and forgive and be reconciled to others.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Reverend Fred Scragg V

February 18, 2023