Reconciliation Part 1 Pastor Kent Munsey | 10:00am Service
Main Scripture: Matthew 5:2126” “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,[ a ] and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause[ b ] shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 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. 26 Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny.”
Introduction: Pastor Kent begins by explaining that in Matthew 5 we are seeing the inauguration of the Kingdom of God. The people were familiar with the law and its rules but here we see Jesus intimately revealing more about the character of God and the power of grace when it's active in our lives. The World often views the Gospel of Grace as watered down, but in contrary it’s the good news, it is the Gospel . The righteousness of Grace is higher than the righteousness of the law. It is not about the rules but instead it is about our relationship with Jesus. In Jesus’ time you weren’t legally allowed to be angry with your brother without cause. If you were caught you would be taken to counsel. He begins to show the correlation between murder (an outward display) and lasting anger (an inward display).
ABC’s of Anger A Activating event or person B Beliefs about the event or person
C Consequences All of us have to deal with anger but not all anger is bad. The effects of anger on our blood pressure can actually be healthy. The Bible says “be angry and sin not.” It is what anger ultimately leads to that is harmful. Ben Franklin once said, “whatever begins in anger, ends in shame.” Both throughout the Bible and in life we see that anger is more commonly connected to relationships and people than to an event. Jesus emphasizes the importance of controlling this. The law says “don’t commit murder,” and often times we think we are doing good because we haven't physically killed anyone. However, Jesus says, “don’t even be angry with your brother.” With anger it’s easy to forget the other parties involved and their belief of the situation. It can bring an issue from an event to a person. We allow anger to turn into sin through what it produces in the relationship. Gossip can become another avenue that unresolved can lead to. Pastor Kent put it best when he said, “we should never look on contempt with anyone whom Christ died for.” The law says “don’t commit murder,” but we are
murdering the relationships in our life with our words and even our own souls due to unresolved/lasting anger. When we worship Jesus we need to be cognisant that we can only be reconciled back because of his grace. It is impossible to have relationship with God if we are not committed to the broken relationships in our life. Reconciliation is higher than worship to Jesus. The first step is to make it right with the person we’re angry with. In Matthew 5,Jesus says,”don’t even worship me until you make it right with your brother.” Jesus, is emphasizing the importance of close relationships. He isn’t saying to reconcile with the entire world, but specifically those close to you who are in relationship with you. Jesus was preaching this sermon in Galilee (which was a good 70 miles from the temple. This shows the emphasis Jesus was putting on the importance of reconciliation with others before we came to worship God. Being reconciled to God means we must be reconciled to one another in love. Jesus was basically saying ”God ahead and walk 70 plus miles on foot to reconcile with your brother and then come back to sacrifice an offering to God.” This would actually
mean walking 140 miles! Have you ever felt like you were struggling during worship? Could it be that there is reconciliation with someone in your life that needs to take place? Examine your heart and let God speak. The cross is intentionally designed to represent the horizontal relationships we have with each other and the vertical relationship we have between God and us. We have all been given the ministry of reconciliation. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We can’t be responsible for all aspects of reconciliation with others, but we must be responsible for pursuing reconciliation and peace with one another. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called "sons of God." Conclusion: We as the church have to lead the way. It’s not a sin to be angry but it’s a sin to let the anger take root and remain. It's the eyes of grace, this is murder. We are called to a higher standard when it comes to our inward thoughts not just our outwards actions. Let's be thankful for Jesus Christ who reconciled us back to our Father and gave us the supernatural grace to live modeled after Him. "With God ALL things are possible!"