Last Sunday, we learned that Jesus didn’t come to do away with the Old Testament Law, but to fulfill it. He said that unless you follow the Law more perfectly than the Pharisees, you can never enter into the Kingdom of God. (If you missed that message, it will be helpful for you to go back and read to it - "Why Christians Follow Some Old Testament Laws But not Others")
Jesus said, unless you follow the Law better than the
Pharisees, you can never enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:20). Now the Pharisees were the holiest people in
Jesus’ day. Everyone looked up to them
and respected them. And Jesus’ followers
would have thought it quite impossible to be more righteous than the
Pharisees. And that was the point. Jesus was saying, “You can’t do it. The Pharisees can’t earn their way into
Heaven and neither can you!”
That’s why Jesus came.
Since we can’t fulfill the requirements of the law, Jesus came to
fulfill it for us. Since the penalty of
sin is death (and we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious
standard), Jesus came and paid the penalty of our sin by dying on the cross for
us. His death atones for our sin and
makes us right with God.
But to prove His point that we cannot follow the law
perfectly (and so we desperately need Jesus’ help), Jesus give some real life
examples to point out some of the ways we fall short. The first example is about anger ad comes in
Matthew 5:21-26. (We'll see some more examples in future blogs.)
21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.
Jesus shows how incredible demanding is God’s perfect
Law. Of course, we can understand that
we should not murder. But lest we boast
that we have never murdered, Jesus points out that the spirit of the Law
requires more. If you are angry at
someone, you’ve broken the Law. If you
are driving down Cleveland Hwy and someone cuts in front of you and almost
causes a wreck and you say, “You idiot!”, you will face judgment. And if you curse at someone, you are dangling
precariously over the fires of hell and it’s only a matter of time before you
fall into it! The perfect Law of God is
that demanding. And Jesus goes on.
23 “So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, 24 leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.
Here,
Jesus is showing forgiveness and reconciliation is the most important act for
God’s people. In the Jewish religion of Jesus’ day, sacrifice in the Temple was very
important. People would travel for
hundreds of miles (on foot) to visit the Temple to make a religious sacrifice. It was a high and holy event. But Jesus says there’s something even more
important. Even though your sacrifice
was very expensive and you traveled many miles to offer it as the Temple that
is held up as the most important place on earth, forgiveness and reconciliation
is more important. It is so important,
in fact, that Jesus left the glory of Heaven to come down to our broken world,
and to die on a cross for our sins so we can be reconciled to God and each
other.
25 “When you are on the way to court with your adversary, settle your differences quickly. Otherwise, your accuser may hand you over to the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 And if that happens, you surely won’t be free again until you have paid the last penny.
This last part is often seen as Jesus’ practical advice for
people in a lawsuit. It makes
sense. If someone has a suit against you
(and you are in the wrong, or maybe even just partly in the wrong), settle it
out of court if you can. You never know
how it’s going to go in court. Plus,
honest people ought to be able to work out a fair agreement among themselves. (Sadly, that’s not always the case since we
are too broken by sin.)
But the Lord revealed something to me as I prepared for this
message (and I checked it out and found there is another way of understanding
this passage that gets at what Jesus is really saying). This is more than just practical advice. Jesus is using a metaphor about eternal
judgement.
“When you are on the way to court with your adversary…” We are all involved in a divine “lawsuit”. You see, God’s Law is perfect. And we have all broken it. And the Bible often says the Devil is our accuser and adversary. Satan is the prosecuting attorney who brings the case against sinful people to God. Our great enemy, the Devil, shows all the evidence of our sinfulness to the Heavenly Court and points His accusing finger at our face, “He is guilty! She is guilty! And the penalty is death and eternal damnation!”
And what will you say when you find yourself on the judgment
seat in the court of Heaven? We have no defense. We are indeed
guilty. As Jesus shows, we are guilty
even if we’ve only ever been angry or called someone an idiot.
And so Jesus says, “Don’t wait until the Day of
Judgment! Then it will be too late. Settle this matter now, while you’re still on
the way to that Heavenly Court. Here’s
your chance.”
Here’s your chance, people.
Jesus is here now. He came to
offer grace. He came to offer
reconciliation with God and your fellow man.
It’s more important than worship or sacrifice. It’s THE most important thing.
So first off, we need to get our hearts right with God. That starts when we turn to Jesus and repent of our sin. We say, “Jesus, I will follow You as the Lord of my life. I am no longer in charge. You are. I will follow You. Please, forgive me for my sins and save me.”
When we do this, Jesus’ death on the cross washes away all
our sin. When the Devil tries to accuse
you before God, there will be nothing left to find you guilty. Your sins are gone. You are innocent and holy before God.
But there’s more.
Now, we are called to live like Jesus in this broken
world. We are ambassadors of peace and reconciliation. Jesus forgives our trespasses and so we forgive those who have trespassed against
us. And we are healed and there is healing in our world and the Kingdom of Heaven
comes on earth.
No. It is not easy to forgive people who hurt us. It was not east for Jesus to die on the cross, but He did it. And Jesus said in Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.” And so just as Jesus forgave us, we must forgive others.
Closing
As we close, I want to first invite you to be reconciled to God. Turn away from your sin and turn to Jesus. Believe in Him and trust Him and follow Him as Lord and receive the grace and mercy and forgiveness He freely gives. He will wash you clean of your sin so you are holy before God. The Devil will have nothing of which to accuse you. You will be innocent.
Second, I invite you to do the hard work of forgiving others. Just as Christ forgave you, freely forgive those who have wronged you. Do not be angry, for anger leads to wrath. Instead, leave the judgment to God, for He is the only one qualified to judge. As for you, be an ambassador of peace and reconciliations as is fitting for those who follow the Lord Jesu Christ.
For a incredible testimony of God's power and forgiveness that transforms lives, watch this video from Samaritans Purse about an orphan from Rwanda who gave his life to Christ and then forgave the people who murdered his family in the Rwandan genocide of the 1990s.
