Steering Clear of Murder, Part 2

Today, a lesson on overcoming anger. I don't know if you're the kind of person who holds a grudge, but if you are, I plead with you on this day in your life to break that habit. Holding grudges is a horrible way to live, and it's a dreadful way to die. At what point does a mild expression of anger cross the line from righteous indignation to an explicit sin? After all, it's one thing to be ticked off, but quite another to be out of control.

So how can we tell the difference between the two? Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll is teaching from Matthew chapter 5. In this passage that features Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, we discover the serious nature of anger, and in particular, the way that anger exposes the depravity of the human condition.

Chuck titled today's message, Steering Clear of Murder. Back in the mid 1950s, there was a team of five young men who had come to know one another in college and were led by the Lord to pursue a tribe in Ecuador known as the Aucas. In the process of time, they with their wives moved there, and before they departed to begin that very significant connection with the tribe of savages, they met together for prayer, husbands and wives, and they sang one hymn, Be still, my soul, the Lord is on thy side. Taken from Psalm 46 verse 10. Let's be still before the Lord as we bow for prayer. As was true of those five, our Father, we acknowledge we also face an unknown future, each of those men becoming martyrs in their desire to reach those who had never known the Savior.

And we move into a world that has lost its way, has long since left the teachings of the Scriptures, and it's our desire to live for you in this hostile environment in such a way that, if nothing else, their curiosity would be drawn to how we might live so differently in a world of the majority who live the same. I pray for courage in this congregation. I pray for wise decisions to be made before anyone enters the workplace this week. I pray that our hearts will be right before you and that we will not be ashamed of our convictions or of the good news that has transformed our lives.

We need wisdom to do this, lest we come across as prudish, holier than thou. I pray that you will give us an authenticity like Christ, who lived and spoke in such a way that people could not stay away. As he drew to himself those who would follow him, if he were to live today, may we be among those in that number. May we hear his word above all others. May we follow his teaching more faithfully than we follow our conscience or what we may have been taught in years past. May we be willing to devote ourselves to the way we should go to please you, Lord. Not ourselves, not people, but may we please you. In the process, may we learn how to do it in such a winsome, gracious way that others are drawn through our good works to you and your Son, Jesus. We desire that this message go beyond our own property and beyond our own neighborhood and while infiltrating this area, may we be faithful to carry it beyond.

Use the gifts that we give for that purpose. And now as we sit still before you, may we rehearse in our minds the week that has passed. May we prepare ourselves for the sowing of the seed. May we not be defensive or preoccupied as we hear your Son from your Word teach us how to live in this world. For your greater glory and for your sake alone, we pray this and we give our gifts through Christ our Lord. Everyone said, Amen. You're listening to Insight for Living.

To study the book of Matthew with Chuck Swindoll, be sure to download his Searching the Scripture Studies by going to insightworld.org slash studies. And now Chuck's message titled, Steering Clear of Murder. Religion has a strong foothold in most people's lives who are reared around churches and religious teaching. Much of the teaching is incorrect. Rather than giving you a way to live that is under the power of the Spirit, you and I were given lists, things we should do, things we should not do, so that the doing of things characterized our lives. It was all about how we acted. You don't do this because it doesn't look good.

You don't say that because people will form opinions. It's all about the actions. But as true religion, genuine Christianity goes deeper than the mouth, than the fists, than the feet. It goes all the way to the inner man where we have a chance to realize there can be a control.

And when you come to Christ, the Spirit of God makes his residence in your life and he lives there to control your emotions, to restrain your rage, to calm your tendency toward retaliation, and to give you genuine peace so that you're speaking peaceful terms, encouraging terms, loving words. Now then, all of these who are listening to Jesus teach in his Sermon on the Mount have been reared under rabbis who learned their lessons from the Pharisees and the scribes. They read them, they listened to them, they were tutored and mentored by them, so they parroted what they had been taught and seen before their eyes.

Everything was about the act. So when they address murder, they address the act of murder, not the motive behind it, not the thoughts that lead to it, not the anger that stems from the heart and leads to assaulting others. They weren't taught about that. They were taught the act of murder because that's what the law teaches, you shall not kill, meaning you shall not murder. And along comes Jesus and says, but I say to you, you are to be different from that.

It isn't simply the act I want to address behind the scenes, the hidden motive of the heart. You see, the Pharisees dealt with the letter of the law. Jesus came and taught about the spirit of the law. And in this sermon, Jesus tells them what they've been hearing and then he corrects that teaching with his words that are introduced by what I call a literary clue.

There are six of these clues that go together. Look at your Bible, chapter 5, verses 21 and 22 would be the first. I'll not read it all, but simply the first lines. Verse 21, you have heard, 22, but I say to you, what they had heard was what they had grown up with, what they had listened to, what they had witnessed among the Pharisees, what the rabbis had taught them, and along comes Jesus who says there's more to it than that.

It's not an act, it's an attitude, which he addresses. And then verse 27, verse 28, you can mark this with your pen or pencil. You have heard, but I say to you, and here he addresses adultery. 27, 28, 29, 30, adultery. They taught this, which was about the act of adultery. Jesus taught that, which is about lust that leads to adultery.

You don't control your lust, you are guilty of adultery, just as if you don't control your anger, you are guilty of murder. Until you see that, you won't understand the seriousness of this teaching. There's a third, verse 31, verse 32. It was said, verse 32, but I say, a little change in wording rather than you have heard, but it was said, same thing, but I say to you, and then he corrects the teaching regarding divorce. Verses 33 and 34 mark that. Again, you have heard, verse 34, but I say, here he talks about oaths. Look at 38 and 39. You have heard, verse 38, but I say to you, and here he talks about retaliation, an eye for an eye or tooth for the tooth, and that's the way the Pharisees taught, but he said there's a better way. Let me tell you about it. Here's another. You have heard it was said you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say that's 43 and 44.

Got them? All six of them. We're looking at the first of six where we learn how to steer clear of murder. The outward act is in verse 21. All your growing up years, all those times in the synagogue, all those days in church, we would say, the ancients were told you shall not commit murder. Murder is obviously the taking of the life of another.

Don't do that. Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. The law says don't do it, and the Pharisees taught the law, but they never went behind the scenes and dealt with anger. That's why many of them were filled with anger.

You question that? They're the ones who led to the crucifixion of Jesus. He shattered their self-righteousness, and they despised him for it. But now Jesus comes along and says there's more to it than an act. Let me go further.

Now it gets very convicting. Everyone who is angry with his brother, so let's keep this among the family. Your brother would be your fellow Christian. Your sister would be your fellow Christian. Everyone who is angry with his brother or sister in the family of God shall be guilty before the court.

He even goes into detail. Whoever says you good for nothing, that's an insulting statement. We would call it airhead. It means an empty-headed individual. That's an insulting statement. Shall be guilty. Whoever says you fool. Fool isn't someone that just does something mischievous. A fool says in his heart there's no God.

You godless so-and-so. So it's a pronouncement of condemnation of another person. It's what we do in a burst of temper. It's what we do when we take off all the restraints.

This is road rage in action. Except it has to do with the tongue. Now you can begin to get the picture.

You see it. It's an inner attitude. It has to do with an anger which broods.

It has to go further. An anger that won't forget. Some of you could name book, chapter, and verse of an event that happened where it made you angry and you have carried that anger to this day.

You even know the words that were said. Anger that won't forget. Or it's an anger that refuses to forgive and be pacified. Or it's an anger, worst of all, that seeks revenge. I don't know if you're the kind of person who holds a grudge, but if you are, I plead with you on this day in your life to break that habit.

Holding grudges is a horrible way to live, and it's a dreadful way to die. I did a little research this week on the Hatfields and McCoys. They're sort of the notorious example of a feud between two families. The Hatfields lived in Kentucky near the big sandy river at the fork, and the McCoys lived in West Virginia. Because one of the members of a family fought for the Union rather than the Confederacy, the group on the other side that was on the side of the Confederates hated him. When he returned from battle, having lost a leg, he was killed by a Hatfield. The body was found January 7, 1865.

Stay with me. Thirteen years later, in an argument over the ownership of a hog, in June 1880, two McCoy brothers killed a relative from the other family. The feud escalated when a Hatfield married a McCoy. I bet that was fun when the two got together, the families.

Can you imagine? August 9, 1882. There's a reason I'm giving you dates. August 9, 1882, another murder followed a fight. This led to a revenge killing of several that same day.

No forgiveness, no reconciliation, only loading up the weapon for another shot. 1886, a McCoy shot and killed a Hatfield. January 1, 1888, a McCoy was killed by nine Hatfield attackers as a payback. January 7, 1888, a Hatfield was killed by a McCoy. January 18, 1888, another killing.

February 18, 1890, a hanging. Similar killings, acts of hatred, ongoing fights, lingering offenses. Finally, June 14, 2003, there was an official truce declared and one of the members of one of the families said, every time you do have to fight, but you don't have to fight forever.

It was signed by more than 60 descendants from both sides after the feud had lasted 138 and a half years. So what happens when you hold a grudge? Oh, you're not that violent. I know that.

I know that. And I'm also, I need to clarify too while we're all sitting here shredded in guilt. I need to add here that not every skirmish is a verbal murder. I mean, you'll have arguments.

It's not talking about arguments. I mean, if you're married, if you're just married, it goes with it. And the longer you're married, it's interesting, isn't it?

Skirmishes occur back and forth. I mean, this is the old guy that had been married to this older lady 50 years and he had retired and she was sick of having him around and she said to him, just get out for a while. I need a break. So he leaves and he goes to a store and he steals a can of peaches. And he comes home and he opens a can of peaches and he's eating them. She said, what are you doing? He said, well, I'm eating these peaches. And she said, where'd you get them? He said, I stole them.

Well, she hit the ceiling. She turned him in, pressed charges, took him to the cops. The cops got him for the judge and he stood before the judge. The judge said to him as he got the picture, how many peaches in that can? The old guy says, six. Okay, he said, I'm going to teach you a lesson, old man. I'm going to put you in jail for six days. His wife's in the back of the court saying, he also stole a can of peas.

A little marital anger there going on. You understand. That's why you laugh. You understand. We're not talking about that.

You know better. We're talking about those times that fire could have been coming out of your mouth like a dragon. We're talking about those moments when you seethed deep within and you cultivated a hatred for another person. That's what we're talking about. We're dealing with murder in the heart. You see, when you're a Christian, you learn not to shrug sins.

You don't do that. Mature Christians don't shrug off sins, even though you're a strong believer in grace and there's no one right now on this planet stronger in grace than I am. But I will tell you, as a grace-loving believer, you don't dare shrug off sins. That cheapens grace. That's why Jesus says what he does and uses words like this that strike the heart. Let it say what it says. Now, in perfect Jesus Christ fashion, he flips the story around when he gets to verse 23 and he no longer looks at you in your anger. He now looks at the person you've offended, the person you said those things to.

Look at 23. It's a conditional sentence, if, and you're in church. You're reaching into your wallet or your checkbook to write out your gift for the day. In those days, you had a gift that you brought, an offering to the altar.

That's what it's saying. If you are presenting, you're offering at the altar. And there, remember, look at that. While you're engaged in worship, amazing about the mind, you're suddenly stung with memory. You realize and you see another face on your eyelids. You begin to be pierced in your heart when you're in the middle of a song or a time of silence or in a sermon. You're about to present your offering at the altar, and what happens? You remember your brother has something against you. You are the offender, and you remember that. Oh, I've had that happen, and I know you have.

What do you do? Do you sort of shrug and pray and ask the Lord to help him understand that it was just a bad moment? No, doesn't say that. Do you wait a few days and think maybe have a chance to make contact, door will open, or maybe you write a letter? No, doesn't say that.

There's no wait here. Do you leave it up to him to come or her to come to you and say, you know, the other day when you said so and so, that was very hurting. That was difficult, and I can't quite get through.

No, no. The responsibility is not the other person's. Please observe the verse and let the verse say what it says.

Look at the verbs. Leave your offering and go. First, be reconciled.

Look at that, order of importance. First, be reconciled, and then come and now present your offering, full circle. You're in the middle of worship and you realize, oh, oh, and you're convicted. It's come from the Spirit of God. You've said or done something that was cutting, and you know you were wrong and you know the other person was hurt, was offended.

Your mind has the ability to picture all of that. You go, what does it say? It says you go first and be reconciled. You turn enmity into amity.

You turn the offense into a resolution. You reconcile with this brother or sister you have hurt. At Insight for Living, we have always been an advocate for forgiveness and reconciliation. Jesus perfectly modeled forgiveness in his life and in his famous Sermon on the Mount.

He made it undeniably clear that his followers are to be reconciled with each other. To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. Well, in the spirit of today's study, I'm eager to call your attention to a wonderful message presented by Chuck Swindoll and his wife, Cynthia. It's contained on a CD called Finding Healing Through Forgiveness. In this message, Chuck exposes the barriers that often get in our way and keep us from giving and receiving forgiveness. And his message is followed by an emotion-filled testimony from Cynthia in which she transparently shares her pursuit of mending a broken relationship. In this rare moment of public speaking, Cynthia explains how forgiving according to God's Word ultimately ended her battle with depression. To purchase a copy of the CD Finding Healing Through Forgiveness, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888.

Or it may be quicker if you go directly to insight.org slash store. And then as God leads you, please remember the influence of your donation to Insight for Living. Our website and our mailbox are filled with affirming notes from grateful listeners.

They often describe God's faithfulness as they learn to activate the power of God's Word to life. People from all walks of life are benefiting from the gifts you send. We hear from truck drivers and business executives, homemakers and professionals. So thank you for your donation. Chuck delivers the sermons. Our staff puts together this program.

But it's people like you who give wings to Insight for Living. To give a donation right now, call us. If you're listening in the United States, dial 1-800-772-8888. 1-800-772-8888. You can also go online to insight.org. Join us again Monday when Chuck Swindoll continues his message titled Steering Clear of Murder.

Here on Insight for Living. The preceding message, Steering Clear of Murder, was copyrighted in 2015 and 2021. And the sound recording was copyrighted in 2021 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.