What the World Needs Now - Humble Bridge-Builders, Part 1

How can we stop the hate and the violence we see happening across America and across the world? We see it in homes. We see it on the streets. We see it in the media.

What's Jesus' answer to this hate and violence? Stay with me. That's today. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christians through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram. We're in the middle of our series, What the World Needs Now, as Chip continues comparing the challenges and obstacles Jesus' disciples endured with what we're facing today and why the wisdom Christ shared with his followers then still applies to us now. But before we get going, if this is your first time listening to Living on the Edge or you'll want to learn more about what we do, go to livingontheedge.org. You'll find resources there on tons of topics and countless programs to enjoy. Or if you prefer, the Chip Ingram app is also a great way to get plugged in with our ministry.

Okay, go again in your Bible to Matthew Chapter 5 as we join Chip with his talk, Humble Bridge Builders. I'm going to ask you to do something a little bit different. The mind is a very, very powerful tool and you actually have the ability to begin thinking thoughts that will bring pictures of people that you love to your mind. But I want you to visualize the people that matter the most to you.

It could be a best friend, a mate, your kids, your parents. And I want you to listen. Every single one of them has this heart beating. It's more than just pumping blood and nutriments. It's the sign of life. When the children were little, they were nestled up close to moms and dads and that's what they heard. When you embrace deeply or often in the middle of the night when you wake up, if you're married, you can actually hear the heartbeat of the one next to you.

I want you to think of some of the best and warmest times you've ever had, how important these people are. Boom! Heartbeat stopped. There's an explosion in a mall and everyone that was in your mind was in that mall and they're gone. For others, the car went left to center. It was a drunk driver on a suspended license. Everyone was in that car or minivan and they're gone. For some, it's two military personnel walking up knocking on the front door and telling you that your son or daughter or husband or wife or uncle was killed in Afghanistan. Now I want you to pause.

I'm not trying to mess with your mind. I want you to think right now, how would you feel? As honest and as raw as you can, how would you feel? Where would your emotions be?

What's happening deep inside of you? In fact, that was true. You can now open your eyes because every 22 minutes in America, someone is stabbed or shot or strangled or bludgeoned to death. By the time kids are in 6th grade, they've witnessed 8,000 murders, 100,000 acts of violence. And we just came out of this century, the 20th century, that was the bloodiest and most violent in all of human history. 125 million people slaughtered. Whether it's the Holocaust or 60 million with Stalin or Idi Amin or the Killing Fields or Bosnia or Sudan or the unborn babies.

Here's what I want you to get. I want you to remember that feeling. If you can't remember the feeling of what it actually would be like, some of you have been there, some of you have lost people. I want you to know that whatever you feel, as horrendous as that is, God one trillion, million, zillion times, infinitely feels that more with every single life that's lost. Because He created them and He died for them and He loved them. The most precious commodity in all the earth is not money, it's not fame, it's not wealth, it's not property. God says the most precious commodity is life. It's when a heart starts to beat and when a life is cut short, when destruction of life happens, it brings a level of sadness and actually anger to God. And Jesus is going to talk about that to us. And unless you can remember the feeling that you just had, you will not understand at all what He's gonna say.

With that, open your notes with me. We're in Matthew chapter five. And in Matthew chapter five, Jesus has been teaching about a new way of living. And we remember there was the Beatitudes, characteristics of a true follower in this new kingdom of walking with Him. He says, do not think that I came to abolish the law, verse 17. I've not come to abolish it, but to fulfill it. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota or a dot will pass from the law until it's accomplished.

Application. Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, here's our key verse. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And the scribes and the Pharisees, in terms of external righteousness, were off the chart.

And I put the little chart here for you. He's going to now take six specific topics that are at the core of religious life in Israel. Murder, adultery, divorce, oaths, retribution. And what He's gonna do, He's gonna say that you've heard it said, but I say to you. And He's gonna first look at this is how it's been interpreted. This is the current understanding from the scribes and the Pharisees. External activities, religiosity. But I say to you, the fact of that is absolutely true, but I'm gonna probe underneath of it, and I want you to understand the spirit behind the law of God's intent. And so on the left side, you have heard it said it's about external righteousness. Jesus will say it's internal. It's about doing.

Jesus will say there's doing that it must flow from being. It's all about duty, which leads to guilt. You go, no, it's about devotion and relationship.

It's not about performance. It's about grace. It's not about the letter of the law. It's about the spirit of the law. And then He's going to matter-of-factly say it's not about all this stuff you have in your head. There's a lot of people that have it in their head.

It's what's in your heart. Now, if you turn the page in our time today, I wanna talk about topic number one. And topic number one, He's going to take those parallel things, and what He's gonna do is say, okay, you've heard it said, but I say to you, and topic number one is the sixth commandment. And the sixth commandment is thou shall not kill, literally. Now, you need to understand there's seven different words in Hebrew for kill. This word does not mean an accidental death. This isn't the killing of an animal. This isn't the execution of a prisoner.

This isn't someone dying in a just war. Literally, it's two words. The sixth commandment is only two words.

Literally, it's this. No murder. No murder. It's the intentional infliction of the taking of a human life, prohibited by God. And so the current interpretation, you've heard it said, to the people long ago, do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. The Old Testament law was very clear.

In that season, in that period, you take a life, you lose your life. If it was accidental, there were other laws, but this is very, very clear. In fact, the prohibition is no murder by, jot these two words, violent hands. It was a world of tremendous violence, and God is going to prohibit killing people.

No murder by violent hands. And I say that because when Jesus says, yes, of course that's true, he's going to probe behind. So whatever brings a person to when they would ever do that anyway? And what's in a person's heart?

What's the root cause that a person would ever get to the point that they would actually kill another human being? You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and we'll get back to his message in just a minute. You know, we love to hear how you are deepening your relationship with God as you study his word with us. But another way we want to support you in that is through our free resource called Daily Discipleship with Chip.

Let me encourage you to stick around after this message as Chip will tell you more about it and how to sign up. But for now, here again is Chip with the remainder of his talk. So let's look at Jesus' authoritative interpretation. But I tell you, anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, Rocca, literally, is answered to the Sanhedrin.

But anyone who says, you fool, we get our word moron, it's moros, will be in danger of the fire of hell. Now, get your pen out because you need to jot a few things. You need to see the parallel. Circle the word anger, and then put a line under subject to judgment. Circle the word who says, and put a line under to the Sanhedrin.

And then circle the word you fool, and put a line under danger of the fire of hell. Jesus is going to say that if you are angry with your brother, you would be liable in the civil court. He's going to say if you would go beyond anger and you would say things that would kill or poison or demean or dismiss, literally assassinate their soul or their spirit, you would be culpable to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish kind of Supreme Court.

And if you would say moron, if you would use words and abuse and contempt that would destroy their soul, malicious gossip, tear them down. He said, you're in danger of the fire of hell. It's one of the strongest passages in the entire New Testament. Luke 6 45 gives a little insight. It's the parallel passage of the Sermon on the Mount. And in it Jesus says, the good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good. The evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth what is evil. For the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart. And so what Jesus is saying is when you have anger, and by the way, there's a couple different words in the New Testament for anger. This isn't the just righteous anger that you see where Jesus is flipping over the tables.

This is a very interesting word. It's for smoldering anger, bitterness, resentment, revenge. You've been wronged. You've been hurt. It's an anger that you nurse. It's an anger down deep in your soul of resentment or bitterness towards somebody else. He says when you have that emotion down in there, you are guilty of murder.

He said if it goes beyond that and you go beyond that till you begin to say things, you label a child. You're stupid. You're a dummy.

You're a lousy worker. What's wrong with you? That's the dumbest idea ever. You're assassinating their personhood. When you get to the point where you attack their character, when we say you're a fool, that's the biblical idea here is you're empty-headed. You're a moron.

In fact, your name, your family, your personhood isn't worth anything. It's contempt. Jesus says, in essence, yes, prohibition of murder by violent hands, but Jesus would say prohibition by angry hearts and prohibition by lethal lips.

These are really, really strong words. I don't know about you, but I would say that if someone asked me casually, Chip, have you ever broken the sixth command? You know, thou shall not murder. I mean, David was a murderer. Paul was a murderer.

Moses was a murderer. I mean, there's hope after committing murder, but most of us in this room, I'm going to go out on a limb and say we haven't killed anybody. And so I read that and my natural reaction is I'm good. You good?

I'm good. And Jesus would say, no, you're not. In fact, I jotted down my paraphrase of what he was really saying and what he really means. Three prohibitions. If I intentionally and physically kill someone, I am a murderer and libel of the judicial system and the consequences. Jesus would say if I have internal attitudes of anger and bitterness and resentment and hate and feelings of enmity in my heart towards someone, I am as guilty before God as the actual act and God will bring divine judgment for that unresolved hatred in my heart. If I have feelings of anger and bitterness that come to the point where I express them in words that dismiss people, belittle people, criticize another person, and murder their spirit and their soul, I'll be held accountable to even a higher standard and God will bring divine judgment upon my life. And finally, if my anger and resentment leads to expressions of contempt that demoralize and abuse and damage and literally warp people's lives for their future, I'm as guilty as being liable to go to hell. Now what I would say, I'm gonna guess there's not a non-murderer in the room. There's not a person probably walking on the earth that is not violated the sixth commandment the way Jesus expresses it. You know, I think there's sometimes Jesus is so clear and so cutting and we all fail so miserably that we just say, well, I do that and you do that.

Let's just give everybody a pass. And did you ever think, did you ever think why there's so many people with addictions? Did you ever think why there's so many people that have dysfunctional families?

I mean, death is not always, death is separation, death is destruction, death is ruining life. You know how many families are just, I mean, totally messed up because of unresolved anger in people's hearts, resentment, how many couples have drifted apart just living in the same family, how many divorces are at the heart of unresolved anger and bitterness and resentment, how many grudges have divided families so you don't visit each other on Thanksgiving, you don't talk to those people, how many people that when the thought of your ex-mate or an ex-boss or a supervisor comes to your mind, you can't figure out why your stomach turns into knots, how many times you found yourself over coffee or in a chat room or on the phone talking about someone else in derogatory, negative ways, passing on untested information, it's murder, it's murder, it destroys, you are guilty, you will be judged. I got a rock here somewhere in my pocket, wonder what I did with it.

This rock represents people I've murdered and what you'll recognize is that you are as much of a murderer and I'm as much of a murderer as David or Paul or Moses and most of them have done it with our lips and we've done it with our heart and there is only one hope and it's the hope that we can come and that the body of Christ, his death on the cross paid for our sin and his blood was shed for us and he has given us mercy and he has forgiven us and we've got what we don't deserve. If Jesus, if every one of the commands has this level of probing underneath of it and the Spirit of God went all the way through this room, all the way around and we were just seeing what's going on inside, I will tell you the cross will become very precious and you'll be so deeply grateful that you will walk out of this room forgiven and cleansed and anything you've ever said, anything you've ever thought, any assassination with your lips, be clean. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message Humble Bridge Builders from our series What the World Needs Now. Chip will be back shortly to share some helpful application for us to think about. Turmoil, division, political corruption, prejudice, these are just a few of the serious issues we're dealing with in today's society. But did you know Jesus' disciples faced even worse problems? In this six-part series, Chip highlights the wisdom Jesus passed on to his followers over two thousand years ago and how his words still guide us today.

Don't miss the ways to build healthy relationships, handle injustice, and live God-honoring lives. Let me encourage you to stick around for each message. But if you do miss any part, catch up through the Chip Ingram app. Well, Chip's joined me in studio now to share a quick word. Chip? Thanks Dave.

I'll be right back with some personal application in just a minute. But before I do, there's some things I want to share with you personally. What I recognize is people are going through some very, very difficult times right now. We live in a broken world full of pain and sorrow and disappointment.

In fact, Jesus promised, in the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I've overcome the world.

And he's given us the keys. He's shown us how to live with joy even in the midst of the most difficult things that you go through and I go through. To learn more about how to do that, let me encourage you to sign up for our daily discipleship series, Growing Deeper with God, based on Philippians chapters one and two. This is a free video resource where you and I, in a one-on-one environment, will dive into the first half of the book of Philippians together.

I have a recorded video there that's about 10 minutes, and then I'll challenge you to take 10 more minutes and learn how to study on your own. Let's dive deeper into God's Word and discover how to tap into the joy that God actually can give us in the midst of the most difficult times in your life and mine. I hope you'll check it out. Thanks, Chip. To learn more about our daily discipleship series, Growing Deeper with God, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org. As you and Chip study Philippians chapters one and two, you'll discover how to get into God's Word for yourself and develop a more genuine connection with your Heavenly Father.

Again, for complete details, go to LivingOnTheEdge.org. App listeners, tap Discipleship. We'll hear again as Chip. As we wrap up today's program, I know it was very, very convicting. All of us have said things, and things have come out of our mouth. They're so harsh. They're so painful.

They're so hurtful, and it's hard to get over. Can you imagine, from the Lord Jesus' perspective, when He sees His children murdering one another with our words, when there's anger and bitterness and unforgiveness over political issues or over racial issues or over things that are dividing us right now, when those things are allowed to have a bigger priority in our life than our relationship with Jesus? It's just time for us to put our hands over our mouth and repent.

You know, we're living in such a divisive time, and I just sense that we are so breaking God's heart as He sees His children, His children who He's given mercy, His children who He's forgiven. Could I encourage you today to ask God to forgive you for anything that's come out of your mouth, that's been murderous, that's put someone down, that's been sarcastic, that's labeled them, something you've posted that out of anger. Ask God to forgive you. And then second, if and where at all possible, would you be willing to apologize?

Would you be willing to own your stuff and say, you know, I'm sorry. I should have never said that. That is not how God's children act. And then finally, I want to give you a verse, just one verse.

I memorized this, and all my kids had to memorize it. It's Ephesians 4 29, let no one wholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification that gives grace for the need of the moment. You know, sometimes just grabbing onto one verse to begin to put a muzzle over our words can keep us from doing things that bring such pain. Let's be God's church. Let's speak, but let's speak in love.

Good word, Chip. Just before we close, I quickly want to thank those of you who regularly give to Living on the Edge. You're making a big difference in helping Christians live like Christians. But if you're benefiting from our ministry and haven't started giving yet, let me encourage you to join the Living on the Edge team. You can do that by setting up a recurring donation at livingontheedge.org, or by calling 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003, or visit livingontheedge.org. App listeners, tap donate, and thanks for doing whatever the Lord leads you to do. We'll listen to next time as Chip picks up in his series, What the World Needs Now. Until then, this is Dave Drouys, and thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.