The Real Values Of The Kingdom: Real Kingdom Goodness 3.0 Matthew 5:38-48

- We've been exploring for the last month what the goodness of the kingdom of God looks like in a person's heart and we've been looking at some ways that we can get our hearts into that condition.

- We've explored how to move out of being angry, having contempt for others, and dealing with selfish desires. We have been reminded in the words of Jesus that a good heart is a heart that repents, a heart and life that turns away from what we know and learn to be wrong and commits to doing what is right, that's repentance.

- As we go to the last 10 verses of Matthew chapter 5, I want to ask a question for us to keep in our minds that I believe Jesus answers: what did Jesus tell his listeners is the best response when others hurt them? And what is Jesus telling us is the best response when others hurt us?

- A university professor awoke from a deep sleep to the sound of his telephone ringing off the hook at three o'clock in the morning. The voice on the other end of the phone said, "This is your neighbour Mr. Smith. Your dog is barking and keeping me awake." The professor thanked him kindly, hung up the phone and returned to bed. 24 hours later, Mr. Smith's telephone rang at exactly 3 o'clock in the morning. "This is the professor," said the voice, "I just wanted you to know that I don't have a dog!" (Paul Lee Tan, 7700).

- A very religious but cranky old woman was very annoyed because her neighbours forgot to ask her to go on a picnic they were having. On the morning of their picnic they realized how they had offended her and so they sent their young son to invite her to come along. "It's too late now," she snapped at the boy, "I've already prayed for rain." (Paul Lee Tan, 7700).

- What is the best response when others hurt us? The professor's return call at three o'clock in the morning and the old woman's prayer for rain remind us of the importance of Jesus words to us this morning. It is never right to get even because revenge does not come from a loving heart.

- When we are getting even with someone, love is the furthest thing from our minds. Revenge and love are opposites. The two simply cannot go together. Like oil and water, they do not mix.

- Jesus paints a very simple picture of what someone who has a kingdom heart does when they are wounded or hurt by others: "If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also...If someone tries to take your shirt, give him your coat as well. If someone forces you to go 1 mile, go with him 2 miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."

- For the sake of the ones who hurt us we need to: stay vulnerable; help the one who sues us for our shirt; do more than others ask of us by going above and beyond; and give to those who have no claim on our money.

- Does it mean doing these things no matter what? No, it means freely deciding to do them in the moment. It means we do them for the greater good because we are keeping in mind God's eye view of our situation and the situation of the one who hurt us. 

- On a tall ship who has the better view, someone standing on the deck or someone perched in the crow's nest? The answer is obvious the one perched in the crow's nest, but God has the greatest point of view.  If we can keep God's eye view in mind, then we will be able to choose what is best.

-And why would we want to do these things? We do them because they show to others that the kingdom of God is present in our hearts and lives. We do them because the God of love lives in us and calls us to love others.

- If we love God and love others and if God lives in us, then we will respond to others in noticeably different ways than the cranky old woman responded to being left out of the picnic and we will respond differently than the professor to his early-morning caller.

- We will respond as Jesus responded. What did Jesus say about his murderers? Father, forgive them for they don't know what they are doing.

- I wonder how often though we need to pray that prayer of Jesus only turn it around on ourselves like this, "Father, forgive me for I don't know what I'm doing."

- Jesus always kept a God's eye view of everyone around him. He was always able to see people through the eyes of his heavenly Father. How do we keep a God's eye view of people? There really is only one way to do that and that is to look at others in the same way that we expect God to look at us. God has not just made himself available to you and to me, but God has made himself available to the people who hurt us and even to our enemies.

- Speaking of enemies, Jesus said, ⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. ⁴⁶ If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸ Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

- A person who has the goodness of the kingdom of God in his or her heart is a person who is able to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors. How is that person able to do that? The kingdom hearted person is able to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors because they are able to keep up a God's eye view.

- Now, does this all mean that we will act like we are doormats and allow people to walk all over us matter what, being passive all the time merely accepting whatever comes our way? No, what it means is that we will knowingly choose to act out of love.

- You know, even terrorists, motorcycle gangs, the Mafia, and other criminals love those who love them, but the highest demonstration of love is loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you.

- Why would we want to do that? Well, we would do that because God does it. In his love, God causes the sun to shine and the rain to fall for both the evil and the good. His love is perfect, it is total, complete and he calls each one of us to learn to love as he loves. As Jesus said, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

- The response of love and prayer for enemies and persecutors is the opposite of how we would normally respond. Our natural response for those who hate us, persecute us and who would call themselves our enemies would be to pray and wish for God to wipe them off the face of the earth and maybe even to lay plans for that to happen.

- That is the response of Islamic fundamentalism. Certain fundamentalist Muslims hate the United States of America so they laid plans to bring the powerful country to financial ruin through the destruction of the twin towers and to cripple the government through the attempted destruction of the Pentagon.

- People who belong to the kingdom of God are not to behave this way, but are to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them.

- The message of Jesus is a message of love.  If we want to become the kind of person that Jesus is talking about, then we need to learn to love.

- God's love is the right response to all of life's harmful forces.

- Remember the Pharisees. It was a Pharisee's goal in life to keep the law rather than become the kind of person whose actions naturally show that godly love fulfills the law. - How do we become the kind of person who responds with godly love when the harmful forces of life press in on us and hurt us? How do we do that?

- I believe Jesus gives us at least two disciplines that we can practice in our Scripture lesson today. The first spiritual discipline I want to mention is the discipline of service, doing something that needs doing for someone else. If we are going to learn to turn the other cheek, give up our coat as well as our shirt, go the extra mile, and give to those who ask of us, then we are going to have to serve people that we don't particularly like or that we think don't particularly like us. At the very least, for service to be a spiritual discipline, we need to choose to do some things we either don't like doing or would not ordinarily do, and we need to do them out of love. If we can learn to serve others as an act of submitting our life to God, keeping his eye view in mind, and knowing he loves them as much as he loves us, then we can learn to love as he loves. Not only that, but we will start becoming the kind of people God wants us to be.

- The second spiritual discipline I want to mention is prayer. When we pray for people who don't like us, who have it in for us, or whom we feel are out to get us, then we are disciplining ourselves to exercise godly love.  When people hate us for whatever reason and we choose to respond by praying for them, by forgiving them, by asking God to remove any bitterness or resentment from our hearts, by praying for God to show up and show off in their life and show them that he is real, and that they would come to know the Lord Jesus, then there is no greater prayer, no more loving prayer than that.

- God's love is the right response to all of life's harmful forces.

The Real Values of the Kingdom: Real Kingdom Goodness 2.0 - Matthew 5:27-37

-We've been talking about the real values of the kingdom as revealed in Matthew chapter 5 the first section of Jesus' sermon on the Mount. We have discovered that God's kingdom is open for business and that he invites us into become his blessing agents. Last time, we learned that having a right relationship with our fellow human beings means more than simply not killing them. Real kingdom goodness comes from the heart and is a reconciler of hearts.

- This week, as we look at adultery, divorce, and oaths, we are going to answer the question: What are the values of the kingdom that Jesus described for his listeners which address sinful, impulsive behaviour?

- We began to look last time at the idea that sin is a problem which is deeper than merely keeping the law or following religious rules and regulations can fix. Sin is a problem of the heart. It is a problem which is bone deep. Sin is a problem which is so deep and pervasive that the only solution is total annihilation. Jesus calls us to repent.

- The human heart must be completely purged and purified of all sin if we are to enter the presence of a holy and just God that is why Jesus had to die. He died because the wages of sin is death and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

- As we think about the Scripture text for this morning, what is immediately obvious to us is that Jesus is speaking first, to sexual purity, in relation to lust and the fidelity of marriage, and second, the integrity of one's word.

- As we begin to consider sexual purity, of course, we realize that we live in a society which has immersed itself in sexuality. We are swimming against the riptide of a totally sexualized culture. We are not just up to our necks in deep water, but we're up to our noses and taking in water with every breath.

- In the West, we are sex obsessed. It's in the music that we hear, the magazines we read, the advertisements we see and hear on the internet, television, radio, newspapers, magazines, and billboards. Our culture is saturated with sex. So desensitized is the general state of our culture today that fashion designers are now turning to children to sell sex as a means of getting people to buy their particular brand of clothing.

- But sex isn't the only thing that sells, the obsession with the overindulgence in food in our culture is running rampant as well.

- In Mere Christianity, CS Lewis wrote, "You can get a large audience together for a striptease - that is, to watch a girl undress on the stage. Now suppose you came to a country where you could fill a theatre simply by bringing a covered plate onto the stage, and then slowly lifting the cover so as to let everyone see, just before the lights went out, that it contained a mutton chop, or a bit of bacon, would you not think that, in that country, something had gone wrong with the appetite for food? And would not anyone who had grown up in a different world think there was something equally queer about the state of the sex instinct among us?" (Friends, Lewis wrote this over 50 years ago.)

- The point is, of course, that we live in a country in which not only is there something wrong with our appetite for food but there is something wrong with our appetite for sex.

- Under the right set of circumstances, that is, between a husband and a wife, sex is a beautiful thing, a celebration of marriage, but outside those circumstances sex becomes an ugly thing, a self-indulgent denigration of marriage. Under the right set of circumstances, such as a Thanksgiving feast, eating is a wonderful thing and a celebration of God's provision, but in other circumstances, eating so easily becomes habitual gluttony, a perpetual act of self-indulgence.

- It is only when we become slaves to our desires that problems arise.

-The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Galatians, reminded his readers that the fruit of the Spirit is self-control.

- The message of the gospel for sinful, self-indulgent, selfish people is that in Christ you can gain mastery or self-control over the selfish desires of the flesh. In Christ, you can cultivate a virtuous character which displays and demonstrates love, joy, and peace; patience, kindness, and goodness; faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Jesus calls us to repent.

- According to Jesus, the source of adultery is lust. Lust is a problem of the heart which must be dealt with because lust is at the root of sexually immoral behaviour. If we are not able to control our thoughts, then ultimately our character is affected.

- As followers of Jesus Christ, we must learn to deal with problems at their source rather than merely attempting to treat the symptom by saying, "I didn't." An impure thought life lays the foundation of an impure outer life. It is not enough to say I didn't, rather we must instead tackle the source. We are called to repent.

- The reality regarding lust is that lust breaks the 10th command to not covet. When we lust after someone who is not our spouse then we are coveting, plain and simple. Before lust ever gets to adultery, it's already sin. Lust is not the state of heart of a person who belongs in the kingdom of heaven.

- What is the solution to lust? Or the solution for covetousness, for that matter? What did Jesus say?

- ²⁹ If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰ And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

- Jesus used hyperbole, he exaggerated to make his point. How do we deal with lust and covetousness? We deal with them by disciplining the body, by exercising self-control with a repentant heart.

- The purpose of discipline is abundant life. Jesus said, "It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." According to Jesus, it is better to learn self-control, self-discipline and have life, the life abundant and eternal, than to wind up in hell.

- When we develop the spiritual disciplines required to eliminate lust, then we won't have to worry about the seventh command to not commit adultery because we will have mastered the lust problem of the heart that leads to adultery in the first place.

- We live in a world that treats marriage rather lightly. The example set by the wealthy socialites of our culture and by Hollywood is that marriage is a contract rather than a covenant. Two people enter into marriage for as long as they both shall feel it is a good thing to do rather than as long as they both shall live. Jesus calls us to repent.

- Those who are at home in the kingdom of heaven will have a strong desire to protect the sanctity of marriage and the unity of the family. Healthy marriages and families are the building blocks for a strong society.

- A culture like ours, in which half of all marriages end in divorce, is a sick culture in which families are torn apart and children lack the healthy example that is set by a mother and father who love and care for one another in all of the ways required to demonstrate that marriage is a lifetime covenant and not a momentary contract.

- The intimacy which we crave can only be achieved with the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.

- It is through faithfulness to the marriage covenant and our partner in marriage that we display in this life an intimacy that reflects the intimacy available to everyone in the kingdom of heaven. That is why Jesus says that marital unfaithfulness is the only grounds for divorce. When the covenant is already broken, then the relationship is as well.

- Adultery breaks the covenantal intimacy of marriage, thus severing intimacy in the marriage relationship and divorce formally ends what is already broken. Where there is no adultery, then the divorcing spouse causes their former partner and themselves to become adulterers if and when they remarry.

- God's advice from the prophet Malachi is applicable to us all.

¹⁵ "Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth."

- For a Christian marriage to produce the kind of offspring God is looking for, then both husband and wife, must use the spiritual disciplines required of themselves to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit of God.

- So we talked about the issue of lust and the fidelity of marriage, let's take a few moments and look at the integrity of your word.

- Jesus said, ³³ “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ ³⁴ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. ³⁶ And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. ³⁷ All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

- 2000 years ago, the rabbis were endlessly splitting hairs over the meanings of the third and ninth commands, not to take the Lord's name in vain and not to bear false witness. They had constant debates about in which situations oaths were binding. Honestly, the rabbis were on a rather slippery slope, according to Jesus, because if an oath is not binding in one case, then it is not binding in any case.

- Oath takers become oath breakers when they do not keep their word. To be a person of integrity, according to Jesus, let your yes be yes and your no be no and keep your word. Doing what you say you will do and not doing the things you say you will not do is evidence that you are a person of integrity.

- Today, we often swear out of habit and we do it to invoke God and to impress others. But all such swearing is vanity and foolishness. When we swear oaths by God or by anything, then we are simply attempting to manipulate the situation for ourselves and sidestep someone else's thinking and judgment so that they will favour us and side with our agenda. Such behaviour displays something other than integrity.

- The swearing of oaths shows our lack of respect for others. Real kingdom goodness shows respect and allows fellow human beings the opportunity to make decisions without being manipulated. Jesus calls us to repent.

- If we want to grow as human beings and allow others to grow as human beings, then we will eliminate swearing from our catalogue of vocabulary and stick with the simple yes and no of integrity. We will cultivate spiritual disciplines which enable us to become people of integrity in Christ.

-Real kingdom goodness pursues discipline over our impulsive, sinful desires.

- As you may have already guessed, I'm going to suggest some spiritual disciplines to use as tools to plant and cultivate the fruit of the Spirit and uproot and eliminate impulsive and sinful desires.

- The first discipline I want to suggest is fasting. Everyone knows that when we hear the word fasting that traditionally means to give up food or water for a certain period of time.

- When we fast as a spiritual discipline for the purpose of godliness, it is especially useful against every type of covetousness. Fasting teaches us that we do not live on bread alone but also by the word of God. Through fasting we learn that God is our Sustainer and our Provider and that he alone is the source of our life and vitality. Fasting humbles us by revealing our need for God and revealing to us the depth of our own sinful desires. it drives us to confession and repentance.

- We also fast in order to devote ourselves more fully to prayer and it is through the discipline of prayer that we experience God's transforming work in our lives and in the lives of others.

- It is not safe under normal conditions to fast from all food and water longer than 72 hours, three days. For anyone who has a special health condition, such as diabetes, it is unsafe to give up food at all. So I want to make a few suggestions about fasting.

-You can fast in a variety of ways. If you have a favourite food, something that you eat on a very regular basis, perhaps even daily, fast from that food and whenever you find yourself thinking about that food, then pray. Or you could give up a meal or two a week in order to spend your noon hour or your supper hour in prayer. You can alter your diet for a period of time, the popular Daniel fast, on which you only eat vegetables, is one example. You can fast from soda pop and fruit juices and only drink water. You can fast from processed and fast food and switch to whole, unrefined foods and use the preparation time for prayer.

- Now, fasting doesn't have to be just about food. You can fast from media like the Internet, television, radio, reading magazines. In some cases you may decide after fasting from these things that you may wish to eliminate some of them for the purpose of godliness and simplify your life a little. Since Toni and I moved to Millville, we found that our lives are simpler without cable or satellite TV. We have plenty of other things to take up our time, both work wise and leisure, that are of far greater benefit to us than watching two or three hours of TV every night. We have also found that a pay-as-you-go cellular phone is a lot more cost effective for us as well as having the added bonus of really being able to get away from the world and be uninterrupted by the omnipresent cell phone.

- I believe that fasting from the media is especially important living in the sex saturated culture that we do because we are so immersed in the sexually charged culture in which we live that if we do not fast from the media than our default, automatic position will be to think as the media tells us to think. And I believe that is something we simply must not do. Jesus calls us to repent.

- Real kingdom goodness pursues discipline over our impulsive, sinful desires.

The Real Values of the Kingdom: Real Kingdom Goodness 1.0 Matthew 5:17-26

- Last time we looked at the question: who is really blessed? And we saw at the beginning of the Beatitudes that Jesus was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, that God is available for those whom we would normally assume have no good news for themselves (or for us). The message of the gospel is that God has made himself available to sinful humanity. God's kingdom is open for business; come in and be his blessing agents.

- From the Beatitudes, we have already begun to get a picture from Jesus that the real values of the kingdom are the opposite of what the world values. After reading versus 17-26, we need to realize that Jesus is continuing to build on that foundation that he laid in the Beatitudes by declaring that the kingdom of God is available for those who repent.

- After reading this passage, I want to ask a question: how did Jesus describe the values of the kingdom that would fulfill the law and the prophets?

- The answer that Jesus gives might sound like he is placing a heavy burden on the shoulders of those who turn to him in repentance. Listen to what he said, ²⁰ "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven."

- When we first look at this verse, it might seem to us that we need to be more religious law keeping and more careful about how we follow the laws of Moses. But that's not what Jesus is saying at all.

- As he said, ¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. ¹⁹ Anyone who breaks 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 practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

- His first listeners may have thought they were hearing him set aside the law with his pronouncement of the Beatitudes, but rather than setting aside the law Jesus declared that he had come to fulfill the law. He made it clear to his listeners that he wasn't talking about the interpretations of the scribes, Pharisees, teachers of the law and the traditions of the elders. No, Jesus was talking about the heart and spirit of the law which God gave to Moses.

- What we need to keep constantly in front of our minds about this sermon of Jesus is that he is not giving us laws to place an even heavier burden than the law of Moses on top of the Christian. The sermon on the mount is not a code of ethics, but a description of the attitudes and actions of the heart of someone who is living in the kingdom of God.

- Remember, the Pharisees and teachers of the law are the ones whom Jesus accused of being hypocrites, religious fakes, and fraudulent in their observance of the law. So, what is it that Jesus was saying? What kind of righteousness exceeds, or goodness surpasses, or is greater than the righteousness of the scribe, the Pharisee, or expert in the law?

- Jesus was exposing for his listeners that the kind of problem that Pharisees, scribes and teachers of the law had was a heart problem. Their righteousness was all about the exterior, it was about show. Their righteousness was not enough because they sought to keep the law for the law's sake not for its intent!

- Their righteousness didn't have hands and feet. Their righteousness was really self-righteous. They looked upon the common people as beneath them and unclean. They read the law and they didn't get it! They didn't understand that the point of the law was to reveal their own sinfulness.

- When faced with the challenge of the second greatest Commandment about loving neighbours, their righteousness asked the question, "And who is my neighbour?"

- What then is the righteousness of the scribes, Pharisees and teachers of the law?

- Their righteousness, as Dallas Willard says, is a righteousness that says, "I didn't!"

- Their righteousness is the kind of righteousness that looks at the 10 Commandments and sees them as a list of don'ts.

- I don't put any other gods before God. I don't worship idols. I don't take the name of the Lord in vain or abuse his name. I don't forget to keep the Sabbath; I make sure I don't do anything on that day. Mom and dad are doing okay and I gave at the temple so I don't dishonour them. I've never murdered anyone. I don't cheat on my wife. I don't steal from anybody. I don't lie or cheat. I’ve got good stuff. Why would I want my neighbour’s stuff? I don’t covet. That makes me a righteous man. Not like the rest of those people; what a bunch of sinners!
- I don't know about you but that sounds a lot like the impression that nonbelievers have of people in the church. They think that in order to be a Christian you have to be religious by following a list of don'ts. And if that's what they think, then they've got the wrong idea, and perhaps so do we.
- Righteousness or goodness cannot be measured by what we don't do. Such as, I don't smoke, I don't chew, and I don't go with girls who do! I don't watch Restricted movies and I don't drink alcohol! I don't cuss and I don't dance. I don't gamble, etc.

- The Lord does not look upon outward appearances! The Lord looks upon the heart!

- Jesus described the values of the kingdom that would fulfill the law and the prophets by stating that to enter the kingdom of heaven, your righteousness must exceed or surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. The first example of Real Kingdom Goodness that Jesus gave cuts to the heart of the command not to murder.

- The example of a kingdom heart surpasses a heart that says I didn't murder. Jesus reveals in these verses that the problem is deeper than the act of murder, as terrible as murder is; the problem is much deeper. Disciplining the murderer won't fix the problem because the problem is in the heart.

- 1John 3:15 reminds us, ¹⁵ "Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him."

- ²¹ “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ ²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’(an empty minded person) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell."

- The problem, according to Jesus, stems from what's wrong with the human heart. It is in the human heart that hatred and contempt for another human being made in the image of God resides.

- It is not the letter of the law which Jesus would have his followers keep, but the spirit, heart, and intent of the law. The only way for the listeners of Jesus to keep the intent of the law is to have the Spirit of love residing within them.

- If you are angry toward a brother or sister, if there is hatred in your heart toward a fellow believer, if you hold contempt for another person in your heart, then your heart stands as a witness against you before Almighty God.

- Contempt and hatred for another human being may not be murder but it still kills. For example, according to the Canadian Children's Rights Council, In a survey of 15,000 grade 7 to 12 students in British Columbia, 34% (that's 1/3) knew of someone who had attempted or died by suicide; 16% had seriously considered suicide; 14% had made a suicide plan; 7% had made an attempt and 2% had required medical attention due to an attempt.

- I don't want to oversimplify the complexities of suicide, but we've heard in the news recently of children who committed suicide because they were bullied. I can speak from personal experience as a young person who was bullied that I often thought about suicide to escape my tormentors.

- Anger, hatred, and contempt of another human being made in the image of God may not kill the body, but it kills the will to live in the heart of another person. It empties a person of all zest and joy for life and it leaves a person feeling lost, unloved, and alone.

- This world desperately needs the gospel of Jesus and Christians desperately need to ensure that we align our hearts with the heart of God.

- Jesus goes on to describe the actions of kingdom heart people when they remember that someone has something against them.

- ²³ “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

   - Kingdom heart people will love their neighbours as themselves. When they're on their way to worship and realize that they've done something to hurt or offend their neighbour, then their heart will move them to make it right.

- Scribes, Pharisees, and experts of the law are hypocrites in this matter. They go to the Temple and present their offerings to God (A Jewish spiritual high point) thinking how great they are without considering their neighbours, without considering how they've oppressed, or taken advantage of their neighbours. Such people are willingly blind to their fraudulent, fake religious exercises.

- God doesn't want our worship if we don't love our neighbours because a lack of love for our neighbours demonstrates that all our religious activity is insincere, two-faced, dishonest.

- Sincere Christian faith will express itself through love for one's neighbour and we will first go and be reconciled to a sister or brother before coming to God to offer our gifts.

- Jesus also advised his listeners by reminding them to lovingly settle matters before they are taken to court.

- ²⁵ “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. ²⁶ I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny."

- Paul reminded his Roman readers, "If it is possible as far as it depends on you live at peace with everyone." 

- It is always best, if possible, to settle disputes outside of a court of law because by the time a dispute arrives in court there is no longer any possibility of a win-win situation. When matters between two people enter a courtroom the best possible result is always a lose-lose situation.

- The other side of it is also this: We will all have to give an account before God when the books are opened and the heavenly court is in session, so it is best for us to be reconciled to our neighbours here and now.

- Dr. Dallas Willard describes anger as an emotion which seizes us physically and pushes us to interfere with, and possibly physically harm, those who have frustrated our wills and interfered with our lives. While anger itself is not wrong it is easy for us to see how it can lead to doing wrong. As Dr. Willard writes, "Some degree of malice is contained in every degree of anger. That is why it always hurts us when someone is angry at us" (Willard, TDC, p. 148).

- While anger itself is not wrong it is definitely not something we enjoy, but it is not as easily dealt with as a headache or a muscle cramp. There is no magic pill for anger.

- I mentioned earlier that our hearts need to be aligned with the heart of God. We need an alignment between our hearts and the heart of the Holy Spirit. When we are in alignment, then the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, will be evident in our lives and outwardly expressed to our neighbours.

- Real kingdom goodness comes from the heart and is a reconciler of hearts.

- Because anger is a powerful emotion that not only drives our hearts and minds but drives us physically, then we need to respond with spiritual disciplines that not only bring us into alignment in our hearts and minds, but also bring our bodies into subjection under Christ.

- The discipline of silence and solitude may be especially helpful for us with bringing our hearts into alignment with the love of God and dealing with our anger so that we demonstrate love for our neighbours.

- Silence and solitude may be especially helpful because silence teaches us to be quiet and so often when we sin out of anger it is almost immediately in what we say. As James reminds us, "Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check" (Jas 3:2)

- Solitude is also important for silence so that when we are reading our Bibles and meditating on the word, we are also listening for the voice of God so that we will hear what he wants to say to us and receive the healing our angry hearts so desperately need.

- We also learn from the discipline of silence and solitude to be at peace and at rest with ourselves and with God so that when we have the peace which passes understanding we will be less likely to respond to our neighbours with anger.

- Real kingdom goodness comes from the heart and is a reconciler of hearts.

- Another possible suggestion for a spiritual discipline to combat anger is the discipline of service. When we serve others as a spiritual discipline, we are serving them as an act of prayer and worship for God. By serving others as a discipline, we are placing another human being made in the image of God as equally valuable to ourselves. The discipline of service embodies what really counts, faith expressing itself in love.

- When faith is expressed through service we are showing our brothers and sisters in Christ that we love them, and that discipline brings our hearts into alignment with the heart of God and leaves very little room for anger.

- Real kingdom goodness comes from the heart and is a reconciler of hearts.