But on the other hand, as the common parable says, “The devil is in the details.” That means that hidden in the details are really important things. There may be problems in the tiniest parts of the issue, which if don’t find them and correct them, the whole project may come tumbling down. My dictionary says that the modern cliche actually came from a better one, “God is in the details.” And that may be the exact reverse of the first thought – God cares whether or not we do the right things in the right way, right down to even the tiniest of details.
And isn’t this a part of the bigger picture of what the Lord is telling us? “Thou shalt not kill” – Thou shalt not commit murder. I would greatly surprised if I learned that any of you have committed murder – that is a Christian “gimmy.” Ah, but “God is in the details.” Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause is as guilty as the murderer. That is tracing the sin from the hand, up through the arm and down into the wickedness of the heart. It is in the heart where the sin is first committed – where it is in fact committed. And the Lord knows more perfectly than we do ourselves, what evil lurks in the hearts of men.
Before making even more application to this idea, let me return to some wonderful minutia – small details. Note“council” in verse 22 – “Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council.” The Lord had referred to “judgment” couple of times, but in this He says “sunedrion” (soon-ed’-ree-on). This is the word from which we get the word “Sanhedren” – the supreme court of the Jewish nation. “Whosoever shall say… Raca, shall be in danger of the Sanhedren – the highest of all courts.” And then there are the Lord’s two uses of the word “judgment.” There are about ten different Greek words translated as “judgment” – nouns, adjectives, and verbs. “Bema” is the judgment seat, which could refer to human or divine, but that is not the word here. And this is not the word which refers to an opinion – Paul once said, “I have my judgment as one that hath understanding.” Our Lord Jesus used the word “krisis” (kre-sis) which is a rather generic word. There is a specific Greek word which speaks of divine judgment. But this is one which is used both of the judgment of men and the judgment of God. “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” “As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.” These verses, and many others, are clearly speaking of divine judgment – even eternal judgment. But this same “krisis” is used to speak of human judgment. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Christ commands us to “judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” I bring this to your attention in order to point out that the sin of murder will be judged by God, and it may also – should also – be judged by men. Not only is the Lord aware of, and He judges, the hatred of one man toward another, but when it comes between Christians, then it may be possible and necessary for God’s church to judge it as well. And in the Lord’s illustrations in verses 23 to 26, the judgment appears to be mostly of the human variety.
Having said all of that, now let’s pray that I can tie together these principles and the illustrations.
Hatred is essentially the same thing as murder.
I tried to cover that idea last week, so I won’t spend much more time on it tonight. “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” The Lord Jesus used the same word “krisis” in both of these verses. The murderer shall be judged by God as he ought to be judged by man. “The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” And the same double judgment should be true of the man who hates his neighbor.
There are two obvious questions and applications which flow out of these things. Do you hate anyone in this world? There are people, even professing Christians, who appear to hate whole races and nationalities. God says that they are murderers, and worthy of “the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” Those haters may say that they have excellent reasons, but they better be better than excellent. In fact they better be better than the reasons for which the Lord should have eternally hated you. There are others who hate specific people. Again, are you willing to risk your eternal welfare on your hatred for someone?
The second question is a little more difficult – is there any brother against whom you harbor anger without a just cause? A good test of that anger, might be whether or not you are apt to negatively catagorize him or whether a derogatory name springs into your mind when you think about him. Is there anyone who you think of as a fool? Why is he a fool? Be careful how you answer. “Whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” To begin to hate someone tomorrow, cannot undo the Lord’s eternal salvation, but it may indicate that you have not been born again – it may indicate that you never were a child of God.
I am going over this once again, because of another piece of important minutia – the word “therefore.”
It is used to teach us that our worship of God has an important relationship to human reconciliation.
Here comes a Christian into the house of God to spend an hour in the worship of the Lord. He smiles and humbly chats with all of his neighbors. He comes ready to sing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in (his) heart to the Lord.” He says that he wants to hear something from the Word of God, and professes to have an open heart. And he has brought an offering – a tithe of his income to present as a kind of gift to the Lord. This man is no murderer, no thief, no rapist, drug-dealer, or arms-dealer. But in this case, he did slander his neighbor earlier in the week; he does hate someone, and he did give someone reason to be angry with him, because of that malicious little act which he did the other day. He has been involved in that bit of office politics which is dividing and hurting the company’s productivity. There is a problem between this man and his business competitor over some gossip and mis-quotes.
“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” We are forced to read between the lines just a little bit. But doesn’t the Lord say that our worship of God will not be accepted until we have corrected the problem between us that our brother? Doesn’t Christ suggest that until after we have been reconciled to our brother, we have been alienated from our Saviour? This is the only scripture where this specific word translated “reconciled” is used, but it has the same root as those verses which speak about our reconciliation to God in salvation. Christians shouldn’t have any trouble understanding the meaning of the word. It means “to kiss and make-up.”
But let it also be noted that this has nothing directly to do with our salvation. The word “altar” may be an Old Testament term, but the word “gift” isn’t exactly Old Testament. And in several New Testament scriptures the word “gift” sits right beside the word “sacrifice.” “Every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.” The service of the tabernacle, “was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience…” In other words, there is no reason to say that this “gift” is a sin offering or burnt offering for sin. This “gift” is more like the Old Testament peace offering or thank offering. Christ Jesus is addressing people who are already Christians, and who are coming to express their love for the Lord and to worship Him. But that worship will not be accepted by God, if there is the sin of separation between that worshiper and someone else. As weird as it sounds, love and Christian friendship are sometimes preferable to sacrifice and service to God. As Samuel said to Saul, “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
John Gill quotes the Jewish commentator Maimonides in this regard. “The day of atonement does not expiate any transgressions, but those that are between a man and God, as when one eats anything that is forbidden, and lies with anything that is forbidden, or the like; but transgressions which are between a man and his neighbour, as he that hurts his neighbour, or curses his neighbour, or steals from him, and the like, are never forgiven, until he has given his neighbour what he owed him, and has “reconciled” him; yea, though he has returned to him the money he owed him, he ought to “reconcile” him, and desire him to forgive him; yea, even though “he has only provoked him by words”, “he ought to reconcile him”, and to meet him until he forgives him: if his neighbour will not forgive, he must bring with him three of his friends, and meet him, and entreat him; and if he will not be reconciled by them, he must bring them a second, and a third time.”
It is important to note who it is that is at fault in this scripture. “If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against THEE; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” In another scripture, which we may or may not have time to study before the Lord returns, Christ commands us to seek reconciliation with those who have offended us. “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” Here in Matthew, we are to seek reconciliation with those whom we have offended.
And have you noticed that in Jesus’ illustrations, He doesn’t refer to any specific causes for the breach? The context speaks of anger, hatred and name-calling, but He leaves the door open to anything else which might have driven a wedge between us and our brother. Maybe it is an unreturned book or tool; maybe it was a promise that you have made and not yet kept. Perhaps it is some borrowed money, which you have forgotten, but he hasn’t. Did you spread some gossip or retell a bit of information which was given to you in confidence? Was there some unkind word, perhaps even spoken in jest, but not received in jest. You may think that the offense was, and still is, minor, but that it not the point. You may think that your brother and former friend is being a bit petty over the question, but that is not the point either. Have you ever had an itch which you scratched and scratched until it bled or became infected? Your finger has had a controversy with your skin, and it doesn’t matter who was guilty, finger or skin. You need to get that corrected or there will not be any harmony in the body.
Concession is better than prison.
“Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” Right or wrong, offended people sometimes go to extreme lengths in order to obtain what they think is justice. The New Testament condemns Christians going to heathen, secular courts to settle their differences, but that doesn’t mean that Christians don’t do it anyway. And if you are the guilty party, and you have been proven guilty, who knows what that court may demand of you. Yes, I am interpreting verse 25 on a secular plane, rather than spiritual. I think that it the proper interpretation.
“Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.” What do the words “agree with thine adversary” mean? The Greek is talking about “friendliness” and a “kind disposition.” In other words, it is your job to make up with that man – to fix the problem – to compromise with him if you can or to completely surrender if necessary. Apparently he has the law on his side. He may have the truth on his side as well. He may have God on his side.
Now let’s return to the larger picture.
Christ Jesus did not come to destroy or even to weaken the law. He came to establish, fulfil and strengthen it. The Old Testament law said, “thou shalt not kill.” But the Lord, raised the bar a notch higher, telling us not to hate and even to be careful about anger. Just as there is judgment for the murderer, there is judgment awaiting the angry, hateful man – the mud-slinger and slanderer.
Forget about your worship of the Lord, and don’t soothe your conscience like the Pharisees by their oft attendance at the house of God. Go to that one whom you have offended and seek reconciliation. If not, he may take you to court, he may plead his cause before earthly judges. “Verily… thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.”
The Lord, in fact, may put His stamp of approval on that very harsh sentence.