SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/9/2020 8:30 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 “The Effect on Our View of
Ourselves”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
5:21-22
Message of the verses: “21 "You have
heard that the ancients
were told, ’YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ’Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’
22 "But I say to you that everyone
who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever
says to his brother, ’You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme
court; and whoever says, ’You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into
the fiery hell.”
We
continue this section by looking first of all to the phrase “But I say to you.” In this phrase Jesus was not contrasting His
teaching with that of the Old Testament but with that of the rabbinic
tradition. Let us go back to verses
17-19 of this 5th chapter of Matthew: “17 "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 “For truly I say to you, until
heaven and earth pass away, not
the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is
accomplished. 19 "Whoever then annuls one of the least of these
commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least
in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall
be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
John MacArthur paraphrases what he thinks Jesus was saying “Let Me tell
what the Scriptures themselves say, what God’s truth is on the matter. You cannot justify yourselves because you
have not committed the physical act of murder.
Murder goes much deeper than that.
It originates in the heart, not in the hands. It starts with evil thoughts, regardless of
whether or not those thoughts are brought to consummation in action.”
Jesus
begins right here to specifically point up what the inadequacy of righteousness
in which the scribes, Pharisees, and also many others trusted, which we have
stated before of being self-righteousness.
The problem with that was that their view of righteousness was external,
as their view of themselves was complimentary.
I don’t think that there are very many complementary things that an
unbeliever has, if any, especially regarding righteousness. It is here that Jesus shatters that
complacent self-righteousness by beginning with the accusation that a person is
guilty of murder even if he is angry with, hates, curses, or maligns another
person. Think about this statement in
which Jesus is saying when He declares that a person guilty of anger is guilty
of murder and because of that deserves a murderer’s punishment, and then
remember who it is that He is talking to.
I
remind you that it is Sunday morning and because of that my Spiritual Diaries
are usually much shorter and so with that in mind I will quote a paragraph from
MacArthur’s commentary and then Lord willing will try and finish this section
tomorrow.
“It
is possible for a model, law-abiding citizen to be as guilty of murder as
anyone on death row. It is possible for
a person who has never been involved in so much as a fist fight to have more of
a murderous spirit than a multiple killer.
Many people, in the deepest feelings of their hearts, have anger and
hatred to such a degree that their true desire is for the hated person to be
dead. The fact that fear, cowardice, or
lack of opportunity does not permit them to take that person’s life does not
diminish their guilt before God. In
fact, as the Lord makes plain in the following three illustrations on
heart-murder, those who consciously desire the death of another person are not
free from guilt.” These are some very
difficult truths to get our arms around, but nevertheless they are true for the
come from the lips of our Lord.
8/9/2020 8:53 AM
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