How can a Murderer Worship?

Well take your Bible and turn back to Matthew chapter 5. Like I said earlier, we will be in verses 23 to 26. We're going to finish up this first lesson, this first lesson here in chapter 5. And while you're turning there, I will say it's really good to meet with you and worship no matter where we are. It's good to be with our church folks. I use that language sometimes and I do want to say to any of you who are our friends, you live stream friends, we're glad you're worshiping with us. We're just thankful during this time that we can use technology to meet as we are meeting.

So let's take our Bible and let's turn to Matthew chapter 5 and we will be in verses 23 to 26. Now I have said many, many times all throughout this series in the Sermon on the Mount that the Sermon on the Mount, and I've used this language, the sermon, it is the most important message within the scriptures. Lots of scholars, Bible commentators say the very same thing. Now I want us to see that things are really just getting better. What I mean by that is as we are progressing along, things are getting better.

With this teaching in verse 17 to 20 and then starting in verse 21 all the way down to verse 48, things are getting, and I won't say better again, I'll say more important, more important. Here Jesus is explaining the true meaning and the true purpose of the Old Testament scriptures. Now I know I've said language like this, I've used words like this, I've said this over and over and over throughout this series. Jesus is destroying how the Jewish leaders had literally perverted the Old Testament law. He is destroying how they had ruined its meaning and its purpose. Now think about what I just said for a moment.

They had ruined the meaning and the purpose of the Old Testament scriptures. Now I want to ask you a question. How do you think God felt about that? The fact that His people, the Jews, had ruined the purpose and the meaning of the very scriptures that He gave them. Well I'll tell you, we know how He felt because in Matthew 23 we have those great woe statements, those pronouncements of judgment by Christ Himself, and we know that Jesus never spoke a word other than that which He got from the Father. So we know exactly how God the Father felt about what these Jews and the scribes and Pharisees had done with His Old Testament scripture.

Now as we're getting into these lessons we need to see that Jesus takes this systematic approach. We have six lessons starting in verse 21 going on down to the end of the chapter and Jesus is systematically revealing the error of the Jews but then while He is doing that He is revealing the true meaning and the true purpose of the scriptures. Now all of this was intentional. All of this was purposeful. Jesus knew exactly what He was doing. Now last week we started this first lesson starting in verse 21. And this first lesson centered around murder and anger, anger and murder. You can say it either way.

And in the message title and really all throughout the message we ask two questions. What is murder and who is a murderer? What is murder and who is a murderer? Ultimately if we accepted what the Lord gave us we learned that we are all murderers. Yes all, a-l-l-all. We are all murderers because of our unrighteous selfish anger, because of our slanderous attitudes, our contemptuous words and names that we would use towards others. We are all murderers with our reputation attacking, character destroying phrases and language that we use about others and against others. We are all murderers who deserve the death of a murderer.

Not a physical death, no a spiritual death. Now a few verses that will help you see that this is truth. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9-11 Paul teaches us that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Who are the unrighteous? Murderers. And then in Galatians 5 verses 19-21 Paul tells us that those who do the works of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom. So who does the work of the flesh? Murderers. But then a verse I would love for every one of you to write down and read and study on your own. In Revelation 21 verse 8 what does the scripture say?

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, there we are. The sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, what does it say? Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death. So we see that murderers deserve spiritual death. Notice what we're seeing here. Nobody gets off the hook. We are all guilty. I've said that several times. God does not grade on a curve of human goodness. There is no one good because murderers are not good. Also God does not grant an exemption for our religious works. He didn't for the Jews.

And God does not grandfather anyone in because of race or nationality or any kind of a social standing. See, we are all guilty. A-L-L-All. We all deserve to be sentenced to hell. We all deserve this eternal judgment of the second death. And listen, we all need a Savior. Yes, we all need a Savior and there is only one and he is Christ Jesus, the Lord. Now with all of that said, we must begin this morning's message with another question. I think I'm one of those pastors that asks all kinds of questions and hopefully the Lord uses these questions. So we must begin this morning's message with a question, how can a murderer worship?

Now think about that. How in the world, if we're all murderers, how in the world can we worship? Worship is the subject of these verses that are before us. Worship is where Jesus is going with his first lesson on anger and murder, murder and anger. So to me, we must ask the question, how in the world can a murderer worship? And we will answer that question in a few more in the verses this morning. And we're going to examine these passages in two ways. A lot of times I'll call these major truths and I would encourage you to write them down. We're going to look at number one, our relationship to God. Now this is seen in verse 23 and 24.

And then we're going to look at number two, our relationship to others. And that is in verse 25 and 26. So we're going to look at our relationship to God and then our relationship to others. Let's go back and read these verses and then we'll get right into the body of the message. Verse 23, "So," and some translations might say, "therefore," this is a transition, but this is all connected back with verse 21 and 22, the subject of anger and murder. "So," or "therefore," if you are offering your gift at the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go.

First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Verse 25, "Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court. Least your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny." So I've shared with you how we're going to divide these verses. So let's start off with what I'm calling number one, our relationship to God. Like I said, that comes out of verse 23 and 24, our relationship to God.

Now I think we see that here Jesus moves from how we understand ourselves to how we view our relationship to God. Notice, in verse 21 and 22, Jesus taught us that we are all murderers. I've said that numerous times, all murderers. That is the proper understanding of self. Now Jesus shifts. He shifts to how a man understands his relationship with God. Now you can boil all this down to one word and that is worship. Yes, worship. Right here we must understand how all of this relates to the Jews. Then we're going to look at the application for you and me. But this all connects and relates to the Jews, this Jewish context and their worship.

Now to get our minds going in the right direction, I want to throw out some words and phrases that I think most of us can relate to. Now all of us would say that we believe in God and all of us would say that we worship God. Now think about it. Think about it. We go to church. We attend Sunday school. We bring our Bibles. We sing the hymns. We give our tithes and our offerings. We might even support missionaries. We go to Christmas Eve services and Easter sunrise services. We read our Bibles at home and we pray. And we are a God-worshipping people. Am I right? Well worship was a big, big deal for the religious leaders in Jesus' day.

Really for the entire nation. Worship was a big, big deal for that crowd that was there as Jesus was teaching on the mountain side. For the scribes and the Pharisees, their worship of God touched almost 100% of their lives. They spent a lot of time in the synagogues and the synagogues were scattered all throughout the nation. And of course they spent a lot of time there at the temple which was there in Jerusalem. The Jews offered many, many sacrifices. They paid many different tithes. They attended all of the Jewish worship festivals and there were many.

And they were involved in all types of religious activities and this was all part of what? Their worship. And it was against this backdrop of worship that Jesus taught this first lesson. Simply these people took their worship very, very, very serious. Now I want to look into the verses. There are some specifics that I want us to see. And I want us to examine three specifics that come right out of the text. So notice first, we have this sacrifice. We see this in verse 23. We have first this sacrifice. Go back to the scripture. So are therefore, if you offer your gift at the altar.

Now this scene here would have been very clear for those who are listening. Perhaps Jesus was thinking of the most important sacrifice in their day. That would have been the day of atonement. We really don't know. But when a Jewish man would sacrifice, he would bring his sacrifice to the Jewish priest who would offer that sacrifice on his behalf. The worshipper, he would make his way through the court of the Gentiles and he would come through the court of the women. And then he would come on through the court of the men and he would come to the court of the priests. And the worshipper would give his animal over to the priest to be sacrificed.

And as the Jewish man laid his hands on the animal, he would confess his sin and he would identify with that animal and the sacrifice that was made. Now that is a basic description of sacrifice that these Jews in the crowd would have understood. But we must not overlook the importance of this sacrifice as a part of Jewish worship. Sacrifice had been a part of their history for generations. If you go all the way back into the book of Genesis, Genesis records the first sacrifices that were made. They were made by Cain and Abel. We then see righteous Noah making sacrifice after the flood.

And then later in Genesis, we see many sacrifices from the father of the faith, Abraham, and then from his sons, Isaac and Jacob. And then we see the Mosaic sacrifices in the sacrificial system developed by God through Moses. And within the Mosaic sacrifices, we have all sorts of offerings and we have burnt animal sacrifices that were at the heart of the sacrificial system. And that is what we have here in verse 23. That is the backdrop, an animal sacrifice. And this was at the heart of their worship. Second specifically, we have this offense. We see this second observation, we have an offense. Go back to the verse.

"So if you offer your gift at the offer, and therefore remember that your brother has something against you." Now Jesus poses a problem here in this scene. This is the scene of a Jewish man offering sacrifice, but he paints the picture of a problem. In this scene that Jesus is painting here, something stops a man. We see that in the verse. He has this check in his spirit. He remembers an offense between himself and a brother. He knows something has caused a breach in that relationship. He knows that his sacrifice is to be of spiritual significance. And so to be of spiritual significance, he must leave that sacrifice and go do what?

Repair that offense. You see this man would have remembered all types of Old Testament scripture. I'm going to read one, it might be a little lengthy, but I think we all need to see what this man would have been remembering. Specifically Isaiah chapter 1 starting in verse 11. Notice what Isaiah is doing here. Notice what the Lord is condemning. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices says the Lord. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well fed beasts. I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of goats. What are we seeing there? God is rejecting their sacrifices.

Verse 12, "When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?" What is he saying? You're bringing your sin into the courts of God. Bring no more vain offerings. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations. I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. What is he saying? You're bringing your sin into the house of God in worship. He goes on in verse 15, "When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen." Your hands are full of blood. What are we seeing here?

Verse 23 tells us that this man knew that God would not accept his offering. He knew God would see all that he was doing as an abomination. He knew that God would not hear his prayer. He knew that there was this offense which had to be rectified or his worship was useless. It was useless. And then the third specific, the third observation, we have the proper response. This is out of verse 24. We have this proper response. What does he say? "Leave your gift therefore before the altar and go.

First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift." After describing this scene of sacrifice and worship, all of these Jews in the crowd would have known exactly what Jesus was talking about. Remember revealing this worshipper has an offense between himself and a brother. Notice what Jesus gives. Jesus shows that there are two steps in this proper response. First Jesus shows this Jewish man, he's leaving his sacrifice at the altar. He goes to find the brother so that he can set things right. He leaves his sacrifice there.

And then second, he shows the man coming back to the altar to offer his gift after he had made things right. So what do we have here? Usually I give a short summary of what we've examined in the verses, but this won't be quite as short. The Jews here knew that sin caused a break, a break in their relationship to God. They knew the purpose of offering a sacrifice was to restore them to a right relationship with God. But what was the problem here? What was Jesus attacking in the Jews? Did they forget the scriptures? Were they ignoring what the Old Testament scriptures had said?

Listen, their problem came back to their traditions and misinterpretation of the Old Testament scriptures because they had trusted totally, almost totally in the traditions passed down by the rabbis. This led to trusting in what they could see. Their focus was on the externals, not what was inside because they put so much emphasis on an external righteousness. They overlooked internal righteousness. They just completely overlooked things like anger and hatred as true sins. But remember what Jesus is doing. We shared this with you in our introductory message with this block of scripture. He is introducing a new standard and a new authority.

With his divine authority, he gives them God's standard, not man's. Jesus taught them that unrighteous anger, contemptuous attitudes and words towards a man even slander, verbal attacks against one's name and character. This was all murder. It was murder. God said it was murder. So what do we have here? Jesus is saying that your worship is useless with this stuff all in your heart and mind. That's why the Jewish men have to leave. Jesus is saying leave your sacrifice and go make things right. Now an application, how does this apply to us? How does this relate to you and me? We don't live under the sacrificial system. I'm thankful.

We don't bring an animal into the house of the Lord and put it on the altar and call the priest to sacrifice it. No. How does this relate to you and me? Listen, if we're going to have true worship, meaningful worship, acceptable worship. Oh I need to say that again. Acceptable worship. This must be our standard for us and our lives and in the standard and the life of the church today. We see this in other places in scripture probably more than you know. I'll reference one. It's one for you to go study in your own time. Philippians chapter 4 verse 2, here Paul is urging two women, two women in the life of the church to do what?

To resolve a personal conflict. Now notice who these women were. They were saved women. The text says they were born again. They were of the believers. They were laboring, working hard in the ministry and they were in the church. So these were God's people and Paul was imploring them to do what? To agree in the Lord to get this offense straight. And I would venture to say that this could be one of the biggest problems for many true Christians in the life of the church today.

Oh there are many problems in the life of the church within the church with God's people but I would venture to say that this is one of the biggest problems in the life of the church with true Christians today. Listen we've been duped. Oh listen we've been duped into believing that other things will make our worship better. We've been duped into believing that there are all kinds of things that can make our worship better and enhance our worship. I ran across something that John MacArthur shared and I'm telling you he just nails it. I couldn't help but bring it before you.

Notice what he is saying and I'm quoting, "True worship is not enhanced by better music, better prayers, better architecture, or even better preaching." Oh that condemns a lot. Let me say that again. True worship is not enhanced by better music, better prayers, better architecture, or even better preaching. And I'm continuing, true worship is enhanced by better relationships between those who come to worship. Worship may be improved by our staying away from church until we have made things right with those with whom we have our relationship and it is strained or broken. Now think about what John MacArthur just said.

Worship and I'm quoting may be improved by staying away from church until things are made right, staying away, right. Go back to verse 24. "Leave your gift therefore before the altar and go." So you'd be better off walking out the door of the church, making it right, and then coming back. You know in my study I try to make good application, I want to divide the text and explain the meaning and then apply it to you and to me in our life and time. But I like to share examples that might help us. I think a few weeks ago I shared this example but I can remember a church that I was involved in several years ago.

There was this story in the life of the church of two men who didn't speak. They had this conflict over land or something like that and I never knew who they were. I had heard rumor of who one of them was but I never knew. But I heard the story that one sat on one side of the church and one sat on the other side of the church and they did that for years. According to what we learn here, everything they did was in vain, useless. They brought all of that garbage in their hearts and minds in the life of the church and it spilled over into families and other people.

They would have been better off not coming to church according to what we learn here from Jesus. In some of my ministry experience I knew of this couple. I wasn't involved in any ministry. I was involved in them but I knew them. This particular man was a leader in his church. At one time he was in the ministry and you know he appeared to have everything going for him spiritually and in life. But you know as I got closer to them I began to realize because of certain testimonies of other people that they had had a struggling marriage for years. Years arguing, fighting, separating, coming back together.

Just years of bickering and fighting and anger and hatred and hostility and ultimately it landed up to the division of a marriage. They dissolved the marriage. Now think about all the years they came to church, sang the hymns, opened their Bibles with all of that garbage in their hearts and it was useless. Useless. Now we're not all perfect I know. We're just sinners saved by grace. We're going to talk about that a little later. But you know through my years of ministry I've known people in the life of the church. They just couldn't get along with people in the life of the church.

They couldn't take authority over them and they would have it out with somebody over here or things didn't go their way over there. And you know they would go from place to place to place. Sometimes it'd take them five, six, seven, eighteen years to leave. But what am I showing you? There are people that just have these things in their mind and heart and they won't forgive and forget and put it under the blood and they bring that stuff with them everywhere they go. Now remember folks this is all internal. It's all internal. This is all about the internals. There's no rule here. There's no one, two, three list to follow.

This is a matter of the heart and the Holy Spirit of God living within a man. It is the Holy Spirit that brings to our minds these offenses, these strains in our relationship, how we murdered someone in our own heart. And look these things are between brothers and we learn the definition of a brother. It isn't just a brother and sister in Christ. See it all comes down to worship and it all comes down to not just worship but our relationship to God. And this man left his gift at the altar and he made it right and then he came back. So let's continue. I want us to see our second major truth. This is what I'm calling our relationship to others.

We see this starting in verse 25 on down to verse 26. Now truthfully these two verses are simply more comments. They're really more teaching on the previous verses. It all ties together. Now these are very practical. This is practical advice for the problem at hand. But for us and our day this does not really resonate with us because there are a lot of cultural differences between us and them. But for those that were listening they would have understood the scene here that Jesus was describing. Oh they would have seen this picture very well and it would have gotten their attention.

Now we need to understand what's going on here so that we can learn what Jesus is teaching. Now under the Greek law, now they were under Greek law because they were governed by Rome, but under Greek law there was a process of arresting someone. In this process the plaintiff was the one who arrested the defendant. He literally took the man physically in arrest. Now imagine that sounds like a big fight. Yeah that sounds like chaos. And historians and scholars tell us that many times it really was. So in this system it was not uncommon to see a plaintiff literally dragging a defendant to go down the road to be before the judge.

Now not only would Greek law be in the minds of this crowd, but Jewish law was well. Some scholars speculate that Jesus was thinking more of a Jewish law or a Jewish context. Now in these verses it seems the issue at hand is an unpaid debt. What do we see in verse 26? It's about a debt. It's about money. It's about a penny. Under Jewish law, cases like this would have been taken to a local council of Jewish elders. The accused, if he was found guilty, he would be handed over to the court officer. And this officer would then see that a fine was paid, the debt was paid, he would make sure that justice was carried out.

So under Jewish law it was not uncommon to see two parties on their way to appear before the elders, the Jewish council. Now I would agree with those who speculate that Jesus, Jesus had in mind the Jewish law, the Jewish context. Although they were occupied by Rome, the Romans allowed the Jews to govern themselves. Now with all of that in mind, I believe we can now understand what Jesus is teaching. And I want to give us four specifics out of these verses. These are four principles that I really want you to get. These are rather short, they're quick, so we won't spend too much time here.

First notice in verse 25, Jesus is teaching, "Settle matters quickly." Go back to verse 25. "Come to terms quickly with your accuser." Here we see in the verse that Jesus is saying, "Settle the matter while you're on your way to the judge. Settle this case before it goes before the council." I think the principle is easy to see here. Get it done quickly. Get it done right. Get it done fair. Yes, but take care of things quickly. And then the second principle Jesus gives, he teaches, "Settle matters personally." Settle matters personally.

Back at verse 25, "Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to the court." Here we see Jesus is saying, "Settle the matter between the two of you. Prevent it from going before the judge or the elders, the ruling elders." He's saying, "Take care of it before it has to go any further." I think we can see the principle. What is he saying? Get this done between the two of you before it has to be taken to the hands of others. And then third, the third principle, Jesus teaches, "Settle matters before things get worse." Settle matters before things get worse.

Again, verse 25, "Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court. Least your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison." Here we see Jesus is saying, "Settle the situation before it gets to court. By going before the judge or before the council, things get worse." So I think the principle is easy to see here. Settle matters before they get worse, before others get involved, before it gets out of hand. And then fourth, the fourth principle, Jesus is teaching, "Settle matters by making restitution." Settle the matters by making restitution. We see this in verse 26.

"Truly I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny." Here we see Jesus teaching this, "Settle this matter by paying what you owe. If it is a monetary debt, pay it. Whatever you owe, pay it." And I think the principle is clear, settle the matter by paying what you owe. If you do not, you will ultimately may even have to pay more. Now in summary, what do we see here? This is extremely practical. This is further teaching on what we've seen in verse 23 and 24.

A quick summary of what Jesus is saying here would be something like this, "Without delay, make every effort to make sure that you are in good standing with your brother. And in so doing, you can be right with God and be right with others." You see, you can be right with God and then be right with your fellow man. Now in application, I think we can see the principles which come out of the verses. And we might not be able to relate to their legal system. I know that's true, but the principles are timeless. And so what do we see here that we can carry over into our day? First of all, settle matters quickly. Yes, the principle is timeless.

Settle a matter between a brother quickly. And then second, settle the matters personally between you and him, between you and them, the offended party, whoever it is. And then third, settle matters before they get worse. It might not go to the court system or it may, but settle it before it gets worse. There's the principle. And then settle the matters by making restitution. Whatever you have to give and pay and do, do it. But you know, I think about hypotheticals. Again, I think about examples, peoples that I've known. This is in a bigger scope, bigger picture.

I think about how many divorces could have been stopped if people would have just adhered to these principles. Yeah, divorces. I think about how many families could have been spared from division and hurt and bitterness. I've seen family arguments turn into bitterness and hurt and division that have gone on for generations and they never knew why their dad and their grandfather and their grandmother all felt the way they did and acted the way they did. Look, these principles could stop families from being torn apart. But I think about in the culture, how many jobs could have been saved? Yeah, jobs could have been saved.

If you work for a boss, if you settle matters quickly, you settle matters personally, you settle matters before they get worse, you make restitution, even with a coworker. You see, these principles work out in the world as well for us as Christians. And I also think about how many friendships could have been saved. Yes, friendships. There have been many friendships that have dissolved, broken apart. Why? Because matters were not taken care of. But you have to think about these things in terms of the church.

In the context in the life of the church, how many church problems would have been stopped if people in the life of the church would just adhere to the teaching that we have in verse 25 and 26, these principles, how many church memberships could be dealt with properly? You know, it's sad and the life of the church, if you deal with church membership properly, there are a lot of people, they'll leave a church wrong. I've got friends in ministry, they deal with this problem. They're just people, they do not deal with matters properly. They don't settle matters quickly. They don't settle matters personally.

They don't settle matters before they get worse and they don't make restitution. And then they just leave with that church membership not being where it should be. Even these things cause church blids. See? These can be applied to many different places in our families, in our jobs, in our neighborhoods, and especially in the life of the church. Now in conclusion, I want to share with you the title of the message. The title of the message is rather blunt. How can a murderer worship? That's what we've been studying the last two Sundays, last Sunday and today. This is all about anger. This is all about murder. That's the first lesson.

But my question is, how can a murderer worship? Because Jesus transitions from what is murder and who is a murderer to worship. So how? But see, here's the problem. We are all murderers. And how do we worship? Listen, folks, none of us has the right attitude towards others. We never do. None of us can keep away from this sin. Never. None of us can come with acceptable worship. None of us. Now why? Because we have broken God's standard and we have defied God's authority. Remember I said Sunday before last, Jesus is coming with this new standard, this new authority, this new authority and new standard. And why? Why can't we worship?

It's because we have broken God's standard here and God's authority. And listen, folks, this is why the Sermon on the Mount is so important. The Sermon on the Mount shows us God's standard, which is perfect righteousness. And this is impossible, but it is possible only in Christ. A few verses that illustrate that statement, only in Christ. Second Corinthians 5, 17, Paul says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone. It has passed away. And behold, the new has come." This is not cultural Christianity. No. Paul is saying, "If you're a real Christian, you're in Christ.

The old man is gone and the new man has come." And in Galatians 6, 15, Paul says, "For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision." What's he dealing with? He's dealing with religion. Jewish religion. What is he saying? Religion doesn't count for anything but a new creation counts. See? It's not about religion. It's about being a new creation. Then John 15, 5, Jesus says, "I am the vine. You are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing." You see? The answer, the question is how can a murderer worship?

And the only way a murderer can worship is in Christ. Remember what we learned? Christ kept the law perfectly. Christ kept the law perfectly. So in Christ and only in Christ can we truly worship. And listen, outside of this, it's nothing more than religion. It's only externals. It will never save. It will never change. And it will never guarantee you a place in eternity with Christ. It's only dead religion. Now as I usually do, I like to pray over what we've learned. God has taught us here that being under the Word is the most important thing that we can do. And we do not want to be just hearers of the Word. We want to be doers.

We want to take what the Lord has given us and we want to take it with us. And we want this to form us into the people that God wants us to be. So I want to ask us to just put our notes aside, maybe close our Bibles. And so let's pray over what we've learned, not just this morning but last week and the week before as we are wrapping up this first lesson here.