Trinity 6 The Sunday of Jesus’ Sermon on Murder and Righteousness July 23, 2017
Trinity 6
July 23, 2017
Matthew 5:17-26 & Romans 6:1-11
“Don’t Tell Me What to Do”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Every one of us here in Church today can think of someone that we’ve been angry with in the last week. Or probably even still angry with them right now. We’ve probably insulted this person. We’ve probably talked bad about them to other people. We may have even wished something bad would happen to them. This isn’t uncommon. Sadly, it’s a routine part of our lives. Us getting angry with others and complaining about them.
Now, obviously our anger hurts the person we’re angry at. That’s easy to understand. If you’re angry with someone and complain about them—you’re hurting your neighbor instead of loving your neighbor. So that’s easy to see. And we know we shouldn’t hurt other people. But the part that’s not as easy to see is that you’re also hurting yourself. Anytime you’re angry with someone else—you’re hurting yourself.
Anger, like all other sins, traps us. Or as Jesus says in John 8, “Everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” Anger becomes our master. It drags us down and makes us negative about everything else. It drives us to other sins like gossiping and slandering. And it keeps us from having any real peace or real joy. Anger hurts us. And that, of course, isn’t just true for anger. It’s true for all sins. They hurt others and they hurt us.
Now instead of trying to get rid of the anger, we try to justify it. We give all our reasons why it’s okay to be angry at someone. The biggest way we justify our anger is by saying, “They deserve it.” See, this is our way of punishing them—or so we think. It’s our way of getting back at the person. We give them our anger. But if you sit and really consider who your anger is hurting and punishing—you’ll usually find it’s hurting and punishing you a lot more than anyone else. We think we’re hurting them but we’re really not at all. That’s the small point Paul makes when he says to show kindness to your enemy—that will often hurt them more than your anger. Like heaping burning coals on their head, he says.
Along with that, we’ll often justify our anger by saying, “I can’t let them get away with that.” Well, that may be true. But getting angry about it doesn’t really help. If someone has done something wrong and you don’t want them to get away with it, what should you do? Go tell them their wrong. Without getting angry at them. So speak to them about it and ask for an apology. Or if it’s something they’ve done wrong publicly, then you can tell whoever is in authority about it. Tell the police if needed. Tell the bossi if needed. Tell the pastor. Whoever. Tell someone. Getting angry, though, isn’t going to help.
I’m sad to say, but a good example of what not to do with anger is our President. I’m not commenting right now about anything else about our President—but just his anger. He justifies it by saying they all deserve it. But his anger is hurting him and his ability to govern more than anything else. Anyone can look at some of his angry tirades on Twitter and see this isn’t helping anyone.
The other biggest way we justify our anger is simply minimizing it. Saying “it’s no big deal.” Everybody gets angry. It’s just part of life. But you can see that Jesus doesn’t think it’s “no big deal.” He thinks it’s an awfully big deal. Here are His words today, “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to judgment.” So we say anger is no big deal. Jesus says it’s a really big deal. Who do you think we should believe? I’d say you might want to consider what Jesus says. You might want to consider that your anger, and all your other sin, is a big deal.
One look at our Gospel reading today and you start to see that Jesus isn’t the soft, “push-over” that we often make Him out to be. We like to think of Jesus as the nice, easy going guy that always says, “Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal.” But that’s not the real Jesus. The real Jesus says, “It’s a big deal.”
If you’ve watched any movies or TV shows about police work, then you know all about the “Good Cop, Bad Cop” routine. I have no idea if police actually use that tactic of good cop, bad cop. I’m gonna guess they hardly ever do. But we all know it from TV. My favorite is The Lego Movie when the cop spins his lego head around—one second he’s the bad cop and then the next he spins his head and he’s the good cop. At any rate, we think of Jesus as the “good cop”.
We read the Old Testament and we think that God there is the bad cop. He’s the hard nose cop. He’s the one giving out the rules—like our Old Testament reading today. The Ten Commandments. He’s the one doling out punishments. But then we get to the New Testament and here’s Jesus—the good cop, or so we think. He’s the nice guy telling us, “I understand. It’s okay. It’s no big deal. Everything’s going to be alright.” He’s the guy just telling us to love our neighbor and do good. That’s why so often you hear people say, “I have no problem with Jesus and the New Testament. But I don’t like that Old Testament.”
But friends, we’ve been deceived. Jesus is NOT the good cop. Let’s put it this way—if the Old Testament is the bad cop, then Jesus is the even “badder” cop. The worse cop. In fact, the worst cop you ever want to go before. He doesn’t come in and say, “Well, God didn’t really mean you shouldn’t murder your neighbor. It’s okay.” No, Jesus comes in and says, “I say to you that even if you’re angry with your brother you’re going to be judged.” Yikes! Jesus, of course, isn’t a different God from the Old Testament. He’s the same God. And He tells us that He is actually serious about His Law.
And you know who the so-called “good cop” really is? That’s us. We’re the ones that try to soften everything and act like it’s no big deal. Jesus doesn’t do that. He says it’s a big deal.
Now, you know why this is so harmful if we make Jesus to be this wimpy push over that’s soft and easy going on everyone? You know why it’s so dangerous? Because then we don’t need Jesus at all. And if we don’t need Jesus, then we don’t have salvation and we will die in our anger and pay the price for it in hell. That’s what we need to be afraid of if we soften the Law and act like our sin is no big deal all the time. If it’s no big deal, then you don’t need Jesus. And if you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have salvation.
So let’s not try to justify and explain away our anger. Or any other sin. Let’s take it every bit as serious as Jesus says it is. And let’s not make Jesus out to be a push-over, soft, good cop who says, “It’s no big deal.” Let’s take Jesus as He really is—as our mighty, valiant, hard-nosed Savior who dealt with our sin head on by forcing it to surrender at His death and resurrection.
So let’s talk about Baptism. Here’s the answer to your anger. Romans chapter 6. Our Epistle today. What to do with anger? Paul says, “What, should we just continue in our anger? Say it’s no big deal? Say, ‘Oh, Jesus will forgive me. No problem.” No! Paul shouts. How can we who died to sin and anger still live in anger and sin? No! Don’t you know you’ve been baptized into Jesus and that means you’ve died with Him? Anger, that cruel, ugly master, is trying to punish and enslave you again. But you’ve already died that death. You’ve died it with Jesus in Baptism.
See, here’s where that word “justify” comes in really handy. Earlier I said that we like to try and justify our anger. Explain it away. Give all our reasons why it’s okay to be angry. But that’s just lies. We can’t justify it. It hurts. Hurts others and hurts us. And Jesus says it’s a big deal. So we can’t justify it.
But—we don’t have to! Because you are baptized! And that means you’ve already died to sin. In verse 9 here, Paul says, “For one who has died has been justified from sin.” Now I know the ESV translation here has “set free from sin”. But the Greek word there is justify. The one who had died has been justified from sin.
Jesus isn’t the softy who says your sin is no big deal. He’s the valiant One who takes your sin to the cross, dies your death, rises from the dead, and then baptizes you into His death and resurrection to justify you and make you holy.
See, anger wants to be your master. Anger wants to enslave you. Trap you. Make you obey its commands. That’s what all sin wants to do to you. Be your master. That’s what the devil wants sin to do—be your master. But you are dead to sin. Jesus has defeated that cruel master. Sin can’t tell you what to do. Anger can’t tell you what to do. You live by new rules. You live a new life. Every single day.
So right now, wherever you have that anger—whoever you are angry at—you tell sin, “You can’t tell me what to do.” “Sin—Anger—you are not my master. I’m dead to you. I have a new Master. A mighty master. A loving and gentle Master. Who baptized me. Who forgives me. Who helps me. And His name is Jesus.”
Our sin is a big deal. But Jesus is a much bigger deal. And you are baptized into Him. So that, just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.