Putting on Christ Series 11/28/11

11/28/11

 ²¹Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:

 ²²But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

 ²³Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;

 ²⁴Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

 ²⁵Agree 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.

 ²⁶Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

Matthew 5:21-26

King James Version (KJV)

"In verses 22-24, the Scribes & Pharisees said that a person who referred to another as Raca, meaning 'empty head', was in danger of being sued for libel before the council (or the Sanhedrin). Jesus said that whoever calls another a fool will have to answer to God (Nelson's Compact Series Compact Bible Dictionary). Fool is defined by my KJV Life Application Study Bible as "one deficient in intellectual, practical, or moral sense." The Bible tells us not to kill (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17). We can kill people more than one way: physical, spiritual, emotional, mental. We have to watch what we say & watch our anger. Ephesians 4:26, "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath." Why hold on to anger; why allow it to turn into sin. We need to throw it away. I love James 1:19-20 because it says it all: "¹⁹Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: ²⁰For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God." 1 John 3:15 lets us know that those that hate is a murderer, which don't have eternal life in them. We also have to get right with others. We don't need to let an offense hinder either person, but quickly resolve our issues. Luke 6:37b tells us to forgive & we will be forgiven. Jesus instructed us on this. Heeding to His command, being a hearer & a doer of His Word (James 1:22) is what we need to do. It's apart of Putting on Christ & walking in the Spirit.