Merciful love

Mat 5:21 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:
Mat 5:22 But 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.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.


What exactly is our Savior teaching us here? Brotherly love? How important is it that we not even get angry with each other? Seriously. We so easily get angry with each other that it's become common place and we've minimalized it into being something of non-importance. To hear someone say that another person made them so angry- means nothing, we're not shocked by it at all, in fact we expect that people will anger each other. Controlling our anger has become something people have made jobs out of. Anger management is something a court will sentence a person to in an effort to rid them of destructive anger. We have doctors prescribing pills to relax people and keep them from allowing their natural tendency for anger to get the best of them. We teach our children that anger is punishable all the while they witness our anger in our every day lives- on the drive to the store, as we rant about being short changed, when we yell at them and get angry with them for some misbehavior. I've seen babies - yes, babies throwing tantrums, we all know about the 'terrible twos'. A two year old throwing a fit of anger. How about a one year old screaming and turning red in the face, little bodies shaking because they've been denied something they want?


Anger is another trait of our flesh- just as lust is, just as so many detrimental attributes we are born with. These flesh traits are not something we can ignore and just say oh well, that's just how it is. These flesh traits can and will dominate us if we simply let them, submitting to the flesh, embracing the natural. Many will say that because something is natural it has to be acceptable and fine. It's natural but we only allow that up to a point as an excuse for naturally bad behavior. People *born* that way, born with the natural tendency towards evil we've locked up and even put to death.


There is a line WE - in our world-wide civilized society - draw. We draw the lines and make them into our laws that must be followed and if not followed then there is a penalty for breaking those laws.


God's laws coincide a lot with our supposed man-made laws. We have laws against murder and God has a law against murder. We have laws against stealing and God has a law against stealing. And so on…


Yet God's laws start to differ from ours when God says- 'Thou shalt have no other God before me', 'Thou shalt not worship any graven image.', 'Thou shalt not take God's name in vain.' , 'Thou shalt not covet.' Do you see… God's laws differ and become what people consider religious laws- not civil, not government laws. This allows those who choose NOT to follow God's law freedom from having to obey them. While people in our society generally have NO problem keeping government law the majority do have a problem with keeping God's laws, even the most staunch civil law keepers in existence, the most upright citizens- those who have been rewarded for their honesty - even they will think nothing of breaking God's laws, thinking they don't matter at all.


People have tried to do away with God's laws, people have tried to change God's laws, but God's laws do not change and they can't be done away with- remember this…


Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.


When Jesus tells us this…


Mat 5:21 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:
Mat 5:22 But 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.
Mat 5:23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
Mat 5:24 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 must listen!


Jesus isn't giving us a NEW law, Jesus is explaining an OLD law, the real meaning of the law, undistorted. The law of love, and that law is for the love of God and our fellow man. LOVE. MERCIFUL LOVE.


And merciful love demands we go beyond what has been deemed acceptable- to what is truly acceptable by our Lord and Savior.


We are not to be angry without cause- true cause- not trumped up causes of selfishness, not petulant causes. We are not to call others worthless, to God none are worthless, all are worth saving not all however choose to be saved. We should not call others foolish, stupid again because we are to be judged by God. Yes, we judge actions and the actions a person makes may be stupid and foolish, but that doesn't mean that they are stupid and foolish. Labeling another human being tends to make it so they are judged and to judge so that we look down upon another person is NOT our right- only God's. The worst of the worst can only truly be judged by our Lord who knows the end from the beginning, who knows the heart inside and out, who knows a person like no other can ever possibly know them. We might THINK we know people, especially those we live with and those we love, but we don't. We do NOT know the heart, we do not know the spirit of a man, be hardly know ourselves let alone any others.


We need to know that what we say and what we do has an affect on others and if we demean another human being it puts us in danger and we cannot be right with our Lord until we do all we can to make things right with that person we've demeaned.


People joke about the 12 Steps in Alcoholics Anonymous when it comes to the part about having to go to all those you've hurt and make amends, there have been numerous comedies that have included this step- that's not to say there haven't been drama's and based on true story movies as well with this included. The point I'm trying to make with mentioning the amendment step in the 12 steps of AA is that this program uses this principle of making amends with our fellowman and that's something very important for ALL mankind not just those in AA.


Our great teacher wants us to learn from Him that we are to be like Him in any way we can. No, we aren't perfect and any perfection we ever do hope for comes from Him. We need to love like Jesus loves and treat others as Jesus would treat them. We have to forget about what our society thinks because the world is not of Jesus, another is in control of this world and governs the majority of the people. With that knowledge we have to realize that the only source of truth comes from our Savior. Not that other people can't be honest and such, but Jesus was honest and truthful in ALL things, in ALL ways.


Our Savior would have us love and we need to learn to love, and love through Him.


By His grace!


Amen.