From Anger to Peace this Christmas

1. 0:02 Matthew 5, 21-26 You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.
2. 0:17 Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says, You fool, will be liable to hellfire. So 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.
3. 0:35 First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going to him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison.
4. 0:51 Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. That's the word, Lord. Well, Merry Christmas to you all.
5. 1:06 And what an incredible opportunity to come together today during this Christmas season and turn our attention to the Word of God and hear what Jesus had to say in his most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. And so we are continuing a series called Jesus Said What?
6. 1:28 Because he said some of the most amazing things, some of the most profound things, but at times some of the most confusing things. And here we are, celebrating the second week of Advent, looking at the peace of Christ, the very Prince of Peace who came into our world to bring peace between God and man, and peace in our hearts, and peace to the world that desperately needs it.
7. 1:59 And yet, if we are honest, peace is not what we feel at Christmas. It's been found that so often during Christmas, this is actually one of the most stressful times in a person's life. If you have children, let me remind you, you're wrapping up school and getting those last games in and trying to finish all the projects.
8. 2:20 If you're a student, you've got midterms and exams coming down the pipeline, and you're just sweating bullets thinking, ah, I hope I pass. If you're a parent, or you're just trying to live your life right now and make your way as a young adult in this world, you're trying to figure out, what's my next step in my career?
9. 2:39 Where do I go, and what do I do? And not only do I feel drained in my time, because it's so limited, but my resources are limited. And on top of this, I've got to travel to see my family, some of which I love, some of which I terribly miss, and some I'd just rather not see.
10. 2:55 And that's going to cost me. And then on top of that, I've got to buy gifts for everybody. And let me tell you, things are not cheap. You don't have to say amen, but can I get a mm-hmm right now? I'm not alone, am I? So, during this season where we want to experience peace, so often we experience anything but peace.
11. 3:16 And what's interesting is if we're not careful, that anxiety will so often lead to bitterness. And bitterness will only go to one final destination, anger. And so today, I believe, providentially so, we find ourselves in Jesus' Sermon on the Mouth looking at anger, and how addressing our anger can really help us experience not only the Prince of Peace, but to spread His peace in a world that desperately needs it.
12. 3:48 Now, as providential as that is, I think next week is a little bit humorous. Because in this church, we just preached what the Bible says. And next week, Jesus is going to go to lust. So, be sure to come back when Kent talks about that on the third week of Advent.
13. 4:04 I can't wait to see what he's going to do with it. He says the illustrations are going to be very interesting. But here we are. Here we are. Dealing with our anger in the midst of the season that we're supposed to experience peace.
14. 4:19 I got to thinking about anger and what it's like in my life. And it's very different than this flame here. This flame that was lit today, the peace candle, it's beautiful. I don't think you can see it as well as I can, but it's glowing.
15. 4:36 It's illuminating. It's a very nice light. And it doesn't look destructive. What's interesting, though, is a match, on the other hand, is quite different. A match has a different purpose, doesn't it? Is it something I said?
16. 4:52 So, when you take a match, you light it, and boom, it bursts into flame. And that's what it's meant to do. It's meant to be explosive. It's meant to burn bright. It's meant to set a flame.
17. 5:08 But here's the problem. If I hold on to this too long, what's going to happen? Yeah, it's going to burn me. And this is kind of what anger is like in our life. It's strong. It's explosive. And if we hold on to it too much, I see some of you are stressed right now.
18. 5:26 I am too. It will burn us. Anger will always hurt us if we hold on to it. And so, that's why it's more like a match than it is like a candle. And I want you to remember that as we look at anger today and what Jesus had to say about it.
19. 5:43 But I want you to know where we're going before we get there. This is the main point of today's sermon, and I believe the main point of our text we just heard. Christmas peace begins where anger ends at the feet of Jesus.
20. 6:01 Will you pray with me? Lord, thank you for the opportunity to just pause in this busy season and turn our heart, our attention, and our affections to you, the Prince of Peace who came to bring peace.
21. 6:18 We pray this morning that we would experience just that as we draw near to you and turn to your word. We want to hear from you, God, so open our ears, open our hearts, open our minds to understand your word of truth. I pray this in Jesus' name.
22. 6:33 Amen. In verse 21, we heard these words from our Lord. You have heard it said, but I say unto you. And five times he's going to use that very phrase.
23. 6:50 Why does he do that? Well, number one, as Rick did a great job preaching last week, Jesus has a very high view of Scripture. Not an iota, not a dot will go unfulfilled before the end comes. And so Jesus isn't suggesting that this Scripture isn't fully inspired.
24. 7:11 He had the highest view of it, and that is why we have such a high view of it here at this church. What he's saying is, you think you understand the Scriptures, but I'm going to help you understand what they're really getting at. And Jesus isn't so much concerned about the hand as he is with the heart.
25. 7:33 You see, in this passage, as with all the passages we're about to read in this chapter in particular, Jesus ups the ante. You've heard it said, do not lust. You've heard it said, do not murder.
26. 7:48 You've heard it said, do not lie. But I say unto you. And he takes it to the next level, and he says, you think you understand it's just the act. But it's not just that. It starts here in your heart. And that is what we have to address first and foremost.
27. 8:07 And so you've heard it said, and you thought it was said, but I am telling you this is what it really means. And he starts with murder, but where does he go? To anger. Because where does all murder come from?
28. 8:24 It starts in here, in our hearts. That seed is planted, and that bristling begins, and that frustration is not addressed. We see it early in the scriptures in Genesis chapter 4, where Ab and Eve, with some of their first kids, have so much strife that one of their sons kills his brother.
29. 8:51 We see sin crouching at his door, and instead of addressing it constructively, it consumed him, and he acted out on it. And that's what Jesus is warning us. He's saying, you might not be a murderer in your mind, but guess what?
30. 9:09 When you ignored your mom, when you avoided your co-worker, when you rolled your eyes at that person, when you called that person a name, when you had a harsh word towards them, what's going on in your heart?
31. 9:29 Because you just murdered peace. You see, this is what Jesus is getting at so strongly in his word, and he wants us to understand that not only do ideas have consequences, but what is in our heart will eventually manifest in our hand.
32. 9:47 But we must start with the heart. And that's why Jesus is going from the act of murder to the heart of anger. And then, in verses 23 through 24, in verses 24, He turns to this interesting illustration, and he says, you know, if you are angry with someone, then you are liable to judgment.
33. 10:11 If you insult someone, you're liable to the counsel. In other words, your actions are like in a fishbowl. You have one little ripple here, and it's not just going to affect you, it's going to affect others, and you're going to be accountable for it. And if you call someone a fool, you're in danger of the very fires of hell.
34. 10:31 Now, I'm not going to get on this sermon, but Jesus talks more about hell than anyone else in Scripture. It is a very real place, a very real place that he came to rescue us from, and he is warning us that our actions, our behavior, are taking us in a terrible trajectory.
35. 10:49 And none of us really believe that. We all think that we're good people. We're good enough, hopefully. I was talking to a soldier this week at Fort Bragg. He's an incredible warrior, a combat soldier, time-tested. He's done some incredibly honorable things.
36. 11:06 But he's done some very foolish things in his marriage, and he's been unfaithful to the vows that he took. And he looked me in the eyes. He said, I'm a good person. This wouldn't have happened if she hadn't done this. And I had to stop him in his tracks. And I had to suggest to him a very different perspective of where he stood and the responsibility that he needed to take.
37. 11:28 But it was hard for him to hear it. Because he, like every one of us, tries to justify our behaviors. We don't really believe we're that bad. And we don't really believe our anger will bring about murder. But Jesus suggests just the opposite.
38. 11:43 And when he talks about this term fool in Greek, it's raka. And it's not just calling somebody silly. I made the mistake of doing that the other morning. If you're taking notes, write this down. Don't ever do this. I woke up, and I was very frustrated because something I told my wife would happen happened.
39. 12:03 And I said, you were a fool for not listening to me. She said, well, you can go straight to hell. No, she didn't say that. But she should have. Don't tell her I said that. Yeah, I shouldn't have said that.
40. 12:18 But the first words out of my mouth when I saw that, I was so frustrated. I was angry. And that's what I said, and I regretted it. That's not a kind thing to say. But the Bible is getting at something so much deeper. It's saying, when you use that term raka, it's like saying you don't deserve to exist.
41. 12:40 You're unworthy of life. You're lesser than. And when we begin to believe that nonsense about others, then we are headed in the wrong direction and have a very grave destination.
42. 12:55 And Jesus has something so much better for us than that. He wants to take our anger so that he can give us his peace. And that's what we see in verses 25 through 26 in our text today, where it says, come to terms quickly, or you will never get out.
43. 13:20 Now, this is one of those moments where you just pause and you're like, Jesus said what? Because I understand where we're going, Jesus, but you said something crazy. You said, if you're there at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you, first go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and make your offering to God.
44. 13:47 Now, I had to pause because I was like, surely I misunderstand this. If I've done something wrong, then yes, I should apologize. But if someone else has something against me and I haven't done anything wrong to them, but they're just bitter, I have to take the lead?
45. 14:04 And the answer is yes. This is one of those, Jesus said what moments? You got to be kidding me, man. Come on. I'll take responsibility for me, but I can't deal with crazy over here. But Jesus wants us to not only experience his peace, but to bring his peace.
46. 14:23 And we can't control what other people do, and we can't control how they're going to respond. But he's calling us to take the initiative. So, imagine we're here in the Christmas Eve service. We're singing Silent Night. And all of a sudden, you look up, and you see that person in the room that you know you have strife with.
47. 14:45 What this looks like, if you take this seriously, is you put the candle down. You walk over to your brother and sister, and you try to make things right. Because Jesus is more concerned with the heart than he is with us singing hymns.
48. 15:02 And he doesn't want just religion. He wants reconciliation. And that is what Christmas is all about. The Prince of Peace, giving us peace that we don't deserve, taking the first step, and then calling us to extend that peace to others.
49. 15:21 That's what Advent is all about. And the only way to experience the way it's meant to be experienced is to allow the Lord to deal with our anger and to lay it down at His feet. And here's the warning in these last verses. If we do not do this, then what happens is anger becomes like a prison to us.
50. 15:43 It's like holding on to this match here until it just burns us. And you're not going to get out until you've paid the very last penny because that anger is going to become just...it's going to lock your heart down to where you can't experience the joy and the peace and the love of Christ.
51. 16:01 And bitterness won't release you until you release it. And I know this personally. I've shared this story, but I was just struck again at just the goodness of God dealing with anger in my own heart. There was a time where my father had offended me deeply, and I believed wronged me.
52. 16:22 He was a good father. But in this moment, I was just so hurt by what he had done. And I was just bristling over it. And he didn't apologize for it, and I was just so mad. I was having a hard time hearing him. And every time he talked, I would just get angrier and angrier. Finally, I went to somebody, and I sought counsel.
53. 16:38 I said, what should I do with this, this frustration and anger in my heart? And he's like, you need to handle your sin. And I was like, what? Did you hear anything I just said to you? The circumstances. Let me just lay my case out one more time for you. And he looked me in the face, and he said, you've got to handle your sin.
54. 16:57 You're angry, and I see that, and you need to handle your sin. Well, he was wrong. I wasn't angry. I was actually furious at that point. I was just bristling. But he was right. That hurt, and that offense, and that pain, he'd become bitterness, and bitterness, and become anger.
55. 17:17 And now, I was just holding on to a match, and it was burning me. And it was creating quite a separation in my relationship with my own father. Through this man's counsel, and through understanding what I believe God's Word is calling us to, to forgive others as Christ forgave us.
56. 17:33 Not when they deserve it, but because of what Christ has extended to us, we are called to extend to others. And in so doing, I just started praying for my father. And these are, it's hard to be angry at somebody when you pray something like this. Lord, forgive this person as you, or I forgive this person as you forgave me.
57. 17:51 And then if you want to go a step further, try this. Lord, would you please bless them? It's hard to say when you're angry at somebody. But if you do that, watch what's going to begin to happen. It might, you might not mean it the first, second, third, or hundredth time.
58. 18:07 But at some point, watch the gospel begin to break the strongholds of anger in your heart. And you'll begin to experience peace, and you'll be a minister of peace. And by God's grace, I got a call from my father that I wasn't expecting. He said, son, I have pancreatic cancer, and I'm dying.
59. 18:25 And it wasn't long after that, that the end was near. And he looked at me, and he said, son, I love you, and I'm proud of you. It wasn't always that way. And I don't believe I ever would have heard these words that I will treasure for the rest of my life if Christ hadn't taken my anger and replaced it with his peace.
60. 18:47 So, I guess in closing, I just want to underscore our main point again, that Christmas peace begins where anger ends, at the feet of Jesus. Take a look at this picture from World War I on the screen behind me.
61. 19:06 It's 1914. It's Christmas Eve. The world is at war. Young men sit freezing in trenches. Mud is on their boots. Fear is in their blood. Hatred is in their hearts.
62. 19:22 Rifles are loaded. Bayonets are fixed. The universe shrunk to one objective, kill or be killed. And then, in cold silence, a German voice begins to sing a hymn that seemed so familiar to the British soldiers.
63. 19:39 I don't know German, so I had to hum it for you. All of a sudden, the British soldiers started to sing as well.
64. 19:55 And there in the midst of all all that craziness. The men started coming out of the trenches. They laid down their rifles. They shook hands, and they exchanged chocolate and tobacco. For one holy night, the war paused.
65. 20:14 Humanity surfaced. Peace touched the earth. A flicker of Eden shined bright in a world that was set ablaze by hate. But by morning, the shooting returned. Peace was tasted, but it did not last.
66. 20:34 The world couldn't keep peace because peace doesn't come from treaties or trenches. Peace comes from a new heart, and only Jesus can give us that. Jesus brings a better peace. Not the absence of conflict, but the presence of a new heart.
67. 20:51 Hear the words of Ezekiel 36. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will put within you, and I will remove your heart of stone, and I will give you a heart of flesh. Paul continues this line of thought in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 5.
68. 21:07 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, and the new has come. Hear me out. Peace isn't the removal of your and my problems. It's the presence of Christ ruling within our hearts.
69. 21:23 It's not a truth. Truths. It is a transformation. Titus 3.5 says this. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. Colossians 3 says, put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge and the image of your creator.
70. 21:42 Jesus did not come to negotiate a temporary ceasefire. He came to make us new from the inside out. And this isn't just for one night. This is forever. Galatians 2.20 says, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.
71. 22:02 2 Peter 1.4 says, that you may become partakers of his divine nature. The Christmas peace the world tasted in 1914 lasted one night. But the peace that Christ gives us is forever.
72. 22:20 Jesus didn't come to give us one night of peace. He came to give us a new heart, a transformed life, and a new nature forever. The baby in the manger grew into a man who hung on a cross, absorbing the judgment that anger deserves, ending the war between God and humanity.
73. 22:39 As the song, Silent Night, reminds us. Try singing this with me. Peace on earth and mercy mild. That is Matthew 5.
74. 22:56 That is Advent. And that is what Christmas is all about. God is with us, reconciling us to himself through his birth, life, death, and resurrection. So what do we do, given all this information?
75. 23:13 Where do we go? Well, for all of us, put the match down. Trade your anger for the peace of Christ. And here are three very practical things that you can do this Christmas through the power of his spirit working in and through you.
76. 23:32 Number one, pause and pray first. If you pause for just five seconds, you might be able to prevent five days of regret. Here's a simple prayer. Jesus, hold my anger so it doesn't hold me.
77. 23:50 Number two, step away before you step in. Walk, breathe, just move. It's going to help do something constructive with that anger besides exploding. The Gottman Institute found that the start of a conversation, the first 15 seconds of a conversation, is 90% likely going to determine its outcome.
78. 24:15 So if you are in a place where you know things are not going to be constructive, just step away before you step in. And last but not least, release and forgive quickly. Don't carry what Christ can carry for you.
79. 24:32 Pray like I did for my father, even if you don't mean it. Jesus, I forgive them as you forgive me. These three simple things, pause and pray, step away before you step in, and release and forgive quickly, can help all of us in a very practical way.
80. 24:54 Remember that Christmas peace begins. Where anger ends. At the feet of Jesus. Will you pray with me? Lord, thank you for this opportunity to turn our attention to your word today.
81. 25:10 We look to you, the Prince of Peace, and we pray that we would experience your peace. Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins, and thank you for coming and giving us a new heart that we may live in a new way that pleases you.
82. 25:25 We pray this in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, amen. Thank you, man. Thank you, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
83. 25:43 Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

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