Day 1

In Matthew 5:21, Jesus says, as He taught His followers, “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder ’and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’” Murder has never been acceptable in God’s sight. As Jesus spoke to the people, He quoted out of God’s Law as is recorded in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy...

Murder is a sin and anyone who murders, as Jesus said, “shall be liable to the court.” God did not want just anyone serving in the court, for He told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 16:18, “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge t...

For the last two days, we have examined how Jesus reminded us that murder is a sin. Our Lord showed us how the court was and is to judge those who have committed murder. But then Jesus adds a twist and says in Matthew 5:22, “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court…” Jesus threw “anger” int...

Jesus finished out Matthew 5:22 by saying, “…and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing, ’shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool, ’shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” The words that Jesus uses as examples are statements from a heart controlled by anger. In his commentary on Matthew 5:2...

In Matthew 5:23, Jesus says, “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you…” Jesus is teaching us what to do when we need to be reconciled with someone. It’s interesting that Jesus speaks of someone who is bringing an offering before the Lord. In other words, the pe...

We started to examine Matthew 5:23–24 yesterday about how to handle reconciling with someone who has something against us. Whether we have offended someone on purpose, accidentally, or been falsely accused of something that offended someone, we must respond similarly for all three instances. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:24, “leave your offerin...

As we finish out this week, we read what Jesus says in Matthew 5:25–26, “Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have p...