Speaker 1: Hey, what up?
Speaker 1: It's Mark Carter.
Speaker 1: I'm the pastor of Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: Welcome to our podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm so pumped that you're able to join us today.
Speaker 1: I hope this encourages you, inspires you, strengthens you, gives you hope to keep pressing on, and it's my prayer that this sermon gives you a more expansive view of God's love for you.
Speaker 1: Enjoy the message, and today we're going to jump back into the Sermon on the Mount.
Speaker 1: This is where we were in over the fall and then we went through a bunch of stuff, but now we get to jump back into it and I hope that you're spiritually hungry I know that I am and we're going to start with a question Is all anger wrong?
Speaker 1: Is all anger wrong or is just some anger wrong?
Speaker 1: You guys know I mean you've experienced the negative consequences of anger for sure, so you know already there's got to be some anger.
Speaker 1: That's wrong because it produces all kinds of unhealth in us.
Speaker 1: It can damage, like, our immune system.
Speaker 1: It can get us all anxious, it can keep us up at night, it can get us in like a negative spiral where it becomes, if we stay angry.
Speaker 1: It becomes even hard to get positive because we're just always keeping this one thing before us, or several things, how they hurt us, how it wasn't fair, how they stole something from us.
Speaker 1: And often anger is a sign that somebody maybe did steal something from you, somebody took something from you and you're angry about it.
Speaker 1: But as we meditate on that, as we stay there, as we hover there, it can do tremendous damage.
Speaker 1: It, it can steal our joy, it can make us a real downer among others.
Speaker 1: And we even begin to talk out of the heart.
Speaker 1: The mouth speaks and so we begin to talk all about the hurt and how bad it was and we begin to anticipate more hurt.
Speaker 1: We begin to anticipate well, that's just how it goes and that's what they're going to do.
Speaker 1: And when that happens, we can start to ice over in our heart.
Speaker 1: We just have a little protective shield of ice that says well, you know what, dude, I don't want to get too close to anything because it's just going to make me mad again.
Speaker 1: It's just going to get me upset and I don't want to do that.
Speaker 1: And it can mess up trust within relationships.
Speaker 1: See, people stop talking because they get hurt and maybe there was a conflict, there was a tension and folks just drifted away.
Speaker 1: Because every time I try to fix this.
Speaker 1: It just doesn't get fixed and sometimes it's so bad it can lead to toxic environments, like you've probably been there.
Speaker 1: You've been in a work environment, you've been in a class environment or you've been in a community environment where everyone's just so mad all the time that it's hard for anybody to chill, it's hard to even think straight, and this is where protests start to become riots and things get violent.
Speaker 1: Anger does all kinds of bad stuff and maybe worst of all maybe worst of all sometimes it trickles down through the generations and kids get mad because mom or dad was mad and they pass on that mad and they think mad is the right way.
Speaker 1: That's just how.
Speaker 1: Hey, there's nothing you can do about it, that's just how you're going to do life.
Speaker 1: That's what it is.
Speaker 1: Is there ever good anger?
Speaker 1: Well, the Bible tells us that there is.
Speaker 1: So we certainly see.
Speaker 1: We see Jesus when he grabs a whip and drives people out of the temple.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a good, righteous anger that says somebody or something is robbing God of the glory that he is due, and Somebody or something is robbing God of the glory that he is due, and that's not okay.
Speaker 1: We see, when Nathan confronts David, talks to him about.
Speaker 1: Hey, man, you've been in this sin for over a year, man.
Speaker 1: You killed Uriah the Hittite and you've been hardening your heart toward God and he's mad.
Speaker 1: And God is justly mad because he trusted David to do a whole bunch of stuff and David didn't do it.
Speaker 1: There's things like the idolatry that takes place among the people of Israel, again and again and again and again.
Speaker 1: And God is rightly mad because he keeps making them all these promises.
Speaker 1: As long as you don't do this, then I will do all this blessing, but you keep turning your back on me.
Speaker 1: So we know, obviously there's right anger.
Speaker 1: There is a good kind of righteous anger.
Speaker 1: The problem is often the things that we struggle with is not righteous anger.
Speaker 1: Most of us don't walk around man.
Speaker 1: I'm so righteously angry and all the way God is being robbed of his glory.
Speaker 1: If you do that, that testifies to your heart.
Speaker 1: That's great that that happens sometimes.
Speaker 1: But most of our anger I would be willing to bet most of our anger is what we're just going to call self-avenging anger, and this is an anger that Jesus is going to talk about today in the Sermon on the Mount.
Speaker 1: It is an anger that stews.
Speaker 1: It's an anger that contemplates how much went wrong, and it stays on.
Speaker 1: So it's not momentarily angry, it's beginning to simmer angry, it's just staying in anger.
Speaker 1: And the more it gives another excuse to get angry, it just yes, that's another reason.
Speaker 1: And it goes deeper and deeper.
Speaker 1: And some of you know that this is a prison.
Speaker 1: Some of you, you know this You're like yeah, anger never ends.
Speaker 1: Anger doesn't really get better by giving over to anger.
Speaker 1: And that's part of the problem with the world is the world says, hey, what you need to do is just get it out of your system, which is hilarious, honestly.
Speaker 1: Get it out of your system?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, self-avenging anger is sin, and sin is not going to get out of your system.
Speaker 1: What it's going to do is it's going to give you a wicked taste for it and you're going to keep giving yourself to it and giving yourself to it and giving yourself to it.
Speaker 1: So Jesus' answer, just so you know, is not get it out of your system.
Speaker 1: It's not like, well, just let it all out, beat somebody and then be done with it.
Speaker 1: No, jesus is quite a bit different, as he's going to counsel us today.
Speaker 1: But before we go in, we need to recognize that this self-avenging anger is unbecoming in the sense that for a kingdom subject we're talking about kingdom in a minute for a kingdom subject, for a lover of Jesus Christ, it decomposes all that he's trying to put right in us.
Speaker 1: And that's where the Sermon on the Mount comes.
Speaker 1: It says hey.
Speaker 1: Jesus says well, you've heard what Moses said and what the ancients said.
Speaker 1: But I'm going to tell you something even better and higher.
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you that I don't just want you to exteriorly conform yourself to the law.
Speaker 1: I want to come on the inside.
Speaker 1: I don't want to change your feelings about things and your attitudes about things.
Speaker 1: I want you to know just because your outside is right doesn't mean your inside is right.
Speaker 1: I want to get your inside so right that you start to reflect God.
Speaker 1: You look like a little Jesus to people, but when you give yourself to these six sins that he's going to go into in the Sermon on the Mount, you decompose all that God is trying to grow and make beautiful.
Speaker 1: We're contradicting it.
Speaker 1: We're giving ourselves over to the dark side that persecutes Jesus.
Speaker 1: And he says hey, I don't want you to be left unwhole.
Speaker 1: He says in the Sermon on the Mount I want you to be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect.
Speaker 1: And while there's a striving for moral purity and moral integrity and, yes, very high, we need to understand that perfect word is not perfect like you got a perfect score, you got 10 out of 10.
Speaker 1: That's not what it is.
Speaker 1: It's more like and it's kind of a weird illustration.
Speaker 1: You know how like a donut has a hole in it.
Speaker 1: Okay, that hole means the donut, in one sense just flow with me is not whole.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's not whole because there's a hole in it.
Speaker 1: It's not whole.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's not whole because there's a hole in it.
Speaker 1: It's not whole, it's not perfect.
Speaker 1: Now, if you plug the hole with some kind of jelly goodness, now it's perfect.
Speaker 1: Okay, now it's whole.
Speaker 1: The whole thing is whole.
Speaker 1: Now, I know this illustration breaks down because some donuts are pretty perfect even though there's a hole in them.
Speaker 1: But you get.
Speaker 1: What I'm saying is that there's something, there's a hole in the thing and it's not perfect.
Speaker 1: And Jesus is saying I want you to be whole.
Speaker 1: I want you to be whole like your heavenly father is whole.
Speaker 1: I want you to represent my ways always and in every situation, because I want you to be like me.
Speaker 1: Let's pick it up Matthew 5, 21.
Speaker 1: It says you've heard that it was said to the people long ago you shall not murder and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.
Speaker 1: Okay, he's being, he's being dead serious.
Speaker 1: Hey, man, you'll be dragged into the Sanhedrin.
Speaker 1: Okay, that's, that's the Supreme court of Jesus time, and you're going to, they're going to, they're going to lay down a judgment on you.
Speaker 1: Verse 22.
Speaker 1: But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.
Speaker 1: Now let's just, real quick, talk about what's shocking there.
Speaker 1: To the people listening, it is maybe a little bit shocking.
Speaker 1: No, it's not even just like murder, it's anger itself.
Speaker 1: But even more shocking is wait, did I hear that right?
Speaker 1: He said.
Speaker 1: But I tell you.
Speaker 1: So we have to understand what Jesus is standing up and claiming.
Speaker 1: He's saying listen, I just want everybody to know I precede and supersede even Moses, and that would have blown their minds.
Speaker 1: They would be shocked.
Speaker 1: Who would ever dare such a thing?
Speaker 1: Who would ever say that?
Speaker 1: And you know who would say it?
Speaker 1: The Alpha and the Omega would say it.
Speaker 1: The one who says dude, I don't just obey and fulfill the law, I wrote the law, I'm the guy.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you the original intent of the law.
Speaker 1: This is what I want you to know.
Speaker 1: I am supremely unique.
Speaker 1: I am Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: I'm the one who's here, the only one who came for you, the only one who came to rescue you from your sin.
Speaker 1: I'm the one.
Speaker 1: What I say is absolutely, 100%, all the time, true.
Speaker 1: I see you and I see your heart and I know what's wrong and I know how to make you whole.
Speaker 1: I am Jesus Christ, the Lord, god of all.
Speaker 1: That's who he is.
Speaker 1: So that's who's talking.
Speaker 1: Okay, not some random rabbi.
Speaker 1: This is Jesus talking.
Speaker 1: And he says and again, anyone who says to a brother or sister raka, which means essentially idiot, is answerable to the court, and anyone who says you, fool, is in danger of the fire of hell.
Speaker 1: Whoa, so Jesus.
Speaker 1: Right here he's referencing Gehenna, which is really a pagan place of ritual sacrifice where they used to, centuries ago, sacrifice kids in Jesus' time of centuries ago.
Speaker 1: But it has become a garbage dump where people just bring all their old junk.
Speaker 1: They bring carcasses and all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1: Hey, just throw it in there.
Speaker 1: And the place is on fire and it's horrible looking and it reminds everybody of hell.
Speaker 1: And he's pointing that he's saying this thing that represents hell, and that's what happens when you don't seek a whole heart in Christ.
Speaker 1: Ultimately, what you say when you side with the trash, when you side with the evil, jesus says at some point, god's just going to wash his hands of all the evil.
Speaker 1: See, the new world is going to come and the old things are going to pass away, and the only place the garbage, the junk and everything that clings to the junk, everything that says no, I prefer the junk, and God says, well, I don't have anything for you then, because we don't let junk into the new world, and so you're going to have to go be scraped off into Gehenna, into the fiery place that nobody wants to go.
Speaker 1: What we're saying is it matters.
Speaker 1: It matters because there's guys there's a twist here.
Speaker 1: There's well-meaning people who will sometimes say you can receive Jesus as Savior first and then, later on, you can get around to making him Lord.
Speaker 1: The problem is Jesus is not divided.
Speaker 1: There's no such thing as one or the other.
Speaker 1: It's always both okay.
Speaker 1: You can't receive Jesus as Savior and not receive him as Lord, because he is both.
Speaker 1: So what we just want to get clear is there's consequences for not receiving Jesus the exact way that he is.
Speaker 1: He lovingly warns us we're going to see how loving in a few minutes, what do we do?
Speaker 1: Because self-avenging anger decomposes spiritual life.
Speaker 1: Number one I end my anger and see their worth.
Speaker 1: I end my anger and see their worth.
Speaker 1: But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother, anyone who is meditating on it, it's not even overt, it's not like you want to, like you want to be a killer and a murder mister and you want to kill them necessarily.
Speaker 1: But there's thoughts of you know what, dude, I just don't, I don't even need them around.
Speaker 1: Like, what are they doing?
Speaker 1: They are a fool.
Speaker 1: Like, have you ever said I would never do that?
Speaker 1: I would never.
Speaker 1: I can't believe they would do that.
Speaker 1: I'm so disgusted with them because I would never do that.
Speaker 1: And what you're saying?
Speaker 1: They're a fool.
Speaker 1: Biblically speaking, a fool is not just somebody who does dumb things, it's someone who is in rebellion against God and his ways.
Speaker 1: And we're saying they're worse than me.
Speaker 1: I would never do that.
Speaker 1: We just need to get rid of them.
Speaker 1: And Jesus says what the seeds in that is, those are murder seeds.
Speaker 1: And what you're doing check it out.
Speaker 1: What you're really doing is you're devaluing somebody that God says is insanely valuable.
Speaker 1: They're valuable.
Speaker 1: Have you ever done this?
Speaker 1: So as we write somebody off, it's like man, I just the world would be better off Definitely I would be better off without them In our hearts.
Speaker 1: We're reducing their value.
Speaker 1: You're saying nothing, we don't need them.
Speaker 1: They're hurting everything.
Speaker 1: They're making everything bad.
Speaker 1: Now, they might've hurt things and they might've made things bad, but even so, jesus is saying don't devalue them to the point where you would just toss them aside.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because I don't.
Speaker 1: If you want to be whole, if you want to be perfect, understand that, even what they did wrong, I still value them more than anything in the universe.
Speaker 1: I would shed my blood for them.
Speaker 1: And what does Jesus want?
Speaker 1: He wants us to be in agreement with Jesus.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because he's trying to make us whole.
Speaker 1: And here's the hello.
Speaker 1: You're that person too, hello, we've all sinned in those same ways.
Speaker 1: Maybe not exactly, but in some sense we've sinned in those same ways.
Speaker 1: And someone would be tempted to write us off and say, well, they're not valuable, you don't need them.
Speaker 1: Nobody pay attention to them, let's just get rid of them.
Speaker 1: That's what the heart is saying, even if they did hurt us.
Speaker 1: And God's like you ain't getting rid of them.
Speaker 1: They've hurt me the most and I value them and I want you to have my heart and I want you to value them the way that God does.
Speaker 1: And so it becomes poison when we're giving ourselves to the self-avenging anger and it's devolving us.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine what the world would be like?
Speaker 1: Y'all Imagine this, because the world has a version where they're like hey, man, protect everybody, get angry, just don't kill anybody.
Speaker 1: The problem is people go right up to the edge.
Speaker 1: They're like, okay, I won't kill anybody, well, you never know.
Speaker 1: And then they step over and they kill somebody.
Speaker 1: Like murder actually happens because it's somewhere.
Speaker 1: They went beyond the guardrail.
Speaker 1: Now I'm just going to do, I'm just going to kill him.
Speaker 1: What if?
Speaker 1: What if we pull the guardrail back all the way to?
Speaker 1: Don't even say fool in your heart?
Speaker 1: You come up to the guardrail and you're like, oh well, that's Jesus, don't want me to do that.
Speaker 1: With the power of the spirit, I'm going to pull back from that.
Speaker 1: Even if you step one or two over, you still ain't killed anybody.
Speaker 1: Pull back behind the guardrail.
Speaker 1: That's what Jesus is after.
Speaker 1: He's saying dude, this is you think this is good?
Speaker 1: No, dude, don't even get over here.
Speaker 1: Don't even get this far.
Speaker 1: Pull back in your heart.
Speaker 1: Don't even let it get that far.
Speaker 1: Don't devalue my people, because you wouldn't kill something that you actually value.
Speaker 1: If you have a pet and you value that thing, you wouldn't just walk up and just kill it.
Speaker 1: Jesus is saying I'm the same way with my things.
Speaker 1: I don't want you in your mind, in your imagination, pretending to kill people.
Speaker 1: One day Peter said to Jesus Lord, how many times should I forgive somebody?
Speaker 1: Seven times, jesus Lord.
Speaker 1: How many times should I forgive somebody?
Speaker 1: You know, seven times, lord.
Speaker 1: I know man 77.
Speaker 1: Let's go through a whole story here.
Speaker 1: There was a king once Peter okay, and the king forgave somebody who owed him millions of dollars.
Speaker 1: And that dude went out right away and found somebody who owed him a couple hundred dollars and he started to strangle him and he put him in debtor's prison and said you're not going to get out until you pay everything.
Speaker 1: And then the king found out about it and he was pretty upset.
Speaker 1: He said I forgave you all this and now you're going to hold this other person in prison for less than what you did.
Speaker 1: I ain't having it.
Speaker 1: I don't like that.
Speaker 1: That reminds me of trash, that reminds me of something I would just get rid of because it's not like my heart, it's not the way I would do it.
Speaker 1: And guys, hello.
Speaker 1: That's one of the reasons he wants us to not give ourselves to self-avenging anger, because it's like you're getting drunk, dude, you're forgetting what you are, you're forgetting where you came from.
Speaker 1: It's so easy for us to paint ourselves so pretty and forget how much we've hurt the king of kings and lord of lords and defied his commandments and stuck our middle finger in the air and says hey God, why don't you get lost?
Speaker 1: And if you don't know, you've said that, dear heart, you need his help.
Speaker 1: You need him to reveal that to you, because it's death, true, okay, jesus didn't come to die just because you were occasionally, you know, breaking the rules in kindergarten.
Speaker 1: It was worth his death because it was drastic what we'd done wrong and it needed to be covered.
Speaker 1: Come on somebody.
Speaker 1: So Jesus has an antidote for us, but it's not what you think, it's not just.
Speaker 1: Well, you know.
Speaker 1: So just never get it.
Speaker 1: Just try really hard and never get angry.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit of that, but it's better than that.
Speaker 1: What it is is.
Speaker 1: It's spirit-empowered obedience.
Speaker 1: Here's where he wants us to get.
Speaker 1: God wants us to get to the place where we give up all sense that.
Speaker 1: I think I'm going to solve this.
Speaker 1: I think I'm going to get better than this.
Speaker 1: Do you remember the original audience of who's hearing the Sermon on the Mount?
Speaker 1: It's not only like folks, you know, poorer folks, it's also Pharisees.
Speaker 1: It's people that are the religious experts.
Speaker 1: They're in the crowd too.
Speaker 1: He doesn't want everyone just obeying like them, better and better.
Speaker 1: He wants them to recognize first.
Speaker 1: You're poor in spirit and you have nothing to offer God.
Speaker 1: You never did.
Speaker 1: Instead, with the Spirit's help, I want you to demonstrate check it out obedience through the power of the Spirit.
Speaker 1: It's referenced in Romans 8.13, for if you live by its dictates the law you will die, but if, through the power of the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live.
Speaker 1: So there's some way, my friends.
Speaker 1: There's some way that if we're going to overcome this sin, or any sin, we've got to do it with the power of the Holy Spirit, not just the law, not just doing better, not just trying harder.
Speaker 1: If you tell me you're going to try harder, dear heart, I'm just going to put my arm around you and just chuckle on the inside because you're trying harder isn't going to matter, it's not going to work.
Speaker 1: Okay, the Jewish nation did it for thousands of years and it didn't work.
Speaker 1: The Messiah still had to come and still die on the cross.
Speaker 1: It doesn't work.
Speaker 1: Romans 1.5.
Speaker 1: Let's get deeper.
Speaker 1: How do we do this?
Speaker 1: Through him, we receive grace and apostleship.
Speaker 1: Not all of us apostleship, but the apostles.
Speaker 1: Talking is saying to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.
Speaker 1: It's the obedience of faith.
Speaker 1: Guys, if you can clue in on this, this can change everything.
Speaker 1: I know that there's some angers.
Speaker 1: That will stop if you just stop hanging around with angry people.
Speaker 1: For sure, there's angers.
Speaker 1: Maybe that will stop if you stop reviewing hanging around with angry people for sure there's angers.
Speaker 1: Maybe that will stop if you stop reviewing things that if you go read the letter again and it's the thing that made you mad yeah, that's going to make you mad again.
Speaker 1: Sure, there's exposure, things that will just trigger it.
Speaker 1: And if you stay away from those things, that'll be better.
Speaker 1: But there's a deeper work that needs to be done and it's the obedience of faith.
Speaker 1: What it is is saying God, I'm going to do my best, but I'm just going to believe in Jesus' name that you're going to help me obey better and better and better.
Speaker 1: So let me just ask you are you wrestling with anything?
Speaker 1: You've just been wrestling with it forever and you've just tried, and you circled this thing and circled this thing and it's not getting any better.
Speaker 1: I want to lovingly, as a guy who's felt that way myself, I want to lovingly, as a guy who's felt that way myself, I want to lovingly challenge all of us.
Speaker 1: Go back to the spirit.
Speaker 1: How did you start this thing?
Speaker 1: You weren't smart enough and you weren't strong enough.
Speaker 1: The spirit of God.
Speaker 1: All you did was believe and you trusted God and he saved you.
Speaker 1: It's the same way with your sanctification, or with your progress, with your growing in Christ likeness.
Speaker 1: I just let me start with believe.
Speaker 1: I'm going to start at believe.
Speaker 1: God is making me better.
Speaker 1: We should all just say that out loud.
Speaker 1: God is making me better.
Speaker 1: Come on, let's say it together God is making me better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, listen, god's not a liar, yo.
Speaker 1: Sanctification is going to work.
Speaker 1: How many know that's good news, dude?
Speaker 1: It works.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you what, dude.
Speaker 1: I was 18 when I got saved.
Speaker 1: I'm 47 now.
Speaker 1: I promise you, it took a while, but sanctification works.
Speaker 1: I can see it, I know it, I've watched it.
Speaker 1: I'm a yutz now, but you should have seen me before.
Speaker 1: God just stuck with me.
Speaker 1: Sanctification is a promise and it's real and we just have to start again at the beginning.
Speaker 1: It's by faith.
Speaker 1: It's by faith, god, I believe you're making me better, and it might take 30 years, it might, but God's going to win.
Speaker 1: Somebody say God's going to win, god's going to win and he's going to help me.
Speaker 1: So, god, when I'm tempted, when I'm tempted to undervalue somebody, I want you to think about this, think about doing this.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's hard when you're tempted to undervalue somebody.
Speaker 1: Just have the thought, just back up with the spirit of God's help and just say well, you know, jesus, it's possible I'm undervaluing them.
Speaker 1: Yes, they did it wrong.
Speaker 1: Yes, they hurt me, it was bad and I wish they wouldn't have taken that from me.
Speaker 1: But also, do you think maybe I'm undervaluing them?
Speaker 1: Am I valuing them the way that you do?
Speaker 1: Because if you'll help me value them the way that you do, I'll start to pray for them.
Speaker 1: You do, I'll start to pray for them and, even though they hurt me, I'll start to act like you would and I'm asking you to show them grace and show them blessing and help them persevere and help them progress and help them get past the stage where they would ever do that again.
Speaker 1: But I'm asking the Lord to not just do it.
Speaker 1: I don't want you.
Speaker 1: I don't need to be reluctant while you bless them, lord.
Speaker 1: Instead, I want to be the one that says it's possible I'm undervaluing them and possible I'm undervaluing them, and part of my sanctification process is to value my enemy.
Speaker 1: Are y'all in this thick, rich sermon today, hello, value your enemy?
Speaker 1: What yeah For Rizzle, verse 23.
Speaker 1: Therefore, if you're taking your gift at the altar and they remember that your brother or sister has something against you, it's their brother or sister, so that means it's someone close to them.
Speaker 1: It's someone that they like.
Speaker 1: It's their brother or sister, so that means it's someone close to them.
Speaker 1: It's someone that they like.
Speaker 1: It's someone who's probably, if they're Christian, it's a Christian brother or sister.
Speaker 1: Leave your gift there in front of the altar First.
Speaker 1: Go and be reconciled to them.
Speaker 1: Then come offer your gift.
Speaker 1: Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court.
Speaker 1: Do it while you're still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer and you may be thrown into prison.
Speaker 1: Truly, I tell you, not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Speaker 1: So, because self avenging anger decomposes spiritual life, first we're going to end my anger and see their worth, and second I'm going to step toward them to mend what's broken.
Speaker 1: Oh man, this is graduate level stuff here today.
Speaker 1: Guys, this is the hard stuff.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all.
Speaker 1: I want deep preaching.
Speaker 1: Carter, can you go back to shallow after today?
Speaker 1: That's what you're going to say.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about how this works.
Speaker 1: Here's several different examples.
Speaker 1: One example is you realize, like this person did, oh, somebody's mad at me.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know it, but you get wind of it.
Speaker 1: You think it.
Speaker 1: You're like are they mad at me?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think I might've made them angry at some point.
Speaker 1: This person check it.
Speaker 1: They're at the altar.
Speaker 1: Where is Jesus?
Speaker 1: Jesus is in Galilee.
Speaker 1: What he's saying is if you're at the temple 80 miles away, which is a four to five day trip if you're there and you're about to offer your offering you're about to offer your offering.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, wait a minute, somebody might be mad at me, I'm gonna go home now.
Speaker 1: You're gonna go all the way back to be reconciled to them.
Speaker 1: Before you come back and complete your offering, what is he saying?
Speaker 1: He's saying get serious and you should work a little hard at it, okay?
Speaker 1: So yeah, if you've gotta go find them on social media, try.
Speaker 1: You know, if you've gotta work a little bit, I've got to ask somebody hey, what's their email?
Speaker 1: Can you help me get a hold of them?
Speaker 1: Yeah, work a little hard, because you probably don't have to walk 80 miles.
Speaker 1: But Jesus is saying yeah, it's that great, it's that serious, step out and go after it.
Speaker 1: And what do we do?
Speaker 1: No-transcript.
Speaker 1: You got in their way and you hear later that they're kind of mad that you did that.
Speaker 1: What do you do?
Speaker 1: You step out, you step in, you step toward them, even though they, by rights, should come to you.
Speaker 1: If you hear that, well, you know you said that thing and it was just.
Speaker 1: You just said it in such a way maybe you didn't even know, but you said in such a way that they're just sensitive to that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: And now they're hurting, now they're stewing, and now you know it's messing with, they don't even want to be around.
Speaker 1: When you hear that, that means you go.
Speaker 1: You go find them and here's what you say.
Speaker 1: You say, hey, I just got to check.
Speaker 1: Are we cool?
Speaker 1: Because I feel like maybe we're not cool.
Speaker 1: I heard something.
Speaker 1: Or you're just behaving in a way that makes me feel like maybe we're not cool.
Speaker 1: Now, when someone has the guts to do that in your direction, they come to you and they're like hey, are we cool?
Speaker 1: If y'all ain't cool, please do not act passive, aggressive, like no, we're fine.
Speaker 1: No, we're fine.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 1: Because not only is that sinful, not only is that a version of manipulation, but precious God delivered them to your door, coming to you asking should we be reconciled?
Speaker 1: And you're sending them away.
Speaker 1: Hello, what?
Speaker 1: What did God have to do just to get them there?
Speaker 1: That means you trust them.
Speaker 1: You say, yeah, thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Thanks for leaning in, because I value you and I'm so thankful to know that you value me that we should maybe try to solve this.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to tell you what's going on with me and then you tell the truth and you trust that they are telling you the truth what's going on with me and then you tell the truth and you trust that they are telling you the truth.
Speaker 1: That's one version.
Speaker 1: Another version is somebody brings you a sin Okay, so it's not that you heard about it, they're coming to tell you about it.
Speaker 1: You sinned against me.
Speaker 1: I really believe this is the default.
Speaker 1: This is the way it should always be.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 1: Matthew 18, 15 talks all about this.
Speaker 1: If your brother or sister sins, jesus commands them go point out their fault, just between the two of you.
Speaker 1: If they listen to you, you've won them over.
Speaker 1: Jesus says hey, man, if you know somebody broke their promise, you go to them and you don't beat around the bush, you don't kind of hope they'll get it.
Speaker 1: That's indirect and that's not what he commanded.
Speaker 1: He said go to them and point out their fault, meaning I feel like dude, maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like you broke your promise.
Speaker 1: Can we talk about that?
Speaker 1: Or I thought the trip was going to go this way and you just totally brought it this way and I was just that hurt my feelings, I felt undervalued by that.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about it.
Speaker 1: I want to obey Jesus.
Speaker 1: I want to talk about it now, so anger doesn't fester, because he values both of us and wants us together, or maybe it's even.
Speaker 1: I felt abandoned when you did that.
Speaker 1: I thought we were a team in this and you just walk off the field.
Speaker 1: When that happens, you go and you say, hey, this is what happened.
Speaker 1: Can we talk about that?
Speaker 1: Let's try to clear the air, let's try to get this done and, my friends, here's a hard one, but it's gold.
Speaker 1: I'm so thankful for my mentors that taught me this when I was in marriage counseling.
Speaker 1: If you're married and you don't know the skill, I want to invite you to be a part of our marriage workshop, just like the parenting workshop.
Speaker 1: Our marriage workshop is going to start March 9th.
Speaker 1: Or if you're engaged and you're going to be married, or you just need an oil change and you need a refresher, you've got to have the skill of repenting in case.
Speaker 1: You've got to have the skill of repenting in case, because some of us are really truthy people, which means if your spouse or somebody comes to you and says I feel like you did this and you're going to evaluate the situation and you're like, hmm, did I do that?
Speaker 1: No, I didn't do that, so I guess you're wrong.
Speaker 1: Not only did I not do it.
Speaker 1: You're also wrong, and it's not that we don't communicate that.
Speaker 1: Maybe we don't see that or that isn't how we're understanding it.
Speaker 1: But there's a way to do it where you say and you own in humility, listen here, you own in humility that you're evil enough that you might've done it on accident and don't even remember it.
Speaker 1: Have you ever done that?
Speaker 1: Have you ever, like you, made a mistake on accident?
Speaker 1: You hurt somebody on accident, like you didn't even mean to, you don't even remember the situation, but it happened, or maybe it just seemed like it happened to them.
Speaker 1: This is where you say hey, thank you for telling me.
Speaker 1: I don't remember that and I just want you to know in my heart I would never want to do that to you, just so you know.
Speaker 1: So I would not willingly want to do that to you.
Speaker 1: Just I want you to hear my heart.
Speaker 1: But if I did do it, god just asked for your forgiveness and you know what just happened that wound just closed and Jesus starts to stitch it up and now the anger that they had, that they brought you, that they trusted you with, begins to flee and now you can bring up yours and you also did that thing.
Speaker 1: Can we talk about that and now it's back and forth.
Speaker 1: But my friend, that skill of I need to repent in case we can do it with friends.
Speaker 1: We can do it with family.
Speaker 1: We can do it with spouses, we can do it with siblings, we can do it, but sometimes you've got to do it.
Speaker 1: It's not about are they correct.
Speaker 1: Let God decide if they're correct, you just own.
Speaker 1: It's possible.
Speaker 1: I have done so many things in the past that are shameful.
Speaker 1: I may have accidentally done that and I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1: Would you forgive me?
Speaker 1: That's another version.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about if you try for peace but they're not willing to give it.
Speaker 1: If you are a part of the Bible recap and you're reading through that, you might have noticed Laban and Jacob got in a fight recently.
Speaker 1: Okay, so they were at odds and finally Laban chases Jacob down and it's like it's about to go on.
Speaker 1: They're about to brawl, all their folks are about to come out and I think Laban's got a lot more people.
Speaker 1: He's probably going to slaughter them, but they're about to roll.
Speaker 1: And then they said you know what?
Speaker 1: There's nothing I can do.
Speaker 1: I'm going to let you go, let's have dinner.
Speaker 1: They just make peace.
Speaker 1: There's like I don't agree, but I just want to leave the door open so we're not sitting here hating each other all the time.
Speaker 1: Let's make a covenant together I'm not going to harm you, you're not going to harm me and let's have some dinner together, let's celebrate all that is, and then let's part ways and go away for a while.
Speaker 1: Maybe someday God will reconcile us in a way that we want to be around each other again, but maybe not.
Speaker 1: Either way, I don't want you to think I'm busy hating you, but I don't think we can get to a place where we're agreeing about the story or what happened with that.
Speaker 1: Sometimes someone has hurt you so bad that, dude, you can forgive them.
Speaker 1: But truthfully, dear, you're not wise to trust them because there's no, they may not have gotten any better, they might keep doing that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: And so we say, in Jesus' name, by the power of God, I'm going to think positive thoughts about you and I'm going to forgive you, but we're going to stay at a distance for a while because I don't trust you're not just going to slap me again.
Speaker 1: That's how we solve that problem, where sometimes we can't be reconciled or we're trying to reconcile with somebody and they don't want it.
Speaker 1: They're not going to do it.
Speaker 1: Romans 12, 18 gives us some great advice.
Speaker 1: If it's possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Speaker 1: As far as it depends on you, he's telling us.
Speaker 1: They're not always going to let you, they're not always going to let you have peace.
Speaker 1: As long as you've done everything you can do, god says okay, you're off the hook, man, you did it all.
Speaker 1: I'll use some other way in your life.
Speaker 1: You don't have to worry about finding a way for you guys to be besties again.
Speaker 1: Forgive them and let it go.
Speaker 1: Maybe have a meal and move on with your life and trust me to bring it back together at the right time.
Speaker 1: Come on, somebody.
Speaker 1: Here's one more, here's one more.
Speaker 1: It may be, like he says in verse 25, you actually have a real legal adversary and they've got a case against you.
Speaker 1: Settle matters quickly with your adversary who's taking you to court.
Speaker 1: Do it while you're still together, okay.
Speaker 1: So yeah, no question, man, if you can settle out of court like this is real, he's giving real man.
Speaker 1: If you can set a lot of court like this is real, he's giving real advice.
Speaker 1: If you can set a lot of court.
Speaker 1: That's better If you guys don't.
Speaker 1: Don't get to the judge who might decide something you don't like.
Speaker 1: Try to come to a way that it works for you.
Speaker 1: But Jesus is also implying something deeper.
Speaker 1: He's saying there is a case against you, just so you know.
Speaker 1: And the case is you have disobeyed God In the cases you have disobeyed God and there's a case and you must come to agreement Now.
Speaker 1: He values you, he wants you guys to be together, and so what he's going to do, he's going to give you the best deal of your existence.
Speaker 1: He's going to say I'm going to come and I'm going to pay your penalty for you so that we can be reunited again and we can have perfect peace and we can be together always.
Speaker 1: And if you take that future, there's no chance of hell ever, because I took all your punishment, I took all the wrath of God, I took all the Ghana on myself and you never have to have it.
Speaker 1: He's saying understand, everybody has to come back to the negotiating table and push Jesus across as your negotiation price.
Speaker 1: I'm just going to take Jesus.
Speaker 1: I'll take Jesus.
Speaker 1: That way, I don't have to pay for my own sin.
Speaker 1: And what God will do is he will open wide the gates of heaven and he will let you in.
Speaker 1: But we've got to understand why he's doing it, because I'm afraid we're going to get this wrong.
Speaker 1: He's not doing it saying okay, I'll forgive you this once.
Speaker 1: Now I'm going to trust, you're going to just, you're going to do better.
Speaker 1: You're going to sin less.
Speaker 1: That is not the deal of the Bible.
Speaker 1: That is not the deal of the gospel.
Speaker 1: The deal is not okay.
Speaker 1: So now go sin less.
Speaker 1: It's not.
Speaker 1: Now go do better.
Speaker 1: Oh, I forgave him once, and now here they go again.
Speaker 1: Oh, we're talking him into forgiving us.
Speaker 1: No, that's not the deal.
Speaker 1: It says in Deuteronomy 6, 25, if we faithfully obey everything that God has commanded us, he will be pleased with us.
Speaker 1: Paul takes that later on and he says that is a true thing.
Speaker 1: But the only one who's ever done that is Jesus.
Speaker 1: He's the only one who ever obeyed everything.
Speaker 1: So if you're going to try and go back to the law and count on the law, and just from now on, I'm just going to obey everything, you're already cursed.
Speaker 1: You can't obey everything.
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ is the one who obeyed everything.
Speaker 1: He gives us an alternative.
Speaker 1: Here's the real deal Galatians 2.16.
Speaker 1: Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not obeying the law.
Speaker 1: And we believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we've obeyed the law, for no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.
Speaker 1: It doesn't exist.
Speaker 1: No one ever did, no one ever is going to Jesus.
Speaker 1: Christ did the whole thing and he always will.
Speaker 1: And, my friends, he fills in your obedience.
Speaker 1: Do you know that when you come in here to worship, your worship wouldn't be even acceptable to God if it wasn't washed in the blood of Jesus?
Speaker 1: See, once you're forgiven, it's not like the Lord's like.
Speaker 1: Okay, so now remain in my favor.
Speaker 1: No, you're in his favor.
Speaker 1: Now, what the blood does is it covers everything you do and turns it into worship.
Speaker 1: Everything you bring is imperfect.
Speaker 1: Is your worship perfect?
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 1: Is your prayer life perfect, no.
Speaker 1: Is your thought life perfect?
Speaker 1: No, no.
Speaker 1: But now you can bring it and say here, by the obedience of faith, I'm just coming to you and saying God, I trust that you make this worship.
Speaker 1: You're not using it to justify me, you're just making this acceptable because you are, now that I'm in Christ, as John Calvin calls it, you are an indulgent father, meaning you're looking at me through the lens of.
Speaker 1: They're already been made right, and so I'm patient and I'm kind, and I know that their heart is trying, so you don't have to be perfect.
Speaker 1: That's why it says he is able to save completely all who come to God through him.
Speaker 1: Since he will live forever, he will always be there to remind God that he's paid for their sins with his blood.
Speaker 1: And I just wanna talk to somebody.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're online.
Speaker 1: Wherever you are are online cameras.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're thinking, hey, man, I don't know that it's for me, though I need to go get better first.
Speaker 1: You don't need to go get better first.
Speaker 1: That's not what it is.
Speaker 1: It's not that you're man, you're just over the edge, you're just too bad.
Speaker 1: No, that's not what it said.
Speaker 1: It said he is able to save completely all who come to God through him.
Speaker 1: That's the deal, that's what he wants, that's the court case.
Speaker 1: You just come to me and I'll save you entirely.
Speaker 1: Hey, thank you so much for joining us today.
Speaker 1: If you don't have a home church and you're looking for a Bible preaching community that has its heart set on passionately knowing Jesus and being his witness in our generation.
Speaker 1: Check out Fierce Church.
Speaker 1: We'd love for you to join us, either digitally or in person.
Speaker 1: Also, if you're looking for leadership development related content, don't forget to check out the Fierce Leadership Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts from.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to support this ministry.
Speaker 1: It's because of you that this is possible.
Speaker 1: You can click on the link in the description to give now or visit fiercechurch for more information.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this podcast, why not subscribe?
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Speaker 1: Whatever challenges you're facing, I know you can make it.
Speaker 1: Don't give up.
Speaker 1: Hang on to Jesus.
Speaker 1: He won't let go of you.
Speaker 1: Jesus loves you so much and we love you.
Speaker 1: I hope someday we get to meet in person.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening.