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Camden Nephew preaches from Matthew 5:21-26, addressing the topic of anger as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. He highlights the lie that anger is not a big deal, the truth that anger hinders worship, and emphasizes seeking quick reconciliation and restoration with others.
Bellevue Baptist Church High School Ministry
Amen. Can I sit down? Yes, you may be seated. Yeah, thank you. It's like the, sit down, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. Hey, if you have your Bible, you can open it up to Matthew chapter 5. All right. I didn't want to do this. I was hoping that y'all would not let me down, but I feel like our excitement for the Word is like dwindling more and more, so I need to be like really pumped, really excited. So if you have your Bible, you can open it up to Matthew chapter 5. That's better. That's better. We're getting there. Matthew chapter 5. And as you turn there, let me ask you a question. Anybody in here got any pet peeves? Like something that just really grinds your gears and just like really annoys you. I'll tell you a couple of mine just right off the jump, okay? A couple of pet peeves I have, and listen, I hope I don't ruffle any feathers here because I feel like this is a very—you might find yourself in this camp every once in a while. I can't stand when I'm having a conversation with someone and they won't take their AirPods out. You're like, oh, they're on transparency mode or whatever it is. I'm like, it drives me nuts. Okay, that's one of my pet peeves. Like I want you to talk with your neighbor really quick and just share a pet peeve with each other. Okay, listen, don't make enemies. Don't say, I hate it when this person does this. Don't say, you know, people who chew with their mouth open just really gets on my nerves. What you got? All right, all right. Let's bring it back. Bring it back. Did anyone hear a pet peeve from somebody else that was like, hey, this was a good one I didn't think about? Yeah, this one is a pet peeve for me too. Anybody? Anybody hear a good one? What was it? Come here. Well, hold on. What did you say? Wearing shoes in the house. You would not like my house then. I never take my shoes off. Just feet, period, are a pet peeve of yours. Get them out of here. Cut them all off. I hate it. Don't like them. Okay. Hey, that's fine. Any other pet peeves out there? All the way in the back. What you got? I'm so sorry. Say it one more time. Slamming doors. Okay. If I slam the door in my house, I wouldn't have a door anymore. That was the rule in our house. Isn't that right, mom? Yeah, you don't be slamming the door. Right here, what you got? Washcloth on the teeth, like the rubbing sound. Okay. Okay. There was like a collective like, oh, I didn't like that one. Yeah, yeah. Hold on. Hey, can we bring the house lights up? That would be awesome. When there's time still left on the microwave. So you're like, you're letting it get down to the last second. And then you're, so, okay, I totally hear that. Okay, I'm going to take three more. I'm going to take three more. What you got right here? Say it again. Driving under the speed limit. Okay, that's fair. Yes, ma'am. Mixing lemonade and sweet tea. You don't like that? That's an Arnold Palmer. That's a great beverage. Hey, I respect it, though. I respect it. Okay, we're going to do one more. One more. Let's see. Everyone's pointing at this right. What you got? I hate it whenever like the metal in the sink scrapes. Oh, it's like the scraping metal in the sink? Okay, that's fair. That's fair. These are all things that can annoy us. For me, personally, like I said, talking to somebody and they got their AirPods in and they don't take them out. That just, it feels rude to me. I don't like that. I also don't like people who chew with their mouth open. That really just gets under my skin. It's nasty and it's like, oh, please swallow your food, okay? These are things that annoy us. What I want to talk about tonight, and I want to take it a step further, if that's okay. I want to take it a step further. What I want to do is I want to talk about things that like really, I'm going to say it this way, they take up real estate, feels like in our soul, things that like really anger us. That's what Jesus is addressing here in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, starting in verse 21. He's talking about anger and how to deal with it. And can I just be transparent with you for a second? Anger is something that I really struggle with. And I struggle with it in the sense of like you would never think, my fuse is like miles long, but internally I am fuming and I can get really angry. And if I don't give that to the Lord, eventually I'm going to pop it and it's not pretty. So anger can be something that I really have to deal with. So as I'm prepping for this sermon, as I'm thinking about this and praying through it, the Lord is really speaking, not only, hey, this is what I want them to hear, but like speaking to me through this sermon. Anger, how do we deal with it? How do we deal with it? The passage tells us, look at verse, starting in verse 21. You have heard that it was said 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. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council, and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. 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. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you're going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison. Truly I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. Within this passage, there are three things. Number one, we're confronted with a lie that we often believe when it comes to anger. I'm giving you kind of the outline. We're confronted with a lie that we believe when it comes to anger. We're also presented with a truth about anger that we need to come to grips with and come to realize, and then we're also challenged with an application that we need to practice. First point is this, is the lie. What is the lie that we believe about anger? It's this, is that anger is not a big deal. That's the lie that we believe about anger oftentimes. I'll be honest with you, I find myself in this boat time and time again because in my mind, if I'm just processing it inwardly and it's not really affecting anybody, what's the big deal? The passage says, you have heard that it was said of old. So imagine Jesus is teaching this sermon and he's standing there and he says this, hey listen, I know what you think to be true. This is what you have heard, this is what was said of old. When he's saying that, he's referring to Old Testament, he's referring to old traditions, he's referring to all these other things that may have been misinterpreted. And he says, hey listen, I know what y'all think to be true about anger. He said, you know that it was said of old, you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. And then he takes it a step further. And he essentially says, if you have anger in your heart towards your brother, you're guilty of the same crime. And here's what I want you to understand about this, students, is that anger is very serious. The lie that we believe, that the enemy wants you and I to believe, is that it's not a big deal. Hey, especially if you don't lash out in anger and hurt anyone, as long as you just hold on to it and harbor that bitterness, it's not a big deal. Jesus makes this distinction. This is what you have come to believe, but this is what is true. The lie that anger isn't a big deal is a lie because it is a big deal because of what anger does to your heart. Anger has the ability to rot you from the inside out. Bitterness and hatred that you hold on to will take root in your heart and it will begin to rot you from the inside out. Holding on to bitterness and resentment, listen, does not punish the person you are angry with that punishes you. Some of you have encountered some really awful and horrific things at the hands of other people. And you hold on to this bitterness and this anger and this hatred towards that person. And in doing so, the enemy has convinced you, one, that it's not a big deal and it's justified, oh, they deserve it. But he's also convinced you that somehow you're punishing them by harboring bitterness in your heart. You're not punishing them, you're punishing yourself. Anger is a big deal. But also it's a big deal because there's a progression that happens when it comes to anger. Look at what the pastor says, But I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to counsel. And whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. There's a very clear and obvious progression that we see here. Here's how it starts. It starts anger, right? Like we're talking about tonight. Like just bitterness and hatred in your heart towards someone else. Just like, okay, I'm annoyed with you. Now I'm angry with you. You did something to me. And now I'm not happy with you, right? It starts very simple. And maybe your anger is just internalized. So it's internalized, therefore you've convinced yourself, okay, I'm just inwardly processing it. I'm just holding onto it inside, so it's not that big of a deal. But anger always leads to something else. It says this,
But I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. That anger goes from just angry in your heart and your soul to now you are insulting your brother. And it says, whoever insults his brother will be liable to counsel. Anger leading to these passive comments, these passive insults. Let me, I'll say it this way. Do you ever catch yourself being a little more harsh towards people who just have a tendency to get under your skin? You know what I mean by that? Is it, I don't know if I can say this. Not at this church. At my old church, there would be students that like got under my skin and I would be a little more harsh towards them than I would with other students just because of the way they acted and the way they treated other people. And I would just, oh, just like, and I would be harsh towards them. You and I have a tendency to be less careful with our words when we're talking to someone that we deem as unworthy of our affection, unworthy of our grace, unworthy of our forgiveness or our kindness. Someone who has wronged us and we tend to be more sharp, less forgiving with our words. But then it also leads to something else. What started as an inward anger or an annoyance leads to you fool. Now, why is that significant? Look what the passage says. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to counseling. Whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. So there's this progression. It's an inward anger in your heart to all of a sudden you're just kind of being quick with insults and you're being more harsh towards someone who just happens to get under your skin to all of a sudden you fool. What is that doing? You are passing down judgment on someone who you think is deserving of judgment. And here's what happens when you do that. You start to play God. And you start to decide who is deserving of forgiveness and who is not. Who deserves my kindness and who doesn't. Undealt with anger, students, is a big deal because you will start to respond and react in your flesh. And when you react in your flesh, you cannot please the Spirit. Galatians chapter five, verse 16 and 17 says this. But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh. For those are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things that you want to do. So Paul is writing in this letter to the church in Galatia. Hey, your spirit and your flesh are at war with one another. And listen to me, just a side note. If your spirit and your flesh are not at war with one another, the Spirit is not in you. Your spirit and your flesh are at war with one another. You know what Camden's flesh wants? Camden's flesh wants people to get what they deserve, but he wants them to get what they deserve with me as judge, jury, and executioner. Like, I want to make the calls. But praise be to God that he didn't give me what I deserved. When you harbor bitterness and anger and hatred in your heart, it's a big deal, students, because it takes your eyes off of the grace that has been offered to you by the blood of Jesus who hung on the cross for your sins and for mine. The enemy wants to convince you that anger isn't a big deal because he knows the truth that we're about to discuss, which is this, the truth is that anger will hinder your worship. Anger will hinder your worship. We're gonna work through these next points very quickly. Look what it says in verse 23 and 24. 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. First, be reconciled with your brother and then come offer your gift. Jesus is teaching and he urges you and I. Hey, listen, if there's beef, go squash it, right? Do people say beef anymore? Okay, cool, thank you. I appreciate that affirmation, I needed that. Y'all are being really quiet. I don't know, whatever it is. Like, if there's beef, go take care of it. He says, if you're coming to make your offering at the, you know, in the house of worship, leave your offering there, go make it right and then come back and worship me. Now, you might say to yourself this, Ken, we don't make offerings anymore. You know, I'm not bringing a lamb to church and, you know, making these offerings. Okay, no, that's true, but in everything that you do, when you step into this place and you say, okay, I'm here to worship the Lord, you are bringing your offering before the table of God. Or at least you should be. Can we have a real moment just for a second? A lot of you come in here and you're not bringing your offering before the Lord. A lot of you come in here and you're here because, you know, you're supposed to be, you're here because you do it every week, you're here because your parents bring you, you're here because your parents are on staff, but you don't care at all about the reading or the studying of God's word. You don't care at all about worshiping him. You don't care if other people worship him and it's evident because you're willing to distract other people while you sit in this room, because you don't care. The posture of our heart when we step into this place, the posture of your heart when you step into the quiet place of your room, when you read your Bible in the morning, which you should be every single day is, Lord, my life is a living sacrifice, an offering that I'm presenting to you. As you are presenting that offering to him, what he's saying in this passage is this, is hey, if there's anger between you and somebody else, if there's some undealt with burden, you need to go take care of that and then come back to me. Because if you don't, that anger and that bitterness and that hatred is going to hinder your worship. Romans 12, verse one, I'm just going to pull this up and read it very quickly. Romans 12, one says this. I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Listen, salvation happens once, yes. It is a daily decision, however, to place yourself on the altar as a living sacrifice. God's word says to take up your cross daily, not take it up once, not take it up while you're on the mission trip, not take it up on your way to church. Daily, take up your cross and follow after him. And as you do that, as your spiritual act of worship, you are offering this, you are making this offering to the Lord and in doing so, what he's commanding you and I do that. If there is anger, you need to go and make that right before you do anything else. Some of you have become stagnant in your walk with the Lord and you're stuck and you feel like, why don't I feel like I'm growing in my faith? Why don't I feel like I'm learning anything? Why don't I feel his presence when I'm reading the word? Why don't I feel like worshiping him anymore? I don't have that. And it's because there's undealt with bitterness and anger in your heart that you are refusing to let go of. The command of the Lord has for you and I tonight is this, is give it over to him. Very quickly, the third and final thing is the response. What do we do with it? You do this, you seek restoration quickly. Look what verse 25 says. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court lest your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put into prison. You know what I love about this passage? I'm gonna read one more time verse 23 and 24. It says this. So if you're offering your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. You know what I noticed about that when I read that? Is this, it doesn't say, hey, if you have something against your brother, go make it right. What it says is, if your brother has something against you, go make it right. It's really easy to hear this passage tonight and say to ourselves, oh, well, there's a lot of people who have wronged me and they need to make it right. My question to you is this, is who have you wronged? Whose feelings have you hurt? Who, when did you say something that just quick tongue, quick, just maybe it was supposed to be funny and you're like, oh man, that hurt, could have hurt someone. The night of worship Sunday, I don't know how many of you were there. It was awesome. It was incredible. I'm just going around hanging out and we're talking and I said something to you that shouldn't have said to Maggie and we're just having fun. We're just joking around. I made a comment about, oh, like this person's kinder than y'all or whatever. And I'm sitting there, I'm worshiping. And I'm like, man, I should not have said that. I'm trying to worship. I'm like, it's not that big of a deal. She doesn't care. And you're like, it's not that big of a deal. Whatever. You know, it's cool. And like, she was like mad at me. At least I hope she wasn't. Maybe she was. But I remember I had to, I had to go make that right. Cause I was like, I can't stand here and worship the Lord and like, and do this with that on my heart that I wronged someone. Who is it that you may have said something to and they're holding onto it?
and you're going to them and saying, hey, I messed up, I shouldn't have said that. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that. You know what God's word says? God's word says that unbelievers will know him by our love for one another. That the lost world, seeing the way that believers treat each other will either point them closer to Christ or it will drive them away from him. And here's the challenge I have for you tonight, students, is this, is to seek restoration quickly and to do so by being the one to say, hey, who have I wronged? Now, here's a challenge. I love what Pastor Ben does where he answers questions at the end. I'm going to answer a question for you tonight, which is this. How do I forgive someone who doesn't think that they need my forgiveness? Because for some of you in this room, you have been wronged and you're holding on to that bitterness and you're holding on to that anger and you're holding on to that hatred. I would say this. One, you need to seek wise counsel because every situation is different. Not in that maybe you should or you shouldn't forgive. Like, listen, there are things that you need to pray, and you need to pray through everything. Don't hear what I'm not saying. But there are some things that scripture makes obvious. Do you need to pray through whether or not you should make evangelism a part of your regular practice? Like, Lord, should I do that? Should I not? No, he's made it very clear that there's something that you should do. Do you need to pray about, Lord, should I read the Bible today? Probably like, just read the Bible, okay? Like, there's something that he has made very obvious. One of those things that he has made very obvious is that you and I as believers are meant to forgive other people. So here's my challenge to you as we wrap things up is this. There are some people who don't think that they need your forgiveness. And voicing your forgiveness to them will make matters worse. They won't make them better. Now, some people do need to hear it. So I encourage you, seek wise counsel. Hey, who should I approach with this? Who should I not approach with this? But in your heart, forgiveness looks like taking it before the Lord and saying, Lord, I've been holding on to this bitterness. I've been holding on to this anger. Would you free me that I'm choosing to forgive this person in my heart tonight? Forgiveness is inward for you, not so much for them. Some people do need to hear it from you. So that's why I say, seek wise counsel. But really what I want you to understand is this. Hey, there's some things that you are holding on to. The Lord is saying, hey, I came to that so I can bear that burden for you. Be obedient, give that over to him.