The Student’s Desk

That we may know Christ

Sermon on the Mount: Jesus take on anger management – How do we do it?

The Student’s Desk fortnightly devotion 

Prayer

Basis for Prayer: Psalm 51:10-17

Lord, living the way you want in this life is hard work. It seems temptation is around every corner, and we are always seeing and hearing examples of behaviour that you don’t want us to do. Like the Psalm Lord, we pray you would create in us a new heart, one that rejoices in your ways so people may learn about your great love from us. Lord, teach us to be humble when things don’t go our way. May we even seek the needs of others, even when they’re against us. As we look at what Jesus taught, help us to understand what is taught, and help us to respond.

In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

 

Jesus take on anger management – How do we do it?

Read Matthew 5:20-26

We’ve been talking about living life upside-down, living differently to the rest of the world. So far we’ve said the unlucky people by worldly standards are actually the lucky people by God’s standards – they have God’s blessing. We’ve also talked about what we can expect from living lives differently to other people. We said that we might cop a bit of flak from others, but we can also expect people to turn and praise God for what the see in us.
But how do we live life upside-down? What does an upside down life look like day in and day out? That’s what we’ll be talking about the next few times we meet, starting today.

There are plenty of people around today that think being Christian is about observing a minimum standard of behaviour. That so long as you don’t commit any big sins like murder, and live a good life, you’ll be right. And they’re partly right. Responding to the gospel and following Jesus demands a change in behavioural standards. But their mostly wrong. Because Jesus takes that standard of behaviour, and takes it to a whole new level. Jesus raises the bar.

How far does Jesus raise the bar? There were a number of religious groups in Jesus’ day and one of them was called the Pharisees. These people knew the law of God really, really well. They were religious nutters! When it came to being devoted to God, they were pedantic! There was not an area of their life that their devotion to God affected. Anyone could spot a Pharisee from 100m away. Their devotion to God was that obvious! And to all this religious devotion and activity Jesus says NOT GOOD ENOUGH! “… unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Now that is a shocking thing to say. Anyone would’ve thought if anyone was going to go to heaven, it would be a Pharisee. Jesus says, no chance!

What’s the problem with the Pharisees? The problem with the Pharisees is the same problem we can have today – that living life the way God wants is about ticking boxes, like on a check list. We can start thinking that so long as we’ve done our Christian quota – gone to church, said our prayers, read our Bible – God will be happy with that. Jesus says no! It’s a lot more than that. And if you haven’t understood anything I’ve been saying, I want you to understand this, and keep this in mind: Living Christian lives is not about keeping a check list of a behaviour standard. The Christian life is about doing the most you can in service to God, and in service to others. After all, Jesus gave everything he had for us, by dying on a cross for our sins so we can be friends with God. The only appropriate response is to give everything we have, and give the most that we can. Even to the point we ask ‘how can I do more?’ when we’ve done everything. Some will be able to do more than others. That’s ok. God doesn’t expect us to all be the same. But he does expect us to do what we can.

Jesus puts this in very concrete terms for us by talking about murder and anger. Now, I take it there aren’t any murderers amongst us. Just in case there is, and I’ve offended you, I am really, really sorry, and there’s no need to meet me in the back ally afterwards. But we do get angry with people, don’t we? We might start calling them nasty names and holding grudges against them. Has anyone done that? I have. And we might start thinking, “I haven’t done anything wrong. I haven’t actually murdered them… yet!” Well, Jesus says you have done something wrong. God isn’t happy with your behaviour. You need to do something about it. You need to stop bearing a grudge and say to the person, “look, I’m sorry. Can we talk about what happened?” That’s what living life upside-down looks like. That’s what living Christian lives and following Jesus involves. It’s not easy. But it is worthwhile.

Again, living Christian lives is not about keeping a check list of a behaviour standard. The Christian life is about doing the most you can in service to God, and in service to others in response to the love Jesus has shown to each of us.

 

 

© The Student’s Desk, 2008.

August 23, 2008 Posted by | Bible, Bible Exposition, Devotionals, Religious, Sermon on the Mount | , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment