David Stockton 5/23/21 David Stockton 5/23/21

Overcoming Destructive Anger

You guys know what today is? It’s Pentecost Sunday! Woo! It’s the day that we remember when the Spirit of God was poured out upon the Church and everything changed. So, when David asked me to speak on my anger story, I thought, How am I going to tie that into Pentecost Sunday? I will do it! One of the things I want to say is…

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
May 23, 2021 - Kurt Cotter

One of the things I want to say is, David talked about last week, he said that the way we really experience change is we walk in the Spirit. In Galatians 5 it says “Walk in step with the Holy Spirit.”

The way I look at it is, I like to think of Jesus introduced the Holy Spirit in John 14, 15 and 16, and he called him our helper. He called him our comforter, our counselor, our teacher. And he invited us into a relationship with God the Holy Spirit. So I want you to know that what I’m going to share today, it didn’t happen by might or by my power, but by the Spirit of God. He’s our helper.

So I hope you guys will learn how to work with the Holy Spirit and let him give you the power to fulfill what the scripture says. So let’s pray as we open up in Matthew 5:21.

Father, we thank you for your presence that’s here. We celebrate the coming of your Holy Spirit, and we invite you into this room, that you would work in our lives, that you would show forth Jesus through us. And we ask it in your name. Amen.

Okay. Matthew 5:21 through 24 is the scripture I’m going to focus on today.

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.

We all know that God looks at the heart. Man looks at the outward appearance. But when he sees inside of a heart of a person anger, it’s a serious issue with God. We can tell by what we were just reading. Here Jesus says, “Yes, you’ve heard it said if you murder someone you’re subject to judgment. But I say if you’re angry with a brother or sister you’re subject to judgment. In fact, if you call them a fool you’re also in danger of judgment.”

Now, I know firsthand about the damage that can happen in relationship because of destructive anger. And the things I spoke out of my mouth to those that I love, especially. I think everyone agrees that, when you first give your life to Christ, you become a new creature. Old things are passed away. All things have become new. And you change, right? But a lot of people don’t realize that even after thirty years of walking with Jesus, he still wants to change us and he wants to transform us into his likeness.

So, how can we change? Jesus is changing us from glory to glory. It says this in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV), which is not in front of you. But you all know this one.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

So we are being changed as we gaze upon the face of Jesus and behold his glory. He’s changing us from glory to glory. Anybody know what’s in between the glories? A whole lot of painful things to change your life. That’s what I’m going to talk about.

Also, the other verse that’s very familiar to you is Romans 12:2 (NKJV). It says:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

So, as we surrender our lives to Jesus every single day, he’s renewing us and transforming us by the renewing of our minds. Our minds need to change. They need to be renewed.

So, today I want to share a practical side of what it means to walk in the Spirit, what it means to see a change by the grace of God, the power of God’s word, as God changed me from having a horrible anger problem.

I’m originally from West Covina, California. I’m one of seven kids. I’m number five and I have a twin brother who doesn’t even look like my brother. He’s four minutes older than me. We’re fraternal twins.

My dad was a World War II vet. He was a marine raider and a gunner in the South Pacific. He went in when he was sixteen. I still have his uniform. He came out and he had PTSD. They called it being shell shocked in those days. One of the issues that a person with PTSD struggles with is a lot of anger. And so I saw it growing up very much.

So, at the age of sixteen, I was the first one in my family to ask Jesus Christ to be the Lord of my life and my Savior. It was during the Jesus People Movement — especially in SouthernCalifornia it was really rocking.

My mom and dad didn’t really like the changes they saw in me. My life changed so radically they thought I was involved in a cult. So my dad actually found, he looked in a law book to see if he could find a law that, if you can’t control your minor, then you can turn them over to the police, to the juvenile authorities. He found one and took me to the police station and he made me promise I wouldn’t go back to church until I was eighteen.

The police officer dropped his jaw on the ground and was like, “What? You don’t want your son to go to church?” He said, “Well, doesn’t this law say this?” And he said, “Yes, Mr. Cotter, it does.”

So I had to promise I wouldn’t go back to church. So during that time I remember the guy who discipled me, Andre Jackson, he stayed in touch with me and prayed for me. Then one day I took a loving stand and I just came down and said, “Mom and Dad, I love you, but I love Jesus more and I want to go back to church.”

So, to make a long story short, my mom beat me. She said, “How would you like a beating for Jesus?” I said, “Go for it.” So she just slapped me. After that, she came with me to church. She found out that it wasn’t a cult. She almost came to Christ that day.

For me, it was like this was real. I saw light and darkness. I knew what it was like to just really give it all to Jesus. So I continued to serve Jesus and ended up feeling a call to ministry. So straight out of high school in 1976 I moved out here to go to Bible college. It was called Sweetwater Bible College and it was part of Sweetwater Church. A couple of years after that, I met my beautiful wife, Faith, who plays the keyboards. You guys know her. The week after I graduated from Bible college, we got married. It was May 30, 1980, which we’re celebrating our anniversary next week.

Fast forward to 1993. We came to Living Streams and I was a youth pastor, believe it or not, here, with our little family. A little after I came on staff here, Faith and my two older kids, Melody and Jason, they were trying to help me see a blind spot. Anybody have blind spots? It got so bad, my anger problem was so bad that Faith was considering leaving me if I didn’t change. So she fasted and prayed and she and my two oldest kids lovingly confronted me on one Saturday.

They said, “You have an anger problem.” I remember I had a bigger problem called denial. It’s not a river in Egypt. It’s a reality and it was in my life. I would say, “You think this is anger? I’m a puppy dog compared to my dad!”

I have this funny thing. I like to talk to the Lord and he talks to me when I mow the lawn. So, on Saturday — I love mowing the lawn. I still do. I did it yesterday. — So I’m out there mowing the lawn after I just lived in denial.

By the way, you guys. We all know the verses that say, “Be anger and sin not.” And we go and say, “Well, Jesus made a whip and drove out the money changers in the temple.” I knew all of that and I used to use it in my denial.

Anyway, I asked the Lord, I said, “Lord, do I have an anger problem?” And I’m over there mowing the lawn. And he said, “Either those you love most are wrong again and you’re right again, or it’s the other way around.” And I go, “Oh, wow! You’re saying I have an anger problem.”

I remember coming into the house and just breaking and crying. I said, “I know I’ve said I’m sorry a hundred times, but this time I want to change.” And I said, “Please, help me.” So I asked them for their forgiveness. This time I knew I had to repent if I was ever going to really, really change. So I camped out in Psalm 51. You guys know the Psalm where David is repenting from his sin with Bathsheba? It’s a place of humility. It’s a place of being broken at the foot of the cross.

So then I asked my family, I said, “So help me understand what I do.” They would let me know that, not only was it my words, but my body language. They said, “You scream at us with your eyes and you get this vein popping out on your neck.” It was also my tone, a condescending tone, angry tone. Fifty-five percent of communication is body language, you guys. Thirty-seven percent is tone. So you’re going to have to work on those parts, too.

One of the things I learned about repentance is that I couldn’t blame anybody. I had to stop being defensive and stop blaming people for it and making excuses. I needed to come to a place where I owned how I made them feel, how my yelling hurt them, the ones that I loved the most.

So Jesus took me on a journey and he started to show me the roots of my anger. One of the roots that he showed me was that I would feel frustrated and I would get pictures in my mind. I would feel like a dog that’s being cornered, that would growl. I remember saying many times, “What do you want me to do?” When I was frustrated. And I couldn’t show frustration with out showing anger. I didn’t know how. That was one of my roots. I had to deal with the frustration in my life.

The second root was what I call the pressure cooker. I would let all the things, the stressful things people said or did, just build up and build up and build up. Sometimes it was passive aggressive. You know? You just hold it in, thinking, Oh, I’ll be fine. Then, when you least expect it, with those you love most, you explode. And that’s what was happening all the time in my life. And I didn’t like it.

Then, the third root was when I felt disrespected. I think we as men, I think women do too, we like to be respected. Even Ephesians 5 says, “Husbands love your wife as Christ loved the Church, wives respect your husband.”

I was doing all the wrong things to get respect. So there was this thing the Lord began to show me. There’s this principles that, if you believe a lie you get into bondage. But if you believe the truth the truth shall set you free. Right? So the Holy Spirit began to show me the lies I was believing. I know there were many of them.

But one of them happened on one of the Saturdays, I remember, with my two older kids. I don’t know. To me it’s chore day. Right? I’m still old school. So I was like, not only I’m doing chores, but I said to my older kids, “You need to clean your room.” So I told them, “Please clean your room.” Then, an hour later, I went over and checked the rooms and nothing happened in both rooms. So I went back to them and I said, and I turned the volume up the next time, and then I waited another hour and then I checked both rooms. Nothing was done. So this time, I went ballistic and just began to scream at them until I saw them actually go into the rooms.

In my mind I started believing this lie. See? It works! They respect me when I yell at them. But when I came to my senses, I go, “How many angry people do I respect?” Did I respect my dad when he was angry? I became fearful of him. So I was destroying my relationship with my kids, thinking I was getting respect from them.

So I really started to believe, when I came to my senses, that really what kids respect is when they see you with a humble heart lead by example, be honest about your faults, and don’t just sit there and use your anger. That doesn’t get respect.

After that, I started to go through this thing of being accountable to my family. I don’t know why Saturdays, but I decided to ask them to give me a grade. I would say, “How am I doing, guys?” And I remember, Jason, my oldest son, he goes, “I’ll give you a C+.” And I’m like, “Aw. What do I need to do?”

You know, one of the things that really helped me was asking them, because I have this cluelessness. Anybody ever struggle with cluelessness and insensitivity? I didn’t know how I came across to them. So my grade my started getting up to A’s. And God began to work in me.

The other thing was, when I talk to couples, I like to talk about environment in your home. So my relationship with my kids and my wife, at that time, I had walls come between us and I had a picture of egg shells everywhere. It was like, when dad comes home everybody just kind of goes in their room. “Mister Grump’s home again.” So I needed to learn how to sweep up the egg shells, tear down the walls and build an environment that’s like a well-watered garden.

One of the things that I wanted to learn to do is to develop a communication with my family where it was safe for them to open up, even about things that they’re having a struggle with me. I encourage you guys. Provide a safe environment where they can talk about anything that’s maybe bothering them about you.

I learned how to be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to get angry.

I mentioned that my dad and the anger I saw in him growing up. I realized I needed to own my anger and I couldn’t blame my dad for my anger problem. But I did realize that I needed to forgive my dad and I needed to honor him that it may go well with me and my days will be long on the earth. Isn’t that the promise of God?

So I asked the Lord and the Lord had me write out a letter to my dad. He had me go on what I call a gold mining trip. I started to remember all the camping trips my dad took me on, and all the fishing trips he took me on, the way he gave one of his kidneys to one of my sisters at UCLA Medical Center when her kidney failed. And he stayed with my mom fifty years. And I wrote it all out to thank him. And you know what happened? I began to have all this unforgiveness go out the door. I was no longer offended.

So the next point is, stay unoffended. The last part of this verse that we just read was telling us that, if we remember someone that has something against us, leave your gift at the altar and go be reconciled to him. So part of my freedom was learning to forgive quickly and be unoffended. You know, when Jesus taught us to pray “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” so, even on a daily basis I take inventory and I say, “Lord, is there anybody I need to forgive? I release forgiveness right now. Open the cage and let them go free. You forgave me a great debt. So I forgive them.”

I found out my dad carried that letter with him until it became a little rag. Then something happened and my mom got Alzheimers later. Soon after that she died. My dad was still in the same house that were raised in in West Covina. He became very feeble and he needed my help. I became the pastor of the family. So I kept going back and forth. It was during that process that we became so close, we were like best friends. And I can tell you my dad gave his heart to Jesus right before he died. It’s so beautiful what the Lord did.

I’m here to tell you — my daughter over there, that’s why I’m crying. Rachel is 22 and she said, “Daddy, I’ve never seen your anger.” God changed me, you guys. I’m here to give you hope. If he can change a grouchy old man like me, he can change you, too.

But if I was to pick the most important thing about my lesson that I learned after being a Christian for many, many years and even a pastor, I needed to repent in order to change. So I would say repentance is a process. There’s a godly sorrow that’s works repentance. And there’s a change of mind. That’s what the word repent means. It means to change your mind and then you turn and the word of God renews your mind and you become a different person.

Bringing you back to the Day of Pentecost — I told you I would bring it back to Pentecost Sunday — when Peter preached the gospel, he focused on the resurrection of Jesus. At the end, with these 3,000 people, they said, “What must we do to be saved?” He said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Then, in Acts 3:19 (NKJV), it says this in another sermon that Peter preached:

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

You know what the word refreshing means in the Greek? Revival. When you repent and you turn your heart, you just surrender. The Holy Spirit begins to bring times of refreshing and a personal revival. May you experience a personal revival in your life today.

God bless you.

DAVID:

All right. Well, again, we came into this understanding that, as we speak about some very specific issues, I mean, our world wants us to focus on lots of different issues of what is making America or making society not great. It’s got our attention all over the place. But Jesus is trying to drill in to some weighty, weighty matters within humanity.

We knew that, as we would do this, it would probably stir up some stuff in our hearts, especially anger. Anger is not a 3%, 10%, 15% of the population type thing, but we probably all have a story whether our own anger produced something that is ugly, painful, or someone else’s anger that has done that to us.

We knew we were going to be doing this, so we wanted to create this time at the end. A little differently, a little more thorough than we usually do. And just ask the Spirit to come and minister his word deep into our souls in a supernatural way. So, Kurt and I, as we prayed and as Kurt prepared and even this morning as I was praying, there are a few things that came to mind that I feel like our people who are listening on line — just because you’re online don’t think you’re escaping this — and people in this room that the Spirit of God really wants to talk to right now. Wants to do something with this message besides just leave you hanging or unsure. Wants to come close. Like I said, we’re moving from a classroom to a hospital at this moment.

If you can hang in there, and if you can kind of try and fight off the birds of pride and the birds of fear that wants to come and nest in your soul, and allow the Spirit of God to come. I know it’s tempting to kind of just shut off and ignore when the Spirit pricks our hearts, to just run. But this is the time to really allow the Lord to come close and see what he has for us.

The first thing that I wrote down was somebody that basically just, in light of last year, they don’t have PTSD, they have PPSD. Post Pandemic Stress Disorder in some ways. The amount of beating they took, kind of like what Kurt was saying, the frustration, the pressure cooker of last year. It could be all of the little things, or it could be some big things like divorce or loss of certain relationships or family dynamics. And you just have found yourself now where, your skin is so thin and you don’t know how to get back to a place where you’re not so frustrated, you’re not so upset, you’re not so easily angered all the time.

What I felt the Spirit said was, that person, if they’ll acknowledge that, if they can receive that, then I’m supposed to minister to them the verse that Jesus said, “Come to me all that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.” The Greek word for rest there is anapauō. It says “to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or striving in order to recover and collect their strength.” If we’ll figure out how to, instead of trying to figure it out more or try harder or strive more, if we’ll learn to quiet ourselves and really kind of practice silence and solitude, to try and get away with the Spirit of God like Jesus often did, that, what will happen is we’ll find that refreshing, that restoring, that replenishing. The gathering of strength, the collecting of strength will happen and we won’t be so quickly and easily angered.

The second person, was someone that really, when Kurt was talking about feeling disrespected. This is the person, whether you did it subconsciously or cognitively, you’ve really come now to the place where you are using anger as a tool to get love, to get respect, but it is a lesser and a counterfeit love that is never going to satisfy you. It might scratch an itch, but that’s it. You’ve been relying on anger to produce this and you’ve been using it to think, Maybe I have the power and authority. And it makes you feel better about yourself. But really you’re creating some sort of slavery, not some loving relationship.

In the face of that, I really felt like you were creating — when Kurt said that in this service, it really resonated in my heart — this egg shell environment for the people who you really love. You might not realize it because you don’t walk on egg shells, but everybody around you is, and can’t wait for the day to be away from you.

What’s so beautiful about Kurt’s story is he woke up before his wife decided, “I can’t be here anymore.” By God’s grace he woke up before his kids said, “Forget it. I’m done with this guy. I’m sick and tired of the egg shells he’s created.”

That was beautiful and wonderful and Kurt was able to repent. And Kurt has now, through the help of his kids, but really the Spirit, he gets to that place where, whenever he feels like he needs to act out in anger in order to get the thing done, to get the feeling that he wants, he now stops himself and says, “Okay, God, I’m giving you control. I’m letting you come in.” And when we give control to the Spirit, what happens is he gives us self-control. It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit.

The third thing is there’s someone out there who’s been holding on to offense and unforgiveness. They basically keep drinking that poison helping it will kill the person that they hate. It’s totally foolish. And it’s hard, because sometimes we really do get hurt. Injustice does happen in this life, in this fallen world.

And what Jesus is saying to you is you need to repent and you need to forgive. Not forgive once they sorry in the right way. But forgive because of what Jesus Christ has forgiven you. And to go ahead and write that note. Remember how he just started going on a treasure hunt and wrote down the things his dad did that were good, and all of those things, and trying to see past the other things. Because that’s what Christ has done for us. And that forgiveness slowly but surely took root in his heart and overcame the unforgiveness and bitterness. And that’s a word for you.

Another one is, as I thought of this one I started to weep a little bit, because there are people, again online or in here, that are just stuck. The damage has been done. They didn’t wake up before the wife left and the kids wrote them off. And now they’re alone and they’re angry. And they don’t really believe that anything good can change them. They’re too broken, too shattered.

In 1 Corinthians 12 we’re told that one of the gifts that the Spirit gives us is a gift of faith. I felt like the Spirit was telling me right there as we were singing these songs and I was listening to Kurt, that he wants to give the gift of faith to someone who’s in this situation. That without the Spirit actually quickening their soul in some supernatural way, there is no way that they could actually start hoping again and believing that they can be restored with their family.

But God is speaking to you. The Spirit is drawing near to you. The Spirit is quickening in your soul even now and he’s telling you, “Hey, it’s time to start believing. It’s time to start walking with Jesus, staying close to him and, in time, you will get to see redemption. That which was lost becoming found. That which was broken becoming whole. The years that the locust have eaten being restored to you in some sort of supernatural way.”

As you try and receive this, all of the fear of disappointment, all of the walls that you’ve put up, everything in you is just raging against this gift of faith that the Spirit wants to bring you. Yet, if you let it in, that faith will help you see mountains moved.

And the last thing was new for this service. The skeptic. There are people in here, again, you’ve heard it but you don’t believe it, that God intervenes. What I wrote down was: You don’t know if God intervenes, but you do know that anger controls you.

And God is meeting you here in this moment and he is saying, “Hey, you want to see what I can do? Walk with me and you will see your anger gone. It will not rule you anymore if you surrender your life to Jesus.”

Let’s pray:

Jesus, this was a lot. I don’t know where people are at in light of these specific things, but I pray that you would bring clarity and, Lord, that you would intervene. I pray specifically for that skeptic who’s listening. Whether it’s in this moment today or somehow they hear this later on on the internet, whatever it is, Lord, I pray that they would know that you’re speaking to them and they would trust you, they would surrender to you, and you would steal their anger away and you’d replace it with your peace. Thank you, Lord.
Lord, we pray that we really would receive everything you want. We want the greater righteousness, Lord, even though it scares us. But thank you for giving us your Spirit that can lead us there. Amen.

Will you guys stand with me as we kind of close with a song here. We have some people up front that would love to pray with you.

One last thing before we go, we have this text number that we’re going to pop up on the screen. We’re going to have this up throughout the next part of this series because we know this stuff can be a little personal and a little intense. We don’t anyone to go alone. We don’t want anyone to feel they have to do this stuff alone. So if you text this number you can stay anonymous or not, but we’re going to connect you with a pastor. And we’re going to connect you with something that will really help walk with you as you go through this journey. Because we want to see the full freedom coming. 602-932-1520

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David Stockton 5/2/21 David Stockton 5/2/21

You Have Heard It Said

How’s everybody? Yeah? We doing okay? We’ve got the month of May now, which is fun. You heard new service times for the summer. Woo? You don’t have to woo it. It’s just business. Yeah, for the summer we’re going to do 9 and 10:30, so you right here will have to split. Somehow figure out what you’re going to do. The 8 am is easy, they’ll just come at 9 am. The 11 am it’s easy, 10:30. But you guys have the big decision.

Series: The Sermon on the Mount
May 2, 2021 - David Stockton

But, we’re doing that not next week. We’re doing it the week after because next week is Mother’s Day. And Mother’s Day is the day we’re expecting the mothers to use all the power of Mother’s Day to bring their families together for church next week. And I mean that jokingly, but I also mean that sincerely because I know there’s a lot of division within families, there are a lot of people who have decided different things over topics last year. I know the heart of a mother is to see everybody join together. I really do encourage you to have them join together and come to church, whether they like it or not. You’ve got power. Be bold. Be courageous and use that power wisely to bring your family together and we’ll have a good time next Sunday. Then the following Sunday we’ll get down to two services for the summer and see how that goes.

Thanks for everybody tuning in online. You do whatever you want to do. You can go to both services, you can do one service. You can just watch it later, too. No problem there.

We’re going to be in the Sermon on the Mount again today. This is our fourth message on the Sermon on the Most. If you want to grab a Bible and turn to Matthew chapter 5. You’ve got Bibles in the pew in front of you or you could use your phone app Bible if you want, as well. Matthew chapter 5. We’re going to be talking about murder and adultery today. Woohoo! Yeah!

This has been a real fun message for me to get all prepared for. Yeah. So let me read the words of Jesus. Don’t get mad at me. If you’re going to get mad, get mad at Jesus, it’s his words. Just sharing his words. But yeah, here we go. Jesus is teaching on murder and adultery. Ready for it?

"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago…

Think Moses’ day, bringing the Ten Commandments…

'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother [or sister] will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, '

Anybody done that recently? It means ‘idiot’ or ‘moron.’ “You idiot!” “Oh, they’re just such idiots!” They didn’t have cars back then. “Idiot!” You know? Yeah.

is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

And continuing about adultery…

"It has been said, 'Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Yeah. How’s everybody doing? Yeah? Are we done? Are we done already?

So, a couple of things before we start to unpack this a little bit, that I think it’s important for us to remember. First of all, that Jesus just said prior to this section, “I have not come to abolish the law.” Now, if you spent time with Jesus, if you listened to the teachings of Jesus, you probably would start to think because he’s not like the Pharisees, because he doesn’t teach like the Pharisees and teachers of the law at that time, that he doesn’t even care about the law of God.

But Jesus is saying, “Hold on a minute. I have not come to abolish the law. I’ve come to fulfill it.” Because Jesus’ understanding about the law of God given through Moses was that it was good and it was right and it was true and it was helpful. And he’s later on said this little passage that many of us have heard, that it’s the truth that sets us free. So Jesus is making sure that his disciples understood, “I am not messing with the truth. I am not diluting the truth. I am not changing the truth. I’m not giving you a new truth. It is the truth that sets you free and I don’t want to give you anything but the truth because I really want to see you free.”

In our world today, we’ve talked about this much, we are wanting to minimize the truth or dilute the truth, or because the truth that comes through God’s word is hard, we want to decrease it a little bit. But what we need to understand is, if you mess with the truth, you mess with your freedom. If you decrease the truth, you decrease your freedom.

And what Jesus says is that those who want to relax on God’s law and teach others to do that, they are the least in the kingdom of heaven. But those who hold on tight and teach exactly what Jesus taught, they’ll be the greatest in the kingdom.

And then you have the Pharisees, who are teaching about God’s law in a way that’s going to keep them out of God’s kingdom. Some big time words, where Jesus is really trying to teach that the righteousness of God, the righteousness that is taught in the Law, the way of God taught by the Law is good and right and helpful for us learning about righteousness and living in righteousness.

So that’s the first point. The truth is important. So even though emotionally or culturally we want to shrink the truth a little bit, or be a little bit sheepish about the truth, then we’re really just shrinking people’s freedom and being sheepish about the freedom. If you want someone to get healed of a disease, you give them the full medicine and treatment. And you tell them to take that treatment even after they feel better, right? Finish that antibiotic round. You don’t lighten it up, because you really to see them whole.

So that’s what Jesus is doing here. He’s trying to really help people understand the truth and get the truth in them. That’s the first thing we need to understand.

The second thing we need to understand is that Matthew 7:28 is the verse that comes after the Sermon on the Mount. Don’t ever forget this. If you don’t get anything out of this whole series, just remember this, Matthew 7:28 says that, after the people heard the words of Jesus, they heard the sermon, it says they were amazed at his words, that he didn’t sound like the Pharisees who always made them feel bad and far away from God. Instead, his words were substantial and actually gave them hope that maybe, just maybe they could be close to God.

So we have to remember that. After we read through some of these things, we’re going to be like, “Ugh, that’s heavy. Whoa. I don’t know if I should be here anymore. I think it’s time to leave or check out, because he’s describing me right now, but it’s not the good way, it’s the bad way.”

But that’s not the way these people heard the words of Jesus because of the smile on his face and the tone of voice that he talked with. They heard Jesus teach these things and they thought, I think he’s teaching us because he thinks we can actually get it right. Which, for these people, no one had ever done before.

Now think about this: Jesus is on the side of a mountain and he’s talking about the Law of God. He’s teaching those who are gathered to him as disciples. Matthew’s made a really big deal of talking about the genealogy of Jesus and how he’s a king. He’s talked about Jesus actually going to Egypt and coming out of Egypt into his ministry. So Matthew is really trying to connect Jesus to Moses. And Moses, if you remember, when he was talking about the Law and he was interpreting God’s Law for the people and sat in judgment, he continued to tell the people about this One that would come and help them know fully what God was talking about when he gave us the Law.

It’s called that prophet. There’s kind of this theology of that prophet. There’s this prophecy, this promise given way back when that there would come One who would be that prophet. And he would come and he would make clear what are the ways of God.

So Jesus, on the side of this mountain, who has come out of Egypt, is teaching his disciples in a very Mosaic type way. Jesus is stepping into his role as the Master Rabbi, the actual authority on the way of God, who’s now coming as that prophet, fulfilling that scripture, to help make it clear what is the way of God for people.

And in that moment, Jesus is doing something really special. And the people he’s talking to are — I was trying to figure out the best way to describe these people. Anybody here ever been to Gila Bend? Why are you laughing? There are people who live in Gila Bend and you’re laughing because I said Gila Bend. No, I get it. They’ve got the Space Age Lodge there. Right? Which has been there forever. And the Space Age Lodge, believe it or not, I know a guy who took his wife there honeymoon night and they’re still married. The Space Age Lodge. Too much?

Gila Bend is about — we’re starting to get to a little bit of who Jesus is talking to. These are not people from the big city of Jerusalem. These are people kind of from the outskirts, back woods, hillbillies, who, all their life under Roman oppression have had nothing but extensive taxation and poverty. Their souls have been beaten down. Any time they do anything good it’s ripped right from them by Roman oppression. And, not only that, but any kind of hope they’ve had to be right in God’s eyes have been completely stripped away from them by a Pharisaical hierarchy of religious system. And they’re just out there, completely impoverished.

And remember, Jesus was talking about “Blessed are the poor in spirit”? These people were poor in every way imaginable, including spirit. And Jesus talked about those who are hungry for justice. These are the people who have experienced nonstop injustice for generations. And he comes to them and he teaches them about the Beatitudes, basically saying, “Hey, just so you know. God’s really paying attention to you. And you’re a lot closer to the kingdom of heaven than you think.”

And then he starts to teach them and give them time, give them attention. The way he’s teaching them is making them think, He’s telling us to come closer. He’s calling disciples to follow him and if they follow him then he’s going to lead them into God’s kingdom. Us? Gila Benders, Bendites, Gila Bendonians, I don’t know what you call them.

Again, when they heard this they were amazed. “No one has ever talked to us like this before. Every time the Pharisees come out we just feel like we get a whooping. But when Jesus talks to us, it’s still truth, and actually even more intense, but it makes me believe. It fills me with hope that maybe, just maybe no matter how broken or messed up I am, if I stay close to Jesus, I might end up in the right spot.”

That’s the way we have to hear this. Even the intensity of what’s being said today. Really, Jesus is trying to give us the difference between the true righteousness that God desires, the lesser righteousness, and then the actual fake righteousness of the Pharisees. So he kind of gives us that little teaching in verse 17 through 21, Kenny talked about that last week, and now we’re going to get examples of what he’s talking about.

The fake righteousness, or the lesser righteousness is that which is external. You’ve heard it said if you don’t murder, you’re righteous. That’s great. But I want to talk to you about something much more. So I’m going to tell us a few things about the true righteousness. Five things, actually.

True righteousness, first of all, if you’re taking notes, is internal over external. It’s the inside out kingdom, remember?

The second thing is true righteousness doesn’t delay. There’s an urgency to it.

The third thing is true righteousness seeks rewards in the next life over the now life, which is really hard for us, especially living in America and the prosperity that we have.

Someone texted me after first service. I’m saying it because I should have said it in the first service, but I didn’t think of it. He said it. So now I’m saying it to you and maybe you’ll think, Wow, that guy is so smart. But it actually came from somebody else who texted me because my message didn’t have it in it. It’s the concept that we, as Americans, in right desire we seek for our children that they’ll be successful, they’ll be powerful, they’ll be safe. But really, what God is interested in is making us holy and righteous. And there’s a reason for all of that. But seek rewards in the next life over this life.

Then true righteousness brings peace. We’re going to see that in a really special way.

And true righteousness comes from staying close to Jesus.

1: True righteousness is internal over external. We have Jesus’ examples here. It’s very simple. He says, “You’ve heard it said that if you don’t kill someone, if you don’t murder someone, then you’re righteous.” And Jesus is like, “Well, that’s a lesser kind of righteousness.” He’s not saying that it’s okay to kill people. He’s saying that’s not the whole deal. The true righteousness, the kind of righteousness that God is wanting to produce from our lives and see from our lives is an internal righteousness.

And so he goes on to say, “Hey, if you have anger in your heart toward a brother or sister, in God’s eyes, you’re committing murder. If you’ve lashed out at someone and called them an idiot, in God’s eyes, you’re guilty of murder. If you in your anger have lashed out and called someone a fool, you now have the judgment of God on you as a murderer.”

I’m just saying what Jesus is saying here. And there’s a reason for this intensity, because God really does want us to be holy. In just a bit, Jesus is going to say, “Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.” So we can’t go lightly on this stuff. We can’t say, “Well, it’s not that big a deal that I have this,” or whatever. No. Jesus is going after your heart because he wants you free.

Right now in our culture of virtue signaling, where if I wear the shirt or if I post the post, or something like that, I’m somehow accomplishing the righteousness of God or justice. The Pharisees were the best at that. And Jesus is saying it’s a real empty righteousness. God’s coming for your heart.

2: True righteousness doesn’t delay. Here he says, “Don’t wait.” When he talks about if you’ve found yourself with some of that trouble with the neighbor, an adversary that wants to take you to court. “Do it while you’re still with them on the way.” Don’t wait. Don’t delay until you get to the court. Don’t wait for the judge to tell you what’s righteous. You know what’s righteous. Go ahead and do that right now. And if you wait, it’s not going to go good. It’s not going to be right. You need to do it now.

When I think of this kind of urgency to this, I think a little bit of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I don’t know if you know his story. He grew up as a contemporary of Adolf Hitler in a lot of ways. And he grew up and kind of was watching what Adolf Hitler was teaching and he was watching the church and their response to it and realizing that none of that was good. He came over to America because he was brilliant and he was teaching ethics here in America, and really talking about the right way and what is good and what is pleasing to the Lord, and all these different things. The whole time he was hearing reports about what was happening to the Jews and what Hitler was up to and what the church was not doing in Germany. He eventually decided, “I can’t stay here. I can’t stay here in this place. I need to go back.”

So he left and went back to Germany. And it ended up costing him his life. But he came back and was trying to wake up the church to the urgency of the matter at hand, that evil had come and they needed to rise up and stand against it.

I think also Martin Luther King, Jr., if you ever read the letters from the Birmingham prison, they are so incredible, not only what he does with words and the literary excellence of it; but, basically what was happening was the pastors around him were saying, “Just chill out, Martin. Chill out. You’re in too much of a hurry.”

His response was so beautiful. “How long are we supposed to wait? Don’t you know that the righteousness of God has an urgency to it? It demands that we act. We don’t wait until it’s convenient. We don’t wait until it’s comfortable. We don’t wait until we can figure out how to make it come out to our good. We do it and we do it now to see that justice come.” There’s an urgency to it. That was true of Jesus, as well.

3: True righteousness seeks rewards in the next life over the now life. This is where we go to the part that’s so fun about it’s better for you to lose part of your body now than for your whole body to miss out on what’s next. Even gouging your eyes out or cutting your hand off. Whoa. I see everybody’s got two eyes in here today, so you haven’t really taken this verse literally Everybody got their hands, you know? Maybe not everybody. I have both of mine, just so you know. I have both eyes, both hands.

But what Jesus is getting at here is just really trying to help us shift our priorities. There are things in this life that you should go without because it will affect your next life. And you should have an intensity to this. I mean, obviously — I have to be very careful here — the Holy Spirit will make you understand what it is he’s wanting you to rid yourself of. But obviously you could think of things like Netflix. Maybe Netflix is something that does cause you to stumble. It causes you to kind of have some thoughts or some feelings that you don’t want or shouldn’t have. Just cancel it. I don’t have stock in Netflix. Just kidding. Just cancel it. It might be your phone. Maybe your phone. It’s like it’s so convenient to have your phone and all these things, and to put all those different blocks and all those things are so inconvenient. A little inconvenience in this life could have great impact in the next life.

Jesus is saying you need to be serious enough about this stuff, intense enough, that it would almost be like you would cut out your own eye to try and help out; so that you don’t stand before God every day as an adulterer.

There are things that we need to cut out of our lives to help us in our pursuit of righteousness. No doubt about it. Jesus is teaching that. We don’t hear the story of his disciples going and cutting out their eyes or cutting off their hands. So, obviously there’s more to it than just that. But there needs to be an intensity to this. There needs to be an evaluation of what’s in the next life over this life. Because that life is more real than this life. Remember we talked about the rope? This seventy years is just a blip on the radar compared to everlasting life. So we do lose things in this life to gain things in that life. That’s true of the righteousness of God.

4: True righteousness brings peace. Here again, Jesus is talking about the anger in your heart. He says that if you have this anger in your heart toward your brother or sister, you need to make it right. If you’ve been calling people idiots, if you’ve been calling people fools, you need to deal with that. Even if you’re not killing them. Even if they don’t know about it. God does. The true righteousness that he wants to see in the world and produce in your own soul is something that really does resist and fight against those things so that you can be free of those things.

When I think about this, I think about how easy it has been this last year to foster contempt for “the other.” Whatever the other might be. The other could be the other side of the aisle. You continue to watch certain news or listen to certain podcasts and it just breeds more and more “Raca!” You fool! They’re so stupid! They’re idiots!

I’m not saying there isn’t right and wrong. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be passionate about those things. I think there is. But we just can never do it motivated from anger. Paul the Apostle was a guy who was very zealous for the Law, zealous for the Lord. And Jesus came and slapped him in the face one day and said, “Your zeal is driven by your murderous anger in your heart, not from the Spirit of God.” And we’ve got to watch that.

Now, again, there is right and wrong. So when you’re persecuted for righteousness’ sake and that stirs up anger and frustration, that’s different than if you’re doing something wrong to somebody and it’s causing you the frustration. So the Beatitudes give us that little caveat. Blessed are you when you’re persecuted for righteousness. So if someone has something against you, but it’s not because you’ve done anything, and you have no anger in your heart, that doesn’t mean you have to go make it right. Instead, you can rejoice with a quiet confidence that God is with you in that moment. Then you have to keep watching out that your heart doesn’t pick up anger, contempt or bitterness or pride in that.

Here’s what the scriptures say about the righteousness of God. In Isaiah 48, it says:

Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you should go.

Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea”

The righteousness of God produces peace in our lives and through our lives like a river.

Isaiah 32:17

And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

And then, lastly, from Hebrews 1:9 (ESV):

You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions.

The true righteousness of God produces peace in the face of anger and adversaries, and joyful, quiet confidence in the face of lust and unwanted desires. That’s the righteousness of God.

As I’ve said things, I think all of us are feeling a little more unrighteous maybe than we came in with. That’s okay. We’re face to face with Jesus. And everybody in the Bible who comes face to face with Jesus, you know what they do? They fall on the ground and they say, “I’m an unclean person with unclean lips.” And it’s not a bad thing for us to have that. Our hearts get pricked and feel the need for repentance, when face to face with the true righteousness. How far we are from it.

But remember, these people, after Jesus was done, did not feel like they had no options. Did not feel like they were stuck in their unrighteousness. Did not feel like Jesus was telling them, “There’s no shot for you.” Instead, somehow what they heard from Jesus was, “Okay. He sees me. He knows me. He’s not playing games. I can’t trick him. He knows what’s really going on in my heart. He knows that I have anger and lust there that I’ve been trying to get rid of on my own and haven’t been able to do it. He knows that stuff is there, and yet, he’s still spending the time with me. He’s still talking to me. He still has that look in his eyes and that tone in his voice that makes me think if I stick around him long enough, maybe I’ll be able to see myself the way he sees me.”

The reason that Jesus was able to feel that was because Jesus knew what was going on. Jesus knew he had to teach them about the true righteousness. But Jesus also knew that he was going to make a way for them to become true righteousness.

Now, remember, we’re on this side of Jesus. We’re looking back to the life of Jesus, so we have the New Testament perspective. We have the cross. We have the resurrection perspective. So Jesus is teaching this message. It’s heavy, but Jesus had this hope in his voice that caused these people, especially the twelve, maybe seventy, maybe one hundred and twenty, that were disciples gathered around him that were saying, “Hey, we’re going to try and follow him and spend time with him.”

Because Jesus knew that he was going to do something to make righteousness possible for them. He knew that he wasn’t going to be dependent on them getting it right. He wasn’t dependent on their energy, or effort, or wisdom, or smarts, or skill, or self-control to produce that righteousness. He said, “I haven’t come to abolish the law. I’ve come to fulfill it.” And here’s how Jesus makes you and I accomplish the righteousness of God. You ready for it?

First of all, we are made righteous by the work Jesus did in his daily life of fulfilling the Law. So first of all he came and walked it out so we could know what it looks like. So we could know and understand the righteousness of God. It’s important for us to learn the Law of God, the commands of God, the decrees of God. It’s important for us to rejoice in all of those things so we can better fully understand the righteousness of God, especially when everyone is telling us what the righteousness is, what the high moral ground is these days. We really need to see Jesus and walk with Jesus so we can know the righteousness of God.

But secondly — please don’t miss this — we are made righteous by his death on the cross where he paid for all of our unrighteousness. This is a really big deal. Jesus was talking to these people, teaching them the way of God, teaching them about righteousness, not so they would never get there. But he knew there was coming a day where he will have fulfilled all righteousness and was going to lay down his life as a payment for all of their unrighteousness and ours as well.

The way the New Testament says it is, He who knew no sin became sin, dying on that cross so that you and I could become the righteousness of God. So, somehow, because of what Jesus did on the cross, all of our unrighteousness is forgiven, it’s washed away, it’s cleansed, it’s gone, it’s removed forevermore. Actually, “Your sin and iniquity I will remember no more,” God says. He doesn’t even remember it. This is the good news of the cross. This is why Jesus could share with these people in a way that invited them in closer. Because he was going to pay the price for all their unrighteousness past, present and future.

So, first we’ve got to learn and understand the righteousness of Jesus. And when we do, we all fall short and we all go, “Oh, no.” But then we’ve got to understand that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, which gives us a fresh start every single day, to walk out in his righteousness. But he didn’t stop there. He rose from the dead. He rose from the dead and he poured out his Spirit on anyone that would come to him.

What his Spirit does is his Spirit comes into our lives and continues to teach us the way, continues to remind us of our forgiveness and then gives us the power to get it right sometimes. He gives us the power to overcome our sinful nature and disordered desires.

So, ultimately, Jesus has done everything we need. So here’s the really complicated thing for you and me. How do we walk in this? How do we navigate this? How is it hopeful for us? If you’ll just stay close to Jesus, he’ll make something beautiful out of your life. That’s what these people heard.

“I don’t get exactly all he’s talking about. Am I supposed to cut my hand off now?” They didn’t get all the intricacies of all Jesus was saying bout the Law. These were unlearned and ignorant people in some ways. But what they got from the Sermon on the Mount was, “This guy knows what he’s talking about. If I stay close to him, maybe, just maybe I’m going to find the kingdom of God.”

And, sure enough, at least twelve of them did. Eleven of them. Sorry. And those eleven “Gila Benders”, they literally turned the world upside down. You and I are in this church building today talking about Jesus, seeking Jesus because of those “Gila Benders.” Not because they mustered their own strength, not because they finally figured it out. No. It’s because they stayed close to Jesus and for them it got a little weird. Right? They stayed close to Jesus in person, in the flesh. But then Jesus died, rose again, showed up in this new form. And they received the Spirit of God, Acts 2. And they stayed close to Jesus by walking in the Spirit.

Walking in the Spirit, which is what we are trying to learn how to do. We don’t get the opportunity to be with Jesus in the flesh like they did, but we get to walk with Jesus in the Spirit, which Jesus and the disciples all attested to that it was better. It’s better what we have because God is with us everywhere we go. And he can produce in us a heart of righteousness. And our world so desperately needs people who are living out true righteousness. Not the fake or the lesser kind. We got a lot of that last year and it didn’t bring any peace. Stay close to Jesus and you’ll find the true righteousness.

Let’s pray. Again, just a reminder that, when we say “let’s pray,” it doesn’t always mean “Let’s talk.” A lot of times it’s a lot more listening than it is talk. Right now it’s important for us to listen, to listen to see what the Spirit might say. Those of you who know Christ and have the Spirit living inside of you, maybe he’ll bring up the name of someone, a brother or a sister, or maybe even an adversary that you’ve got some anger or contempt or bitterness for. He’s wanting to meet you there, wanting to give you his righteousness and help you walk in it to overcome the unrighteousness.

Maybe you’ve got a lot of lust in your heart and you’re losing the battle in your mind. Please hear what Jesus says. He’s not saying therefore you’re an adulterer and there’s no hope for you. He’s saying, yes, it’s true, and it’s going to lead you to less freedom, less flourishing and destruction. But if you take his hand, you’ll find his wisdom, you’ll find his forgiveness, and you’ll find his power to live a different way when you stay close to him.

Maybe some of you don’t even have the Spirit of God in you. You’re kind of new to this thing. Well, today would be a great day for you to say: Jesus, come into my life. I need your help. You can whisper that prayer even now and know that he hears and loves to take that which is unrighteous and make it righteous, that which is broken and make it beautiful.

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