Hope Church LV Sermons
Warnings :: Right Relationships
[music] What you are about to hear is a passage of Scripture from the most powerful sermon in history. The words we are about to read are from the heart and mouth of Jesus Christ Himself. These teachings are radical and are to be taken seriously. You are about to be challenged to pursue intimacy with God above everything else. After all, Christianity is not a religion. It's a relationship with God through the person of Christ. This will serve as your warning that the sole purpose of this series is to examine six heart-sangs of Jesus. We will examine each saying together as a church and then have a time of personal response. You are about to be challenged. Please open your heart and mind to what is about to take place. Thank you for your participation. [music] Last March, I was on a trip through the state of Virginia. I was beginning speaking in Lynchburg, Virginia on Monday morning and it was going to be speaking in four different venues across that state, finishing in Virginia Beach on Sunday morning. And I had made a commitment a few years ago to my wife, to our pastoral team and our stewardship team, that as the Lord gives me opportunity to travel, I would never travel alone. I recognize that every one of us is only one bad decision away from really wrecking everything that God's allowed us to build in our lives. And so we're responsible to try to build accountability and protection and integrity into our lives. And so one of the ways that I've done that is to just not travel alone. To always have somebody with me to be there, to just make those trips. And on this particular trip across the state of Virginia, I took Pastor Travis with me. And so Travis and I went together and we land late on a Sunday night in Lynchburg, Virginia. And then we start on Monday morning speaking there and traveling and speaking and traveling and speaking. And you know when you're on a road trip like that, you don't tend to eat the best, right? I mean, you eat a lot out of those places that you can drive through and get it out of the window and receive it into your car, right? And that's kind of how we were eating. And about halfway through the trip, Travis just stopped me and he said, "Man, this has got to stop." He said, "I'm going to die if we keep eating like this." And he said, "I've got an idea." He said, "When we get back to the office, why don't we throw out a challenge and see who on our staff would want to join in? And we'll all put some money into a pot and we'll have a biggest loser competition. To see who can lose the most weight over six weeks and at the end of the six weeks, whoever's lost the most weight, you know, they win the money. And that'll help us all kind of set a goal to be challenged. And I thought, "Man, that's a really good idea." So we came back and kicked it off and I'll go ahead and tell you up front, Teddy won. All right, Teddy won the competition and he did and we give him all the credit for that. You know, but when we got back, I'm one of those, I'm kind of wired competitively. And so when we got back from Virginia, man, I started scoping out, "Okay, how can I do this? What am I going to use?" Because I really was excited about the competition, but I was even more excited about just taking the steps to begin to get back in shape and try to get a better management system on my personal health. And so I started scouring the internet and I came across this system called Insanity. And have you ever heard of Insanity? The several of you have heard of it is designed by the people that did the P90X program, if you're familiar with that. So there's a lot of similarities between the P90X and the Insanity program and I got really excited, so I ordered it, all right? And I'm all excited, can't wait for it to come in, you know? And finally the day arrives when they drop the box off on my front porch and I'm like a kid at Christmas. I take it in and I'm ripping the box open, just really excited. When I open the box and pull it out, there's this book. I'm thinking, man, this is like science or chemistry in college. And then I realize this is just a big DVD holder, it's not really a book. Here's the book, so I'm feeling better already, all right? So I find out this is the book and I open it up and right at the beginning, the first word says, warning. Now, you got to understand where I was, I'm opening this thing and okay, they're about to inspire me. Man, they're about to encourage me, I'm about to get pumped up, I can't wait. And here's the first statement in the book, we believe this is the hardest workout ever put on DVD. (Laughter) Okay, that's not very encouraging. And then they follow it up with, you should probably check with a physician before you start this program. They go on to say a little bit later on, it may be best for you to send this one back and start with another of our programs. Now, I got to be honest, that wasn't what I wanted to hear, but it was what I needed to hear. It was the truth, as I began into this program, it was the truth. As a church family, we're studying together through Matthew 5, 6, and 7. These three chapters are known as the Sermon on the Mount, and they contain for us the largest and longest single discourse of Jesus recorded anywhere in the New Testament. It's the longest single sermon we have, it's going to take us about 18 months to walk through these three chapters, Jesus gave it all in an afternoon. Matthew 5, 6, and 7, Jesus is describing the radical way of life that He has called us to as His followers. But I need to be honest with you this morning. The section that we begin today really should come with a warning statement. We've even entitled this series, "Warning, Six Hard Sayings of Jesus." From chapter 5, verse 21 through the end of chapter 5, there are 28 verses that we're going to look at over the next six weeks. And these 28 verses contain some difficult statements, some challenging statements. You see, Jesus at this point in the Sermon on the Mount has been talking about the law. And in particular, He has been addressing the scribes and the Pharisees and their interpretation of the law. You see, the scribes and the Pharisees had taken the Old Testament law and they had taken that law and focused only on the outside and totally ignored the inside the heart. Even though God gave the law to really address the issues of the heart, they'd taken the law and reduced it to simply some outward activities, and as long as you did those, God was happy. They had taken God's law and redefined it based on human standards rather than calling people to a real sense of righteousness, but even with all of that, the people looked at the scribes and the Pharisees as the most righteous people in the land. People would encourage their children to grow up and live like the scribes and the Pharisees. And then Jesus begins to speak about it. Listen what He says in verse 20. Travis preached this verse a couple of weeks ago, but listen what He says in verse 20. Here's the first statement He makes, "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven, and shock and awe fell over the audience." Because as they looked at the scribes and the Pharisees, they were like, "Hey, these are the best we've got. I mean, these are the most righteous people. If you can't get in with their righteousness, man, I don't have a prayer." Then what Jesus does in verse 21 through the end of the chapter is He begins to give us six examples of how they took the Old Testament law and the way they interpreted it and applied it. And what His original intent of the law was. Now it's important that you understand this. The rest of this chapter is not Jesus contradicting the law. It is Jesus contradicting the Pharisees and the scribes' interpretation of the law. Jesus said, "I didn't come to abolish the law. I came to fulfill the law." Jesus wrote the law. He is God. And what He's simply doing in the rest of this chapter is saying, "Listen, through the centuries, my law, my word has been misunderstood and misinterpreted and misapplied, and I want to tell you what they've said, but then I want to tell you what I really meant by the law." He does it six times. Let me give you the examples. He starts in Matthew 5. Look at verse 21. If you have your Bible open to Matthew 5, verse 21, that's what He says. You have heard that the ancients were told, "You shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court." But then He says verse 22, "But I say," you see the contrast? He doesn't say it is written. He says, "You've heard." Because some of the statements He's going to make are not even what the Old Testament law says. It's just what the scribes and the Pharisees had begun to repeat. It was their interpretation. You've heard it said, "You shall not commit murder." Let me tell you what I say. I say, "If you're angry with your brother, you're already guilty before the court." Look at the other ones. Verse 27, "You've heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'" But I say that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her and his heart. Look at verse 31, "It was said, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce." But I say that everyone who divorces his wife except for the reason of the chastity makes her committed adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. So what I mean, these are some, we're treading off in some water over the next six weeks. Right? And I said, "I'm going to be here for those weekends." It went past, "I'm glad he's preaching, not me, amen." Verse 33, "Again, you've heard that the ancients were told." Here we, the way he doesn't say it is written, "You've heard, here's what was said, "You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord." But I say, "Make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool." Verse 38, "You have heard that it was said, and I for an on a tooth for a tooth." But I say to you, "Do not resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also." In verse 43, "You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say, "Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you." Six times. Jesus says, "Hey, they've missed it on this thing of the law. They've made it all about the outside and ignored the inside. They've reduced God's holy standards. And if your righteousness doesn't get past theirs, you'll never see the kingdom of heaven." And he begins to give these examples, six of them, and over the next six weekends, we're going to walk through them. But we gave you the warning statement up front, all right? You saw our disclaimer. It's a challenge. So let's dive in the first one this morning. You ready? Here's what we're going to do each weekend. It may be packaged a little differently, but here's basically what we're going to do each weekend. Each weekend we're going to answer three questions. Number one, what is the commandment? What's the commandment that Jesus is addressing here? Then number two, how does Jesus explain the commandment? And then number three, what's the application for me today? All right? What's the commandment? How does Jesus explain it? And then how does it apply to me today? If you're ready, say amen. Let's go to Matthew 5 verse 21. "You have heard that the ancients were told you shall not commit murder, and whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. And whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing shall be guilty before the Supreme Court. And whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. Therefore, if you're presenting your offering at the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you. Leave your offering there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your offering. Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you're with him on the way so that the opponent may not hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer and you be thrown into prison. Truly, I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent." Question number one. What's the commandment? What is the commandment that Jesus is addressing here? Well, obviously here, Jesus is addressing the sixth of the original 10 commandments. It simply says, "You shall not murder." In the Hebrew language, it's really just two simple statements. Don't murder. Don't murder. And it's very important that we understand the meaning of that word "murder" because in the Hebrew Old Testament, there are eight different words that are used to refer to the word "kill" or put something to death. And each one of them has a different meaning in the Hebrew language. For example, in Exodus chapter 20 when Jesus or the Bible says, "You shall not murder." It's not the word for "kill" that means to kill in war. It's not the word for "kill" that means to kill an animal for food. It's not the word in Hebrew for killing an animal offered for sacrifice. It's not even the word that refers to killing someone who has found guilty of a capital offense. The particular word that is used in Hebrew is a word that is used 49 different times in the Old Testament scripture, and every time it is used to refer to taking a life unjustly. The word that is chosen narrows the meaning of the six commandments to the unjust taking of a legally innocent life. You shall not murder. But if you'll remember, some of you that have been with us for some length of time a couple of years ago, we actually did a series straight through the Ten Commandments. And in that series, we taught the principle that every time one of the commandments is stated negatively, like this one that we read here, "You shall not murder." There are positive spiritual principles that we can draw out of that particular commandment. Let me give you two principles that we can draw out of the commandment you shall not murder. Here's the first one. Life is precious to God. Life is precious to God. When God says you shall not take a life unjustly, he says that because life is precious to him. Now let me give you a couple of reasons why life is precious to God. Number one, every human life is made in the image of God. The Bible tells us that as human beings, we are made in God's image. Let me tell you what that does. It sets us apart as unique as human beings among all of the rest of creation. Let me read it to you in the scripture. Look over in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26. Listen what the Bible says. Then God said, "Let us make man in our image according to our likeness." Then it goes on to say, "God created man in his own image." In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them. As human beings, we have been made in the image of God. Now you might say, "Pastor, what does it mean that we have been made in the image of God?" Well, if I'm going to be honest with you this morning, I don't understand all that it means that we've been created in the image of God. None of us can really understand all that it means. The Bible never explains everything that is intended by that statement. We've been created in the image of God. But at a basic understanding, here's what it means. There is something about human beings that is different than all of the rest of creation. We are unique in humanity. We've been set apart from all the rest of creation, having been the only ones created in the image and likeness of God. There's a woman that works for Focus on the Family whose name is Carrie Gordon Earl, and she was writing about this thing of being made in God's image. Listen to what she says. In God's eyes, we are each endowed with a touch of himself. Each human carries within his or her being the likeness of the Creator. Therefore, each human life exists as an expression of God and his character. We are not merely flesh and blood. We are all image bearers of the living God. Since we embody God's image, the sacredness of our lives is based on something beyond our characteristics and abilities. It is rooted in the essence of God himself. This image or likeness of God is that which is present in each human life. It's not tangible. You cannot see, touch, or smell it. It's part of the mystery of life. We have been made in the image of God. Let me tell you what that means. It means that we are not simply the top rung of an evolutionary ladder. We are made in God's image created in his likeness and unique among all of the rest of creation. Life is precious to God because every human being is made in his image. But secondly, life is precious to God because every human life is uniquely designed by God. Now, track with me for a second. This first statement, every life is made in God's image, sets us apart as humans from the rest of creation. The second one, every human life is uniquely designed by God. Here's what that means. Every one of us is set apart as unique as an individual from every other human being. You and I have been created. We've been fashioned by God. He's designed a purpose and a mission for you that is unique to you. Life is precious to God all life because we're made in God's image. But listen, you are precious to God your life because God has uniquely created you to be you. Listen, and nobody else can be you like you can be you. You're unique. Let me show it to you in the Scripture. Psalm chapter 139. Listen what the Bible says. "For you formed my inward parts." The word formed there is a word that is borrowed from the illustration of a potter in clay. And it's the picture of a potter with his clay on the wheel. And with every movement of his fingers, the potter is shaping the curvature and the look of that piece of clay. The psalmist said, "When God designed you, God formed you like a potter and a piece of clay." And then he says, "You wove me in my mother's womb." The word wove there to weave is a word that describes the practice of embroidery. And it's taking needle point or needle work and crafting intricate detail and design that sets something apart as unique. And here's what the Bible is saying when God made you, he sets you apart, made you in his image, sets you apart from all of creation. But then he distinctly designed you to be you in such a way that sets you apart from every other person on the planet. Then listen what he said. The psalmist said, "I will give thanks to you for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you and I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth." Listen, your eyes have seen my unformed substance and in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. You know what that means, right? You see God's unique design of you isn't just what you look like. God's unique design of you includes the mission and purpose that God has for your life. Before you ever breathed your first breath, God had uniquely designed a special purpose for you and only you. There are over six billion people on this planet. Every one of them made in the image and likeness of God. But listen, every one of them made unique by God to fulfill their God-given purpose and nobody else in the world has been fashioned by God to accomplish your purpose but you. There's nobody else like you. Now I know what some of you are thinking. You want to punch the person next to you and go, "Thank God there's nobody else like you," right? But here's what we're saying this morning. Your life, my life, all life is precious to God because it's made in His image and it's designed with a uniqueness about it that makes it distinct from every other life on the planet. So here's the second reality. If life is precious to God, those who love God should value life. You see, when you love somebody, you begin to share the values that they have, right? And God's invited us, not into religion but into a love relationship with Himself. And as we begin to cultivate intimacy with God and fellowship with God, guess what happens? My heart begins to value what God values and life is precious to God. When I was in college, I had a roommate and we were looking for an apartment. This buddy of mine, we'd grown up together. We met when we were kids. He came to my birthday party when I turned nine years old. We graduated high school together, college together when it's seminary together. We moved out here to Las Vegas. He even moved out here with us for the first year and helped us work in planting this new church here called Hope. But when we were going to college, we decided we'd go together and we decided we'd room together in college. So we started looking for an apartment. And we found an apartment just off campus that was owned by a lady. It was actually a basement apartment. And I know the word basement for some of you that have been born and raised in Las Vegas. You hear the word basement? Go basement. What? What's a basement? But you know, in other parts of the country, you can actually dig down in the dirt and you can put stuff down there and you can build things down. It's amazing. So we had this basement apartment and it was two bedrooms, a bathroom, a little den and a kitchen. And our job then was to furnish this apartment. We had to find some furniture to go in there. And when we were freshmen going into college, that was only one question that mattered when it came to furnishing the apartment. Here was the question. Is it comfortable? That's all it mattered, right? I mean, all that mattered, does it feel good when you sit on it? I've since been married for 18 years. I have come to understand that there is a question that is equally, if not more, valuable than is it comfortable? You know what that question is? What does it look like? That allows going into college. Who cares what it looks like, right? I mean, we could pick it up off the side of the road and if we'd be driving along, we'd jump out of the car. Oh, that feels good. Let's load it up. Take it back to the apartment. That's comfortable. You know what's happened to me over 18 years ago? I find myself at a store looking at a piece of furniture. And you know what I find myself saying? I can't believe it. I find myself saying, you know, that just wouldn't match the rest of what's in our house at all. You know what's happened over time? Because I love my wife. I've begun to value what she values. It's what happens when you love somebody. And as you and I grow in an intimate love relationship with God, we love what he loves. And God values life as precious. Now, here's what the scribes and the Pharisees had done with that commandment. They'd simply reduced it to an exterior action. Said, hey, long as you don't murder anybody, you're good. God's happy is don't murder anybody. Everything be all right. You see, they'd honored the letter of the law, but they distanced themselves from the spirit of the law. They didn't talk about hatred or anger or any of the, is this the law as you don't murder them? God's pleased. Then Jesus steps on the same. Now, how does Jesus explain this commandment? There's the second question. How does Jesus explain it? Well, look back at verse 22. Listen what he says. But I say, he said, you've heard him tell you, don't murder anybody. And if you murder somebody, you're guilty. But let me tell you what I say. Let me give you the spirit of the law. Everyone who's angry with his brother is guilty. You know what Jesus did? He took the word murder and he took the word anger and he put an equal sign in between them. Because in verse 21, he says, if you murder, you're guilty. In verse 22, he says, if you're angry, you're guilty. How is anger? How does that have anything at all to do with you shall not murder? Because the commandment is wrapped in this principle of the preciousness of life and anger towards somebody else is a devaluing of the uniqueness and the preciousness of the life that God has given them. And then Jesus goes on and he says, and whoever says to your brother, you good for nothing shall be guilty before the Supreme Court. And he says, whoever says you fool will be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. What does all that mean? Well, here's what Jesus is doing in verse 22. Jesus is describing the digression of anger. He first begins by saying, angry. Are you angry with somebody? Now the word anger used in the New Testament, there are two different words. One of the words that's used in the New Testament for angry is a word that is describing a flame that is lighting a dried up piece of grass and how immediately it bursts up and then it goes out just as quickly. That's not the word Jesus is using here. The word Jesus uses here is the word angry that describes a slow, simmering, brooding anger. Is that kind of anger that when you find yourself dwelling on it, you realize that you are clenching your jaws because it's just simmering there. Somebody offends you. You ever been offended before? How many have been offended before? If you hadn't, just keep coming to hope you'll get offended. Say how you know that is a lot of people here. I only got six people in my house. We get offended. You got this many people in the room. You're going to get offended at times. Somebody ever said something to you that just didn't hit you right. Maybe somebody just walked right past your church, didn't even speak to you. Maybe somebody didn't thank you for something that you did. Maybe somebody forgot a special occasion in your life. Maybe somebody said something about you they shouldn't have said. Maybe somebody lied about you. Maybe somebody wrongs you. Get angry. It's just slow. It churns. At times you maybe even think it's gone and you see them at church or you see them out at the store or you see them out at the ball field and there it comes again. Then Jesus describes the next degree of anger. He says, "Then you get to that place where you say to your brother, 'You good for nothing.'" It's an interesting Greek word. It's the Greek word rakka. It's almost translators tell us an untranslatable word because it's really not a word as much as it is a tone of voice. It's a tone that describes an accent of contempt. The attitude of despising someone or being disgusted with somebody to the point that the anger no longer stays on the inside, but now it begins to spew out of my mouth. You're sitting with somebody and that person that you're angry about walks by and you just can't keep it in anymore so you say, "See that person, let me tell you what they did." Let me tell you what that is. It's murder. It's murder of somebody's reputation. It's murder of their character. It's murder of their testimony. It's murder of their witness, but it's anger. Listen, you think you just got it in here, but you can't keep it in there. What's in here ultimately will begin to come out of my mouth. Jesus says it's murder. Then he says, "If we let it continue to brew in there, ultimately it reaches that last degree," he says, "where we would say of our brother, you fool." The word fool is a word that describes someone who is morally worthless. It means you reach that point of anger where you wish the person didn't even exist. You might even say out of your mouth. They are dead to me as far as you're concerned. You've murdered them. Jesus says it doesn't matter if it's that first stage of slow, simmering, brooding anger or the last stage of saying, "I wish you didn't even exist." Anywhere on the spectrum is the heart intention behind the sixth commandment because the sixth commandment is Jesus teaching us the value of human life and if I have anger and contempt and hatred and bitterness towards another human being, listen, it really says more about my attitude towards God than it does about my attitude towards the other person. Don't you wish he had just left it at you, shall not murder? I was feeling good at that point. When we understand that's the heart of the commandment, what's the application for us today? Let me give it to you in a statement. I want to put it up on the screen. It's a life application and I want you to read it out loud with me. You ready? Here we go. One, two, three. As a Jesus follower, it is impossible. Stop right there. What's the last word we just said? Say it one more time. All right, let's start back over at the beginning. As a Jesus follower, it is impossible for me to be right with God and not be pursuing rightness in my relationships with others. That's what Jesus is saying. Y'all, you've heard it said, "You shall not commit murder." Let me tell you the heart motive. It's not possible to be right with me and not be pursuing rightness in your relationships with others. I want to give you the New Testament expression of "you shall not murder." "You shall not murder" is saying it in the negative. In Romans chapter 12 and verse 18, Paul says it in the positive. Listen what he says. If possible, so far as it depends on you. Now, listen, that's an important statement because there's a limit to what you can do. You can't be responsible for somebody else's actions and attitudes, but don't let yourself off the hook too early, all right? As far as it depends on you, be at what? Peace with all men. Can I be honest with you? If you live right here, you shall not murder thing covered, right? Be at peace with all men. Jesus is explaining that this is the heart of the commandment, "You shall not murder." Now, understand it's radical. To be honest with you, when we hear this thing, you can't even have anger towards somebody. Our initial reaction to that is that's not humanly possible and you're right. It's not. But Jesus is not here describing, here's the law. Now you come to know me, go do your best to live it. Jesus is describing the life that he desires to live through us as we live in dependence on him. Yes, I cannot do this, but Christ in me can do this. There are a couple of applications. Number one, this principle applies to my relationships inside the body of Christ. That's verse 23 and 24. Listen to what he says in verse 23, "Therefore, if you're presenting your offering at the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go. First, be reconciled to your brother." Then I'm glad he added this part. Then come and present your offering. Hey, man, that's good, right? Let me put it for you in modern day, all right? You're sitting here, you listen to Pastor Vance teach and preach out of this text of Scripture. And as you're sitting here listening and trying to worship, God's revealing somebody in your life. It's a brother, sister in Christ, maybe inside of this fellowship, maybe even in your own small group. The relationship's not right. You know it. God knows it. He said, "What am I supposed to do? What does he say? Be reconciled." Interesting word. This is the only place in the whole New Testament this Greek word is used. It's translated, reconciled. Let me tell you what it means. It describes a change in a relationship between two people. Here's what he's saying. Don't leave the relationship like it is. Do whatever it takes to bring a change in that relationship. Go to him. Be reconciled. If it's forgiveness that needs to be given, go give the forgiveness. You say they hadn't asked for it yet. It doesn't save a hat. Just says go. If it's forgiveness that needs to be asked for, go. If it's an offense that needs to be removed, go change it. See, if we're not careful, we get to that place where we say, "Well, it's in their court. They just got to get over it." Now, there comes a point in time where you can't control somebody else's response. But as I said earlier, don't be too quick to let yourself off the hook. Have you done everything to remove that obstacle? I want to read you a couple of quotes by two different preachers that I think give some excellent insight to this principle. The first one is by John MacArthur. Listen what he says. True worship is not enhanced by better music, better prayers, better architecture, or even better preaching. True worship is enhanced by better relationships between those who come to worship. Can I be honest with you for just a moment this morning? As pastor and staff, we get to see a part of Hope Church that you don't get to see. We get to be in all the services every weekend. And sometimes, you know, we have the threes are normal. Sometimes we'll add a few, and like last weekend, we only had two, and I thought that was awesome. That was great. We loved having just two. But doing the multiple services, here's what inevitably happens every weekend. It's happened this weekend, and each of the three services, there'll be some services where, man, it's like the spirit of God is alive, and there's a spirit of celebration and worship, and there'll be some services where it's like you can hear crickets chirping off in the corners, you know, it's just a totally, and I know now you're wondering, okay, which one are we this weekend? I'm not going to tell you. But it happens every weekend, and it moves, it's different services, and it's not always this reason. But let me tell you what I ask sometimes. I ask the Lord in my heart, God, is there somebody in this service who's in conflict with another brother or sister in Christ in this service? And it is that very relationship that has quenched or grieved the Holy Spirit of God from being free to speak into our lives and worship. Again, it's not always the case, but here's the point. You think it's just about you? It's not just about you. It's not just about me. You see, my personal life can have an impact in the fellowship of God's family. Let me read you the second quotes by a man named Martin Lloyd Jones. It's a little bit long, but listen carefully. The Psalmist puts it like this, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. If I in the presence of God, and while trying to worship God actively know there is sin in my heart, which I have not dealt with and confessed, my worship is useless. There's no value in it at all. If you are in a state of conscious enmity against another, if you are not speaking to another person or if you are harboring these unkind thoughts and are a hindrance and an obstacle to that other, God's Word assures you that there is no value in your attempted act of worship. It will avail you nothing. The Lord will not hear you. According to our Lord, the matter is so vital that you must, as it were, even keep God waiting to leave your offering. "Go and put it right," he says, "you cannot be right with God until you put yourself right with man." Jesus said, "You've heard it said, you shall not commit murder," but what I say, man, if you're not pursuing rightness in your relationships with your brothers and sisters in Christ, but then there's one last application. This isn't just to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Look at verse 25 and 26. In verses 23 and 24, he used this terminology if you have a brother, but in verse 25, he says, "Make friends quickly with your opponent at law." He begins to talk about those relationships that are outside of the family of faith, outside of our fellowship of believers. It's not just that I'm to pursue rightness with my brothers and sisters in Christ, I'm to pursue rightness in all of my relationships. You know what that means, right? With my neighbors. Jesus didn't just say you're to love one another. He said you're to love your who? Neighbor? Are your relationships right with the neighbors that live around you? Oh, Pastor, you're meddling now. You don't know what he does there. I mean, he's throw stuff over into my yard and it's just, you've heard it said, but I say, "What about your coworkers?" That guy or that lady at work that keeps taking credit for work that you're doing. For that person that always tries to get the promotion or they always try to jump in front of the line or the person that maybe has been dishonest about you or the person that just absolutely annoys you to no end. Are you angry with that person? Jesus says, "Make friends." Do everything on your part to make those relationships right? What about with your family? Not your spiritual family, but your physical family, immediate and extended. Again, so far as it depends on you, you can't ultimately control the actions and reactions of somebody else, but have I humbled myself and done what it takes on my part to extend forgiveness and try to reconcile that relationship? What about in your circle of friends? You see, the core message of the gospel is reconciliation. I was a sinner. I was separated from God and God did for me what I could not do left to myself. God sent his son Jesus and he reconciled me to himself even when I wasn't looking for it. Let me tell you what we are when we begin to pursue right relationships with others. Let me tell you what we are. We're the gospel with feet. The world begins to see in us a different way, a different life. It's not us. It's Christ in us, manifesting his very presence as we pursue rightness with others. You've heard it said, but I say, I want you to bow with me this morning and as you bow your head there before the Lord, I want you to go into a spirit of prayer. God, we bow before you right now and we need your presence. Oh God, we need you to speak and as you sit there quietly before the Lord, I want you to ask God this question in your heart. God, is there any person I need to go to and pursue peace? God, is there any person I need to go to and pursue peace? Lord, is there somebody in my small group? God, is there somebody on the ministry team that I'm serving in? Lord, is there somebody in my family? God, is there somebody at my work? Lord, is there someone in my neighborhood? God, is there someone in my circle of friends? Lord, is there anyone in my life as you think 360 degrees around you? Lord, is there somebody even in this service this morning that I need to go to? If you'd be honest enough this morning to admit it, if you're here today and you would say pastor, God's put a name on my heart. Would nobody looking around right now but me? Would you just lift your hand and put it back down? God's put a name on my heart. That's what I thought hands all across this building. Same thing in the other two services. You can put them down. Now with that name on your heart, I want you to look up here at the screen. Listen to what Paul writes in Ephesians. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and slander be put away from you. Along with all malice, be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other. Now this part's where it gets heavy, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you. Now let me ask you something this morning. Did you deserve God's forgiveness? Did you initiate that with him or did he initiate that? I don't know about you but in my case I didn't deserve it and I didn't initiate it. He sought me out and he said, listen, it's that same forgiveness. I know in our minds we're thinking there's no way I can't do it. You're right. We can't but God desires to manifest that same great his very life through us. In just a moment our team is going to sing a song and I'm going to ask you to just there before the Lord. You just allow these truths to speak into your heart. Ask God to speak to you today and while our team is singing we have some of our pastors here at the front, some of our prayer volunteers at the back. If God's spoken to you and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and you'd like to know Jesus while they're singing you simply get up out of your seat go to one of these pastors or prayer volunteers at the back and say hey I need Jesus Christ today and they'll show you from the Bible how you can trust Christ as your Lord and Savior. For the rest of us as our team sings I want you to think, meditate upon these truths. God have your way in us today. We give it to you. Speak to us Lord. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.