Into The Breach – How A Christian Man LovesSample

Day 3 — Addressing anger and lust

Read: Matthew 5:21-30

Anger and lust are primitive impulses that, if not deflected, can lead to destructive and abusive behavior, like murder and adultery. In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus probes into the deepest meaning of the commandments and reveals their original intentions. In this way, he challenges his listeners to channel the energies of their instinctive responses into more noble activities for the sake of God’s kingdom. 

In the first illustration, Jesus teaches that the prohibition of murder implicitly prohibits the anger and abusive speech that can lead to violence (vv. 21-22). In contrast to such heated rage, the disciple should always seek to initiate a settlement. Offering concrete examples, Jesus says that fellow disciples should seek reconciliation over any offense before bringing an offering to God (vv. 23-24). Likewise, adversaries should settle out of court rather than suffer the direct consequences of judicial punishment (v. 25). In this way, Jesus shows how the heart of the law is aimed at broken relationships that need to be healed.

The second illustration demonstrates that the law against adultery implicitly prohibits lust (vv. 27-28). Jesus again shows the close relationship of external actions and internal dispositions. Lustful desires and coveting the spouse of another are ways of committing adultery in the heart. Jesus’s hyperboles do not advocate bodily dismemberment but stress the importance of doing whatever is necessary to control the primitive impulses of anger and lust that can flare out of control and lead to serious sin. 

REFLECT: In what way might God desire to change my heart so that my obedience to God’s commandments goes beyond the literal requirements of the law? 

PRAY: Lord God, who gave us the law through Moses, help me to understand the deeper implications of your commandments so as to live in a way that marks me as a disciple of Jesus your Son.