Word Count: 1220

Contact Paul George

Gospel of Matthew - Chapter 5 - Reconciliation

by Paul George  
3/25/2008 / Bible Studies

Matthew 5:23-26

"If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him in the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny. (WEB).

In verse 23, Jesus is dealing now with the need to deal with anger. You may know that somebody is upset over something you may have or may not have done or said and according to Jesus you need to go and settle the issue.

In verse 23, we are told the type of worship the Lord does not want. He does not want anything to do with hypocritical worship.

In verses 23 and 24, Jesus said, when "you are presenting your offering at the altar and there you 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."

Obviously, there will be people angry with you that you are unaware of, and you cannot run around asking everybody, "Have I done something that offended you," however; there are times when you know somebody is angry with you. At those times, try to reconcile with them, and do your best to make things right, asking their forgiveness. However, if they do not forgive you, there is nothing more you can do, you are free to worship God.

Reconciliation with some is a very difficult thing to do. Nevertheless, regardless of that, when you know that reconciliation is needed, Jesus says that it is something that you must try to bring about.

Having introduced the need to be reconciled with someone who is angry over something we may or may not have done Jesus gives specific examples in verses 25 and 26.

The illustrations Jesus uses are from the legal method of dealing with debtors in Jewish society. The debt of this particular worshiper has come to the place where he is actually being dragged into court over it.

Note the key to the solution in verse 25; "Make friends quickly with your opponent." The idea here is immediately resolving the problem before you continue your worship. Do not just wait until the "right time" for reconciliation to come; because tomorrow may be too late. Here our Lord focuses on the guilty party as the one who is worshiping. He is saying, "Settle your case out of court. Do not let this thing continue to the point where reconciliation is impossible." In Jewish law, when a man was adjudged guilty as a debtor, he was handed over to the court officer, who would then try to exact from the individual the payment to the creditor. If he could not collect it, the officer would throw him in prison until the debtor paid it back. The point is if you were in prison, you could not ever pay it back. Consequently, it was important to reconcile before a severe judgment was determined which would render one unable to reconcile at all.

Now, what does Jesus mean here? Does He mean that the time will come when the person will die and you will never be able to reconcile, or does He mean that the time will come when God will chasten you and it will be too late? The main point is simply that we cannot worship Him unless our relationships with others are right, so hurry and make them right, do not let them go to the place where there will be a civil judgment made and somebody loses in the end. Do not let it go too far. Do not let it go to the place where God, in judgment, moves in. Act before then. In the final analysis, Jesus is saying that God is the real judge and hell is the real punishment, if you do not make things right, you may find yourself in an eternal hell with a debt that could never be paid.

Jesus has been saying, in effect, "You Pharisees and scribes who are depending on your own self-righteousness think you are holy just because you don't kill. However, let Me tell you something: If you are angry, if you have ever said a malicious word about somebody's character, if you have ever cursed anybody, you are like a murderer. If you have ever come to worship God and had something against your brother, you are in danger of judgment for such hypocrisy. You are obligated to postpone your worship and immediately seek reconciliation. The fact that you do not murder is only a part of your problem. If you have grudges that you have never settled, you worship in hypocrisy. If you curse, malign, and are angry, the same judgment comes upon you for that, death and hell are what you deserve."

Who deserves death and hell? You do, and I do. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). You ask, how do we escape death and hell, if we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God? After all, everyone at one time or another has worshiped in hypocrisy, been angry, said malicious things, thought or spoken a curse; we have all done those things.

What are we going to do?" Jesus probably hoped His audience would ask this question. He wants His listeners to realize the fact that they cannot be righteous on their own, which ought to bring them to their knees for the righteousness that only He can give. Everything that He says here is to drive them to frustration and inadequacy so that they come to Him.

We, too, must realize that He died that we might have righteousness. The righteousness that we desperately need comes only as a gift from God. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is imputed to us (Romans 4:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

God had every reason to be angry with us. He had every reason to hold us in contempt and righteously curse us. Because He loves us, He paid our debt. The wonder of wonders is that He seeks to reconcile us to Himself in His eternal Kingdom, because He wants to have fellowship with us, that is incredible, a holy God desires to be reconciled to vile sinners like us, can we follow the pattern of His Son and find it in our hearts to be reconciled to our brothers and have fellowship with our Lord or we stand on pride and miss blessing that comes in true fellowship with the Lord.

The best thing you will do in this life is admit you are a sinner and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. The second best thing is make amends for any and all that stands between you and a brother or sister.

Retired pastor,Church of the Nazarene

Author of web site Exploring God's Word

www.thewordofgodonline.net

New American Standard Bible

King James Version

The World English Bible

Sermons and Bible studies preached and taught by author

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! Click here and TRUST JESUS NOW

Read more articles by Paul George

Like reading Christian Articles? Check out some more options. Read articles in Main Site Articles, Most Read Articles or our highly acclaimed Challenge Articles. Read Great New Release Christian Books for FREE in our Free Reads for Reviews Program. Or enter a keyword for a topic in the search box to search our articles.

Enter comments below. Due to spam, all hyperlinks posted in the comments are now immediately disabled by our system.

Please type the following word below:

Not readable? Change text.

The opinions expressed by authors do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.

Hire a Christian Writer, Christian Writer Wanted, Christian Writer Needed, Christian Content Needed, Find a Christian Editor, Hire a Christian Editor, Christian Editor, Find a Christian Writer