““You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21–22, ESV) In this beautiful and powerful and transformational Sermon On The Mount we see Jesus ‘raise the ante’ infinitely! “You have heard do not murder….”
BUT I SAY
When Jesus speaks people listen (or should listen, me at the head of the list) As Christ followers we are to up our game exponentially. We go from do not murder (which remains a command) to DO NOT EVEN THINK bad thoughts / angry thoughts toward others. “Jesus, you have gone too far! I can’t do these things.” Jesus says, “I am glad you have finally realized this unchangeable truth. You can do nothing without me.” Lord, help me, help each of us to know without any doubt or hesitation, we cannot follow Jesus without following Jesus and we cannot follow Jesus without surrendering ourselves to him. Let us sing, “I surrender all, I surrender all … all to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all.” And then let us ask God to help us not to take back today what we surrendered to him this morning. Amen