Matthew 5:21-26
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. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
Proactively repent. If you remember something someone might have against you, proactively go to them and ask them for forgiveness. Consider it from the other end of the equation. Imagine someone came to you and asked you to forgive them for something they said or did to you a while back. If you have forgotten about it, you will gladly forgive them and respect the fact that they came to you and humbled themselves. Or let’s say maybe you hadn’t forgotten, but had been thinking about that thing they did or said and they come to you and ask for your forgiveness for it. Aren’t you glad it’s out in the open and being dealt with? If you love them, you want to be restored and reconciled to them. Sin had gotten in the way of that, but now the only thing standing in the way of it is your acceptance of their apology and offering forgiveness.
Not about keeping yourself from communion, it is about not giving your tithes and offerings. It’s not a shocker that this isn’t preached more often or more forcefully, right? You’ve heard more sermons on tithing than you have on not tithing because of bitterness. And that makes sense. God does not want your grudge money. If you are holding on to a grudge, hold on to your money. And that goes for here as well. Christ Church Leavenworth does not need your money as much as it needs you to forgive your neighbor. God loves a cheerful giver. If you are grumpy with someone, go and get things right with them before you give. And if you have wronged someone, God is saying you owe them an apology more than you owe Him your tithes and offerings. He would rather see you righting wrongs than writing a check.
It is sometimes easier to give your money than it is to give a pardon to someone who has hurt you, but both are required. You cannot serve grudges and God and you cannot serve God and money. If you want to give, you need to forgive. If you don’t want to give or forgive, consider where that goes. Everything is going somewhere and sooner or later it is going to get there. Being stingy ends with the sting of death and hell to follow. But those who are generous receive charity. It is easier to give money than it is to give a pardon.
Now, some of you might be thinking, “You can’t tell people that. Apologizing to others and forgiving others is already hard enough and now you’re telling them that they get to hold on to their money if they hold on to their grudges?” Doesn’t that simply incentivize them to do the wrong thing? It would if it weren’t for the rest of the passage. What does Jesus say about the one who refuses to repent of their sins and refuses to forgive others of theirs? They are liable to the hell of fire.
Later in this same sermon Jesus said that “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)
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