Don’t murder. Pretty obvious, right? It’s one of the only laws that is condemned in every country. Yet it still happens.

You may have seen on the news or read somewhere about the recent execution of Kenneth Smith. It’s only a headline issue because of the method of execution, but I was curious about the backstory, so I looked it up. The murder he committed was in 1988.

A man named Charles Sennett hired three men, including Kenneth Smith, to murder his wife, Elizabeth. Charles was going to pay each of the men $1,000 for the murder. On March 18, 1988, Elizabeth was found with fatal injuries in her home. When the murder investigation started to focus on the husband as a suspect, he committed suicide.

I didn’t tell you anything at all about Charles, the husband, and you might assume he was a lowlife criminal, or even a high-rolling investor who thought he could get away with it. Maybe he was even involved in a gang or the mob? All those guesses are totally wrong. Charles Sennett, the man who hired hitmen to murder his wife, was the minister for the Sheffield church of Christ in Sheffield, Alabama.

“Don’t murder” seems like it’s pretty obvious.

Yet even men who are supposed to be godly, righteous men have discovered their our hands covered in blood. How do you go from living a life dedicated to serving God to killing another person?

There are countless examples we could look at. Two weeks ago, we read about Cain, the first murderer, who killed his brother Abel in a fit of passion. David, the great king of Israel, planned the death of his friend Uriah after getting his wife pregnant.

So how do we work on not murdering people? It’s usually just a one-time thing, so even if I have a “murder problem,” it would be probably be too late to make it right.

The solution is to cut down the roots of the tree before it destroys your foundation, not just trim it to look pretty.

Jesus uses this sin as an example in the Sermon on the Mount. He’s making a larger point with it about Kingdom righteousness, but there’s plenty to learn from this specific example.

“You have heard that the ancients were told,
‘You shall not murder‘ and
‘Whoever murders shall be guilty before 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, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the Sanhedrin; and
whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

Therefore if you are 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 are with him on the way, so that your 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 quadrans.” (Matt 5:21–26)

This is the first of six examples in the Sermon on the Mount. All of them demonstrate how God’s standards for righteousness are far higher than man’s standards, especially those of the first century religious elites.

This example teaches us that Kingdom righteousness begins, not with behavior, but with thoughts and emotions. Christianity is an inward religion.

Make things right with yourself.

“You have heard that the ancients were told,
‘You shall not murder‘ and
‘Whoever murders shall be guilty before 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, ‘Raca,’ shall be guilty before the Sanhedrin; and
whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” (Matt 5:21–22)

If you use the King James or New King James, you will notice “whoever is angry with his brother” is followed by the phrase “without a cause.” This is not in the oldest manuscripts and should be disregarded. While there are appropriate times for anger, that’s clearly not what Jesus is talking about. He’s talking about selfish anger, even if you feel there is a cause.

If you resolve sin before it grows, you won’t have to deal with its consequences. The Pharisees believed this somewhat, and taught the importance of building a “fence” around the commandments to avoid breaking them. However, their fences were still external rather than internal. Jesus wants us to look at our own hearts first.

Take your own sins seriously.

If I asked you to name the worst sins you can think of, murder would be in the top five, if not first or second. Not-murdering is about the lowest moral bar a person can set for themselves, unless they just don’t care at all. If that’s something you feel you can boast in, you don’t understand sin.

Passive righteousness isn’t the sufficient righteousness Jesus mentioned in verse 20. Yet the religious leaders of Jesus’s day boasted in it.

“A ruler questioned Him, saying, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’

And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments:
Do not commit adultery,
Do not murder,
Do not steal,
Do not bear false witness,
Honor your father and mother.’

And he said, ‘All these things I have kept from my youth.'” (Luke 18:18–21)

Jesus tells us that while murder is obviously very bad, anger with your brother is worthy of the same consequence.

The gravest sins begin with the commonest struggles.

Jesus makes this point with both the example of murder and the example of adultery. Those are both horrible sins that we might pride ourselves on avoiding. He’s basically telling us, “Have you murdered someone? Have you cheated on your wife? Probably not. But I know you’ve been angry. And I know you’ve lusted before.”

Take God seriously.

This “court” in verse 21 — “whoever murders shall be guilty before the court” — isn’t the courtroom of God, it’s the local court. It’s true that God instituted a legal response for murder in the Law of Moses, but it wasn’t even close to the worse consequence. It’s almost like they care more about these physical repercussions than the spiritual results.

Notice then, how Jesus turns that around and re-orients them to the seriousness of their sins. Not only will murder put you before the court, anger with your brother ought to do the same thing. Anger is so serious, it needs to be brought before the Supreme Court. In fact, if you even call your brother “stupid,” God will judge you Himself—and find you guilty.

Why?

“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.” (1 John 3:15)

We might fool ourselves into thinking that God doesn’t care about our thoughts and emotions or that we can get away with it.

There isn’t a court in the world that would try a case over anger. It’s not visible. Calling names is hardly admissible evidence. Only in God’s court will you be condemned.

Jesus is telling us not only that we can, but we probably will get away with it in this life. Only when we take God seriously will we fix the impurities in our attitudes.

Purify your emotions.

Rather than just controlling the outbursts—the words—we must control and purify the emotions that underlie.

“But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.” (Col 3:8)

“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Col 3:12)

Unless you keep your emotions and feelings under control, your righteousness will not be what it needs to be to enter the kingdom.

Make things right with your brethren.

“Therefore if you are 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.” (Matt 5:23–24)

Take the initiative.

Jesus shifts the perspective from the one who is angry to the recipient of the anger. He tells us that if someone has an issue with us, we know it, and do nothing, we’re still guilty! That means you have to be aware of your relationships and put effort into them.

Now why does God care so much about these relationships? Because our goal should be God’s goal, and God cares about His family, the church.

Forgive wrongs against you (Luke 17:3–4). Don’t just forgive “eventually,” forgive immediately.

Grudges turn into bitterness, ruining your relationship with your brothers and sisters. The Kingdom is not a vast and disparate empire; it’s an expansive community of believers who love each other and work together.

Take God’s family seriously.

Jesus says if we’re not living in harmony with our brothers and sisters, God doesn’t even want our worship. Our fellowship and kinship through Christ is immensely important to God.

This isn’t a new teaching at all.

“Bring your worthless offerings no longer,
Incense is an abomination to Me.
New moon and sabbath, the calling of convocation—
I cannot endure wickedness and the solemn assembly.
My soul hates your new moon festivals and your appointed times,
They have become a burden to Me;
I am weary of bearing them.
So when you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Indeed, even though you multiply prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood.” (Isa 1:13–15)

God wants our worship only after we have made things right with our fellow Christians. He sees dispute among Christians as a dispute with Him.

“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

Make things right with your enemies.

“Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your 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 quadrans.” (Matt 5:25–26)

A quadrans is 1/64 of a day’s wage for a common laborer. It’s something like a penny, but it’s worth far less, more like a half-penny or even quarter-penny. The consequences of conflict will last until you pay everything you owe. You’ll never be able.

Love not only your friends, but your enemies.

Jesus will of course come back to this later in more detail, but He addresses it here first.

“And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, ‘Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’

And He said to him, ‘What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?’

And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.‘

And He said to him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.‘

But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?'” (Luke 10:25–29)

I believe that here in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus anticipates a similar kind of self-justifying question—And who is my brother?—by bringing up an enemy as well.

In fact, Jesus will come back to this concept of expanding beyond your friends to your enemies later in the Sermon on the Mount.

“For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?” (Matt 5:46–47)

Jesus starts with the heart and dives to loving your enemies.

This isn’t easy stuff, but if you take it seriously and work on making things right—with yourself, with your brethren, and even with your enemies—you’ll never become a murderer.

Unfortunately, Charles Sennett didn’t learn that. I wish he had. The chief priests and elders didn’t learn it either. Their anger toward Jesus became hatred and eventually they fell beneath their own low bar and murdered the Son of God.

Make things right. Don’t become a murderer.