Something More Important Than Worship
Matt. 5:23-26
Before Reading the Passage
God places a high premium on worship and praise unto Him.
-Ps. 29:2 - “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”
-Ps. 150:1,6 - “Praise ye the Lord! Praise God in His Sanctuary ...Let everything that has breath praise the
Lord. Praise ye the Lord.”
-The whole book of Leviticus was written to instruct the Jews in the proper way to worship the Lord.
-Hebrews 10:25 warns us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together for worship in the last days.
-Then, there is to be private worship between us and our God. But here, Jesus said that there is something
more important than worship. The truth we are about to read must be an extremely important one for
Jesus to put it before worship.
Read the Passage:
You will remember that Jesus has just talked about heart-murder. It is not just the act of murdering
someone, but it is also the attitude of hate and anger that God sees, and if murder is in our hearts, God
writes it down as murder whether we committed the act or not.
-Many people believe that they can continue to harbor resentment and bitterness in their hearts toward a
brother or sister in Christ so long as they are faithful in their attendance, their service, and their gifts to
God.
-Jesus says, “Not so”. Jesus clearly points out that it is far more important to be reconciled to your brother
than to fulfill the external duties of worship. Worship is merely make-believe if we have offended others
in such a way that they are holding grudges against us.
-Having a clear conscience is a priority in the Christian life. We must make sure our lives are right with
God and right with men, because we cannot be right with God until we are right with men.
-Act 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and
toward men.
Jesus offered a plan to move people from alienation to reconciliation. The only way to get over anger i s to
forgive. The only way to heal broken relationships is to seek reconciliation with the offender.
-The Lord gave a simple way to deal with anger. First, we remember exactly what happened. Next, we
drop what we are doing and seek reconciliation. Finally, we give glory to God for His grace and
forgiveness.
I am convinced that some folks ought not to be in church trying to worship. They ought to be off getting
right with their brother or sister in Christ.
-The devil doesn't care how pious you and I look sitting in church as long as there is discord in our hearts
toward a brother. I say again, no man can be right with God if he is consciously wrong with his brother.
-1Jn 4:20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
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We would be surprised to know how often and how much the Spirit of God is quenched by folks who are
not right with their brother.
-It doesn't matter how prayed up and prepared the preacher may be, if one brother is at Odds against
another, God is hindered from working. No matter how beautiful the music is, if one brother is not right
with another brother, worship is hindered.
-Every preacher knows how important it is for those he is preaching to to be right with each other; yet,
several years ago I was in revival in a nice size church in Alabama. The revival started on Sunday
morning and we had a great service. The pastor and the people were excited about what God did in the
morning service and they expressed that they were looking forward to what God was going to do the rest
of the week. We had a church-wide lunch in the Fellowship Hall and I sat next to the pastor. He turned to
me and said, “That was a great service. What are you going to preach on tonight?” I told him that I felt the
Lord would have me preach on the very passage I'm preaching on now; being right with your brother;
being reconciled with your brother. He suddenly turned pale and said, “Please don't preach on that tonight
or any time this week. If you do, I'll have to leave this church.” It was the only time a preacher had ever
asked me not to preach on a passage of scripture. I wrestled the rest of the afternoon with what I would
do. He told me what had happened between himself and a member of the church. I tried to get him to go
to the man and get it right, but he refused. It is the only time in my ministry that I did not preach what
God had clearly lead me to preach. He said before each service, “Please don't preach on getting right with
your brother.” It was very obvious in each service that God's Spirit was being quenched and there was no
other movement of the Lord during the revival. I promised God that I would never let anyone else talk me
into not preaching what God clearly laid on my heart to preach. That has been over ten years ago, and
God still deals with me about my wrong decision about not preaching what He wanted me to preach.
-Psalm 66:18 As long as we have intentional sin in our hearts and lives, outward acts of worship are not
acceptable to God. There is a lot of vain worship and singing and praying and giving.
I want to leave four words with you:
I. Remembrance 5:23-24
Most of us don't have much trouble remembering hurts. We often hold on to grudges, refusing to let them
go. Yet, the only way we'll be free from the hurt is to obey the pattern given by our Lord.
-If we fail to deal with the wrong, more people will end up being hurt. The old saying, “Hurt people, Hurt
people” is true. Someone who is hard to get along with and constantly doing or saying things that hurt
other people is most likely a person who has been hurt and has refused to deal with it.
Jesus gives an illustration: A man is coming to the temple to offer his free-will offering to God. He's
thinking that nothing is wrong. He thinks that he's doing his faithful religious duty – just as those do who
faithfully attend Church, or put money in the offering plate, or listen to “long sermons” without
complaining. But then – right in the very act of performing his religious duty – he remembers something!
(Isn't that the way it is? Whenever we truly seek to draw near to God, He lovingly, but gently, causes
issues in our lives to come up that had – to that point – remained undealt with.) And so, as this man was
bringing his gift to God's alter, he then remembers that a brother has something against him.
-I believe that the “something” should be seen in the context of what Jesus says in 5:21-22. Maybe as the
man approaches God's holy throne, the Holy spirit brings to his mind anger toward a fellow believer and
he has refused to let the anger go. Maybe God reminds him or name-calling or a slander or some
resentment he has toward another. God causes him to stop and recall that he is guilty of “heart –
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murder” and now he dares to stand before God's holy presence. How could a Holy God receive the gift of
such a man, until he repents of his heart-murder?
Do you have a hard time forgiving others?
-Sam Jones said, “I had a hard time forgiving folks until I decided I would not fall out with anyone unless
they treated me worse than I treated Jesus Christ.”
-General James Overthroup told John Wesley, “There is someone I will never forgive.” Wesley said,
“Then I hope, sir, that you never sin.”
-An unforgiving spirit is unforgivable! Matt. 6:14-15
Jesus points to both sides of the issue. In Matt. 5 He said, “If you remember that someone has something
against you, go to them. “If you have something against someone else, go to them.
(Matt. 18:15-17, 21-22, 35).
II. Refusal
Twice in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Refuse to worship until you get things right with your
brother.” This must be an extremely important principle for the Lord, since He places it ahead of worship.
We cannot really participate in worship if our hearts are full of hate and anger.
-It's a terrible thing to enter church with a heavy heart and be unable to experience the joy of worship
because of unresolved anger. The only way to regain the power and joy of worshiping God is to resolve
the situation with the other person.
Two great principles come out of this passage: It is always the right time to be reconcile AND it is always
my turn.
I must tell you: “It cost to forgive. There are no bargain pardons. To forgive means to absorb the hurt and
pain yourself and refuse to bring the hurt and pain up again to the forgiven person.”
III. Reconciling – 5:24; Rom. 12:9-10, 14, 17-21
Reconciliation demands courage, generosity, and strength of character. One of the hardest things to do is
to humble ourselves before someone we are angry at. Yet, that is exactly what Christ calls us to do.
-That will mean giving up the hurt and the thoughts of revenge we have harbored. No matter who is at
fault, if we recognize there is a problem, it is our responsibility to seek reconciliation. We must do
everything we can to try and make it right, and we must count on God to work in the heart of the other
person. I am not responsible for how the other person responds to me, but I am responsible for my own
behavior.
A civil war historian named Myers writes that in 1913, the Federal Government held a fiftieth anniversary
reunion at Gettysburg. It lasted three days. Thousands of survivors bivouacked in the old battlefield,
swapping stories and looking up old comrades. For the most part, the old men got along well enough, but
over dinner at a restaurant one evening, harsh words were passed between a Yankee
and a Rebel and they went at one another with forks: “unscathed in the battle of 1863,” Myers wrote,
“One of then - and I never learned which – was almost fatally wounded in 1913 with table hardware!”
The climax of the gathering was a re-enactment of Pickett's Charge. Thousands of spectators gathered to
watch as the Union Veterans took their positions on Cemetery Ridge, and waited as their old
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adversaries emerged from the woods on Seminary Ridge and started toward them across the long, flat
fields. Myers wrote, “We could see, not rifles and bayonets, but canes and crutches. We watched as the
more agile men aided those who were not able to maintain their places in rank. As the Rebels got nearer to
the northern line, they broke out in one final, defiant rebel yell. It was then that the Yankees, unable
to restrain themselves any longer, rushed from behind the stone wall and flung themselves upon their
former enemies – not in mortal combat, but re-united in brotherly love and affection.
-Reconciliation not only involves seeking forgiveness, but also granting forgiveness to those who have
wronged us.
In a Peanut's cartoon, Lucy said to Snoopy: “There are times when you really bug me, but I must a dmit,
there are also times when I feel like giving you a big hug.” Snoopy replied: “That's the way I am –
huggable and buggable.” The truth is, that's the way most of us are. Scripture teaches us that we should
not only forgive those who wrong us, but to love them.
Notice 5:25-26 There is an urgency to reconcile. We are to nip the problems in the bud quickly, before
more trouble piles up. Bitterness breeds bitterness. Take immediate action to mend the relationship
IV. Return – 5:24b
D.L.Moody said that the most difficult sin to deal with in the life of a Christian is the sin of an
unforgiving spirit. This sin, more than any other, is keeping Christians from having power with God.
We are to worship God with a clean heart.
Myself
I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know;
I want to be able as days go by
always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand with the setting sun
And hate myself for things I've done.
I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself;
And fool myself as I come and go
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of man I really am;
I don't want to dress myself up in sham.
I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and pelf,
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to think as I come and go
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.
I never can hide myself from me,
I see what others may never see,
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself – and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.