Tackling the Difficult Issues // How to Live an Extraordinary Life, Pt 9

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

Every now and then we run into a difficult issue in a relationship. Sometimes the right thing to do is bite our lip. Other times we let it wash by and we forgive and we move on. But sometimes, sometimes we have to address issues – tackle them head on. How … how do you do that?

Now I don't know about you but over these last few weeks I've really enjoyed following Jesus around on the dusty highways and byways of 1st century Israel and just watching Him, observing Him, listening to Him because He lived such an extraordinary life, a really powerful life.

If you or I want to live that sort of life, who better to follow around, to observe, to listen to, to learn from than Jesus. Now our current series is called, "How To Live An Extraordinary Life" because we only have one chance at this life so we might as well make it a good one. In fact given how precious life really is lets make it an extraordinary life.

I think it's easy to read the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament, all about the life and times and the deeds of Jesus and treat them more as a, I don't know, as a text book rather than a relevant story about life.

But think about it, if Jesus was alive in the flesh today here and now and you were one of those twelve disciples you'd have a keen eye and a listening ear wouldn't you? You'd be observing Him to learn as much as you could from who He was and what He did. I mean I know I would.

So why don't we do that with the Gospel accounts of Jesus life? I think sometimes the more we read them the more blasé we become about them. I even had one pastor, a pastor mind you, say to me, "I don't read the Gospels much". When I asked him why he said, "I know how they end". He was serious. So today again we're going to get on the Jesus trail and see what He's up to, see what we can learn from Him. Are you ready?

We're going to pick up His story in Matthew chapter 5 beginning at verse 21. Jesus is talking here, He said:

You've heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder and whoever murders shall be liable to judgement' but I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister you will be liable to judgement and if you insult a brother or sister you will be liable to the council and if you say 'you fool' you will be liable to the hell of fire.

So when you're offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or your sister has something against you leave your gift there before the altar and go and first be reconciled to your brother and sister and then come and offer your gift.

Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you're on the way to court with him or your accuser may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you'll be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

I don't know about you but on the occasions where I've had to tell someone something difficult, something they didn't want to hear, it's not always something that I've looked forward to doing.

I spent twenty years as a consultant working in hundreds of organisations and as a consultant often times it's your job to tell people something they don't want to hear. Over the years I've become more accustomed to it, I learned ways of preparing people for the bad news and delivering it in a way that wasn't harsh or judgemental but it's never something I relished, it was never something I looked forward to doing and it's never something I enjoy doing but it's something you just got to do sometimes.

Jesus did quite a bit of it, we don't find out from the Gospel accounts how He felt about doing it, we don't know if He experienced the apprehension which would be natural but all the indications are that it didn't seem to faze Him much.

Jesus never minced His words, He didn't mamby pamby around, if that makes sense, He wasn't a shrinking violet. When something had to be said He said it. You see that over and over again, Jesus tackles the tough issues and that's what He's doing right here in this passage, He's dealing with how we treat other people, He's dealing with the way in which we judge other people harshly and yet we let ourselves off the hook.

How often have you thought to yourself, "Well you know, I'll be right on the day of judgement, I'm not such a bad fellow or bad girl? You know I've never killed anyone, yeah I'll be right, I'll be right with God on that day".

You've heard it said that those of ancient times said 'you shall not murder and whoever murders shall be liable to judgement' but I say to you, said Jesus, if you're angry with a brother or sister you'll be liable for judgement. If you insult a brother or a sister you will be liable before the council and if you say, 'You fool' you will be liable to the hell of fire

Hmm and then, then we are so prone to carrying un-forgiveness around in our hearts. We go to Church, those of us who do, we sing songs, we pray prayers, we listen attentively to the sermon, we come out feeling oh so holy yet there's this one person at work who'd been driving us nuts and the last thing we're going to do is forgive them.

In fact while the preacher has been droning on as sometimes he does we've been plotting our little scheme that we're going to hatch when we get back to work on Monday. So when you're offering your gift at the altar, if you remember you have something against someone, leave your gift there before the altar and go and first be reconciled to them and then come back and offer your gift to God.

Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you're on the way to court otherwise you might get handed over to the judge and the judge will put you in jail and you'll be thrown into prison and truly I tell you you'll never get out until you've paid your whole debt. In other words as Jesus goes on He says very plainly, unless we forgive others God won't forgive us. Bam, right in the face.

Do you think people listening were shocked? Yeah sure they were. Do you think the Pharisee's and the Sadducees, the religious leaders who ultimately plotted His assassination, they were shocked too. As far as they were concerned this was just another nail in His coffin.

Jesus knew that, He knew the consequences, He knew that by confronting the people with the truth they would assassinate Him but He came to this earth not just to die and rise again but to reveal God to us, to proclaim His central message:

Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.

He came to tell us the way things really are and as we here in Australia would say, He called a spade a spade. Did He love people? Was He kind to them? Did He encourage them? Yes, yes and yes but He also spoke the truth to them directly and in love and sometimes my friend you and I need to do the same.

Does it require wisdom and sensitivity and a great sense of timing? Yes it does. But sometimes when we see people heading down the wrong path, in the wrong direction, doing something that's going to hurt them or something that's going to hurt others we need to be honest with them. Otherwise their blood is on our hands, it's exactly what the Apostle Paul taught us in Acts chapter 20, verse 26:

Therefore I declare to you this day that I'm not responsible for the blood of any of you for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.

I know, believe you me I know that telling people things that they really don't want to hear is not easy. Often they react really badly when you and I share the truth about sin and salvation with people; when you and I point out to someone that they're actually doing the wrong thing. Often they'll react towards us exactly the same way as the religious leaders reacted towards Jesus.

They were the ones that had Him nailed to the cross because His truth threatened their power base which was based on doing the wrong thing. But in this life we are sometimes in a place and in a position when in our heart of hearts we know we need to speak out the truth, we know we need to admonish and when we're in that place, when the spirit's leading us there then that's what we should do, just like Jesus no matter the cost.