Reconciliation and Worship

A great deal of confusion in the reading of the Sermon on the Mount, as well as many other passages, is due to one’s failure to understand the nature of one’s relationship to God. He is God, and we are not. As God, He has established the rules governing our acceptable conduct. If we are to have a proper relationship to Him, we must conform to His expectations of us.

The grace of salvation must not be confused here. No one is saved by keeping the rules. The problem is that we have already failed in rule-keeping. Due to His great mercy, God has chosen to save a host of rule-breakers by grace through faith. Jesus Christ stood in the stead of these violators and suffered their just punishment. However, the redeemed, while free of judgment due to past offenses, are not free of the obligation to keep rules. God is holy, and those who would seek His favor must also be holy. Grace does not give one a pass to continue in the lifestyle that originally condemned him. Grace, rather, provides the enabling work of the Spirit of God to pursue obedience to His will.

In Matthew 5:21–26 Jesus reveals that anger leading to hatred of one’s brother makes the guilty party liable to judgment. The Jews were content to condemn only the external acts, such as murder and adultery, as specifically pronounced in the commandments as worthy of the judgment. What occurred in a person’s heart was not condemned. Jesus corrects the record. It is what is the heart that is the problem. “How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:34–37). It is the evil of the heart to leads to hatred and murder.

Matthew 5:23 begins with “so,” meaning subsequently or then, and gives the reader the Lord’s practical solution to the anger issues of the heart. The first is a matter of worship. If you are making an offering in the worship of God and, in the process, remember that your brother has something against you, you are to fix the problem first, then worship. The root issue here is peacemaking. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). The assumption is that the worshiper has in anger offended another in word or deed. The offender is obligated to humble himself and pursue reconciliation. Why is this important? God will not accept worship from a worshiper with a bad heart. His Spirit in grace has brought the matter to the worshiper’s memory for the purpose of repentance and confession. However, forgiveness demands that peace be restored between the offender and the offended. “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24).

Could our lack of revival and demonstration of divine power be due to our prideful refusal to examine our hearts before the Lord as to our guilt in offending others, even as we act as judge and rule that our offenses are innocent and justifiable? Has the Lord truly accepted our worship?