The Need for Self-Judgment in Order to Worship

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 8
 
"If thou bring thy gift to the altar... go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother..." (Man. 5:23, 24).
The law took cognizance of... [the] extreme form of violence; but our Lord gives length, breadth, height and depth to it: "But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment:"... our Lord treats as now coming under the same category with murder, in the sight of God, every kind of violence, and feeling, and expression; anything of contempt and hatred, whatever expresses the ILL FEELING of the heart;... the will to annihilate others as far as character or influence is concerned;... He is expanding the law; He is showing now One who looks at and judges the feeling of the heart... there might be no very bad effect produced by these words of anger, but they proved the state of the heart; and this is what the Lord is dealing with here. "Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift" (Matt. 5:23, 2423Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. (Matthew 5:23‑24)) (W. Kelly, Lectures on Matthew, in loco.)
Often brother has been separated in heart and spirit from brother, while the outward form of fellowship has been well kept! In some instances brethren have "preached at" and "prayed at" another in the meeting, only to widen the breach... "For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work" (Jas. 3:1616For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. (James 3:16)). "... First be reconciled to thy brother." However repugnant to flesh and blood, or humbling to our natural pride, our own feelings must be laid aside with "all malice and all guile and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings." We must by the grace of God conquer the greater difficulty—the flesh in ourselves (from Matters of First Importance, by E.V.).
A. C. Brown, 1972
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