By putting off sinful anger, we obey Christ and glorify Him!
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Glorify God by Putting Off Anger
Ephesians 4:30-31
Introduction
As we embark on this new year of 2016, let us acknowledge what our purpose is as Christians: to glorify God!
“Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
When we look into the Divine Law, we see Christ, the great Law Giver, give us two commandments. The first: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). The second: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 39).
This morning we are going to see how God wants us to love others as it relates to how we deal with our anger.
Anger Defined
There are many reasons people feel angry. Our anger is often sinful but not always. The Bible says that we can be angry without sinning.
Ephesians 4:26
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
“Wrath” essentially means anger.
According to Ephesians 4:26 we can be angry without sinning. In other words, there is a sinless anger and even a righteous and godly anger. This is anger with a justifiable cause.
Reasons for Godly Anger
“Abortion”
“Gay marriage”
When people try to hurt those we love, our anger can spur us to rightly defend others.
Biblical Examples of Godly Anger
The Bible gives us examples of being angry without sinning.
Moses came down from Mt. Sinai and saw the children of Israel worshipping the golden calf (Exodus 32). He was filled with godly anger when he broke the two stone tablets with God’s Law on them, the 10 Commandments.
Jesus cleansed the temple. He made a whip of chords and drove them all out of the temple, pouring out the changer’s money and overturning their tables.
Every time Jesus became angry it was sinless and perfect.
If we are honest with ourselves, the anger we produce in our minds and actions is rarely godly but almost always sinful because it is not produced by the Spirit but by the flesh.
It is the sinful anger I’m focusing on in this morning’s message. From here on out, when I refer to anger, it is the anger that is sin.
Many Reasons Anger is Sinful
When anger is in our hearts, we have animosity toward others. Animosity is the feeling and outflow of strong hostility. There are many degrees of animosity, but it is all anger. But the Bible says to pursue peace and live peaceably with all people.
Romans 12:18 says, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all people.” Hebrews 12:14 says, “Pursue peace with all people.”
We can’t be at peace or reconcile with people while at the same time holding on to anger.
We can’t love people when we are angry with them. We violate the greatest commandments of loving God and people as we love ourselves.
Philippians 2: 3-4
“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”
Anger and selfish ambition go hand in hand. When we are angry, we usually only concerned for ourselves in what we are not getting or what we are losing.
We cannot fulfill the Law of Christ in valuing others as better than ourselves and look out for their interests if we are angry with them.
Anger is rebellion against God.
Perhaps you are thinking, “Anger isn’t really problem for me!” If God has given you much victory over anger, then may God be praised!
The Command to Put Off Anger
However, I believe most of us struggle with anger at some level as Christians because the Word of God repeatedly tells us to put it off.
Colossians 3:8
But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
The Bible clearly tells us to put off sinful anger if we fall into it.
“Wrath,” by the way, is anger with an emphasis of vengeance or punishing others.
Ephesians 4:30-31
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
According to the passage, how does feel about our sinful anger? It grieves Him!
In the Colossians and Ephesians passages, we see four forms of anger:
Anger: a feeling and expression of strong displeasure or hostility.
Wrath: an expression punishing and vengeful anger.
Malice: a desire to harm others or to see others suffer.
Fury: violent or uncontrolled anger; rage.
Hatred: Intense animosity or hostility expressed and/or felt.
What are the causes of our anger?
Causes
Our Sinful Nature is the Underlying Cause
Our sinful nature is always the underlying cause of our anger. Although we are no longer in bondage to our sinful nature (Romans 6) since we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), we can choose not to put off the old man (Ephesians 4:22).
Before we were saved, we had no power to put off the old man. Now that we’ve been made a new creation, we have a new man to put on (Ephesians 4:24). When we are angry, we fail to put on the new man.
There are two causes of anger that springs forth from our sinful nature:
- Our sinful nature causes us to excuse and justify our anger.
- Our sinful nature causes us to excuse and justify our anger by blaming others.
First, we excuse ourselves and justify our anger by believing it’s not wrong or at least not too bad.
To justify means to show that something is reasonable and right. When we justify our anger, we not only excuse it as wrong we make it right in our own eyes.
However, sin by its nature is deceitful (Hebrews 3:13). We can fool ourselves that our anger isn’t sinful.
But the warning we all need to hear this morning is that we can’t fool God.
So how serious is our sin of anger? To gain a glimpse, let’s listen to the great Law Giver, Christ, for the answer.
Matthew 5:21-22
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in the danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Christ destroys the notion that our anger is not serious by equating it with murder. Jesus warns that both those who murder and those who are angry will be in danger of the same judgment, which is to say the same condemnation.
Some people on the streets have reacted to this by saying, “I have a cause!” In every case, defenses soared while justifying themselves with carnal logic.
Secondly, we excuse and justify our anger by blaming others. Blaming others for our anger is the natural excuse and justification. Natural? It’s in the nature of the old man.
When Adam and Eve rebelled in the garden by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they heard God walking in the garden and hid themselves because they were afraid.
Genesis 3: 9-13
9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” 12 Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13 And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
God questions Adam and Eve not because He doesn’t know what they’ve done but to give them the opportunity to fully acknowledge their sin. Although they admit to eating the forbidden fruit, they excuse it.
Adam blames God, saying, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” Eve blames the serpent, Satan, saying, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Adam and Eve did not take full responsibility for their sin. Their sin in the garden wasn’t merely rebellion against God’s command but also their failure to take full responsibility for their sin.
Today, as children of Adam, we have inherited the propensity to blame others for our sin. It’s inherent in the sinful nature, and for us as Christians the old man.
As I have seen in my life, and have observed in the lives of others, the greatest cause of anger is to excuse and justify it by blaming others.
Motives of Anger
What motivates us to be angry? Whether we are conscious of it or not, we want to control the person with whom we are angry. When we want to control someone with our anger and have no thought of Christ and His ways, this is the self-ambition James describes as demonic (James 3:14-15).
Often it is our desire to control others through subtle or not-so-subtle forms of punishment.
James 4:1-3
Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
When we are angry in a conflict with someone, we might ask for God’s help but do not receive it because we ask amiss—with a wrong motive—because we want to have our way rather than God’s way.
Our anger might produce the results that we want, but it will never produce the results that God wants.
The Results
Let’s first look at what anger doesn’t produce.
James 1:19-20
19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
When the motive of our anger is to punish and control others, it never produces the righteousness of God.
Let’s look at what the Bible says our anger produces.
Foolishness
Ecclesiastes 7:9
Be not quick in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools (ESV).
A person who becomes angry easily and quickly is described as a fool.
Strife
Strife is arguing and quarreling, which is often heated. It is bitter conflict and contention.
Proverbs 30:33
For the churning of milk produces butter, and pressing the nose brings forth blood; so the churning of anger produces strife.
As stiffing milk produces butter, so the stirring of anger produces conflicts and quarrels.
Proverbs 29:22
An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.
Defilement (Broken Fellowship)
The more we give in to anger, the harder it is to maintain fellowship with our brothers and sister in Christ.
Hebrews 12:14-15
14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
God describes bitterness as a root. Like a root, bitterness is usually not seen. It can be hidden from others and even hidden from ourselves.
When the farmer sows and waters, he gains the produce. When we sow the seeds of anger, wrath and bitterness, our produce is not the righteousness of God; our produce is a poisonous fruit that contaminates many.
Opportunity for the Devil
Ephesians 4:26-27
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil.
When we allow our anger to remain, it produces a place to the devil. Literally “place” in the Greek means a spot, limited space and limited occupancy. Figuratively, it means opportunity.
So when we let the sun go down on our wrath, we give the devil room to take up a space in our lives.
Separation from God
Jesus says in Matthew 5, “…whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.”
In Galatians 5, Paul writes, 9 Now the works of the flesh are evident…hatred, contentions…outbursts of wrath…those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1 John 3:15
15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Christians might fall into the trap of hating someone, but they know that it is sin and they will seek God’s help to overcome it. They will not stay there. A saved person will not make a practice of hating others.
Solution
Examine Ourselves
Word and prayer, not psychology
Psalm 139:23-24
Personal Illustration: when Sandi and I got married, we had conflicts and decided to seek out biblical counseling for help. We are not sinless but God is certainly doing a work in our lives.
Stop Blaming and Take Responsibility
We must stop giving excuses for our anger by blaming others, and begin taking responsibility for it (Matthew 7:1-5).
We must learn to see and remove log in our eye before we can rightly see how another might be contributing to the issue.
Put on Humility
My father-in-law, Bill Pittenger, counseled me that a spiritual leader will humble oneself in a conflict.
God’s Word says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).
Entrust our offenders to the Lord, praying for them.
Romans 12:19
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
Put on Love
Proverbs 10:12
Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.
Love suffers long and is willing to trust God and wait for Him to work in the situation.
Be slow to angry like God. The phrase “slow to anger” used in the Old Testament is very similar to “longsuffering” in the New Testament.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil
The love that God gives to us when we walk in the Spirit is not provoked. God wants to empower His children with His agape, other-centered, love.
Follow Jesus
Ephesians 4:32
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
On the cross, Jesus said, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Closing Prayer
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