“In Your Anger...”
Ephesians 4:26-5:2
Most of you probably know that the Apostle Paul wrote 13 (or 14) of the 27 books of the New Testament, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit... including the book of Ephesians. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians was intended to be circulated… passed around to the various churches in the region around Ephesus. Churches that were a lot like our church, this church… They were small churches, they had to decide what direction they would go and what kind of church they intended to be. They were churches with conflicts, and struggles, both inside and out, and they were churches had to deal with very kind of emotion… including anger.
Scripture lesson begins, “In your anger do not sin.” “In your anger” - seems to be implying that anger is a given. Some translations even read, “be angry.” Of course, that’s the easiest commandment in the whole Bible! No doubt the easiest for follow.
It’s easy to become angry when you watch the evening news and you see how incredibly despicable we can act towards one another. When you pick up the newspaper and you read about child abuse, child neglect. Murder, theft, robbery... the list goes on-and-on. Some jerk driver, pulls out right in front of you and nearly causes you to wreck! Lies and corruption that we hear, and we read about, from our own government leaders! Politics has a way of making us angry! We have a government that’s supposed to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people” - that often seems concerned about anything but the people! It makes you angry!
Anger is a fairly easy emotion for most of us. It just happens! It’s a way we’re made. And it’s something all of us are called to deal with.
And the first thing that we need to do, as admit that we all get angry! I know that doesn’t sound like much of a revelation, but sometimes we don’t hear that message much in church. Most of the time in church were simply told we shouldn’t be angry… we
shouldn’t get mad… or as Christians, we are called to restrain or repress our anger. So we tend to automatically assume anger is bad.
But the fact of the matter is, even God gets angry. God gets angry at sin… He gets angry at corruption… Angry when we put other gods before him. Jesus got angry when he saw the house of God being used in ways and it was never intended to be used. He got so angry that he fashioned a whip! I saw a meme recently that read, “At this point, Jesus doesn’t need to take the wheel... he needs to pull over and spank y’all with a flip flop.”
Jesus also got angry with the Pharisees and their self righteousness… He was even angry at times with His own disciples, expressing his frustration at their inability to seem to understand what he was trying to teach.
If nothing else, all of that should indicate for you and for me that there are times when anger is OK. Sometimes anger is necessary. In fact, it’s been said, “he who is not angry when he has caused to be, sins.”
Some things in this life need to make us angry. Seeing people deliberately abused and mistreated… Seeing faith, or religion used for personal gain, seeing the powerful oppress the weak… should make us angry.
Of course, anger can be constructive… It can motivate us to “fight the good fight” by speaking out against evil and wrongdoing... it can propel our involvement in working to make things better.
So, in that light, anger can be a good thing! After all, it’s an emotion that we all possess, that was created by God. And God intends us to use that gift constructively. Paul did not say, “do not become angry.“ He said, “don’t let your anger lead you into sin.” Anger becomes a sin when we allow the anger to control us! Proverbs 15:18 tells us, “those who are hot tempered stir-up strife, but those who are slow to anger, calm contention.”
Of course, a long time ago, anger made the list of the “seven deadly sins.” And in someway, that’s unfortunate. Because anger of itself is not a sin… Again, Jesus got angry, and Jesus never sinned. But the way we deal with can be sinful. When anger controls us, when our anger reaches the point that we’re no longer the master our emotions… It can have explosive potential for making things worse! And that’s why anger deserves its place as one of the potential “seven deadly sins.”
So Paul gives us some wise advice… Some sage instruction about anger, and it’s about the best advice you’re gonna find anywhere. Paul says, “be angry but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.”
The Revised English Bible translates this verse “do not let sunset find you nursing your anger.” I like that. Because it gets to the point of what Paul is trying to tell us. Fact is, we like to nurse our anger at times, don’t we? We like to feed it… and watch it grow. Instead of cutting it off, and dealing with a constructive way… We allow it to ruin friendships, to destroy relationships… it can even destroy churches.
Of course, I live in the same world you live in. I’m not immune to anger anymore than any of you. There are days that just start off wrong. When it’s 97° and you feel about as soggy as wet toast. The kids are fighting. There’s no food in the house… so you go to the grocery store, running your cart over a big display of paper towels. You get to the checkout to find that you left your wallet at home & you have $.59 in your pocket. So you go home without food, in the heat, with the kids screaming. And look out... all of that built-up anger is bound to be unleashed on the next person you run into. Sound familiar?
Of course, at other times… Instead of turning our anger outwardly on others, we turn it inwardly towards ourselves. And anger turned inward is a classic recipe for depression. Events and circumstances in our lives that we simply can’t control often make us angry, and in an attempt to control that anger… we end up containing it… where it destroys us from the inside.
God’s Word is right: and if we don’t deal with our anger… when we nurse our anger… we leave the door wide open for disaster. So what can we do? How do we deal constructively as followers of Christ with the anger that we face so often in this life?
Our lesson from Ephesians says that we should deal with it right away. That’s what “before the sun goes down” means! Right? Deal with your anger, now! Tell the person who’s made you angry, how you feel. And if you can’t do that, maybe you need to talk to someone to get it off your chest so to speak. Just talking about what it’s frustrating you the most can be a huge relief. And if talking to friends, talking to family doesn’t work… maybe, just maybe… You could take that anger to the foot of the cross. Take it to Jesus.
God is big enough to handle our anger, even when it’s directed at him. Isn’t it good to know? Jesus said, “come unto me, you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” Anger can be a heavy burden to bear… and sharing your feelings with God, releasing that burden to Christ… lightens the load like nothing else can. Prayer is a vital part of our faith… and prayer is a vital part of dealing with anger.
My friends, in the church, we need to promote the idea that it’s OK to deal with anger. And we need to learn how to handle our anger in ways that are appropriate, and bring honor and glory to God, and foster and environment of self-respect, and love. These ancient words from the Bible still speak to us today: “be angry, but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not leave room for the devil.”
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