Commands of Christ – 28d

Wednesday, October 26, 2022 Commands of Christ – 28d

Have you looked the handout over yet?

Does any of it make sense?

Your response to the handout: Anger: Facing the fire within

Even when just, our anger should be mitigated by a due consideration of the circumstances of the offence and the state of mind of the offender; of the folly and ill-results of this passion; of the claims of the gospel, and of our own need of forgiveness from others, but especially from God, Matthew 6:15.

Open: Last week we dealt with a Biblical account on the unrighteous anger of Cain.

NEXT week we deal with the outcomes of the righteous anger of Moses.

But, THIS week, let’s start by asking: do you have any counsel for Abel about how to deal with an angry Cain? If he had known about it (anger is often a public spectacle), how could/should he have dealt with it?

Remember, last week? We tend to …

5. The normalization of vengeful responses.

A quick scan of Twitter responses reveals that it is not unusual for responses not just to debate, rebuke, or confront, but to harm.

A person who is hurt by a post responds in a way that is calculated to hurt in return, to damage a person’s reputation, or even to attempt to end someone’s career.

(I would say: The same is often true of in-person responses.)

Here’s what we need to remember:

vengeful anger is always the result of some person trying to do God’s job. There is only one judge of the heart. There is only one who is able to mete out perfectly holy and just judgment.

This article is adapted from Reactivity: How the Gospel Transforms Our Actions and Reactions by Paul David Tripp.

The Works of the Flesh vs. The Fruit of the Spirit: Galatians 5:16-25 esp. Vs.20

READ: Exodus 2:9-15

 What did Moses observe about the conditions of his own people? (2:11)

 *How did Moses deliver his version of justice, and what happened as a result? (2:12-14)

 *Why did Moses flee Egypt, and where did he go? (2:15)

6. Why did Moses flee to Midian (Exodus 2:11-15)? (He was 40 years old at the time.)

 *What was right or wrong about Moses’ murdering the Egyptian slave master?

 *What makes it right or wrong to take justice into our own hands?

 What is it like to be caught for doing something wrong?

9. What kind of a person does Moses show himself to be in this chapter?

Adult Questions for LESSONMaker.

From: Adult Questions for LESSONMaker. LifeGuide Bible Studies - Exodus: Learning to Trust God.

Demand #18

Do Not Be Angry— Trust God’s Providence

You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, “You fool!” will be liable to the hell of fire.—Matt. 5:21–22

Again and again we have seen that Jesus demands what we, by ourselves, cannot do. Sometimes, as with the command to love or to believe, we try to make his demands doable by defining them as mere external acts or mere decisions of the will. We think these are more in our control than our emotions are. Perhaps. But when it comes to anger, Jesus explicitly does the opposite of what we try to do in making his commands more external and more doable. He is saying that the external act of murder is wrong and, more radically, that the internal experience of anger behind it is wrong. So he demands (along with the Law of Moses) that we not do the external act of murder, but goes further and demands that we not feel the internal emotion of anger that lies behind the act.

No One Decides to Get Angry

We can feel how radical this is if we stop to ponder that no one decides to get angry. We don’t see an outrageous act of heartless cruelty and injustice and then ponder whether anger would be a good response and then, after consideration, choose to start feeling the proper level of anger. Nobody lives that way. Anger happens. It’s spontaneous. It is not a rational choice. It is an unpremeditated experience. Something happens, and anger rises in our heart. What makes it rise when it does, and with the strength and duration it rises, is a combination of the evil we observe and the condition of our mind and heart. Jesus’ demand, therefore, is not that we master the expressions of our anger with self-control, though that is often what duty requires. His demand is that there be a change in our condition. He is calling for a deep inward transformation of mind and heart that does not give rise to the anger we should not have. He described this change in different ways: for example, new birth (Demand #1) and repentance (Demand #2) and faith (Demand #4).

Therefore, what we say in this chapter about the command not to be angry is rooted in the other teachings of Jesus. He is not interested in mere psychological and emotional changes. He is interested in newborn disciples who live by faith in his saving work and present help. He shed his blood; we experience forgiveness (Matt. 26:28). He paid the ransom; weare freed from the condemnation and bondage of sin (Mark 10:45; John 8:32). He brought the kingdom of God; we experience God’s transforming rule (Luke 11:20). He is the vine; we are the branches. Without him we can do nothing (John 15:5). That includes obeying the command not to be angry.

What Is Anger?

As with all emotions, which exist before words and independently of words, anger is hard to define with words. But we should try because evidently there are different experiences called anger, some of which are sinful and some of which are not. For example, in Mark 3:5 Jesus himself is angered by religious leaders who do not want him to heal a man on the Sabbath. “He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart.” And Jesus repeatedly referred to God’sanger either directly as the wrath of God in judgment (John 3:36; Luke 21:23) or indirectly in parables (Matt. 18:34; 22:7; Luke 14:21).

A standard English dictionary defines anger as “a strong feeling of displeasure and usually antagonism.” The reason the phrase “a strong feeling of displeasure” can’t stand by itself is that we don’t think of really bad tasting food as awakening anger, even though there may be strong displeasure. That displeasure needs another component before it is experienced as anger. If someone keeps feeding us terrible food, and we sense that they are doing it intentionally, then we may get angry. Anger seems to be a more or less strong displeasure about something that is happening willfully and, we feel, should not be happening.

Of course, we do sometimes get angry when that is not the case. If we trip over a root, we may turn around and kick the root in anger. If we bump our head on the kitchen cabinet, we may smack the cabinet door in anger. But in our best moments we look at those reactions as foolish. We intuitively sense that we are imputing willfulness to the root and the cabinet, as if they did something to us on purpose.

This is why the young Jonathan Edwards resolved not to get angry at inanimate objects. His Resolution #15 said, “Resolved, Never to suffer the least motions of anger towards irrational beings.” Therefore, the difference between anger and other emotions of displeasure is that anger involves strong displeasure with something that is happening intentionally that we think should not be happening.

Jesus’ Anger and Ours

If Jesus, as the ideal human being, could feel and express anger, we are compelled to ask what he is prohibiting in Matthew 5:22 when he said, “Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” In his human perfection he wove a whip and turned over the tables of the money-changers in the temple (John 2:15; Matt. 21:12). He felt anger and grief in the synagogue (Mark 3:5). He called the scribes and Pharisees children of hell (Matt. 23:15) and “blind fools” (Matt. 23:17) and “whitewashed tombs” (Matt. 23:27).

I do not assume that Jesus alone is permitted to experience anger because he is the Son of God and that no other humans may. The Bible that he read and affirmed (John 10:35; Matt. 5:18) described the anger of holy men of old (Exod. 32:19; Num. 16:15; Neh. 5:6; Ps. 4:4). I think the solution is found rather in trying to define what makes anger good and what makes it bad. He helps us do this both in the context of Matthew 5:22 and in the other things that he said. Let’s look first at the other things he said, then come back to the context of Matthew 5:22.

I see at least five factors in Jesus’ teaching that govern whether an experience of anger is legitimate or not. They can be described with five key words. In this chapter, we will deal with three of them: love, proportion, and providence. In the next chapter we will deal with mercyand servanthood as they relate to anger.

Love and Anger

For human anger to be good, it must be governed by love for those who make us angry. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you … do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you” (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27–28). These commands exert a controlling effect on the nature of our anger. They tell us that legitimate anger may not delight in or desire the damnation of the ones who make us angry. If our anger is going to be good, it must be governed by our obedience to the command to bless and pray for and do good to those who make us angry.

This shapes the very definition of anger. If we assume that anger always involves feelings of vindictiveness and vengeance and hostility, then by definition good anger is impossible. But that is not the only way godly people have experienced anger. Jesus’ own experience of anger tells us that good anger does exist. Therefore, we should define it so that it may be governed by love. In other words, we should assume that with Jesus’ help we can be angry with someone and at the same time pray for him, bless him, and do good to him. This anger would be a strong displeasure with what they have done—and even with the corrupt heart from which the deed came—but at the same time we would desire their good and pray for it and work for it. Such anger would not have to be evil.

Proportion and Anger

Jesus teaches that a holy response to evil should be proportionate to its degrees of moral flagrancy. For example, he illustrates God’s purpose to punish some people worse than others with this parable:

That servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. (Luke 12:47–48)

One implication from these words is that if punishment should vary because of different degrees of evil, then so should the degrees of anger in response to evil.

In other words, our anger should be governed not only by our love for the one who makes us angry, but also by the seriousness of his offense. If our anger is out of proportion to the offense, it is not good anger. This is more obvious when we think of not being angrier than the offense deserves. We have all experienced an anger that is more intense than the offense calls for. A father raging against a three-year-old son and hitting him uncontrollably would be a clear example of anger that is out of proportion.

It is less obvious that too little anger might be a fault as well. The absence of anger in the presence of evil is not necessarily a fault. Jesus clearly tells us not to be angry with our brother (at least in some circumstances), which implies that there must be situations in which anger would seem to be natural, but we should not have it. How that is possible we will see in a moment. But for now we must also say that there are bad reasons for not getting angry as well as good ones. A person may be undiscerning or insensible about the seriousness of sin, the offense that it is to God, and the damage it can do to people. The absence of anger in such a case is disproportionate to the seriousness of evil and is not good.

Providence and Anger

One of the greatest truths that Jesus taught to help us be free from sinful anger is the truth of God’s all-encompassing providence—that is, his wise and sovereign control over all things for the good of his children. The rise and strength of our anger should be governed by our trust in God’s providence—that he is ruling over the evil that makes us angry and will not let anything befall us that is not ultimately good for us.

The rage that could rise in our hearts when we are treated unjustly and when we watch loved ones treated cruelly would be natural and strong. When dealing with these threats, Jesus spoke directly to our fear, not our anger. But the implications for anger are plain. He said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:28–31).

The point is, first, that the smallest details of life on earth are governed by God—not a bird falls to the ground apart from him. And the second point is that God is near, and his acquaintance with our situation is total—even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Conclusion: Nothing will befall you apart from his wise and loving providence over your circumstances. Don’t fear. And, by implication, don’t be angry in a way that contradicts your confidence in God’s care over your life. God’s providence should change the way we experience circumstances that would otherwise be totally infuriating.

When he was predicting what would befall his disciples in the future Jesus said, “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish” (Luke 21:16–18). Here again we are assured in a shocking way that even if we are killed for Christ (“some of you they will put to death”), nevertheless we will be totally safe—“not a hair of your head will perish.” God’s providence will govern all the evil that comes against us so that his good purposes are fulfilled. This will have an effect on the way we experience anger. Evil is being done, but it does not have the last say, and in the end even serves God’s hidden designs. There may be anger, but the bitterness and sting and hostility of it will be removed by this confidence.

Rejoice in Persecution

One of the clearest illustrations of how God’s providence overcomes the controlling effect of anger is Jesus’ command that we rejoice when we are persecuted unjustly. He says, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11–12). Few things would ordinarily make us angrier than such unjust treatment. Not only are we being hurt by this reviling and persecution, but Jesus emphasizes that it is “evil” and it is “false.” These factors tend to infuriate us.

But Jesus utterly transforms that ordinary, understandable emotional experience of anger. Instead of saying, “Be legitimately angry,” or “Try to control your anger,” he says the most incredible thing imaginable: “Rejoice and be glad.” The language in Luke 6:23 is even more extraordinary. He says, “Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy.” Anger at being persecuted unjustly cannot be unaffected by this command. Our rage at unjust treatment cannot remain untransformed if we rejoice over the same treatment.

Rejoicing does not mean that we approve of the treatment. It does not mean that we stop thinking it is unjust. It probably does not mean there is no anger whatsoever. Some kind of holy anger—strong emotional disapproval—may be emotionally compatible with joy. The human soul in the image of God is that complex. And we know, from all that Jesus taught us about God, that God experiences anger and joy simultaneously because he sees and responds perfectly to all evil and all good at the same time.

Our joy in the presence of persecution is possible because of God’s providence. Not a hair of your head will perish (when they kill you). Not a bird (or a hateful blow to your head) falls without the will of your Father. Providence governs your suffering. And in the end, “Your reward is great in heaven.” This is Jesus’ argument why joy and not anger can dominate our experience of persecution: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matt. 5:12). Therefore, good anger is governed by faith in the all-wise, all-powerful, merciful providence of God.[1]

[1]Piper, J. (2006). What Jesus demands from the world (pp. 138–145). Crossway Books.

From: Adult Questions for LESSONMaker.