Flirting with Disaster: Anger | Ecclesiastes 7:9
Flirting With Disaster • Sermon • Submitted
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· 411 viewsAnger won't sway me when the Spirit has His way in me.
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ME
ME
I’ve been angry a lot in my life.
When I was a young kid, I had a huge temper.
If any kid did something to upset me, I was ready to fight.
Kids like David Williams, who would run around our daycare in circles with his hands out, hitting people, walls, etc.
I got into it with him a few times.
Jake Pyburn found ways to irritate me pretty much every day.
We fought all the time.
David Taylor.
He was mean as a snake, reminded me of the bully from “A Christmas Story”
But I didn’t mess with that dude, bc he was older and about a foot taller than me.
Like Gomer from Andy Griffith said “I’m dumb but I ain’t stupid.”
I had a temper and liked to fight a little, but I wasn’t stupid enough to mess with that guy.
As I grew older, the temper calmed down a bit… but then it came back up in my teen years.
It never really went away, just kind of hid for a while.
I remember a few years before Christ saved me that I went through this death metal faze (ridiculous I know)
Loud guitar, drums, fast paced, screaming, all the kind of stuff that will make your ears bleed.
One day, I was driving down to my buddy's house, headbanging while I was driving! I’m going down this steep hill and somehow in the midst of my stupidity I hit the gear shifter, moving it from "D" to "R" at around 35 mph.
If you're a driver in the room, you know that's NOT a good move!
Here’s why it wasn’t a good move:
I blew up the engine in my first car in the DUMBEST possible way.
I was angry about everything before I met Christ and had the Holy Spirit of God within me.
I would listen to metal, push around people in moshpits, and try to vent all the anger inside of me, but it only provided a temporary fix.
WE
WE
Here’s the thing:
We're all capable of this unholy, evil anger in our lives without Christ.
Truth is, it's really easy to get angry and let loose on people.
We feel really good about it in the moment because we are letting all this stuff out, and they hurt us anyway so they deserve it!
But we won't learn a thing from lashing out like that.
We’ll just make fools of ourselves, lose a potential friend, and certainly destroy our witnesses as Christians.
But we like to make all sorts of excuses for our anger, don’t we?
Have you ever heard someone say, “Well, I’m ___________ (a nationality like Irish, German, or whatever), so I have a temper”? Is it true that we’re a slave to our upbringing, nationality, or environment? Not according to the Bible. As Christians, we’re new creations of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). That doesn’t mean God sanded down the old to make the new. That doesn’t mean he reshaped the old to make the new. New means new. It wasn’t there before. In 2 Peter 1:3–4 this new creation is further explained as the “divine nature” and “divine power” within us.
What an incredible thought, that we no longer have to be slaves to our sinful environments!
Galatians 5:17 explains that the flesh and the Spirit certainly battle it out, but we’re not a slave to the old self. So, while saying “I’m just angry bc of my heritage” or bc “I grew up with a crazy family,” may be said in jest or to sound “cute,” it is merely an excuse that the Bible doesn’t allow us as Christians to make.
Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit that our flesh fights REALLY hard against, but it's a must in the life of a Christ follower.
GOD
GOD
Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.
The image of anger resting in the lap of fools is a contrary image, because anger doesn’t rest. The image portrays anger being nurtured and fed, like a baby resting in his or her mother’s arms.
Many of you are parents and you’ve held, cared for and fed your child. You do this because you love your children and want them to be taken care of and you want them to grow.
In the same way, when we get mad at someone or something, it’s like we enjoy that anger.
We love it!
We want to feed it and hold on to it until it grows.
A lot like teenage boys who are bottomless pits, we like to feed this anger and watch it grow into something huge.
When the peace of the mind is lashed with anger, torn and rent, as it were, it is thrown into confusion, so that it is not in harmony with itself and loses the force of the inward likeness.
By anger, wisdom is cast off, so that we are left wholly in ignorance of what to do and in what order to do it.
-Gregory the Great
Fools have short fuses and explode all too quickly;
the prudent quietly shrug off insults.
A quick-tempered person does foolish things,
and the one who devises evil schemes is hated.
What’s the common denominator in these Bible passages?
Easily angered people act like fools.
They may be very intelligent, but anger can bring them down to a child’s mentality.
In Hebrew, the expression for quick-tempered is “short-nostrils”
*Show pic of pug dog*
When I think of short nostrils, I think of little pug dogs.
These dogs are kind of ugly-cute right?
But they have these flat faces with short nostrils that makes it hard for them to breath.
Sounds like they are coughing up a lung any time they try to take a breath...
If you’re a pug owner, my apologies (I’m sure your dog is amazing!), but people who are quick-tempered kind of look and act like pugs when that temper lets loose.
They start breathing harder and barking (yelling) and going on instinct rather than thinking things through.
All because the ice cream machine was “broken” again at McDonald’s.
Quick-tempered people want what they want when they want it.
They lack patience and create a pile of problems of their own making.
And they leave behind a path of devastation.
Maybe that’s why Jesus offers this stern warning in the book of Matthew:
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister, will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Matthew: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition
Jesus reveals what motivates murder and anger and prohibits this attitude. Just as one who murders is liable to judgment, anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Anger is the same as murder.
Jesus then provides examples of other ways in which anger may manifest: Anyone who says to a brother or sister, “Raca,” is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, “You fool!” will be in danger of the fire of hell (v 22b).Raca is an Aramaic term meaning “one who lacks intelligence,” a “numbskull, fool”.
The penalty of labeling someone raca is trial before the Jewish court, and calling someone a fool carries a harsh sentence, danger of the fire of hell. These are warnings not to let anger gain a foothold lest Jesus’ followers insult others, or it develops into murder. This is a clear example of Jesus’ radicalization of the Mosaic law that reveals God’s holy purposes. Not only is it insufficient not to murder, but also, one must not let the heart be overcome with anger that would lead to harmful actions in word or deed.
-Robert Snow
Now, I know it can be REALLY tempting to call someone a fool, idiot, or numbskull when we’re made at them.
(Think of how easily we do this to referees at ball games or while we’re driving!)
But when Jesus says we will be in danger of the fire of hell when we do these kinds of things, it would benefit us to listen and stop doing those things!
You see, when we lose it on someone and put them down, we might feel like we’ve won.
But chances are, we’ve lost a friend or our witness as a Christian instead.
Christ cares about how we treat other people.
“But what if they’re terrible people?! What it they hurt me and my family?! What if they just have it in for me?!”
Jesus didn’t excuse us from loving them...
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
*Title Slide*
You know why I think Jesus said to pray for those who persecute us?
It’s impossible to hate someone you’re genuinely praying for.
I’m not talking about praying they get what’s coming to them… but praying for things like their salvation.
Praying you can share the love of Christ with them.
You can’t say “I just hate that guy!” when you’re praying for them in this way...
Anger is really simple:
When I'm angry, I'm not getting something that I want.
Things aren't working out like I think they should.
Now if I'm angry about things like child trafficking or people living in poverty or people showing favoritism bc I know that's not what God wants and it moves me to try and do something to change those things, that's a good anger.
It's why Jesus turned the tables in the temple bc people were profiting off of it instead of furthering His Father's purposes in the world.
But if I'm throwing a fit bc I’ m not getting what I want, that's not a good anger. That's petty, childish and selfish.
And here's the thing: we've all been there.
Some of us naturally get fired up quicker than others.
I'm a slow burner like a crock pot. I know lots of folks who are more like a broiler.. they get hot in a hurry!
Slow burners tend to dwell on stuff and hold grudges.
Quick burners tend to get over whatever it is in a hurry.
But if the Holy Spirit of God is inside of me and I'm giving Him full control, I'm not going to lose my mind and let anger control me.
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.
The imagery of walking here refers to the habitual ethical conduct of one’s life.
If you walk daily in the Power of the Holy Spirit you will NOT give in to the sinful flesh.
The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
*Title Slide*
Hatred and witchcraft?
Both sins...
Fits of rage and getting drunk?
Both sins...
Discord, jealousy, dissensions, factions.
All sins...
Paul’s list of vices refers to the kinds of things sinful humans usually do when they act out of self-interest, without regard to what God wants or how their behavior impacts others.
HATRED
Echthrai. The word hatred is an abstract noun derived from the adjective echthros, “enemy.” Here, Paul seemed to refer to those who had contempt for others, a typical characteristic of the self-obsessed.
DISCORD, JEALOUSY, DISSENSION, FACTIONS
Eris. The words discord, “jealousy” (NRSV), “dissension,” and “factions” describe the failure of civil discourse in a deeply divided community. Unhealthy disputes, competition, dissension, petty jealousy, factionalism, and quarreling have replaced conversation. As a result, there remains no room for private opinions or negotiation of differences.
It’s important to remember that Paul is writing to a church here.
Unfortunately, there have always been churches that had drama.
Because the devil knows the church of Jesus Christ is the only hope for the world and he gets a hold of some churchgoers because they get distracted from their mission to make disciples.
So you get folks in church who get mad at people over stuff that doesn’t matter and they decide to do one of two things:
I’m not getting my way so I’m leaving (and bad mouthing the church as I go)
I’m going to get those people out that I’m mad at.
Both options are selfish and demonic.
My father-in-law, 3 brother-in-laws, and my wife’s grandfather were and are currently Nazarene Pastors.
The stories they have told me of selfish, angry, bitter church people throughout their 100+ years of combined ministry would amaze you.
I’ve got a few of my own as well.
What I’ve learned from these stories and God’s Word is this:
There will be times when we disagree on things in church. But there should never be a time when we fail to speak in love to our brothers and sisters in Christ.
"Fits of Anger”
Thymoi is derived from the verb thyō, describing “a violent movement of air”. The connection with anger may be due to the fuming and snorts typically accompanying fits of rage or “outbursts of anger.”
Again, think of a pug dog trying to breathe, that’s what it’s like when someone lets loose in a fit of rage.
So we’ve seen these angry, hateful acts in a person controlled by the flesh.
Let’s see how someone who is controlled by the Holy Spirit acts:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
PATIENCE
The Spirit enables Christians to be long-tempered as opposed to short-tempered. Patience means giving others a second chance when they fail—and a third, and fourth, and so on. Patience entails forgiving without being asked. It means giving others the same advantage of the doubt we like to be given when we fail to live up to our ideals. When we practice patience, we see others less for what they are now, than for what they could be by the grace of God.
When I remember how patient some loving Christians were with me when I was a Prodigal, I can’t help but be patient with students who are struggling with sin.
It hurts me to see them like that, but I know how the grace of God can transform them because I know how He changed me.
We can look at the world around us and see how terrible it is and the sin that is all over the place and just want to complain and grumble and get mad about it.
(Honestly, I fall into this trap sometimes!)
Or, we can look at this broken world, have our hearts broken for those who are lost in sin, pray with and love those who are lost, and look forward with optimism of what the grace of God can do in their lives.
Ultimately, Living by the Spirit means that God has His way in my life and I'm not worried about getting my way in everything.
Look at your neighbor and say “It ain’t about my way, but God’s way!”
ANGER WON’T SWAY ME WHEN THE SPIRIT HAS HIS WAY IN ME
ANGER WON’T SWAY ME WHEN THE SPIRIT HAS HIS WAY IN ME
YOU
YOU
"Being offended is inevitable. Living offended is a choice."
"The day of your hurt should be the day of your healing. The same day that someone offends you, should be the very same day that as a follower of Jesus you're working to bring reconciliation to that relationship."
-Craig Groeschel
*TITLE SLIDE*
Are you living life offended and mad at the world?
Are you mad about something that happened to you years ago and just can’t get past it?
Does anger have control of your life?
"When's the last time you've listened to someone who's way different than you?
The last time you loved someone way different from you?
Not agreed with them. LISTENED TO THEM. LOVED THEM instead of lashing out in anger at them or sharing an angry FB post about them?
God wants to set you free from the bondage of anger, because when you live life angry, you’re flirting with disaster.
WE
WE
How different could our relationships be if we reconciled on the day of our misunderstandings?
How different would our churches be if we learned to work things out instead of churches splitting?
Sometimes this requires us setting aside what we want in a situation.
Sometimes it's understanding that my way may not always be the best way.
And that requires HUMILITY.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
The more prideful we become as a society, the more right we seem to think we are and the more hostile we grow.
Now there are some things we as Christians don't budge on.
Like Jesus is Lord and Savior and the only way to heaven and Creator of All things.
That’s an essential for a Christian.
"In essentials, unity; In non-essentials, liberty; In all things, charity."
John Wesley
Here's the thing about this though: we don't have to be jerks about telling the truth.
I know society is in a bad place and sometimes it puts us on edge and we just want to lash out bc we want people to know the truth!
You know who the most honest people in the world are?
TODDLERS.
My 3 yr old girl will absolutely tell you the truth as she sees it.
She ain't worried about whether you like it or not or whether it's appropriate.
Here's an example:
*Elena and Joey Video*
“Every time you put shoes on, you put pants on.”
Maybe not necessarily in that order...
So, kids can be cute when they are honest like this.
However, there's also something called "tantrums."
Where they're honest, but also filled with anger as their throw their fit!
Many of you know this, but as a parent, it ain't fun when your kid is in tantrum mode!
Why do toddlers do this?
Go from sweet to aahhhhh in a matter of moments?
They didn't get their way and they want to express their feelings and they don't know how to control those feelings yet.
Some of us still haven't learned to control our feelings and we let it loose just like toddlers do.
Ephesians tells us that we need to grow up and get past that toddler way thinking and reacting.
We must be quick to remember this: Truth must always be tempered with love.
Ephesians 4:15 (NIV)
speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
*Title Slide*
I want you to hear me:
There is nothing more that satan wants to do than divide, distract, and destroy the church of Jesus Christ.
He will never succeed in destroying the church because Jesus said that He would build His church and the gates of hell won't stand against it.
But you know where he does succeed sometimes?
In dividing and distracting us.
Getting us fighting each other and getting us sidetracked on the wrong things.
Fussing about the non-essentials and treating corporate worship as optional as long as we don't have something "more important" to do.
What would happen if we put aside the distractions and worshipped God in Spirit and in truth?
Treated each other with love and kindness?
Showed people who aren’t yet Christians the love that Christ has shown us?
In a world full of anger and hatred, we would be the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
It has already begun with the Asbury Revival, which has spread to Alabama and Michigan and Texas and Israel and Mexico and Australia and places we don’t even know about yet.
If we allow the Holy Spirit of God to have His way among us, we won’t have time to be angry at the world or each other.
Because life won’t be about us, but about the Holy Spirit displaying His fruit through us in tangible ways each and every day.
In a world full of anger, hatred, and impatience, may we as followers of Christ be DIFFERENT.
May we leave this place and allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in us as we spread the love, peace and patience of Christ.
PRAYER
PRAYER