Be Careful of Anger
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Have you ever had someone point something out about you…correct you? How did that feel? What was your reaction?
Generally it is not comfortable to be told what your faults are. We don’t get warm fuzzies when someone corrects something in us.
For me, it depends on who is pointing out my faults. There are some people in my life that I can hear correction from. I’ll listen and hear them out and possibly even apologize or make a change.
There are other people that when they offer a point of correction, all I hear is criticism and I get defensive and may even respond with pointing out their faults.
As I have matured a little bit, as I get closer to my older and wiser years, I am better able to see how much I didn’t have right and if I am completely honest, how much I still don’t have right.
These next few weeks, for the rest of chapter 5, Jesus is going to offer some correction. I imagine that after he shared some of these corrections, there were some that may have responded just like I have…How dare he try to correct me…who does he think he is...
We have the benefit of history to now know that he is the Son of God and that he came with all authority to teach, but I doubt everyone walked away happy to hear their ways of life and interpretations of the law challenged.
Yet we still have to weigh what Jesus has to say in terms of our own life and what it is that we are doing, or not doing.
What will we do with it? Continue to justify our decisions and do what we want or will we make a change?
In these next few weeks, each of the passages starts with the phrase “You have heard it said...” and then Jesus says “but...” He will challenge the ways in which scripture has been read and not negate that meaning, but give deeper understanding to the meaning of those scriptures.
Today’s passage is going to speak directly to the issue of anger. Let’s read starting in Matthew, chapter 5, Verse 21...
21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 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.
Jesus is making a connection between anger and murder. As I’ve thought about this connection, I would venture a guess to say that many, if not all, of the cases of murder started with anger. I’m not sure you can get to murder without anger.
Jesus then gives a solution for some of the anger in the world...
23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift.
The image of a gift at the altar would have given the people of that day the image of bringing a sacrifice to God according to the Old Testament rules. A sacrifice that was meant to reconcile. Jesus that these laws and his teaching is all about reconciliation. Reconciliation starts with us being reconciled one to another.
If we see that someone has a problem with us, we are to first go and be reconciled. Then come and be reconciled to God.
Sometimes that’s not possible, sometimes there will be those people who are adversaries. Jesus has something to say about that:
25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
It will not always be possible to settle matters and reconcile. No matter how hard we try, a reconciled relationship requires two parties. I would go back to the beginning of this passage in order to challenge us in our relationships...
22 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.
Are you angry with this other person. Perhaps you think you have every right to be angry because of what they’ve done or not done. Jesus says here that if we are angry, we will be subject to judgment.
Those are pretty definitive words. We are do our best to reconcile our anger and forgive. We are to let go of that anger. To hold onto anger is sin.
I know that’s not a necessarily a sin we typically challenge. In fact, I see where Christians who are in the media spotlight allow their anger to be a badge of honor when talking politics or about an issue in the world. I don’t think Jesus would approve of that.
Here are a couple of other passages of scripture that talk about anger:
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
There is only one person I know who I’ve seen be capable of righteous anger, and that person was Jesus in John 2 when he clear the temple courtyard of the money changers.
If you have anger that you’ve been holding onto and have been justifying as righteous anger, I want to challenge you today.
I don’t think any anger we are holding onto is righteous anger.
I would say that when we hang onto anger, we are not trusting that God will take care of whatever it is that we are angry about.
I am not saying we should negate any hurt we have and not be angry. I know there are life stories in this room that if we heard them we would sympathetic with the hurt. Not minimizing that one bit.
I think Jesus would hurt right there with the person and he would want us to hurt with that person. I cannot find any place in scripture where Jesus would encourage us in anger.
I think Jesus would push us toward reconciliation and forgiveness. That’s why he came.
What I am about to say next, you will be tempted to say to someone else. Perhaps there is someone who has exhibited anger toward you and you’ll want to quote what I am about to say in those moments that anger comes out. I want to warn you…that will not be helpful.
This is for you and only you. Apply this to you and to no one else.
Unresolved anger is sin
But like many other sin issues that we deal with, we find them hard to get rid of. We repent, we feel bad and vow to do better, but then...
We pray, we read our Bible, then out of anger we yell at our spouse because of some slight. And we wonder where that came from.
In our Thursday night time watching the Conquer Series, they are talking about sexual bondage as a habitual sin that both men and women find themselves in.
Many times this sin found it’s seed planted at a very young age. A seed planted by a trauma, by a hurt, by a loss…and rather than properly deal with that seed, it takes root and grows.
I think anger falls in that same category. We’ve gone through something that we haven’t fully forgiven and so we punish those close to us as a proxy for that hurt
Something that wounded us deeply and now we believe the lie that we have to protect ourselves at all costs…even at the cost of angry outbursts.
Over the last two years I’ve been on a healing journey. A journey that has caused me to look at unforgiveness, hurts from the past, lies the enemy wants me to believe.
As Ephesians 4 said:
26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold.
Each of those areas of unforgiveness, hurts and lies were tiny footholds that I didn’t realize that devil had in my life. I’m far from perfect, but I can testify that by dealing with those footholds, I am a less angry man than I used to be. Not perfect, but closer than I’ve ever been.
To get there, I had to be open and honest about it all. I had a few close people walk me through processing those things and encouraging me to replace unforgiveness with forgiveness, to replace the hurts with healing through Jesus and then to replace the lies I was saying about myself with truths from scripture.
We have a couple more challenges from Jesus in the weeks ahead. Today the challenge is about anger. Is this something you need to repent of?
Here’s how you know…if I were to talk candidly to the people closest to you…your spouse, your kids, your parents, your best friend...would they say that they are afraid you will get angry? Would they describe you as an angry person?
In just a minute, we are going to allow some time to do some business with God about this. We want to pray for you. We want to see you set free.
Not only do you need to do business with God, but you need to do business with those in your life that have been impacted by your anger. Ask their forgiveness. Commit to searching for the source of your anger.
Jesus said to leave your gift at the altar, go reconcile and come back and offer your gift. Let next week be a testimony of relationships reconciled and healed.