Anger

Anger of Man and Intimacy with God

I want to focus on two short passages of scripture tonight…and actually a third at the end, to challenge us tonight in a way that grows us in our faith and that, as our mission emphasizes, helps us walk in intimacy with Jesus.

James 1:19-20 19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

John 1:32-33 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

Prayer

Last week we talked about temptation - a challenging message that forces us to examine ourselves and where we are weak, where we are out of the will of God. One of the temptations that we often face is anger. Who thought last week’s message was a challenging one? Who enjoys a challenging message? For those of you who enjoy a challenging message, I have good news. Tonight’s message will be another challenging one. We’re going to look at 1) Recognizing anger in our own hearts, and 2) releasing that anger. Because as we’ll see tonight, living with anger in our hearts stunts our Spiritual growth. It prevents us from walking in what God has called us to.

Dangerous Anger

Now, the Bible shows us that we can be angry and still be in the will of God - that’s called righteous anger…so I want to go ahead and clarify the difference. We can be righteously angry when we see injustice. We can be angry when we see people taken advantage of in the name of God. We can be angry when thousands of unborn lives are taken in our country each year in the name of convenience. We are not wrong to be angry at things like that. The Bible actually says that we should be angry and not sin. Ephesians 4:26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.Here’s what it means..we can be angry about things like those I mentioned before, but in order for it to remain a Godly anger, we have to leave it there..don’t let it build..and don’t let it lead to other sin. Because the moment that our anger leads to bitterness, or malice, or hatred, or any other sin…then it’s no longer righteous anger…It’s what James calls “the anger of man.” And that’s what we’re going to focus on tonight, so…

Let’s dive into the text: James 1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

1- He says “know this, my beloved brothers”...he’s saying “I love you, and I want you to know this truth, because it will change your life”

2- The book of James is often referred to as the Proverbs of the NT because it is loaded with practical wisdom... Instructions that you can follow right now, no matter where you are in your walk with God, and it’ll grow you in your faith. And here’s a great example. You ought to be 1) Quick to hear, 2) slow to speak, and 3) Slow to anger.

Quick to hear: Most of the time, when we find ourselves in an argument, we’re trying to win the argument. We’re not trying to understand what the other person is saying. We’re just trying to win the argument - trying to tell the other person how we’re right and they’re wrong. In other words, we’re not hearing to understand; we’re hearing to respond. What happens when we do that? Anger builds. Anger builds in us and it breeds more sin. Practical wisdom is being quick to hear. When we are not quick to hear, then we are quick to anger.

Slow to speak: Later on in this book, James is going to say that our tongue is a restless evil full of deadly poison. Essentially, the wisdom of taming the tongue in James ch. 3 is that if you’re in the flesh, if you’re not walking in the Spirit, then you shouldn’t even speak. We should be slow to speak because if we’re in the flesh and our lips are moving, then we’re sinning..and often we are sinning in anger. If we are quick to speak, then we are quick to anger and quick to sin.

Then James says that we should be Slow to anger because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

In this life, we are striving, as Christians, to walk in the will of God wherever we go, in whatever we do. When James says that the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God, he’s saying that if we are holding on to anger in our hearts, then it is impossible for us to simultaneously walk in the will of God.

If we live with anger in our hearts, then it is impossible for us to walk in the closeness with God that’s available to us. The level of anger, the degree of anger, that we have, is directly correlated to how closely we walk with God, how intimate our relationship with Jesus Christ is…

And that’s what I want to take a look at tonight.

2. Intimacy With God - The Sensitivity of the Spirit

So, the passage of scripture I want to look at next comes out of John chapter one, where we see the baptism of Jesus. And you may be thinking, “how in the world is James’ instruction on anger connected to John’s account of Jesus’ baptism?” Well, first of all, both passages of scripture have the same author (God). 2 Tim 3:16 - All scripture is God breathed. The Bible is the Word of God for you and me, the people of God.

Second, they are both related to God’s nature and how God’s nature, specifically the nature of the Holy Spirit, impacts our closeness with God. And how anger in our hearts impacts our intimacy with God.

John 1:32-33 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

This is one of the coolest moments in the history of the world. We see the Holy Trinity right there in one scene. Jesus is baptized. The Father says, “this is my Son with whom I am well pleased.” And the Bible says that the Holy Spirit descended from heaven like a dove and remained on Jesus..some versions say “rested on Him.” That’s where we get the line from the song we were worshiping to earlier. We’re saying, “God, let your presence, let your Holy Spirit rest on us.”

Sensitivity to the Spirit vs. Sensitivity of the Spirit.And last week when we talked about sensitivity TO the Holy Spirit. Remember? When it comes to resisting and defeating temptation, we have to be sensitive to the conviction of the Holy Spirit that we’re feeling. That way when He says, red flag, this is bad, we flee from that temptation if we can and if we can’t flee, then we fight back with the Word of God. And that is based on our sensitivity TO the Holy Spirit. Are you with me?

This week I want to focus on the sensitivity OF the Holy Spirit. Please understand that the Holy Spirit is sensitive. To say that the Holy Spirit is sensitive is to acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is a person..the third person of the Trinity. He’s not a thing, He’s not an idea, and He’s not an “it”. The Bible, in John 16, calls the Holy Spirit “He”. And He has a character and He has many attributes that reveal who He is and how He works.

Throughout scripture, the Holy Spirit is represented by several different things…

Oil: to show the He represents anointing, and the power to heal

Fire: to show not only His power power - but fire as a means of purification and sanctification - it is the purifying fire of the Spirit that makes us more holy.

Wind: Invisible, somewhat unpredictable, all-powerful.

And while we understand and we recognize the power of the Holy Spirit, in this passage of scripture, He is represented as a dove.

And a dove is one of the most sensitive creatures in the world. While the Holy Spirit is all-powerful like a purifying fire or a mighty rushing wind, He is also sensitive - like a dove.

And like a dove is sensitive to the slightest disturbance in the environment, the Holy Spirit is extremely sensitive to our sin and disobedience

The Bible says that the Spirit remained on Jesus. He remained because Jesus never did anything to make the presence of God flee. We aren’t Jesus..we are not without sin.

And our actions can hurt the Holy Spirit…let me show you what I mean…

Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Did you know that we can grieve the Holy Spirit? That we can bring sorrow to Him…an appropriate translation of that Greek word for grieve (lupeo) would be “to hurt one’s feelings.”

And as followers of Christ, as those who want to fulfill the purposes of God in our own lives, we should be striving for intimacy with Him. That’s our whole mission at this church, in case you’re curious what we’re about…We’re a movement for all people to discover and walk in the will of God, through what? Through an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

If we are going to walk in the fullness of what God has called us to here in this life, then we must walk in intimacy with Him. Because that’s where we hear from God. That’s where we are empowered by God to do what He has called us to.

If you want closeness with God, say amen.

I’m going to get personal with you for a little bit..because I think that this testimony is something that a lot of people in this room can relate to and I truly believe that this is a Word from God that can change your life if you allow it to.

About a year ago, Haley and I made a really difficult decision, a really painful decision to do what God was calling us to do. We knew with 100% certainty that it was the right decision, but that doesn’t mean that it was any less painful.

We put ourselves in a new environment, with new people, at a new job, and a new church.. And, y’all, I had zero intimacy with God. We talk about just being in the presence of God…I desired that so bad, but it was so distant in my life.

I used to cherish my quiet time in the morning with God, and it had become such a task just to make myself read my Bible and pray before I got my day started. Before this, I felt like God had given me this gift to just open up His Word and interpret it, to understand it in a powerful way. Before, when I opened up my Bible, it was like God spoke directly to me through His Word. His truth was so easily revealed to me. We had this intimacy, me and God, and now it was gone.

It was like there was this divide between me and God. And I’m not saying that God left me..don’t misunderstand me. David says in Psalm 139. “If I ascend to heaven, you’re there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you’re there!” Romans 8:38 “Life nor death nor anything else can separate us from the love of God.” I was still sealed for the day of redemption, like Ephesians 4:30 says, but I had no intimacy with God at all.

I remember going to Haley in tears, just so distressed. Telling her I feel like I have lost the anointing that God placed on my life. I remember thinking “I can’t teach God’s Word. I can’t even hear from God.” Every year, I pick a new word to focus on from January all the way through December. And in January, I decided my word would be discipline.

I read the entire Bible in January. I enrolled in seminary to get my masters of theology. I studied the lifestyles of Christian monks in the early church to try to emulate their daily schedules. I was desperate for intimacy with God, and all of those things were very beneficial for me, but they weren’t what was holding me back from walking in intimacy with God. If you’ve never read your Bible in a short period of time, do it. Seminary is expanding my theological understanding, and that’s important. Having a schedule where I pray at this time, then read at this time, that’s actually really helpful…

…but none of that brought me to a place of intimacy with God. Because a lack of discipline was not the issue. The issue was in my heart.

Transition attention

This went on for months. It was what many would refer to as a “wilderness season.” So I read and studied on the wilderness..what to do in the wilderness. How do I get out of this.

The Bible says that Jesus prayed, fasted, and resisted temptation in the wilderness. So I made that my model. I prayed a lot. I fasted. I resisted temptation. I thought I just wasn’t doing enough.

In my Bible reading, I was studying Ephesians chapter 4, and I was reminded of a great sermon I heard about grieving the Holy Spirit and what that means.

Ephesians 4:30-31 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

James says that this book is a mirror…it shows us who we really are. God’s Word showed me that my lack of intimacy with God was the result of me grieving the Holy Spirit.

See, I had been hurt. Not only me, but my wife as well. Our hearts had been broken because of the unGodly actions of other people. And what started as a righteous and just anger inside of me turned into what James calls the anger of man. And I let bitterness take root in my heart. I wanted vengeance for my hurt. I wanted to tell everyone who would listen how hurt I was because these bad people hurt me. And in the process, I wasn’t hurting those people. I wasn’t hurting anyone but myself. By storing anger in my heart, I was grieving the Holy Spirit of God.

In my hurt, because these people had sinned against me, I felt like I was justified in carrying that anger in my heart and holding resentment towards those people. And people around me, even some Godly people, validated my feelings, and let me know that I had a reason to feel that way, that I should feel that way…But the Bible teaches us that if we are in Christ, if we are true followers of Jesus, then we are never justified in being OUT OF THE WILL OF GOD. And if you have ungodly anger in your heart tonight, if you have resentment and unforgiveness toward someone else, then you are OUT OF THE WILL OF GOD. No matter how hurt you are, no matter what that person did, it will never benefit you to hold anger in your heart. It will only hurt you…it will only hurt your intimacy, your closeness with God to live with anger and resentment in your heart.

If you want to walk in intimacy with God, here’s the best advice I can give you:

3. Find out what grieves the Holy Spirit, and DON’T DO THAT.

Ephesians 4:30-31 30 And do not grieve (hurt His feelings) the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (grieving the HS will not cause you to lose your salvation, but it will cause you to lose intimacy with God). 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor (shouting vehemently) and slander be put away from you, along with all malice (ill will).

If you feel like you’re in a wilderness season of life right now, like your relationship with God just isn’t where it was before, or you want to take it to a place it’s never been, then lay your anger down here tonight. Surrender it to Christ and trust Him to take care of what you can’t. And if you do that, then I promise you’ll walk in closeness with God again. I promise you will walk in power to do what He’s called you to do. And if that’s you, then you can walk out of here tonight with a closeness with Jesus that you’ve not had in a while. AMEN?

Pray - Raise your hand if you’re struggling with anger and resentment…

Holy Communion

1 Corinthians 11:23…the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

We take Holy Communion to remember that sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. It’s important that we slow down and appreciate the magnitude of this sacrament. It’s only by Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross that we have communion with God, that we have relationship with God, that we have forgiveness of sins, and that we have eternal life. In this ceremony, we fix our focus on Him and remember the incredible sacrifice that He made for us.

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Let’s please take a few moments, search our hearts… and if there’s any unconfessed sin in our hearts, take this time now to repent to God and ask forgiveness.

Musicians and guys in the booth, you all please come forward to receive communion.

THIS TABLE IS OPEN TO ALL WHO ARE IN CHRIST. COME AND RECEIVE.