Holy Heat
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
We are in the third part of our series called Resolved. We have been looking at how to resolve conflict God’s way.
The last two weeks we have been looking at ourselves and not the other person when it comes to conflict resolution. Today we are continuing to look at ourselves. As I mentioned last week, a lot of what Scripture points to is self. If we can just get self under the control of the Holy Spirit, a lot of what we deal with will take care of itself. Especially when it comes to conflict. While I cannot control others, I can and am commanded to take control of my self.
Self control is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
Today I want to share with you a message called
Holy Heat
We are going to take a look at the emotion of anger and how we are to deal with it in a biblical manner.
Before we dive in, it is important to know that God has gifted us with emotions. There is nothing wrong with having emotions. The issue comes in when we do not take control of our emotions. The only way to control our emotions is if we ware willing to submit them unto God.
David is an example of this. He writes:
11 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!
He doesn’t deny his emotions, but he doesn’t allow them to control him either. He brings them into the light and commands his soul to praise the Lord!
Paul tells us the same thing.
5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.
Anger can be an obstacle that keeps us and others from knowing God if we allow it to be. Remember, we carry with us the message of reconciliation and you cannot reconcile with your brother or sister in Christ if you allow your anger to control you.
Anger Can Kill
Anger Can Kill
Anger is a killer. Did you know that being angry can actually kill you? The American Journal of Epidemiology published an article on how those who are hot tempered are at a greater risk towards their cardiovascular health.
We have all seen movies where someone blows up in anger and then has a heart attack in the middle of their outburst.
Anger can also kill relationships the same manner.
Anger can...
burn with harsh words.
bruise with criticism.
build walls instead of bridges.
breed bitterness.
break trust.
blind us to our own faults.
belittle the people we love.
bring division where God desires unity.
You show me someone who is always angry and I will show you a very lonely person.
Let’s define anger before we get into what the bible says about it.
Anger - strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility
One thing we need to understand is that unchecked anger has consequences.
Unchecked Anger has consequences.
But pastor, what about righteous anger?
Righteous or Not Loop Hole
Righteous or Not Loop Hole
Let’s unpack this real quick. I believe a lot of the times we want to find a loophole for justifying our anger. We then call this righteous anger.
Righteous anger is concerned with God's glory being violated. Unrighteous anger is concerned with my comfort being violated.
A Welsh minister by the name of Martyn Lloyd-Jones addressed anger in his sermons, where he drew a strict line between righteous indignation (anger directed at sin or injustice) and self-righteous, sinful anger (anger stemming from personal pride, a defensive ego, or feeling like you did not get your way).
Righteous Anger - anger towards sin or injustice
Self-Righteous Anger - personal pride, defensive ego, or not getting your way
When we get angry church, we need to do a self examination. We are talking about resolving conflict God’s way between followers of Christ and the main emotion that is triggered when in conflict is anger.
We have to ask ourselves, do I have a righteous anger or a self-righteous anger?
Lloyd-Jones points out that most of the time it is a self-righteous anger because someone inconvenienced us.
One way to find out if your anger is righteous or self-righteous is what is it producing?
If your anger towards a brother or sister in Christ produces bitterness, slander, gossip, or a broken relationship, it is not a righteous anger. It is your flesh throwing a tantrum with a theological label on it.
Examine the fruit of your anger.
Let’s go a little deeper.
Don’t Let the Sun Go Down
Don’t Let the Sun Go Down
Paul said this to the church in Ephesus.
25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.
26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,
27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
What Paul is saying is deep church. Here is where we need to pay attention.
First Paul says to stop telling lies.
One of the first things we do when we are angry in a conflict with a brother or sister is lie. How do I know?
When asked the question, “Are you ok?” or “What’s wrong?” we typically respond with, “I’m ok” or “Nothings wrong”. Knowing full well we are full of anger on the inside.
You just lied. You lied to yourself and you lied to the person asking you. Paul says to stop lying.
But it goes deeper than this. Paul says not to sin when you allow your anger to control you. When you allow your anger to control you, you will fall into sin.
This is why Paul says not to allow the sun go down on your anger. This just isn’t about going to bed without saying sorry. This is MUCH deeper than that. This is spiritual triage.
When someone in the church offends you - Jesus said when not if, you can count on it - you have a spiritual window in order to deal with it.
Every hour that passes, the anger calcifies. The next day it moves from an offense to grievance. The following week it turns into a grudge. By the end of the month the relationship is now divided.
The result is a broken relationship between a brother or sister in Christ. But it goes deeper than this church.
27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.
Unchecked anger gives a foothold to the enemy. The word foothold is topos which means a place, territory, or a staging ground.
When we harbor anger we are not just hurting ourselves or our brother/sister, hear me church…we are actively leasing real estate in our church, in our family, in our communities to the devil!
Think about the divisions in a local church. The gossip, the side conversations in the lobby, the passive-aggressive comments, the split families that eventually walk out the door.
It almost always starts with an unresolved offense—the exact thing Paul is warning about here.
The devil doesn't always need to send a persecution from the outside to wreck a church; sometimes he just needs one unforgiven grudge on the inside to tear it apart.
Church, it goes deeper than this.
God is the Judge of the Whole Plant
God is the Judge of the Whole Plant
I believe church we don’t handle conflict in a godly way because we lack the fear of the Lord.
10 Fear of the Lord is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.
The fear of the Lord is the foundation of everything. You cannot know God rightly or live rightly until you understand who He is in relation to who you are.
This is not a fear in the sense that we are to be afraid of God.
The fear of the Lord is a reverential awe—a holy trembling before the majesty, holiness, and authority of God.
It's the recognition that God is God and you are not. It's what Isaiah experienced when he saw the Lord high and lifted up (Isaiah 6:5). He didn't run from God; he cried out, "Woe is me, for I am ruined!" That's the fear of the Lord.
Let’s connect this to our anger problem.
Jesus said this not to the unbelievers, not to the religious leaders, but to His disciples.
21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’
22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
Anger to Jesus is not taken lightly. Most people missed what Jesus is communicating here. God showed me this this week. Anger left unchecked escalates.
Jesus gives three levels of anger along with three judgements that coincide with each one.
Level One: Anger without words
This level of anger is anger without words. This is what usually takes place at the onset of the offense. You are offended and angry internally. Interestingly enough Jesus says you are put in the defendants chair automatically. You don’t have to throw a punch or scream. The anger itself is the crime.
But being angry isn’t a sin is it? It depends. Is it a righteous anger or self-righteous anger?
It is a matter of heart posture. The Old Covenant dealt with exterior actions. The New Covenant deals with internal. The crime isn't what you do, it's what you harbor.
If left unchecked, the anger seed will continue to grow.
Level Two: Anger with an Insult
Jesus moves one to if you are angry and are now using words in anger. These words that Jesus said is the Greek word raka. It is an Aramaic word of contempt.
Contempt is a powerful feeling of intense dislike or disapproval, paired with a sense of superiority.
As your anger grows from non verbal to verbal nice words never come out. Now you are attempting to strip someone of their dignity. You attack their character.
Usually it doesn’t just stay between you and the offender. This is where gossip comes in and slander begins to take place. Instead of being one who builds up, we are now tearing others down. To make it worse we justify it.
Jesus says when you do this, it puts you in front of the Sandhedrin…or the Supreme Court. Harsher judgement.
Just a reminder, who is Jesus speaking to? Disciples. His followers.
Level Three: Anger as Character Assassination
Jesus said, “whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” Calling someone a fool, more-ras, is worse than rhaka.
This is not just someone saying they are thoughtless. It is saying they are morally worthless. Godless. Rebellious.
The same language is in the Old Testament. We read this last week.
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good.
When you brand someone a more-ras, you’re essentially saying they are beyond redemption.
How does that look today?
“You're broken. Everyone knows it." “
They've fallen away. There's no hope for them anymore."
“You're incapable of loving anyone but yourself."
“Cancel them. They don't deserve a platform."
“That guy deserves what he gets."
These are not just comments. When we speak this way out of anger, we are deciding that they are beyond hope. You have placed yourself in the judges seat…but Jesus says no…you belong in the defendants chair.
When you speak with anger unchecked, you have closed the door that Christ died to open.
And that's why Jesus ties this level of anger directly to the fiery hell—the place of final judgment.
Because when you declare someone irredeemable, you're siding with the accuser of the brethren, not the Redeemer.
If you've ever said something about another person—in your marriage, in your church, online, to your kids—that crossed the line from "you did something wrong" to "you are worthless"—that's the third court. And the altar is the place to get that repented of.
What Jesus Was Doing
What Jesus Was Doing
So what was Jesus doing here? Jesus was collapsing the distance between anger and murder.
The Pharisees thought they were keeping the commandment as long as they didn’t physically kill someone. Jesus says, “No”.
Anger = seed
Insults = stem
Contempt = fruit
Hear is what we need to remember. God judges the whole plant.
Murder in the eyes of Jesus isn’t something you do. It is something you are when you leave anger unchecked.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
No beating around the bush. No caveats. It’s plain and simple.
The Choice
The Choice
So we have a choice. We have a choice on how to handle our anger in conflict with one another.
Dr. Graybill mentions three new choices that we can choose.
Turn Away from Destructive Reactions
You do not have to explode in anger and take out everyone around you when you are offended.
It’s not denying your emotions. Your emotions may be valid. It is disciplining your flesh to react in a godly manner.
8 Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper— it only leads to harm.
Accept Your Emotions & Express them to God
God cares. He understand your emotional state of being. You can vent to God about your feelings.
There is an old movie called the Apostle staring Robert Duvall. I want to share a clip from that movie.
Show Movie Clip
You can absolutely vent your feelings to God. You can vent to God and not destroy others in the middle of it.
8 O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. Interlude
David is saying vent to God. Not your small group. Not in the church lobby. He says “pour out your heart”. This language is forceful. Like pouring out a bucket full of water.
It is ok to dump your feelings before God. When you’re angry, the first conversation should be with your Father, not with Facebook, not with your spouse in the heat of the moment, and not in the church lobby. Pour it out!
Then ask God to search you. Remember. God’s desire is to change you first.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
When you take it to God first, this leads to the third option.
This is probably the hard thing to do.
Change your perception
Before you begin to gripe and complain about what they did to make you angry…and how that is impossible…let me ask you this.
Who rules the Universe? God.
God is not worried. He is not wondering what is He going to do in your situation. He is not pacing the floor wringing His hands (we do these things).
God is still in command. God is still God. God not only rules the Universe, but as followers of Christ He is to rule our hearts.
7 Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.
Maybe we don’t take it to God a lot of the times because we know deep down that we are in the wrong. We know God WILL show mercy and grace…but we want our anger justified.
Maybe we don’t take it to God because He will change our perspective and we don’t want to change.
Church when we refuse to change, we are king of our hearts. Not God.
32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city.
Closing
Closing
**Stand with me today**
Church, anger is ok. As long as it is under the control of the Holy Spirit.
How we deal with our anger is a choice. We have to determine whether or not it is a righteous anger or and unrighteous anger.
We do this by getting God in the middle of it and gaining His perspective.
If we deal with anger in the flesh, we are walking in sin.
Romans chapters six through eight tells us that we are a slave to sin…unless we flip ownership.
12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.
13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.
How you handle your anger is a choice. It is YOUR choice. Not others. Not what they did or said. If you allow others to control you…then they are the ruler in your life.
Here is what Paul says,
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The cross didn’t just forgive your anger. It executed the version of you that was ruled by it. Now, because you are in Christ—crucified, buried, and raised with Him—you can master the anger before it masters relationships, before it hardens into bitterness, and before it gives the devil any foothold.
This is freedom that actually bears fruit. You are no longer defined by what you feel in the moment. You are defined by who you are in Christ. Live like it.
**Altar Call for those dealing with anger**
