The Anger of Man

Introduction

Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes Weeds

A young man had a terrible falling out with a neighboring farmer. One night, in an act of cruel vengeance, he crept through the neighboring fields, sowing the seeds of a persistent, virulent weed. The weeds sprang up, and no amount of effort would eradicate them.

Years passed, and eventually the young man fell in love with the farmer’s daughter. He married her and, at length, inherited the farm. He later confessed that he was spending the rest of his life reaping what he had sown in that one act of angry folly.

Me

I love that little story so much because it connects with me.

We

GOD

Why do we get angry?

Jealousy -

Pride -

Injustice and wrongdoing - Righteous anger -

Anger at circumstances and behaviour that also angers God.

So then the question must be asked, “Is our anger ever justified?”

Or asked in another way, “Is feeling the emotion of anger in and of itself a sinful em

Is our anger ever justified?

I think we can clearly see that the answer to that question must be an emphatic and certain YES.

I think we can clearly see that the answer to that question must be an emphatic and certain,

First, as we discussed last week, God Himself is spoken of feeling anger.

Jesus got angry

So is our anger ever justified? YES

BUT! The problem is that

300 Quotations for Preachers We Never Think Our Anger Is Unjust

There was never an angry man that thought his anger unjust.

Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes Someone Once Said …

He that would be angry and not sin, must be angry at nothing but sin.—Rev. William Secker, seventeenth century British minister

How is a Christian to react to anger?

Ephesians 4:26 ESV

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

Ephesians 4:17–32 ESV

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Psalm 4:4 ESV

Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Selah

James 1:19–20 ESV

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

James 1:20 ESV

for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Romans 12:19 ESV

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

You

We