Sermon Tone Analysis

Wednesday, September 21, 2022 Commands of Christ – 27

A Christian's Character: Dealing With Anger

Handout Anger: Facing the fire within: Explore on your own (or with a partner)

I admit to trying to cover a HUGE lesson:

Civil war

Anger

And yet the two are very closely related.

A possible civil war in the US will occur because of not just anger, but rage and fury are consuming its citizens.

Monday Sandra and I went to Chickamauga National Battlefield.

It was the 159 anniversary of the Confederate Victory.

We watched a film and then started a Ranger-led tour - we didn’t finish it due to the heat.

But it was VERY informative!

Slavery

Incentives for non-slave-owners to fight

It has been said that those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

I see that happening in today’s society.

Fear mongering, rage, appeals to vanity — these were all used to fuel the Civil War of 1861.

They are being used to fuel the ongoing civil war of the 2020’s

Next week I hope to study more about the Bible’s teachings on anger.

The Bible has A LOT to say.

None of what it says encourages anger — rather it strongly discourages it.

Next week.

This week, let’s go back to consider OUR behaviors and actions in a time of, at the least, a cultural Civil War:

I will refer to the the article: 3 Steps Churches Can Take To Help Prevent a Second American Civil War:

As you read the original article and theses subsequent articles, do they stir feelings of anger, sadness, other?

Why?

What do you think about the 3 Steps pastors can take to prevent the second American civil war?

1. Acknowledge that the church has a discipleship problem.

Do we?

I know that tonight I am “preaching to the choir” about discipleship — but it isn’t what it used to be

There used to be a pretty high percentage of people who attended Sunday school

By the time we ended it (at the start of our building project) it seemed there was little interest in getting up early to attend.

So, we tried using Wednesday nights to primarily disciple adults and Sunday mornings to disciple children.

We still, generally, average less half of what we run on Sunday mornings.

It seems that discipleship is important.

Especially APPLIED discipleship.

Do you have any idea of how we can do a better job?

I am trying to start a digital (zoom, etc.) discipleship class for women in the near future.

Other thoughts?

2. Create space for the middle ground (it’s bigger than you think)

As we discussed the last 2 weeks, it seems there is no middle ground on many of the hotly contested issues of our day:

Is there a Biblical mandate for such an approach?

Barry Webb (2015).

Judges and Ruth: God in Chaos (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 178).

Crossway.

… while negotiation may be necessary, it has severe limitations.

And the reason is very easy to understand.

It is a way of balancing competing self-interests, and relationships conducted on that basis can never be entirely healthy.

There is an inherent distrust and jostling for advantage in such relationships that simply masks differences rather than truly resolving them.

The basic problem is the sinful human heart with its instinct for self-protection and self-promotion rather than love and trust.

Negotiation might be essential in a fallen world, but it is far from ideal.

But what are the implications of all this for people who acknowledge God as their rightful ruler and whose life together is meant to reflect his character?

What place can negotiation have in the life of people who are called to love their neighbors as themselves (Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 5:43–45; 22:34–39; Galatians 5:13, 14)?

Does it have a legitimate place in the way they relate to outsiders and with one another?

Leviticus 19:18 (NASB95) ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.

Matthew 5:43–45 (NASB95) “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’

44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Matthew 22:34–39 (NASB95) But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.

35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.

39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’

Galatians 5:13–14 (NASB95) For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

Jephthah: The Negotiator

JUDGES 10:6–12:7

Webb, B. G. (2015).

Judges and Ruth: God in Chaos (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 177).

Crossway.

Finally, what does the Jephthah story as a whole teach us about negotiation?

Jephthah is skillful with words.

He knows that the elders of Gilead have no genuine regard for him, but Jephthah uses negotiation to arrive at a deal with them that is good for himself and ultimately for Israel as a whole.

He knows that the king of Ammon is set on war, but Jephthah uses negotiation to buy time, claim the moral high ground, enhance his credentials as a national leader, and present his case to Yahweh, the divine Judge.

His great mistake at the climax of the story, though, is to “open his mouth to Yahweh” (11:35) in the same way that he has opened his mouth to men.

That is, he tries to negotiate with God as he has negotiated with human beings, and in so doing overreaches his hand and brings disaster on himself and his daughter.

He makes the fundamental error of thinking that God, the divine Judge, can be bribed, that salvation is an arrangement that can be negotiated by offering God incentives instead of casting ourselves utterly on his mercy.

He fails to see that salvation is a gift.

That is his fatal mistake, and from there he begins to lose his integrity, not just as a man of faith, but as a father and as a judge of Israel.

At the end of the story he gives up negotiation altogether and uses words only as a pretext for slaughtering his fellow Israelites.

In short, the story of Jephthah shows us two things about negotiation.

It has a legitimate place in human affairs in a fallen world but has severe limitations; and in the hands of an insecure man like Jephthah it can end up doing more harm than good.

More importantly, it shows us that negotiation is the antithesis of faith and has no place at all in our relationship with God.

Webb, B. G. (2015).

Judges and Ruth: God in Chaos (R. K. Hughes, Ed.; p. 189).

Crossway.

Abortion - special allowance for rape, incest, health of the mother?

Marriage

What about other issues?

Critical Race Theory - if not that could we at least teach history?

What if tried to see both sides of the racial history

The perspective of slaves from Africa (including that their own race captured them and sold them)

The perspective of Native Americans (same as above) plus needless killing of others (including other tribes), whites, etc.

Others:

Crime?

Inflation?

Energy (no gasoline cars?)

3. Equip your congregation to be Peacemakers, not just Peacekeepers.

Matthew 5:9 (NASB95) “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

What about these approaches to politics from 1 Peter 2:11-17?

1 Peter 2:11–17 (NASB95) Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

12 Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, 14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.