How Can You Be Angry & Not Sin?
Intro:
1. What is anger?
a. Anger (ὀργίζομαι) = to have a strong feeling of displeasure & antagonism as a result of some real or supposed wrong.
b. Anger symptoms: red face, swollen neck veins, clenched fists, a stumbling for words, vision blurred as the anger clouds the vision centers of the brain.
c. Dr. Walter Cannon: “respiration deepens; the heart beats more rapidly; the arterial pres sure rises; the blood is shifted from the stomach & intestines to the heart, central nervous system & the muscles; the processes of the alimentary canal cease; sugar is freed from the reserves in the liver; the spleen contracts & discharges its con- tents of concentrated corpuscles & adrenalin is secreted.”
2. Quotes about anger.
a. Prov 30:33 - For as churning the milk produces butter, & as twisting the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.
b. Latin Proverb: “He who goes to bed angry has the devil for a bedfellow. Never take your enemies to bed with you!”
c. Will Rogers: “People who fly into a rage always make a bad landing.”
d. Daniel Webster: “Swallowing angry words before you say them is better than having to eat them afterwards.”
Ephesians 4:25-32
3. So - can you be angry & not sin?
I. Anger is Normally Wrong
A. What do you do with anger & rage?
1. Gal 5:19-21 lists rage with witchcraft & sexual orgies.
1. Col 3:8 says to rid yourself of anger & rage.
2. Ps 37:8 - Refrain from anger & turn from wrath; do not fret - it leads only to evil.
B. Pray without being angry. I Tim 2:8 - I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing.
II. Anger isn’t Always Wrong
A. Lord Jesus was angry when He cleansed the Temple.
1. Matt 21:12-13 - Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, ”‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers.”
2. Jn 2:13-17 - When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jeru- salem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
B. The Lord never committed sin (Heb 4:15) but was very angry here. What made the difference?
1. Lord Jesus is God in flesh!
a. Continuing in Jn 2:18-19, when asked for a miraculous sign to confirm His auth- ority to cleanse the Temple, He replied, Destroy this temple & I will raise it in 3 days. The resurrection was proof that Jesus was God!
b. Col 1:15-16 - He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
c. Col 2:9 - For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form . . .
2. As God, the Temple was the Lord’s property - His house! The Jews were making a moc- kery of it! Matt 21:13 -
a. My house will be called a house of prayer from Is 56:7 is a quote from God!
b. . . . You are making it a den of robbers from Jer 7:11 is a quote from God!
III. So How Can We Keep from Our Anger Becoming Sin?
A. Overlook an insult or offense.
1. Prov 12:16 - A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.
2. Prov 19:11 - A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
B. Don’t be quick to be provoked.
1. Eccl 7:9 - Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
2. Prov 14:17 - A quick-tempered man does foolish things, and a crafty man is hated.
C. Respond to insult with a gentle answer (Prov 15:1).
D. Keep your emotions under control (Prov 29:11).
E. Don’t even associate with hot tempered people (Prov 22:24).
F. v26-27 - Don’t go to bed angry! In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.
Remember - you have the power of the Holy Spirit to do this!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
- Gal 5:22-23
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