How to Be Angry Without Sinning – Part Five
Ephesians 4: 26, 27
How are we to avoid improper anger?
It is a flash of anger that gets us into most trouble. With that in mind Seneca said the greatest cure for anger is delay. Purpose to always delay before getting angry. Resolve to let Jesus review each case before you respond in anger. Determine to run each experience through the final filter of prayer.
Thomas Jefferson said, “When angry, count to ten before you speak; if very angry, count to a hundred.”
Let me add, if you are angry after counting ten — demand a recount.
Love is backwards to anger. Love for God is opposite to anger with His creation. Love will hold down irascible anger so that reason and the spirit of love can control improper passions.
At the end of the chapter containing our text is specific instruction for dealing with anger (vs. 31). Notice – – – “rage and anger”
“Rage” translates the Greek word THUMOS which refers to an inward feeling. It literally means to “get hot.”
“Anger” translates the Greek ORGE and signifies an actively expressed emotion. If “rage” means to get hot, “anger” means to boil over.
This is an appeal to avoid letting something build up in you to a boiling stage and exploding. Avoid this by not being a collector. Don’t put little irritants in a memory book like you would pictures in a photo album. Don’t be a scorekeeper in the sense of keeping a record of injustices done by others. Have you ever noticed that people who are scorekeepers always win in their own minds?
Abraham Lincoln, on hearing a friend express anger toward someone, advised him to sit down and write a letter expressing his feelings. “It will do you good,” he said.
When the letter was written it was read to Lincoln. The president complimented it for its rigid and harsh content. This pleased the author who asked, “How would you advise me to send it?”
“Send it?” said Lincoln, “Oh, I wouldn’t send it. I sometimes write a letter like that — it does me good, but I never send it.”
The person you let anger you is the person who controls you.
Here is a super way for those who really have trouble with anger. Keep an anger “mad scorecard.” Though we should never keep score of wrongs done to others it is good to keep an actual scorecard on the times you control your own anger. Every time you avoid getting mad, write it down. Make it a game. Each day review your actions. Conscientiously keep a record and strive to improve. See how long you can go without improper anger.
How to Be Angry Without Sinning – Part Four
Ephesians 4: 26, 27
How can a person be angry and NOT sin? The Jesus kind is indignation. Decide to be angry about things and not with people. Love people, but discern right from wrong. That is God-like. He loves the sinner, but hates the sin.
In this frame of reference, one of our primary sins is not having enough of the right anger. We have become tolerant of everything and reluctant to stand for right. Determine to be angry about the right things. Avoid simply being irritable and hyper-sensitive about personal matters. Deal with moral issues.
How then can I deal with anger?
“Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways…” (Proverbs 22: 24, 25).
In light of the scientific insight shared, comply with Proverbs 29: 11, “A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back.” A modern translation reads: “A fool gives vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.”
Anger is like a lovely vase which breaks itself upon that which it falls.
Our text gives two significant steps in dealing with anger.
First, …”do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Phillips: “Don’t go to bed angry.”
Next, “nor give place to the devil.” That is, don’t give the devil a beach head in your life. Don’t give him opportunity to take advantage of your anger for his purposes. Don’t let the devil develop your anger into a grudge or an unforgiving spirit. Don’t compromise with the devil.
He will lead you to rationalize that the person deserves for you to be angry with him or her.
Anger is a wind that blows out the lamp of the mind. Think clearly about it. Anger does more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to the one on which it is poured.
Utilize the technique of Christ Who when tempted said, “Get thee behind Me, Satan!” (Matt. 16:23).
We are counseled to “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4: 7). To resist means to carefully array yourself for battle with the enemy. Do this by prayer and Bible application.
Scripture exhorts us to “possess our souls in patience.” Whoever is out of patience is out of possession of his or her reasoning.
In order to avoid giving place to the devil, resolve to work on improving your disposition, that is, your temperament. Some go to a health club or gym to work out and improve their body. Many go to church and/or Bible study to improve their spirit. Why not put an equal effort into a workout for your disposition? Resolve to make your disposition, your temper, submissive to the will of Christ.
How to Be Angry Without Sinning – Part Three
Ephesians 4: 26, 27
Righteous indignation is a term for the feelings of Jesus when He cleansed the temple. It was a strong displeasure over unrighteousness. Indignation means you become incensed. When it is vented toward sin it is righteous indignation and that is good.
Jesus was moved by holy zeal. That is, He was zealous for the right thing to be done. That is the kind of anger we are to have. That is what the text means when it says, “Be angry and sin not.”
If all anger were wrong the text would read: “Don’t be angry.”
Anger as an expression to personal injury is wrong.
As an expression of abhorrence of wrong in loyalty to the Lord it is right.
If all anger were wrong the text would read: “Don’t be angry.”
Another illustration of Jesus’ anger occurred at the death of Lazarus. The story is recorded in John 11: 17 – 45. How did Jesus react to the death of someone He loved? “Jesus wept.” (11: 35) It’s the shortest verse of the Bible. The expression means He cried deeply. He didn’t just get misty eyed… Jesus wept.
In the face of death, Jesus didn’t only cry. He had a second reaction, He got angry. Yes, Jesus got mad. Jesus was “deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.” (11:33) “Deeply moved” translates the Greek word embrimaomai. (Embre-my-o-my)
NLT translates it: “a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled.”
The Greek word used in the account is a metaphor which was used to depict the fury of a warhorse about to charge into battle. The steed rears up on his hind legs, snorts through its nostrils, an expression for fury, paws the air, and charges into the conflict. To snort in spirit was the strongest Greek word for anger. It is the word used of Jesus. Face to face with evil, in this premature death of His good friend, He is outraged. Why? Jesus was angry and troubled at the destruction and power of the great enemy of humanity: death. Jesus would soon break the dominating power of death. Evil is not normal. As the Creator Jesus made the world good, beautiful, full of life, joy, and justice. Evil despoiled these.
About what was Jesus angry? Summarily His anger was at Satan for introducing evil into the world. He was angry over sin because it produced death. James 1:15 notes “…sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
As with Jesus, be angry with sin and don’t sin in doing it.
How to Be Angry Without Sinning – Part Two
Ephesians 4: 26, 27
Anger! You got it? Me, too. Jesus too. God the Father also. Qualify your anger and be sure it is of the Lord. There is a way you can be angry and not sin. There are two groupings of sin. Be sure yours is the right kind, and that you are not using the text for ventilating your emotions.
One, ventilation is a term used for improper anger, the losing of the temper, the blow-up kind.
The other indignation is a term for the feelings of Jesus in the temple. It is a strong displeasure over unrighteousness. Indignation means you become incensed. When it is vented toward sin it is righteous indignation and that is good. There is not enough anger expressed toward sin.
Aside from the spiritual aspect of wrong anger there is a physical side. Persons who live with an angry temperament do threaten their health. The “Dallas Times Herald” reported “A person’s hostility and anger toward others could lead to heart disease and premature death.”
Dr. Redford B. Williams of Duke University Medical Center concluded from his studies: “Individuals who harbor hostility and anger toward others are five times more likely to die from heart disease and six times more likely to die prematurely from other causes.”
Medical authorities also believe that anger increases hormone levels that may lead to hardening of the arteries.
However, Florida State University researcher, Jack Hokanson, asserts, “The myth that ventilating anger brings down tension is long gone” (Newsweek, 1993). How then can I be angry and NOT sin? The Jesus kind is indignation. Decide to be angry about things and not with people. Love people, but discern right from wrong. That is God-like. He loves the sinner, but hates the sin.
In this frame of reference, one of our primary sins is not having enough of the right anger. We have become tolerant of everything and reluctant to stand for right. Determine to be angry about the right things. Avoid simply being irritable and hyper-sensitive about personal matters. Deal with moral issues.
How then can I deal with anger?
“Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, Lest you learn his ways…” (Proverbs 22: 24, 25).
In light of the scientific insight shared, comply with Proverbs 29: 11, “A fool vents all his feelings, But a wise man holds them back.” A modern translation reads: “A fool gives vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.”
Now my anger. I was born a redhead with the reputation redheads have for temper. It wasn’t good. One day I decided God I have a temper. You gave it to me. Therefore, it can’t be bad. My use of it can be. I now dedicate it (myself) to you and ask that I might use it in a manner pleasing to you. That is my control valve. It can be yours.
How to Be Angry Without Sinning – Part One
Ephesians 4: 26, 27
Do you ever get angry? Do you even have an anger management problem? A biblical understanding of anger will be addressed in these six columns.
In answer to the first question I must answer guilty. Yes, like Jesus, I get angry. Like Jesus? Yes, more than once He is depicted as getting angry like His Father God. Consider:
The Scripture does not teach that God doesn’t get angry. It teaches He is slow to anger. Note:
Psalm 30:5 “His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life.”
Isaiah 12: 1 “In that day you will say: ‘O Lord, I will praise You; Though you were angry with me, Your anger is turned away and You comfort me.”
Micah 7: 18 “He does not retain His anger forever…”
Hosea 11: 9 “I will execute the fierceness of My anger…”
Nehemiah 9:17 “But You are God … slow to anger…”
Joel 2: 13 “Return to the Lord your God … For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger….”
Again I say, God does get angry and so should you. Don’t take that statement out of context nor apply it apart from the way it is now to be developed.
Jesus went into the temple and found they were not praying and worshiping, but buying and selling. He turned over the tables of the money changers and drove them out. Can you imagine Him doing this passively?
Don’t tune out after this statement. The Bible not only teaches us that God gets angry, it also encourages us to get angry. That demands some biblical interpretation. Without an understanding of this statement, improper license to get angry might be taken.
Our text says, “Be angry, and do not sin.” Literally, ” [A] Be sure to be angry, but [B] do not sin.
There is a clean anger. It is righteous indignation such as expressed by Jesus over evil. Failure to become angry over evil is a sign of unlikeness to Jesus. If the spirit of Jesus is in us we can’t stand by passively watching wrong being heaped upon wrong.
To gain a biblical understanding of this subject, consider two groups of anger. One is ventilation and the other indignation. One is good, the other isn’t. One is characteristic of Jesus and should be of us, the other isn’t a trait of our Lord and should not be of us.
One ventilation is a term used for improper anger, the losing of the temper, blow-up kind.
The other indignation is a term for the feelings of Jesus in the temple. It is a strong displeasure over unrighteousness. Indignation means you become incensed. When it is vented toward sin it is righteous indignation and that is good.
These two will be developed further in the next post.