The next subject under the general heading of our theme, “Practical Christianity” from Ephesians 4 is the matter of anger. It is a delicate subject, and it concerns us all. Ephesians 4:26,27 says, “Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.“
Our text
shows us at least 4 things which we need to know and understand about anger:
1.
There is room for
righteous anger.
2.
We must be
careful to not let this anger spill over into sin.
3.
We must keep
short accounts of our anger.
4.
Satan easily
abuses uncontrolled anger.
From this outline we can see that anger is a complex emotion, since it has both a good and a bad side. It requires a godly heart and biblical wisdom to manage. In the English language anger is just one letter short of danger. It is not surprising then that God's instructions through the apostle Paul about anger here are comprehensive and profound.
1. There is room for
righteous anger
Paul here alludes to Psalm 4:4, “Be angry and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent.“ Be angry and do not sin! The Bible recognizes that there a valid emotion called anger. But what is righteous anger? We are righteously angry when we are angry with that which God would be angry with. The best illustrations in this regard are taken from the life of the Lord Jesus Himself.
(i) In Mark 3:1-6 Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath. There He found a man with a withered hand. The Pharisees were looking to see whether He was going to heal him on the Sabbath. The Scripture says, "Jesus looked around at them in anger, grieved at their hardness of heart...". This was a common observation (cf. Mk. 8:17;10:5). Jesus was angry because these Pharisees constantly made a false distinction between the law, and the God of the law. Remember that the law is always God’s law and not man’s. The law in question here (the Sabbath cf. Ex 20:8-11) was made for the good and for the benefit of man (Mk 2:27). But the Pharisees made the good law into a burden. They used it in a negative, fault finding, legalistic way. And since they saw themselves as the custodians of the law they, as it were, took the law out of God’s hands and into their own hands. They worshipped and served the law (the created things) rather than the Creator who is to be forever praised (Rom. 1:25). By the way, if Jesus were here among us today, I am convinced that He would also be righteously angry with our society for the opposite sin of the Pharisees. In Jesus day the problem was legalism; in our day it is libertinism or antinomianism. He would be angry with us for the carelessness and casualness with which we consider the gift of the Lord’s day. The 4th commandment is given to us as a means of grace to align our souls and to delight ourselves in the Lord, but our society thinks that this arrangement is now a matter of private choice. No wonder our society is falling apart, for now we have lost a vital means by which we rest in the Lord one day in seven.
(ii) Jesus was also angry when He cleansed the temple, for He saw that the house that was built originally for the glory and worship of God had been turned into a den of robbers (Mk. 11:15-19).
(iii) Jesus was angry when His own disciples resisted the work of God (e.g. Peter in Mk. 8: 31-33).
(iv) Jesus was angry whenever children (or believers) were abused or tempted to sin. He has strong words for such abusers (Mk. 9:42-48).
As a rule then we find that Jesus became angry when He saw
the truth of God abused and when He saw people abused. As a rule He did not get angry when people
sinned against Him in person (e.g. Matt
12:32). Even at the cross He prayed for those that hated Him and crucified
Him (Lk 23:34).
When you as a Christian
get angry at godless behaviour and our societal hypocrisy and abuse
you are sharing in God’s anger. John Stott writes[1],
”… there is a great need in the contemporary world for more
Christian anger. We human beings compromise with sin in a way in which God
never does. In the face of blatant evil we should be indignant not tolerant, angry not apathetic. If God hates sin, His people
should hate it too. If evil arouses His
anger, it should arouse ours too.
In this spirit Psalm
119:53 says, “hot indignation seizes me
because of the wicked , who forsake your law.” There is room for anger, provided that is in
agreement with God. Our general rule
then should be: Be angry at that which violates God’s honour and that which violates men and women created in his image; but be slow to
get angry when people insult you and accuse you.
2. In your anger do not
sin
Here’s the tricky part about anger. Righteous anger can so
easily spill over into self- righteous anger and judgementalism, and therefore
sin. Someone said that, “anger is a wind that easily blows out the
lamp of the mind ” and “people who fly into a rage, always make a
bad landing”. There is a powerful illustration of this in 2 Samuel. David had committed adultery with Bathsheba in chapter 11, and in chapter
12 the prophet Nathan, in a very diplomatic way led him into a journey of self-
discovery of this sin. He tells David a story about a rich farmer who had a
large number of sheep. But he took the only ewe lamb from one of his poor employees,
as a meal for his guest. This story “kindled
David’s anger“, but David had
to swallow his words when Nathan reminded him that he was in fact that rich man who
took away Bathsheba, the wife of his loyal servant Uriah. David was caught out – for he had engaged
in hypocritical unrighteous anger. Getting angry with others, he did not see
the log in his own eye. Sadly there was much wrong in his own family – the
rapes and the murders among his sons and daughters. David seemed to rarely have
expressed a principled godly anger at any evil that they did. In many ways
David had lost the moral high-ground to express his anger. He was in no
position to judge his children, because he himself was guilty of these things.
Godly anger is necessary, but be careful that
you are not guilty of those very things that you accuse others
of.
The way to avoid
unrighteous anger is to take note of what James 1:19-20 has to
say: “ … “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.” If we are
slow to anger, and if we control
ourselves in it and consider the matter
carefully, then our anger, if it
arises at all may very well be
godly anger, when we treat the problem
at hand as owing to the fact that God's
character is dishonoured and not ours –
if God's plans are resisted, and not
just ours.
Righteous anger is not self-centred. Again we learn from
Jesus. He does not express anger when He is abused. He prays for his enemies
and He forgives them. But He is angry when God’s Name, God’s law and God’s people are
dishonoured. So it is important that we
look at the motive for our anger. The
Bible discourages self- centred anger, and impulse driven anger i.e. when we
are just in a bad mood, or when we do
not get our own way, or when someone
confronts us. Remember also verses like Romans 12:19 : “ Do not take
revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is
mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.
3. Keep short accounts with anger
“Do not let the sun go
down on your anger" means, that we should resolve our anger on the same day. Sometimes,
reconciliation is impossible on the same day, because it always takes two to
settle a matter. When it takes more than one day (and sometimes forever) then make
sure that you do not hold on to or nurse that anger. Make sure that it does not
grab you and make you a resentful, bitter person and defile you (see Hebrews 12:15). Anger has this uncanny ability to do
that.
So we see that anger is a tricky emotion. John Piper put it like this: Anger is the moral equivalent of biological
adrenaline. It is good and healthy to experience periodic secretions of
adrenaline in reaction to dangerous situations. But a steady flow of adrenaline
would damage the heart. So it is with anger. It has damaged many hearts because
it was not quickly dealt with, but nurtured again and again into a
life-destroying grudge.[2]
Seek to settle your anger as quickly as possible , and for this final reason…
4. Satan easily
abuses uncontrolled anger.
“ …and give no opportunity
to the devil.” The
Scripture says that uncontrolled anger gives Satan an opportunity – an entrance
point into your life. Satan uses uncontrolled
anger to ruin and destroy persons, marriages, families, churches and countries-
by causing it to develop into resentment
and bitterness, exploiting this to his
own evil ends, producing fruit of
hatred, violence and breach of fellowship. The great danger with anger is that it easily
makes us irrational. Don’t be fooled into thinking that when you become
irrationally angry or unforgiving that you are ‘entitled’ to these feelings. Know
that the devil is laughing, because he has found an effective grip upon your
soul. And, ultimately uncontrolled anger
always ends up causing more hurt to
yourself than the one that you are angry with.
In 2 Cor. 2 :10,11 the apostle
Paul warns the Corinthians that unforgiveness
is a foothold for the devil: “Anyone
whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have
forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, so that we
would no be outwitted by Satan; for we
are not ignorant of his designs.” If
Satan can capitalize on anger and
unforgiveness among God's people, he will have achieved a great goal— hiding of Christ's reality from the world.
The Importance Of
Having A Biblical Mind-Set On This Matter
The best way to handle and understand anger starts with a renewed heart and a renewed mind. Christians are people who have received a new nature and new attitudes because they are created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (4:24). The starting point for effective Christian living starts with the grace that we receive from God.
Have you been born again?
Have you confessed your need of a Saviour?
Have you been to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and have you received assurance of sins forgiven by the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit?
And have you in repenting, received that new life by which you can say with Paul …”I can do everything (even dealing with anger) through Him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4:13)?
If you struggle
consistently with anger, then ask
yourself whether you are a Christian. There
is a great difference between moralistic Christianity and biblical
Christianity. Moralistic Christianity stresses self–effort and focuses on mere
outward behaviour, whereas biblical Christianity draws strength from Christ and
the new life which He gives. That life which draws strength from Him
issues in obedience whereby you ‘put on‘
new, godly behaviour and ‘put off’ the old nature which hinders your spiritual progress.
Spiritual progress will be made
visible in godly attitudes and behaviour. And
that includes anger management, God’s way.
