Word of Salvation – Vol. 25 No. 17 – January 1979

 

Anger

 

Sermon by Rev. S. Voorwinde, M.A., M.Th. on Ephesians 4:26-27

Scripture reading: Matthew 5:21-26, Ephesians 4:25 - 5:2

[NB. There is a later sermon by this author on this same topic - catalogued under Matthew 5]

 

Beloved Congregation,

Is anger good or bad? Is it right or wrong?

That's a very relevant question for most of us and the way we answer it is certain to have its implications on the way we live as Christians.

Anger - good or bad? Right or wrong?

Let me begin by quoting from different parts of Scripture and you can draw your own conclusions.

First, from the Old Testament, a few verses from the book of Proverbs:

"A man's discretion makes him slow to anger and it is his glory to overlook a transgression."

"A fool always loses his temper, but a wise man holds it back."

"He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who captures a city."

Then, as we turn to the New Testament, we find a similar attitude expressed. Think of Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount: "I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court."

And perhaps you will also remember the words of James in his first chapter: "Let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."

So, wherever you look in the Bible, whether in the Old or New Testament, anger is something that is discouraged, warned against and, at times, strongly condemned.

This background makes our text all the more remarkable: "Be angry and do not sin." In other parts of the Bible, anger may be condemned but here it is commanded. There is no getting around the plain force of these words. In the original, the verb is imperative: "Be angry". Admittedly, this command has often been played down in modern translations. For example, the Good News Bible translates: "If you become angry, do not let your anger lead you into sin", but in the Greek there is no "IF" and there is no escaping the fact that Paul is here issuing a command: "Be angry and do not sin."

But why should Paul be telling people to do something that the rest of the Bible seems to forbid? Isn't Paul's command a blatant contradiction to the rest of Scripture? Doesn't it stick out like a sore thumb? Not really, because if you read Proverbs and James carefully, you will repeatedly notice the phrase, "slow to anger!", which is not the same as prohibiting anger altogether. And when you read in the margin of the Sermon on the Mount, then what Jesus most probably said was, "Everyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be guilty before the court."

So, nowhere in the Bible is anger absolutely forbidden. Sometimes it is discouraged. We are told to keep it in check. We are to be slow to anger.

But nowhere does the Bible prohibit anger as such.

How could it? Think of Moses. He was described as the meekest man in the world but he knew what it was to be angry. God had given him the commandments on two tablets of stone and Moses had come down the mountain. Then the story continues, "And it came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hand and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it." Moses was absolutely furious and he had God's approval.

There was a similar incident in the life of Christ. The word "anger" is never used but it is clear that it was an outburst of well-controlled rage. Again, I will let the Bible speak for itself. We find the story in John 2: "And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves and the money- changers seated. And He made a scourge of cords and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen, and He poured out the coins of the money-changers, and overturned their tables, and to those who were selling the doves He said, 'take these things away, stop making My Father's house a house of merchandise'.”

Try and picture that scene in your mind and you will see that Jesus must have been extremely angry. Again and again we read about the wrath of God. And this is so not only in the Old Testament but also in the New. Even in the Gospel of John it says, “He who does not obey the Son will not see Life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

And the anger of God will be fully revealed on the last day when unrepentant sinners will cringe away in fear from the wrath of God and of the Lamb. That's a terrifying prospect and yet, how true it is that without wrath, God would not be fully righteous, and without wrath, His love would degenerate into sentimentality. God's anger is His holy reaction against sin.

So there you have the picture.

Moses was angry.

Jesus was angry.

God Himself is angry.

Therefore it is not really unnatural that Paul should issue the command: "Be angry".

A man who never knows what it means to be angry is a maimed sample of humanity. In the kind of world in which we live, the finest peacemaker may have to assume the role of a peacebreaker as his sacred obligation. As the Bible commentator, Richard Lenski, has pointed out: "When God, Christ, and the holy things of God are reviled, shall no anger stir in us? When hypocrites come with their masks of holiness, when injustice parades as right, when tyrants trample helpless victims, anger is justified."

If we are to be imitators of God, if we are to follow Christ as our example, then there must be a place for anger in our lives.

It's also the way God made us. He gave us the emotion of anger to cope with certain situations. He does not expect unruffled calmness in every situation. That would be a stoic attitude to life and not a Christian one.

In our text the Bible commands us to be angry, but never does a Biblical command have so many qualifications and conditions. It is a command, but it has strings attached. You can be sure of that.

Be angry, but do not sin!

Be angry, but do not let the sun go down on your anger!

Be angry, but do not give the devil an opportunity!

So, anger in the Christian life is like a bird that has had its wings clipped. It's like a fierce dog on a leash. Its' like a ferocious animal, but caged in. Anger is an emotion that must operate only within well-defined limits.

So let's have a look at each of these three restrictions that Paul places on anger.

Firstly: "Be angry and yet do not sin". So what Paul is commanding is sinless anger or righteous indignation. That's what we found with Moses and Jesus and God Himself. But still this begs the question: what is the difference between sinless anger and sinful anger? How can you tell the difference between righteous indignation and unrighteous indignation? Or to put it even more personally, how can I, as a Christian individual, know whether the anger I express is the good kind or the bad kind?

These are pressing questions and I'd like to share with you some of the answers that I found most helpful. When you express righteous indignation you will still love the sinner even though you hate his sin. Very often that will take a good supply of grace. But if you start with yourself, you will see that it can be done. The more angry you are with your own sins, the better it will be. You can hate your sins and still love yourself.

But now let's apply this to others.

admits

You are angry with your wife. She's failed to keep a promise she made to you. Your anger is justified but it must restrict itself to the sin she has committed. Once you begin attacking her person or bringing up past sins, your anger becomes sinful.

And your anger becomes especially damaging if you criticise things she can't change. Righteous anger will restrict itself to the sin at hand.

The same is true of your children. If the child has disobeyed one of your orders you get angry, and rightly so. But when the child has apologised and been punished that should be the end of it. To say, "You are always messy" or to belittle or be sarcastic can only do harm. You have to keep your anger on a leash.

Another helpful comment on the difference between sinless anger and sinful anger comes from the pen of Dr. Jay Adams, and I quote: "Anger is not sinful, but when it is directed toward others in order to hurt them or in uncontrolled outbursts it becomes sinful. When it is turned into oneself in resentment and bitterness, it becomes sinful."

Another writer who is helpful and relevant is Francis Foulkes in his commentary on Ephesians: "Here is anger which is righteous anger, such as we see in our Lord Himself, but His anger never led to sin because His emotions were kept under perfect control. The Christian must be sure that his anger is that of righteous indignation and not just an expression of personal provocation or wounded pride. It must have no sinful motives, nor be allowed to lead to sin in any way."

The Bible illustrates the difference well in the example of Moses. When he smashed the tablets of stone it was righteous indignation, but there was another occasion when his anger was sinful. At Kadesh the people grumbled that they had no water. So Moses, in a fit of rage, struck the rock twice with his rod. In this outburst he disobeyed God Who had told Him to speak to the rock. As a result Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.

On the other hand we have a rather striking example of righteous anger on the part of Jesus Christ. On the Sabbath He entered a synagogue where there was a man with a withered hand. And His enemies were there watching to see what He would do. So He asked them a question: "Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?" They didn't answer Him a word. So He looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart". He was angry. He was grieved. And He healed the man.

It's a beautiful example of righteous indignation.

But even righteous indignation has its limits. And this brings us to Paul's second restriction: "Be angry, but do not let the sun go down on your anger". For the Jews, sundown was regarded as the end of one day and the beginning of the next. So, to put it in modern terms, we should probably paraphrase with J. B. Philips, "Never go to bed angry." Even if your anger is justified you l should have it settled by the end of the day, perhaps by committing it to the Lord in prayer. If you go to bed angry it will most certainly make for a bad night's sleep. Most of us can probably speak from experience. But what is worse is that you carry over your anger into the next day. And so what started as righteous indignation becomes a spirit of resentment, an angry mood and an unforgiving attitude. Righteous indignation is like whipped cream - it goes sour if you leave it overnight.

I once visited a Reformed minister overseas who had seven children. Over lunch his wife said to me, "We're a happy family, really, because we don't let the sun go down on our anger...!! That was one of the main principles they lived by and it made a world of difference.

So that's the second limitation. Even though your anger is sinless it must always be short-lived. Dismiss it before the day is over.

And then there's the third restriction: "Be angry, but do not give the devil a place." In other words, don't give him a half-open door. Don't give him a foothold. He is all too eager to exploit the situation. Even though your anger may be good in itself, if it is nursed as a grievance it gives the devil an opportunity to work havoc with personal relationships.

This makes it all the more urgent to handle anger properly and it underscores what has just been said: "Do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

I'm sure that we all know the terror, the disaster and the heartbreak that results when the devil is given an opportunity, when he is allowed to run away with our anger. When tempers flare out of control the devil can rip up families, he can tear churches apart.

Why is it that a mother at home can erupt like Mt.Vesuvius at her children but can answer very sweetly when the phone rings?

Why is it that the man in the home can blow off steam and give severe tongue lashings to his wife but always be polite and courteous in his work situations?

It is because they have learned to control their temper in one situation and not in another.

Uncontrolled temper is never acceptable. It is sin. It is sin in the home as well as anywhere else. If you have learned to control your temper at work, you can also learn to control it at home. If you can talk nicely on the telephone you can also do it to your children. If you don't control your anger, you are giving a terrible opportunity to the devil, and that can only spell tragedy. It happens again and again. People let their tempers flare. Before they realise it, their home is on fire and all they have left are smouldering ashes.

So, be angry, but do not sin...
       be angry, but do not let the sun go down on your anger...
       be angry, but do not give the devil an opportunity.

Conclusion:

Be like God. When God was angry with you He hated your sins but He still loved you. His anger and His love came into focus together at the cross. That's how He dealt with your sins. At Calvary His anger burned and His love shone. His anger was but for a day and His love goes on forever.

And now, forgiven sinner, He expects the same from you.

AMEN.