Good morning, church.
Just making sure I'm on so you can hear me.
Well, we're continuing our series in the Old Testament book of Proverbs this morning.
Proverbs is a book about what it means to be truly wise.
And for the rest of the summer, we're looking at some of the key themes of this book.
We said a couple weeks ago that sort of the main bulk of Proverbs, chapters 10 through
31, was put together a lot like that sort of tightly woven tapestry, giving us this integrated
picture of what a whole life of wisdom looks like.
And this morning, we're going to pull another one of those threads and consider another angle
on what it means to really be wise.
So I want to start this morning by reading just sort of a series of Proverbs.
And we're going to start at Proverbs chapter 14, verse 29.
That's page 538 in the Pew Bible, if you want to turn with me there.
Page 538, we're going to start in Proverbs chapter 14, verse 29.
If you're new to a Bible, the big numbers are the chapters and the small numbers are the
verses.
And I'm going to just sort of read through a collection of Proverbs to consider an important
theme together this morning.
So let's start.
Proverbs 14, 29.
Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
15, 18.
A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
16, 32.
Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he
who takes a city.
19, 11.
Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
19, 19.
A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to
do it again.
Chapter 22, verse 24 and 25.
Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn
his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
29, 11.
A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.
29, 22.
A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.
Why don't we pray, and then we'll consider these verses a bit more deeply.
Father, we do thank you that we get this chance this morning on this day, what we call the Lord's
day, the day when we remember, Lord Jesus, your resurrection from the dead and the beginning
of our new life.
Lord, we thank you that we can now gather around your word.
We thank you that you continue to speak to us and instruct us and teach us through scripture.
God, we ask that by your spirit you would allow these passages to come alive in our hearts.
Lord, that you would change us and transform us more and more into the image of your son,
so that as we've sung this morning, we might bring glory to you and know true joy in our hearts.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, so you can probably tell from the verses we just read together that our topic this morning
is a topic of anger.
According to Proverbs, if we're going to be wise, if we're going to live life well,
we need to reckon with the reality of anger in our lives and in the lives of others.
Now, I don't know whether you think anger is an issue for you or not.
You know, we can hear stories of parents getting into fistfights at their kids' little league games,
and we think, whoa, they've got anger issues.
I'm not that bad.
You know, sometimes anger is easy to spot, right?
But when it comes to ourselves, we can often think that we're pretty patient people.
That was true of me before I got married.
I thought I was a pretty patient person.
I actually probably would have called myself a really patient person.
But in reality, now I know, that's just because I had very little responsibility,
and there was nothing in my life that sort of challenged my incredibly self-centered approach
to all of my decisions and what I did.
So, yeah, I could do whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it,
so I didn't get upset all that much.
But then enter marriage, and then enter children,
and suddenly I'm not the all-patient person I thought I was.
But keep in mind, too, anger comes in all sorts of forms.
A couple friends of ours that Beth and I know from college who are married,
whenever they get into an argument, it's like someone just turned the volume up to 11 immediately.
They're loud, they're passionate, they're vocal.
The first time we sort of spent the weekend with them, I kind of got a little nervous.
I talked to Beth later, and I was like, are they okay?
Like, do we need to connect them with a counselor or something?
Are they doing all right?
So, yeah, and some people it's easy to spot anger.
But, you know, what about the couple, or what about the person who instead just gets really quiet?
Who refuses to interact?
Who shuts the other person out?
Who lets it all simmer underneath and never lets it go?
It might not look like uncontrolled anger at first,
and yet it's just as real and just as deadly.
Anger can look like shouting, but it can also look like the silent treatment, right?
In fact, when anger goes wrong, it takes lots of forms.
Irritation, complaining, bitterness, or just sort of low-grade impatience.
So, friends, what Proverbs has to say about anger is really for all of us.
And we're going to look at three things this morning related to anger from Proverbs that these verses show us.
We're going to look first at the cost of uncontrolled anger.
And then second, we're going to see what can help us in our anger.
And then last, we're going to see what can heal us in our anger.
So first, let's consider the cost of uncontrolled anger.
And I think we can categorize what Proverbs says here in a few ways.
First, Proverbs says if you're quick-tempered, one of the costs is you'll just do foolish things.
Proverbs 14.17 puts it quite bluntly.
A man of quick temper acts foolishly.
Also 14.29, whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
Or as one translation puts it, a quick-tempered person stockpiles stupidity.
You'll do things you later regret, and it will just keep piling up.
Now, I mean, we can all relate to that, right?
Don't raise your hand.
But how many of us have said things or done things when we're angry,
and later we think, what was I thinking?
I just decapitated all three of my children because they asked me for a cup of milk.
What is going on?
That was incredibly foolish.
I didn't literally decapitate my kids.
That never happened.
So being quick-tempered, uncontrolled anger causes us to just do foolish things.
That's one cost.
Second, if you're quick-tempered, you'll end up wrecking community.
Proverbs 15.18.
A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,
but he who is slow to anger quiets contention.
And 29.22.
A man of wrath stirs up strife,
and one given to anger causes much transgression.
You see, Proverbs is pointing us there to the social cost of being quick-tempered.
Think of that image of stirring up strife.
You know, when I was growing up,
I lived for a time in upstate New York,
and we lived near a lake,
and, you know, many times we would go out to the lake,
and it would be sort of crystal clear.
And if you waded out into the water calmly,
you'd be able to continue to see right down to the bottom.
See the fish, see the rocks.
It was all quite peaceful and serene.
However, if you stomped violently in the water,
boom, boom, boom, splash, splash, splash,
what happens?
You stir up all the dirt and all the sand,
and the once peaceful water is now this swirling mess,
and you can't see a thing.
Uncontrolled anger, according to Proverbs,
is like that in relationships.
It just stirs up strife and conflicts and fights and animosity.
Turns people against one another in neighborhoods and homes and churches.
In other words, uncontrolled anger wrecks havoc in community.
It creates strife among people who themselves aren't even that angry of people.
But third, if you're quick-tempered,
there's a deep personal cost.
Listen to Proverbs 25, 28.
A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.
In Proverbs 19, 19 again.
A man of great wrath will pay the penalty,
for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.
In other words, uncontrolled anger, says Proverbs,
leaves you desolate and holds you captive.
25, 28 uses the image of a city broken into and left without walls.
And in the ancient world, a city's walls were its primary means of defense.
So a city without walls is a picture of weakness and vulnerability.
You're defenseless and you're desolate.
Anything, even the smallest army, could destroy you.
And it's like that when anger is uncontrolled.
The smallest thing can set you off, send you on a spiral, and destroy you.
But in Proverbs 19, 19, it gets even more serious if you look there.
What is this verse really describing?
Proverbs 19, 19, a man of great wrath will pay the penalty.
If you deliver him, you will only have to do it again, and again, and again.
Do you see what Proverbs is saying there?
That wrath, that anger, it's like an addiction.
It gets a hold on us, and it grips us so deeply
that even if you deliver someone from the penalty
or from the consequences of their angry actions,
they fall back into it again and again.
They go right back in.
They can't stop themselves from just falling back into it.
You know, that's why Proverbs gives the opposite advice
to what you sometimes hear when it comes to anger.
The popular advice on anger, how to deal with it,
is oftentimes, well, you just have to let it out.
Just let it out.
If you're angry, go punch a pillow.
Scream really loudly.
Just let it out.
Ventilate.
Release the pressure.
But friends, that advice is very short-sighted
because uncontrolled anger is actually like a muscle
that the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets,
and the stronger it gets, the more it will hold you captive.
Proverbs 29, 11 says,
A fool gives fool vent to his spirit,
but a wise man quietly holds it back.
So if letting it out isn't going to help, what will?
And this takes us to the second big thing
that Proverbs shows us about anger.
If that's the cost of uncontrolled anger,
what can help us in our anger?
What will help us become less and less quick-tempered
and more and more what Proverbs calls slow to anger?
The first thing it points to is the company you keep.
Proverbs 22, 24 through 25 again.
Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
nor go with a wrathful man,
lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
Anger, you see, is something that you can learn.
Or as one translation puts it,
bad temper is contagious.
Don't get infected.
So when you're picking your friends,
when you're choosing who to hang out with,
ask yourself,
are my friends quick-tempered?
Are they easily just set off?
Are they angry, irritable, complaining,
always holding a grudge,
always blaming others,
always cutting people down?
Proverbs says choosing to spend time with people like that,
whether it's in person
or whether it's through the shows
and the media that we consume.
Anger is very profitable, friends, isn't it?
Proverbs says choosing
those sorts of things is like volunteering
to entangle yourself in a snare.
It's like seeing the bear trap
and jumping right in.
Boom.
If you have the choice,
don't go there.
Of course, you don't always have the choice, right?
It's different with family, isn't it?
You can't choose your family.
Sometimes family members get angry,
so your strategy has to be a little different.
If your child struggles with uncontrolled anger,
you can't just disown them.
Ah, Proverbs 22, 24 through 25.
Sorry, kiddo.
You're off on your own.
No.
As a parent,
your job is to move toward your child in love.
Listen to the cries of their hearts.
Yes, correct what needs to be corrected,
but also prayerfully call forth the good.
If your spouse struggles with anger,
much the same applies.
Pray for them.
Love them.
Stick with them.
Listen to the cries of their hearts.
Pray.
Of course, if the anger turns to physical abuse,
you need to be safe.
Separate yourself.
Get help.
Don't do it alone.
So in some of our relationships,
we won't be able to choose,
but in those where we do have a choice,
Proverbs is saying,
the one thing that will make you wise
when it comes to anger,
one thing that will help you become a person
who is slow to anger,
as opposed to quick-tempered,
is the company you keep.
But next, it's not just the company you keep,
but the words that you speak.
The words that you speak.
Proverbs 15, 1.
Proverbs 15, 1 says,
a soft or a gentle answer turns away wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Now, of course, the primary point of this verse
is how to interact with angry people, right?
How do you do it?
Do you rise to the occasion?
Do you fight fire with fire?
Proverbs says,
No, a soft answer, a gentle answer.
That is a controlled and deliberate,
loving response
that really cares for the person in front of you
and doesn't just treat them
as a problem to be solved
or an issue to be dealt with,
much less an enemy or an opponent to be defeated.
That sort of answer,
a soft, a gentle answer,
Proverbs says,
diffuses the bomb of anger.
But on the flip side,
if you want to pull the pin,
well, go right ahead.
Give a harsh word.
View the situation as a contest to be won.
View the person as a problem
to be controlled and contained.
Answer that way.
Proverbs says,
Guaranteed, you can watch the anger escalate.
But you know,
I think this verse also applies
to how we speak to ourselves
in moments of anger.
Listen to Proverbs 20, 22.
Do not say,
I will repay evil.
Wait for the Lord
and he will deliver you.
Do not say.
Say to who?
Who are we speaking to here?
Well, obviously,
what we have in this verse
is an internal dialogue
of someone who's angry,
who's ready to deal out revenge.
And Proverbs is saying,
don't say,
I will repay evil.
Rather,
speak the soft word,
which is really
the stronger word
to yourself.
Wait for the Lord
and he will deliver you.
So Proverbs 15,
one,
this proverb
that many of us
have heard before,
a soft answer
turns away wrath,
but a harsh word
stirs up anger,
applies as much
to our internal
conversations with ourselves
as to our external
conversations with others.
So friends,
what do you say to others?
Or perhaps,
just as importantly,
what do you say to yourself
when you're angry?
I think in large part,
this is why stepping back
and taking a deep breath
can be so helpful
when our anger
is running out of control.
I mean,
the oxygen probably helps,
right?
But I think the deep breath
really helps
because it gives you
a moment to pause
and reframe the situation.
It gives you a moment
to get some perspective
and to start talking
to yourself differently
about what's really going on.
No,
your parents
aren't on a mission
to destroy
all your fun
and strip you
of all of your freedom.
Teenagers,
take a deep breath.
Tell yourself
the soft answer,
which is the strong answer
that,
you know,
my parents love me.
They're not perfect,
but they want my best.
And God,
my heavenly father,
has given me
my parents
for my good.
No,
your roommate
or your co-worker
doesn't always
fill in the blank,
right?
They always
cut me off.
Take a deep breath.
They aren't on a mission
to make your life miserable.
That's not the driving force
in their life.
Excuse yourself.
Take a walk around the block
if you need to,
but tell yourself
the soft answer,
which is the strong answer.
No,
that person is not perfect,
but they're not pure evil either.
And God will give me
the grace
to overlook the offense
and serve and love them
regardless.
Friends,
you see how the words
you speak
are so critical
when it comes to help
in our anger.
But there's a third help.
Not just the company you keep,
not just the words you speak,
but third,
Proverbs shows us
the benefits
of being slow to anger.
It casts before us
a vision of life,
of what it would be like,
the benefits
of being slow to anger.
You see,
the vision
that Proverbs
puts out before us
is not that the wise
are totally emotionless.
Biblically speaking,
the wise aren't complete stoics
striving to be unfeeling
to the world around them.
No,
that's not biblical wisdom.
There are actually times
when anger
is wholly appropriate.
God is angry
at evil
and injustice,
and it is perfectly good
and right.
After all,
how could God
be a God of love
if He wasn't opposed
to evil and wrong
and all that destroys
His good creation?
The opposite of love
isn't anger,
you know.
The opposite of love
is indifference.
Because we love,
because we care,
because we're deeply invested
in something's good,
because of that,
there's a right sort of anger.
An anger
at that which
threatens what we love
and what we value.
Proverbs says,
the wise person
isn't a person
who is never angry.
After all,
Jesus Himself got angry,
didn't He?
Read the Gospels.
Jesus got angry
at self-righteousness,
at hard-heartedness,
at injustice.
Jesus got very angry
at death.
The wise aren't never angry,
rather they are slow
to anger.
And one of the things
that will help us
become less quick-tempered
and more slow to anger
is to see the benefits
of being slow to anger.
Listen again
to Proverbs 14.29.
Whoever's slow to anger
has great understanding,
but he who has a hasty temper
exalts folly.
Those who are slow
to anger,
friends,
have deep understanding.
You see,
uncontrolled anger
prevents us
from seeing things
as they are.
It blocks our ability
to really understand
the world
in a deep way.
We're not thinking
straight when we're angry.
It clouds our reason.
But those who are
slow to anger,
the opposite is true.
They can really grasp
the deep logic of things.
They can really
understand
other people.
They can really
see reality
as it truly is.
And they can live
accordingly.
In the New Testament
epistle of James,
chapter 1,
19 through 20,
James puts it this way.
He says,
Know this,
my beloved brothers
and sisters.
Let every person
be quick to listen,
slow to speak,
slow to anger.
For the anger of man
does not produce
the righteousness
of God.
So there's one benefit.
Deep understanding.
Here's another.
Proverbs 15.18.
A hot-tempered man
stirs up strife,
but he who is slow
to anger
quiets contention.
How do you make
that stomped through
muddy pond
crystal clear again?
How do you move
a friendship,
a family,
a church,
a city from strife
and contention
to peace and harmony?
How do you bring
healing to communities?
Only through being
slow to anger.
anger.
Friends,
think of the salt
and light we would be
in our city
and in our schools
and in our workplaces
if we,
the church,
were slow to anger.
It's so easy
to be cynical
and snarky,
isn't it?
I know
because I can be
as cynical
as the next guy.
What if we were
slow to anger
instead?
Listen to Proverbs 19.11.
Good sense
makes one
slow to anger
and it is his glory
to overlook
an offense.
There's glory
in overlooking
an offense.
Of course,
the world
doesn't always
see it that way.
It can seem weak
to overlook
an offense.
It can seem
unassertive.
Stand up for yourself,
we're told.
Or our friends
kind of egg us on.
You're not going
to take that,
are you?
Overheard
at every lunch period
in every high school
in New Haven County,
right?
You're not going
to take that
from them,
are you?
But then it just
gets translated
into different words
the older we get.
But I ask you,
what's more glorious?
To get sucked down
into the back
and forth
of you offend me,
I offend you,
the hamster wheel
of offense
where no one wins.
Is that full of glory?
Or is it more glorious
to overlook
an offense?
To remain
unshaken
and unthwarted
on the path
of loving
our neighbors
and loving
even our enemies
in Christ's name.
To be sure,
brothers and sisters,
there is glory
in being slow
to anger.
Proverbs 16, 32
puts it this way,
it says,
whoever is slow
to anger
is better
than the mighty
and he who rules
his spirit
than he who
takes the city.
The NIV
puts it this way,
better a patient
person
than a warrior,
one with self-control
and one who
takes the city.
Or one person
paraphrased it like this,
moderation
is better
than muscle,
self-control
better
than political
power.
You see,
friends,
what's going to last?
What will endure?
What is true
strength?
not the touchy,
quick-tempered,
irritable,
the always ready
for an argument,
the belligerent,
the boisterous,
the proud.
No.
But those who are
slow
to anger.
And you know,
that should not
surprise us.
After all,
it's not that God's
own character.
This is how Matt
began the service.
When God reveals
himself to Moses
in Exodus 34,
that's a pinnacle
moment.
That's a key moment
in the Old Testament.
What does God say
he's like?
Who is this God
who made us?
The Lord,
the Lord,
a God merciful
and gracious,
slow to anger
and abounding
in steadfast love
and faithfulness.
That's who God is.
Perhaps this is
the greatest benefit
of being slow
to anger.
That we,
as human beings,
created in God's
image,
when we are slow
to anger,
we get to display
his character
in the world
he has made.
We get to emulate
in our own
creaturely way
the creator
who made us.
we get to
participate
in God's
own nature.
Don't you want
that sort of life?
Don't you want
that sort of spirit
who would participate
in the glory
of God
in that way
rather than
just getting sucked
down into the
back and forth
of offense?
Friends,
don't you want
to be slow
to anger?
So the company
we keep,
the words we speak,
the benefits
of being slow
to anger,
they all help.
They all help us
become less
quick-tempered
and more slow
to anger.
But you know,
at the end of the day,
that's not enough.
We need more
than just help
for our anger.
The reality is
we need healing.
Because you can get
with the right people
and you can keep
telling yourself
the right things
and you can even
have a vision
of what it would
all look like
and how glorious
it would be,
but at the end
of the day,
you and I need
something even deeper
and something
more profound.
And this is our third
and our last point.
What can really
heal our anger?
What will truly
make us
slow to anger?
Well, first you have
to admit that you
have an anger problem.
David Powelson,
a counselor
and an author,
wrote a book
on anger
called Good and Angry
and I think the second
or third chapter
is called
Do I Really Have
an Anger Problem?
Question mark.
And the chapter
is this long.
Yes.
Chapter done.
And you know,
now that we've been
walking through
these verses on anger,
we see that our anger
issues are bigger
than we thought.
Because the problem
with anger
isn't just
that we get angry
at the wrong things,
it's also that we
don't get angry
at the right things.
Yeah?
We can be totally
enraged
when someone
offends us
and in the same moment
completely indifferent
when we hear
of radical injustice
and incredible suffering
happening in the world.
But wisdom
in anger,
doing anger rightly
means that we're
slow to anger
at the right things
at the right time
in the right way.
But instead,
we blow up
when our kids
don't get the playing time
we think they deserve.
And in the same moment,
we could functionally
care less
that there are kids
in our own backyard
who barely have enough
to eat.
And friends,
doesn't that show us
that something
is deeply,
deeply wrong,
not just with the world,
but with us.
Friends,
if we want to know
healing for our anger,
we've got to admit
that our hearts
are broken,
that something's gone wrong
inside of us,
that we've turned inward
in a kind of
God-ignoring selfishness
that pervades
all that we do,
which is what the Bible
calls sin.
And because of that condition,
we end up loving
the wrong things
in the wrong way.
We said that anger
is opposition
to that which
threatens what we love.
Think about it.
At the most basic level,
when do you get angry?
When your will
is blocked,
right?
I want something,
something stands in my way
or stops me from getting it
and I get angry.
Example,
I want potato chips.
My roommate
has eaten
all of the potato chips.
I now want
to destroy
my roommate.
In that moment,
you loved the pleasure
of eating potato chips
that was threatened,
even stolen
by your roommate
and you got angry.
Of course,
that's a
silly example,
isn't it?
But it gets more
subtle than that
and it gets more serious,
doesn't it?
You're on your way
to an important
lunch meeting.
You're five minutes away
but suddenly traffic
is at a standstill
and you're not moving
and you keep looking
at the clock,
two minutes,
three minutes,
four minutes go by
and you can just feel
the anger
start to boil.
Why?
Because I need to be
at this lunch meeting
on time.
Okay,
but why anger?
You've been late
to lunch meetings before.
You've been stuck
in traffic before.
No anger.
What's different now?
What is it that you love,
that you value,
that's being threatened
in this moment
and that's igniting
your anger?
Is it your reputation?
What will my boss,
what will my new
co-workers think of me
if I'm late
for this lunch meeting?
And then you start
to spin it out,
don't you?
I bet I'm the only one
who is dumb enough
to take the highway
to get to this restaurant.
I'm going to show up
and look like a total idiot.
I'm going to miss
the whole thing.
I'm not going to get
the promotion
until you sit in traffic
and you get angry
because your reputation
is on the line.
Or maybe it's not
your reputation this time,
maybe it's your
relational status.
You're on your way
to a date
and you're sick
of being the single one
among all your friends
and this stupid traffic
is keeping you
from something
that might actually
rescue you
from the hell
of your singleness
and so you get angry
now look,
it's okay
to want to make
a good impression
on your boss.
It's okay
to want to find a spouse
but if those things
get threatened
and you find yourself
boiling with anger
and you're cutting people
off in traffic
and you're yelling
obscenities
at the person
in front of you
who won't move up
the three inches
that they can possibly
move up,
you know something
has gone haywire.
What is it
that's going to
heal your anger?
What is it
that will cool
our quick tempered hearts
to be truly
and rightly
slow to anger?
Well Proverbs
puts it this way.
It says,
the fear of the Lord
is the beginning
of wisdom.
In other words,
the beginning,
the wellspring,
the source,
the foundation
of being able
to do anger wisely,
to be truly
slow to anger
is that the Lord
has to be the thing
you value
and cherish
and love
before and above
all else.
God has to be
bigger
and more precious
to you
than your reputation
and God has to be
bigger
and more worthy
to you
than your relational status.
God has to be
the thing
around which
everything else
orbits in your life.
That's what the fear,
that's what the awe
of the Lord means,
that he is the blazing sun
and everything else
is just stars.
And there's only one way
you get that kind
of fear of the Lord.
There's only one way
you get the fear
of the Lord
so deep in your soul
that it makes you
slow to anger.
It's when you see
that he's been
slow to anger.
And he's been
slow to anger
not just theoretically.
He's been slow
to anger
not just
as an abstract
attribute
of his divine
perfections,
but he has been
slow to anger
with you
personally.
Consider it,
friends.
the God
who made you
in complete
freedom
without any need,
the God
who upholds you
in your existence
every second
of every day,
who is the
infinite ocean
of bliss
and the source
of all that is good,
this God
who upholds you
in your being
every second
of every day
deserves your
unrelenting
thanks and praise.
And yet,
we live
99%
of our lives
basically
ignoring God.
And then,
when something
goes wrong
and doesn't
meet our
expectations
for how we
think our
lives should go,
we spend
the other
1% of our
lives
blaming God
and getting
angry at him.
Proverbs 19.3
says,
when a man's
folly
brings his
way to ruin,
his heart
rages
against the
Lord.
Is that
not such
an insightful
view of
the human
condition?
Our
folly
brings us
to ruin
and yet
we rage
against God.
And friends,
would not
our perfectly
good and
holy God
be perfectly
just
to give
us
exactly
what we
functionally
ask for
every second
of every
day?
To be
separated
from him
forever.
Would it
not be
utterly
and perfectly
good and
just of
God to
give us
what our
hard-hearted
rebellion
against him
deserves?
And yet,
that is not
what God
does.
Instead,
God takes
on human
flesh for
you and
absorbs the
rightful anger
that our
sins deserve
on a
wooden
implement
of torture.
He's
mocked
and beaten
and torn
to shreds.
when God
was completely
just to
annihilate me
in his
anger,
he forgives
me instead.
He doesn't
excuse my
sin.
He doesn't
ignore my
sin.
He paid
for it
and forgave
me.
Do you
see how
God has
been infinitely
patient with
you,
friends?
Infinitely
slow to
anger
when you
didn't
deserve
it.
And so
how could
this Lord,
the Lord
Jesus,
not be
the center
of your
life now?
How could
you love
or prize
or value
anything
more than
him?
The one
who's been
so slow
to anger
with you
and so
loving
and so
kind.
And so
kind.
And you
know,
the more
and more
Christ
takes up
residence
in our
hearts
by his
spirit,
the more
and more
what Christ
has done
for us
fills
our
affections,
you know,
the more
your reputation
and the more
your relational
status,
the more
your whatever
will start
to find
its rightful
place in
orbit around
him.
And when
things start
to threaten
those peripheral
things now,
you'll be
slow to
anger.
You may
still experience
disappointment,
you may
still experience
frustration,
yes,
but rage,
the uncontrolled
anger will
subside because
the one thing
that you prize
above all
else,
the love
of God
in Christ
for you
can never
be threatened.
Nothing
can touch
it.
Friends,
do you know
that love?
Is that
the burning
center of
your soul?
Do you see
how your
heavenly
father has
been so
incredibly
slow to
anger with
you and
how he
continues to
be so
every moment
of every
day?
And how
this love
of God
in Christ
is open
for all
who will
turn from
sin and
entrust
themselves to
Christ.
Do you
see that?
Do you
know that?
If so,
friends,
then let it
heal you
of your
anger.
God,
let it
make us
wise.
Let's
pray.
Let's
pray.
Oh, God,
we do pray
that you
would come
now by
your
spirit,
and you
would impress
upon us
the truths
of these
words that
we've been
considering from
Proverbs,
and Lord,
that we
would see
running in
and through
each one
of them
the character
and the
love of
our Lord
Jesus
Christ.
God, I
pray for
those who
are here
this morning
who, like
me and
like so
many, just
struggle with
anger.
God, I
pray that by
your spirit
you would
become the
blazing sun
in the center
of our
universe once
again.
Oh, God,
flood us
with a rich
sense of
your glory
and the way
in which you've
been so patient
and so kind
and so slow
to anger
with us.
And God,
for those who
are here
who maybe
don't know
that love,
Lord, for
whom it
seems like
a far-off
thing,
God, for
those who
are here
and, Lord,
would think
of that kind
of intimate
relationship
with you
as something
that seems
strange and
almost impossible
and something
they could
never attain.
Lord, I
pray that you
would help
them to see
that you
have become
the way
and the
truth
and the
life
and that
we can
truly come
to the
Father,
Lord Jesus,
through you.
Oh, God,
I pray that
you would
give them
the grace
to place
their trust
in you,
to commit
their lives
to you
and so
know the
peace that
you give.
God,
help us
as a church
to live
in these
ways,
we pray.
In Jesus'
name,
amen.
and
sign
the
gift
of
who