Thank you.
Now, anger is essentially a response, a reaction.
You see something, you don't like it, you feel offended perhaps, and you get angry.
It's an intense response.
To be human is to get angry.
In order to make that point, let's have a show of hands.
Have you been angry in the last three months?
Raise your hand.
I knew it.
How about last three weeks?
Early September.
Yep, amen, me too.
Last three days?
Yes, I have.
Close your eyes now.
Last three hours?
Just kidding.
We get angry, don't we?
We get angry.
Now, you may be surprised.
God does not forbid anger in the Bible.
God Himself is angry.
I'm going to show you that in just a little bit.
But He calls us as Christians to a certain kind of anger.
As Christians, who we are in Christ determines how we deal with our anger.
And so if you would now open up your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4, verses 26 and 27.
I'm going to read those two verses.
Listen now, this is God's Word.
Be angry and do not sin.
Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.
Be angry and do not sin.
Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil.
The anger of our former manner of life before we became Christians was a destructive kind of anger.
It was not useful.
But now as new creations in Christ, our anger is to be constructive.
It's to be useful.
It's to be redemptive.
It's to be Christ-like in true righteousness and holiness.
So here's what we need to see this morning.
God is calling us simply to be Christ-like in our anger.
He's calling you and me to be like Jesus.
And what we get angry about and how we express our anger.
So God is not forbidding anger here.
What He is doing though is He's calling us to a Christ-like anger.
Which will mean putting off the anger of our former way of living.
Our selfish anger.
Reminding ourselves of who we are in Christ.
And then putting on our new self with Christ-like anger.
So all throughout Ephesians 4, we've seen that we're getting this new wardrobe of clothes.
Last week we talked about putting off falsehood.
Putting on truth.
This morning we're talking about putting off a certain kind of anger.
And putting on a Christ-like anger.
And so to help you see that this morning, we're going to kind of bear down on these two verses.
The first thing that we need to be sure of is this.
We need to be sure about our relationship to God's anger.
So we've got to be clear on that.
The second thing that we need to be clear on is this.
We need to be angry and suspicious of our anger at the same time.
And then the last thing that we need to see is this.
We need to be sanctifying our anger.
We need to be stabilizing our anger.
We need to be controlling our anger.
So we'll see this come out as we walk our way through this passage.
We're to be Christ-like in our anger.
And so, let's be sure about our standing in relationship to God's anger.
Now there's two things you need to know about God's anger.
First one is this.
God is angry.
He is.
Now, it's not that uncommon to hear someone make a statement like this.
The God of the Old Testament is a God of anger and the God of the New Testament is a God of love.
Has anybody heard anything like that before?
It's just not true.
Because the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament.
Same God.
In both Testaments, God reveals Himself as a God of just anger and steadfast love.
Now, one of the greatest references that echoes through the pages of the Old Testament about God's anger is found in Exodus 34.
Now, let me tell you what's going on here.
God has just delivered His people out of Egypt, brought them to Mount Sinai.
He brought Moses up onto Mount Sinai and with His very finger wrote the Ten Commandments on two tablets.
They're talking.
God makes aware of something.
There's something off with my people right now.
Moses, go down there.
Moses goes down the mountain.
And what does he see?
His people, God's people, are worshiping a golden calf.
Moses throws down the tablets.
And then God wants to wipe His people out.
He'll start from scratch.
Moses intercedes.
No, God, no.
That won't look good.
God relents.
And then He calls Moses back up on the mountain.
And He cuts out two new tablets.
He's going to renew His covenant with His people.
Our God is amazing.
But before He does that, He says something about Himself.
Exodus chapter 34.
Verses 5 through 8.
Listen to what God says.
The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with Moses there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
The Lord passed before Him and proclaimed,
The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
but will by no means clear the guilty,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and fourth generation.
And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.
The God of the Old Testament is a God of just anger.
He's slow to anger.
And full of steadfast love and faithfulness.
He's a God merciful and gracious.
Do you know what makes God really angry?
Do you know?
When the people He has created in His image,
to worship Him,
reject Him,
in order to worship something other than Him.
That's what makes God really angry.
It's called idolatry.
And in God's economy of things,
that is a capital offense.
Now think about this.
God knows everything.
The fancy word is,
He's omniscient.
He knows that which is of greatest value
and worthy of highest praise.
It's Himself.
He knows that the best thing for us
is to be in a relationship with Him.
Giving Him the praise,
do His name,
living for Him.
I mean, that's what He made us for.
To be in right relationship with Him.
To delight in Him.
To enjoy Him.
But in our sin,
we've rejected Him
and settling to worship junk.
Now you might be thinking,
you know, that idolatry stuff,
that was a big problem in the Old Testament.
It's not an Old Testament problem alone.
It is a worship problem.
It is a human problem.
It's a sin problem.
We all deal with it.
Our nature, apart from Christ,
is dead to God.
And in our spiritual deadness,
we seek to worship things not God.
Namely, ourselves.
Have you ever heard of the expression,
look out for number one?
You heard that before?
Think of it as a worship refrain.
I'm living for myself.
You see,
even though we are futile in our thinking,
darkened in our understanding.
Now this is before we became Christians.
We are futile in our thinking,
darkened in our understanding.
We are ignorant.
We are alienated from the life of God.
Our hearts were hardened to Him.
All that was true.
Do you know what else was true?
We were worshipers.
And since we did not worship God,
we worshiped something else,
and it provoked His anger.
And so in Ephesians 2, 1 through 3,
we read something like this.
I'll just summarize it.
We were dead to God.
We were deceived.
We were disobedient.
We were bedeviled following the prince
of the power of the air.
And as a result, we were damned.
We were children of wrath.
Under God's just wrath.
And what provoked it was our idolatry.
Our exchange of the Creator
for the created things in our worship.
Our hearts were hardened to Him.
And what Romans 2, 5 says is that
it stores up God's wrath against us.
You know what's hard to think about?
People are under God's wrath right now.
We've got a beautiful day.
And people are under God's wrath right now.
There are people sleeping in apartments and homes
all around this place,
many of whom are under God's wrath right now.
We're going to be watching the football game
later this afternoon.
How many people are going to be watching?
How many under God's wrath?
We like to think of John 3, 16.
For God so loved the world
that He gave His one and only Son
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish,
but have eternal life.
But just 20 verses later,
we read this.
Whoever believes in the Son
has eternal life.
Whoever does not obey the Son
shall not see life,
but the wrath of God
remains on Him.
The Bible is very clear.
If you've not put your trust in Jesus,
God's wrath is hanging over your head.
You're in danger.
And God's wrath is a just wrath.
It's a right response to idolatry.
Your idolatry.
You swapping Him out
to worship something else.
God is right in His wrath.
Now for those of us who are Christians,
that's who we used to be.
It's not true anymore.
But if you're not a Christian,
you need to flee to Jesus
because He will rescue you
from the just wrath
hanging over your head.
He will bear it for you.
And so the first thing
I wanted you to be sure of is
God is angry.
Even right now.
The second thing I want to remind you of
as a Christian is this.
He's not angry with you anymore.
He's not.
You can be sure
that the wrath of God
in all its fullness
was poured out on Christ.
If you haven't made Romans 8.1
a verse to set in your heart,
you must.
There is therefore
now no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.
No more wrath.
No more danger.
No more fear of judgment.
There is therefore now
no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.
There was a time
when God's wrath
was over us
but no more.
We believed in the Son.
We have eternal life.
It no longer remains over us.
So now the question is
where did the wrath go?
Where did it go?
If it's not on us,
where did it go?
Did God sweep it under the rug?
Is God a passive-aggressive God?
He just kind of packs it down
for a little bit
only for an explosion of rage later on?
Do we have to be afraid of our God?
Do we have to walk in eggshells around Him?
No, no, no, no, no.
Though God was just
in His wrath towards us,
He dealt with His anger
in a just and loving way
for us.
Here's the Gospel.
God made peace with us
through the cross of Jesus Christ.
God poured out all of His wrath
on the head of Jesus.
All of it for me on Christ.
The death that Christ died,
He died for you, Christian.
Fully satisfying the just wrath of God.
So we can say,
there is therefore now
no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.
There is no more wrath
to be poured out.
It's been all poured out
on Jesus for you.
No more wrath.
Nothing's hanging now.
Nothing's hanging over your head.
In the cross of Christ,
we see God's just wrath
and steadfast love
on full display.
It's a glorious place.
It's wonderful.
Can I just tell you
one more thing too?
We don't have to fear
God's wrath against us.
God's wrath is now for us.
At the end of time,
when Jesus comes back,
He's going to make
all things right.
He's going to judge everything.
We have nothing to fear.
His wrath is for us.
In Ephesians 2, 1 through 3,
we were under God's wrath.
We were damned.
And at the end of Ephesians 2,
in 2.10,
we're His workmanship.
We're His delight.
And the difference is Jesus.
God's grace to us.
We've got to be sure
of our standing
in relationship
to God's anger.
And sure of that,
now let's turn
to our own anger.
In Ephesians 4,
verses 26 and 27,
there is actually four commands.
The first one is
to be angry.
Be angry.
God is not forbidding anger.
He's actually commanding it.
He's calling us to be angry.
Now, let me just clarify
something quickly.
He's not commanding us
to be sinful in our anger.
He is commanding us
to be Christ-like
in our anger.
Remember verses 22 through 24
that just preceded this passage.
We're being called
to put off the selfish way
of living of our former
manner of life
with its anger.
To be renewed in our mind
that we belong to Christ.
That God's wrath
has been paid out
in full on Him.
We're no longer
under God's wrath now.
And so now,
knowing who we are
in Christ,
we are to put on
a new kind of anger.
A Christ-like anger.
So this command here,
to be angry,
is to be angry
in a way
that's like Jesus.
And there is a way.
God is saying to us,
you is mine,
you is alive,
you is holy,
and you is to be angry
the way Jesus gets angry.
So we need to realize
that we're being called
to be angry
about the right things here.
But we also need to realize
we've got to be suspicious
of our anger.
We've got to be suspicious of it.
And there's two reasons why
we've got to be suspicious
of our anger.
The first reason is
our anger,
even in Christ,
is unstable.
It's an unstable anger.
The Bible describes
the experience of a Christian
as having a war
within them.
Galatians 5, 16 and 17,
the desires of the flesh
are opposed to the desires
of the Spirit.
This is happening inside of us.
James 4, 1.
James says,
hey, why are there quarrels
and fights within you?
Is it not because
of the passions
that war inside of you?
We have a mixed bag
when it comes to our motives.
Why we do what we do.
And so,
because of sin in our hearts,
even though we're new creations,
we've got to be suspicious
of our anger.
We've got to be careful
from where it comes from.
And so,
when James,
in James 1, 19 and 20,
says,
be slow to anger.
For the anger of man
cannot accomplish
the righteousness of God.
He's being extremely wise.
He's not forbidding it.
He's saying,
whoa,
be careful.
So,
anger is unstable.
That's the first reason
why we need to be suspicious.
The second reason
why we need to be suspicious
is anger's impact.
It can be devastating.
Do you know what nuclear fission is?
I study nuclear fission on the side.
In my free time.
Actually,
nuclear fission is the splitting
of one atom into two.
And when that fission takes place,
there is a massive release of energy.
Massive.
Anger is a reaction
that releases a huge amount of energy,
isn't it?
We all can relate with that.
Anger
can either be destructive
or constructive.
Anger can either
devastate
or be useful.
Anger can actually
be redemptive.
There are two kinds of angers.
There's unrighteous,
ungodly anger.
And then there's
righteous Christ-like anger.
Does the name
Little Boy ring a bell?
Little Boy was the name
of the first atomic bomb
that was detonated
over Hiroshima
at the end of World War II.
It was detonated
actually above the city.
And the detonation
was the splitting
of an atom.
I think it was a uranium-235 atom.
It split
and there was immense chain reaction
and it released
a huge amount of energy
and it completely
devastated
that city.
I'm not sure
if you've seen pictures
of Hiroshima
after that bomb was dropped.
It was raised.
Flattened, charred.
Many died.
Devastating.
Anger
is a reaction
that can bring about
bomb-like devastation
to relationships.
Devastating friendships.
Devastating marriages.
Devastating families.
Devastating workplaces.
Devastating churches.
We've got to be suspicious of it.
Devastating.
This sinful kind of anger
is much more devil-like
than it is Christ-like.
It destroys.
It brings hostility.
It doesn't unite.
It doesn't bring about peace.
Last week,
we read the command
to put off falsehood
and speak the truth
with his neighbor.
We can't spin
our sinful anger.
anger.
We can't be untruthful
about our anger.
We've got to be honest
about it.
Honest before God
about it.
We must confess it
to one another
in order to put it off.
We've got to be
suspicious of it.
It's unstable.
It's devastating.
But not all
nuclear fission
devastates.
Nuclear fission
is what takes place
in nuclear reactors
that produce all sorts
of electricity
so that we can read
our Bibles in the morning.
It's useful.
It's productive.
It's still dangerous.
Fission reactions
still need to be stabilized,
but it's useful.
So God in Christ
is seeking to do something
in us
with regard to our anger.
He's seeking to purge
out the old stuff
that's destructive
and to radically change us
and transform us
to get angry
about the right stuff
for redemptive,
useful purposes.
And God is really
interested in doing that
for the advancement
of His glory
and for the good
of other people
and it's starting
with you.
It's starting with me.
If you're a Christian,
God made you new
in Christ
so that you wouldn't
be enslaved
by your sinful anger,
but you'd be able
to use your anger
for good.
It's Christ-like.
Did you know
that Jesus got angry?
Let me just point you
to two places
really quick.
In Mark chapter 3,
Jesus walks into
a synagogue
and there was a man
with a withered hand
in the synagogue
and what was taking place
when Jesus was teaching
was this.
He was healing people
and He was healing people
on the Sabbath
and there were teachers
of the law
that were saying this.
You can't do that,
Jesus.
That's a work.
You're not allowed
to work on the Sabbath.
So Jesus walks
into this synagogue.
He sees the man
with a withered hand.
It was a total setup.
Total setup.
And Jesus looks at him
and He looks at the people
there watching Him
to see what He's going to do
and He says,
is it not lawful?
Is it not lawful
to heal on the Sabbath?
And He waits
and they remain silent.
And what the Scriptures say
is Jesus looking around
in anger,
grieved over the hardness
of hearts,
be healed.
Jesus healed the guy
and Jesus was angry.
We see a redemptive use
of His anger.
He was angry at people
using God's Word,
twisting it
in order to keep
loving the neighbor.
Remember,
Luke 19,
Jesus walks into Jerusalem.
He walks into the temple
and He sees all these people
selling goods in the temple.
Remember what Jesus did?
He clears it.
Throws over tables.
He runs people out.
And He said,
you can't make this house
of prayer
a den of robbers.
They were using
God's place of worship
to make money
for greed.
It made Jesus mad.
We see in these examples,
examples.
Jesus is wanting
God worshipped.
He's wanting good
for others.
What do you get angry about?
What makes you mad?
What provokes you
to an anger reaction?
Is it about you?
Are you afraid?
Out of control?
Plans change?
You've been hurt?
Stressed out?
Misunderstood?
Disrespected?
Disappointed?
You've been denied a right?
You've been passed over?
You get angry?
Someone tells you
you don't want to hear something.
You get mad.
What is it that you wanted
that you weren't getting
that made you angry?
Is it about you?
Or is your anger
about God's glory
and the good of others?
Do you get angry
about abortion?
Do you get angry
about pornography?
Do you get angry
about the payday loans
on the corner of 22nd and 60th?
Do you get angry
about these things?
Do you get angry
about your own sin?
About your own lust?
About your own greed?
About your own laziness?
About your own pride
and self-righteousness?
About your own self-worship?
Do you get angry
about that?
We've got to be
suspicious of our anger.
We've got to be
suspicious of where
it comes from.
A great question
to start asking yourself is
why am I angry?
What is it that I want
that I'm not getting?
Are you angry
at the right things?
Now, a Christ-like anger
is a sanctified anger.
A Christ-like anger
is a stabilized anger.
It's a controlled anger.
And to that point,
we now turn.
We've looked at God's anger.
We've looked at our own anger.
We've got to be suspicious of it.
And now, let's look at
how to be angry
in a way that pleases Jesus.
We need to control our anger.
In Ephesians 4, 26 and 27,
there are four commands.
The first one is be angry.
And then there are
three negative commands.
They are,
be angry and do not sin.
Do not let the sun go down
on your anger.
And do not give the devil
an opportunity.
These three commands,
these last three commands,
are designed to help us
direct our anger.
Help us to control our anger.
Help us to stabilize it,
to sanctify it.
If anger is like kindling a fire,
what we're called to
is control the burn.
We've got to control
the burning of our anger.
My folks live west of Chicago.
And so when we drive out there,
we drive through a lot of prairie land.
And in the spring and early summer,
what you'll notice
are big swaths of this prairie
that are just charred black.
And what happens is
the Illinois DNR,
Department of Natural Resources,
they send out groups of people
to do controlled burns
on the prairie.
It's preventative.
It protects against
a devastating wildfire.
And it's healthy.
It manages the prairie.
It's good.
If anger is like kindling a fire,
we must learn
how to control our anger.
We must learn
how to control the burn.
And so let's look
at these three negative commands
and benefit from learning
how to control anger
which can burn inside of us.
The first is this.
Be angry and do not sin.
Aim your anger.
Aim it.
The word translated
aim,
or excuse me,
sin,
literally means
to miss the mark.
It was used of
spear throwing.
When someone would throw
a spear at a target
and miss,
they would sin.
Do you remember
King Saul?
David playing his harp.
Saul is angry,
picks up his spear
and tries to
pin David to the wall.
He missed.
He sinned.
In more ways than one.
We must aim our anger
at the right target.
And for that,
we've got to renew our minds.
We've got to remember
what God values.
We've got to remember
who we are.
We've got to aim
our anger
at the glory of God
and the good of others.
Now,
I am not saying
be angry
at the glory of God.
Be angry
at the good of others.
We leverage our anger
for the glory of God.
For the good of others.
If I am getting angry
because I'm ashamed
or embarrassed
or I'm jealous
of someone else,
that's missing the mark.
I've got to aim my anger
in a way
that pleases Jesus.
Am I angry
at the right thing?
And I'm exercising my anger
in the right way.
One of the tremendous tools
in our fight here
is this.
Pray.
When you feel the heat
coming on,
when you feel your anger
kindling,
pray.
Turn to God in prayer.
Say,
God,
is this anger
rising in me
pleasing to you?
Or do I just need
to put this off right now?
God,
is there a way
that this anger
can be used
for your purposes?
We pray.
It helps control
the burn.
We've got to make sure
we're getting
our angry,
aiming it
at the right thing.
One of the results
will come
is this.
We're going to be
slow to anger.
We're going to slow it down.
We're not going to
rush into something.
If you are quick
to anger,
if you jump to conclusions,
if you impute motives
very quickly,
if people walk
on eggshells around you
because you're volatile,
you know what?
You need to confess
your anger.
You need to go to the Lord
and confess
your anger to Him.
Ask Him
to change you.
Make you more
like Jesus.
Don't spin it.
Be honest
about it.
Keep it real.
Be truthful.
Ask other people
to help you.
That's how we repent.
That's how we turn.
And we turn to Jesus.
Jesus changed me.
So we've got to aim
our anger
and then we've got
to be quick
to resolve our anger.
We're to be slow
to anger
but we're to be quick
to resolve it.
Don't let the sun
go down on your anger.
Paul is saying
is don't fuel your anger.
As time goes by
don't be fueling your anger.
Be cooling your anger.
Be resolving it.
Be confessing it.
Get it right
with other people
before the sun sets.
It's a great rule of thumb.
Don't go to bed
until you've sought
peace with others.
Which that means
is confessing
your sin to others.
Maybe you're not sure
if my anger is sinful.
That's okay.
Confess it.
Hey, I'm angry.
Help me.
You should see
my kitchen sometimes.
I walk into our kitchen
and I'm frustrated
which is a code word
for angry.
And I walk in
and something doesn't
go right.
And I'm like,
Jenny, I'm just like
You know what my wife does?
Tells me to go for a walk.
Cool down.
Slow it down.
Slow to anger.
I confess it to her
and she helps me.
And if I need somebody
to confess to,
I'm able to.
Slow it down.
Be quick to peace.
The goal here is
that we're moving
to peace together.
We're controlling
the burn together.
We can't let
unresolved anger
burn like a fire
and sweep through
our marriages
and our families
and our workplaces
and our church.
We can't do that.
We've got to be quick
to resolving
our anger.
Now the third way
that we control
the burn
is found
in verse 27
as well.
Don't give
the devil
an opportunity.
We're to aim
our anger.
We're to be quick
in resolving
our anger.
And we're to be sober
of our enemy.
There is no question
that the Bible
clearly teaches
that there is
a devil
Satan
who opposes us.
He is a destroyer
a deceiver
a divider
and
what we need
to realize
is that
he is doomed.
His day is set.
He's going to be
thrown into
the lake of fire.
He knows that
and therefore
he rages
all the more.
brothers and sisters
our God
is sovereign
over everything
including the devil.
And he has put us
in a spiritual
street fight.
It's real.
The prince of the power
of the year
who we used to follow
is now our enemy
and he's ticked off.
And no
he is a schemer.
I just got done
reading a book
on World War II
trench warfare.
And one of the things
that both sides
both armies
would do
is they would
set up snipers
and they would
be looking for
people who are
passing gaps
in the trenches
to snipe.
People raising
their heads
to snipe.
The devil
is sniping us.
He's looking
for opportunities
that our anger
can open up
to take advantage
of us.
To injure us.
To disunite us.
We belong to God.
He is for us.
Greater is he
that is in you
than he that is
in the world.
I would rather
deal with Satan
being angry with me
than God
being angry with me.
Do I have an amen?
And God has done
that for us
in Christ.
We're going to learn
in Ephesians 6
how we will
resist him.
How we fight.
What I want you
to see here
is this.
Our church
unity and health
depends on how
we deal with anger.
Your marital
unity and health
depends upon
how you deal
with anger.
Your familial
unity and health
really does
depend on
how you deal
with anger.
We've got to
put off the old
stuff.
Renew our minds
and who we are
and put on
Christ-like anger.
We've got to be
slow to it.
We've got to be
suspicious of it.
We've got to aim it.
We've got to be
quick to peace
and be sober
of our enemy.
Let me pray for us.
God in heaven
thank you so much
that you poured out
your anger
that was meant
for us
onto Christ.
We do not fear
your anger anymore
but God
we rejoice
in knowing
that your anger
is actually for us.
we pray too
that God
you would rid us
of sinful anger
that is destructive
and God
transform us
into Christ's image
that we may use
our anger
for good.
God protect our church.
I pray
spirit of God
that you would convict
we ask that God
there would be
humble conversations
this afternoon
confessing
of sinful anger
and the giving
of forgiveness.
God would you
bring peace
to all aspects
of our life
together
as a church.
God we are aware
of the devil
and his schemes.
God we ask you
to protect us
in Jesus name
Amen.