DEALING WITH ANGER Ephesians 4:25-32 The blood of Jesus Christ removes iniquity and sin as well as cleansing away the guilt of sin. We then know that we are forgiven. The Old Covenant demanded 2 goats for the Day of Atonement sacrifices. The one goat was for the sinner and the other goat and its blood for their sins. The New Covenant was ratified by Jesus’ blood, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world and cleanses sinners consciences of the guilt of sin, something the Old Covenant animal sacrifices could not do. Hebrews 9:8-14. Through the new birth from above a new lifestyle begins. The gospel is the message of change; to change us into people which we are presently not. This is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:29), Who has come to live within us. In the Old Covenant God was with His people. E.G. Isaiah 7:14 Immanuel – God with us. Here the preposition is positional as with denotes close proximity, among, near, besides, accompanying, alongside etc. John 1:14. It does not in this context denote “for His people”, although being in close proximity meant He was obviously for them. In the better New Covenant, God goes beyond being with us and comes to live within us and is also for us! Colossians 1:27; Romans 8:31. LEARNING TO RESPOND INSTEAD OF REACTING TO SITUATIONS. Animals react to situations. A dog will wag its tail for a bone or bark when the doorbell rings. They have predictable reactions. God has not called us to react to situations but to be ‘responding persons’ – people who initiate action to meet the situation. Being made in His image and likeness we want to learn to act out, work out the will and pleasure of God in our lives. This is what Philippians 2:12-13 tells us: “So then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God Who is at work in you, both to will and do His good pleasure”. We have a responsibility to work out our salvation because God has worked it in! He does not de-humanize us when we are born again from above. GOD IS ETERNALLY ANGRY AT INIQUITY AND SIN. Iniquity is the wicked condition/nature/attitude of the heart that is the root of sin. Sin is the action that results from iniquity. Iniquity and sin is the ‘spiritual cancer’ that entered God’s perfect creation when Lucifer (Satan) rebelled and sinned. Ezekiel 28:12-19. Adam followed and sin entered the world. Romans 5:12. God is holy and His righteous anger towards iniquity and sin moved Him to respond positively and constructively against sin. God is so righteously angry at sin, yet so loves the sinner that the cross of Jesus was the result. At the cross God’s anger towards sin was completely, fully, perfectly satisfied. The Lord Jesus as our perfect substitute, suffered the full force of God’s holy anger towards our iniquity and sin. On the cross in the inky darkness from noon to 3 p.m. He agonized and suffered the holy fire of God’s anger towards our iniquity and sin. Psalm 85:8-11 is a picture of Calvary. Mercy and truth/faithfulness, righteousness and peace have kissed each other. At the cross the mercy, truth, faithfulness and righteousness of God met the holy anger of God and the result was grace, peace and goodwill towards all people! Isaiah prophesied the redeeming work of the cross in Isaiah 53:1-13. The demands of the Law have been totally met by grace. It is interesting to note that in the Old Covenant scriptures, anger/angry is mentioned 277 times, whereas anger is only mentioned 12 times in the New Covenant scriptures. Only twice is God’s anger directly recorded in the New Covenant: 1) Luke 14:21 records the parable of a man holding a banquet who was angry when people who were invited turned down his invitation to attend. The man is a type of God. 2) Mark 3:5 records Jesus expressing righteous anger at the hardness of the Pharisee’s hearts. His anger is also alluded to when He cast the moneychangers out of the temple. John 2:14-16. Now that God’s anger has been totally satisfied and dealt with at the cross, we enjoy by faith the love, mercy, grace and peace of God that passes all human understanding! God made man in His image and likeness and gave us that emotion called anger to also be righteously angry and opposed to anything that challenges God’s justice, truth, will and purpose on earth. SIN HAS TWISTED AND DISTORTED THE EMOTION OF ANGER. Sin made self-centeredness, ‘Me’, ‘The big I’, Ego, to be the centre of our lives. Our emotions, desires, purposes and plans etc. had been distorted to please self (the flesh). The God-kind of anger dealt in love and forgiveness with the wrongs done to Him. The self-kind of anger deals with the person/persons who have offended, challenged, threatened, harmed me. This anger wants to hurt back the ones who have offended, hurt ‘me’, either in action or words. The world calls it losing your cool, having a short fuse, being touchy, very sensitive, having bad moods etc. JESUS LIVED AS A PERFECT MAN ON EARTH. He revealed to us how a perfect man lived with every emotion under perfect control. He was righteously angry on occasions but never for the wrong reasons. His anger and emotions were always under control to the will of His Father. The Holy Spirit within us produces this ‘breathed in’ ability to be forgiving, gentle, meek and Spirit (self) controlled. NOW I MUST CHOOSE TO LEARN TO ‘WORK OUT’ WHAT GOD HAS WORKED IN. God is wanting us to choose to be restored, ‘untwisted’ in our emotions, which include anger. I need to start having a revelation that God Himself is enough for me; that I am His child, valuable and precious to Him. When I know who I am in Christ and Who He is in me, then when people say, think and do things, or circumstances crowd in, because I know my true identity, I can rest and be content in Him. Proverbs 19:11. “A wise man restrains his anger and overlooks insults”. The Lord Jesus lived this out perfectly. Luke 9:52-56. Jesus and His disciples were passing through Samaria on the way to Jerusalem as the evening approached. He sent James and John into a village to find accommodation for the night. They had the door shut in their face right through the village. They returned to Jesus very angry at the discrimination shown them. How dare they insult our Master and ourselves and spoil our overnight plans. They said in essence “Lord, they deserve the ultimate. Let’s call fire down out of heaven and burn them all up!” But insulting and discriminating against Him as well as spoiling His plans did not move Jesus to anger. Instead He rebuked his disciples saying “You do not know what kind of Spirit you are of” – and moved on in life. THE SECRET – Jesus knew Who He is. When people lied about Him, falsely accused Him or mocked Him it did not make Him angry. He knew that no matter what anyone said, did or thought, it did not alter Who He is. E.G. He could wash dirty feet or preach to 5,000. He knew Who He is and being dead to self had perfect control over His emotions which were subject to the will and pleasure of the Father. (You will get no re-action from a dead person when insulting or mocking them). If they needed to be punished, then Father would handle it. Romans 12:9. “Vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay”. WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT WE CAN CHOOSE TO DEAL WITH ANGER. E.G. Speaking to a woman some time ago who was very angry, with voice raised and red-faced. At that moment the phone rang and while walking backwards to it she was still shouting. As she picked up the receiver she purred “This is the Smith home, can I help you?” She could control her anger if it suited her! SOUND ADVICE Proverbs 29:11 A fool always loses his temper but a wise man holds it back. Proverbs 14:29 He who is slow to anger has great understanding but he who is quick-tempered exalts stupidity. Proverbs 25:28 Like a city that is broken into and without wall is a man who has no control over his spirit. THERE ARE SOME SITUATIONS YOU CAN DO NOTHING ABOUT. God’s Word speaks of Christian slaves who were in such a situation. 1 Peter 2:18-25. While doing their work as unto the Lord, they were beaten and unfairly mistreated by cruel masters. So what could they do? They could not go to their trade union in anger. What about sulking or go on a go-slow strike? Letting things churn and stew inside, then going home at night and taking their frustrated anger out on the dog, cat, canary, children and innocent wife. When you are unjustly treated and can do nothing about it, DO NOT RE-ACT. Physiatrists recommend that you give vent to your anger by shouting, yelling out your anger or hit a pillow with that ‘person’ in mind! The answer is to RESPOND God ward. Remember that you are a child of God and that it is the old-self (a soulish, unsanctified emotion) wanting to RE-ACT, so choose rather to please God and not let it. Count to 10 if you must! Ephesians 4:26-27. “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity (a foothold or landing place)”. Commit the person or situation into God’s hands and leave it there. Trust Him to work all things out for our good and His glory. See in the light of eternity that the person or situation is really insignificant and not worth the spike in blood pressure. GOOD NEWS When I choose to rather please God, the anger goes, the situation or person no longer ‘bugs’ me and I AM A FREE MAN LIVING UNTO GOD!
Posted on: Thu, 12 Sep 2013 18:35:14 +0000