9 March 2008 - Elder Jeffrey Cheong
BE YE ANGRY AND SIN NOT
Anger is inherent in the heart of sinful man. All of us get angry at one time or another. Just the other day, I saw a mother scream at her young son as soon as I got into the lift and the lift door closed. She shouted and accused him of being responsible for their being late for their next appointment because he had played too much and insisted on eating at the shopping centre before leaving. Her tirade continued even after I left the lift. Of all our emotions, anger may well be one of the most passionate, for it has the power to fuel hatred, smother love and ruin lives.
An angry man feels strong indignation, intense resentment or exasperation, or rage against a person, thing or situation. He cannot ignore offences, has little self-control and reacts without thinking and says and does foolish things in the devilish heat of his passions. He provokes anger and fighting where a conflict could have been avoided for “an angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression”(Prov 29:22 ). Solomon’s son Rehoboam answered Israel harshly and lost ten of twelve tribes, for he provoked them to anger and enmity by his foolish conduct.
Robert Jones says, “Anger is a universal problem, prevalent in every culture, experienced by every generation. No one is isolated from its presence or immune from its poison. It permeates each person and spoils our most intimate relationships. Anger is a given part of our fallen human fabric.” And he adds, “Sadly this is true even in our Christian homes and churches.”
I believe Jones’ observation is all too true for our anger is often directed toward those we should love most: our spouse, children, parents or siblings in our human families and our brothers and sisters in Christ in our church families. An angry man will lose his wife, children and reputation. His children wait for the day when they can leave home to find the peace and security he never gave them. Similarly, Christians are disappointed and some even leave the church family when they see their pastors and leaders exhibiting anger instead of the fruit of the spirit they so regularly preach.
Anger has no virtue, except for those rare occasions in the Bible when righteous indignation erupted legitimately against ungodliness like the cleansing of the temple by our Lord Jesus in Matt 21:12-13 . However, many Christians try to justify their anger as righteous anger. They feel they have a right to be angry, given a certain situation like protecting God’s Name. How then can we know that our anger is righteous anger? Pastor Jerry Bridges answers it this way: “First, righteous anger arises from an accurate perception of true evil – that is, as a violation of God’s moral law. Second, righteous anger is always self-controlled. It never causes one to lose his temper or retaliate in some vengeful way.”
Since the examples of righteous anger are so few, it naturally follows that the Bible’s teaching on anger deals with our sinful anger, our sinful reactions to the actions and words of other people. Pastor Bridges says, “The fact that we may be reacting to another person’s real sin does not necessarily make our anger righteous. We are likely more concerned with the negative impact of the sinful actions on us than we are that it is a violation of God’s law. Or we may even use the fact that is a violation of God’s law to justify our own sinful angry response.” Always remember that God’s anger is focused on eradicating sin and not to destroy the sinner. In contrast, our anger usually has the opposite effect – it spreads sin and it consumes others and even ourselves.
In dealing with our anger, it is good to find out the reasons why we become angry so easily. For example, many leaders in companies and churches get upset when their staff or members challenge their cherished beliefs especially in the presence of others. Their behaviour tells us that the cause of the anger is not correction but pride. Another instance is when someone gossips about us. When we get to hear about it, our anger erupts because we believe that our reputation or character has been called into question. Again the anger is caused by pride.
We get angry also when we do not get our way. This is frequently seen in children who throw tantrums when they do not get what they want. It is also seen in adults and in a marriage when both the husband and wife quarrel. In the office or church setting, a strong and often opinionated leader who wants to exercise control gets angry when others oppose him. In all these instances, the root cause of the anger is self-centredness.
Anger without a just cause is sin and a violation of the sixth commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”, according to our Lord Jesus in Matt 5:21-22 . There is therefore no excuse whatsoever for a Christian to have a bad temper and use this as an excuse to justify his quick wrath. The Apostle Paul advises us: “Be ye angry and sin not: let not the sun go down on your wrath.” (Eph 4:26 ) Here Paul is neither telling nor commanding us to get angry. Rather, he takes it for granted that we will become angry and is telling us how to handle it. He tells us not to hold on to our anger and to deal with it quickly so that it does not fester in our hearts and lead to sin. Above all, do not go to bed still harbouring the anger in our hearts.
Anger never glorifies God “for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” (Jas 1:20 ) Therefore, we must learn to check its first risings in our hearts. If we know of persons or situations that provoke us to anger, we can either avoid them or prepare our defences in advance. Learn to wait before allowing anger any expression. Keeping silent and taking a deep breath also helps.
To handle anger in a God-honouring way, we must first recognise and acknowledge our anger and its sinfulness. Too often, we focus on the other person’s wrongdoing and justify our own actions. We do not see our sin and therefore see no need to deal with it. Hence our anger is justified and acceptable in our sight. Once this blindness is overcome, we must next ask ourselves why we are angry. Was it because of pride or self-centredness or some idol in our hearts that we are protecting? If so, we have to repent as anger that is self-righteous, self-centred, prideful or self-willed can erupt when we least expect it.
Next we have to change our attitude towards the person(s) whose words or actions have triggered our anger and be “forbearing (to) one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.” (Col 3:13 ) If we have shown our anger outwardly, it is also imperative that we seek the forgiveness of the person wounded by our outburst. Finally, we should let God handle the occasion of our anger believing that He is sovereign in all the affairs of our lives, both the “bad” and the “good”. We should bear in mind that any situation that tempts us to anger can either lead to sinful anger or to Christ and His sanctifying power. Pray that God will help us to be victorious over sinful anger.
When we anger God, His first reaction is not to punish us at all. Rather it is to wait, to forgive and to keep pouring down good things upon us. Jesus tells us, “He maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt 5:45 ) In other words, when people ignore God, blaspheme His Name, refuse to believe in Him and continue to indulge in sin, He does not cut off air, food and water to teach them a lesson but is long suffering and continues to give and give. While there is a limit before God’s patience runs out, we should emulate God and make the extra effort to “bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.” (Rom 12:14 ) And the motive for our doing so is because “God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Eph 4:32 )
It is a glorious man who can defer his anger for Solomon tells us: “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.” (Prov 19:11 ) It is a great man who can rule his spirit: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” (Prov 16:32 ) May God help us to become such a man that sinful anger no longer is able to take root in our souls.