Anger: A Biblical Perspective

Sermon Illustration:

Viscountess Astor (1879-1964), the first woman politician to sit in the British House of Commons had a long-standing feud with Winston Churchill. The following discourse is an extract from one of their many heated debates.

Viscountess Astor shouted in anger: “If I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee!”

Winston Churchill: “Madam, if I were your husband I would rather drink it.”

Introduction

I would like to begin with a few questions.

1. When was the last time you got angry? Yesterday, a week ago, today before coming here?

2. What makes you angry? Maybe someone who puts you down. Your spouse embarrasses you in public. Your friend wants all the attention? Your neighbour’s son is too loud. Your fellow church member has different ideas and opinions. Or you’re always punctual but others aren’t. You are neat with your stuff while your family messes up around the house

I can go on and on. There are so many reasons that people get angry.

3. As a Christian, is it wrong to be angry?

Anger is an emotion like any other emotion. Just as you can get discouraged, depressed, lonely, feel sad, happy, you can feel angry. It is an emotion.

Dictionary defines anger like this: It is the strong feeling that you have when something has happened or somebody has done something that you do not like.

When you get angry, lots of changes happen in your body. The hormones, adrenaline and cortisol are released in substantial amounts into the bloodstream gearing you up to handle stressful or dangerous situations. Neil Clark Warren calls it “physiological preparedness” – a physical state that God uses to prepare you to protect yourself when facing danger. This response is good in threatening situations, but not ideal when you find yourself screaming at your spouse or friend.

What does the Bible say about anger?

Matthew 5:21-22 - "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire.

Of all the crimes in the world, murder is ranked the highest. One of the commandments in the Old Testament is ‘You shall not murder’ [Exo 20:13]. Pharisees and Scribes had taught that only outright murder was forbidden by the commandment.

God is talking about that and equating it to anger. He is saying being angry without cause is equal to the sin of committing a murder.

So, a question may arise in your mind: Can I rightfully be angry with my brother if I have a reason?

Anger is not always a sin. There are right reasons to get angry. I see injustice happening right in front of my eyes, and I get angry. If I see a stranger kidnapping a child, I will get angry. Anger is beneficial when put to proper use. This type of anger is often called ‘righteous indignation’.

Abraham Lincoln got angry against human slavery. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation which helped end slavery once and for all.

Florence Nightingale was angered at inadequate hospital care. So she did all she could to trans nursing into a respectable profession for women, and in 1860, she established the first professional training school for nurses, the Nightingale Training School at St Thomas' Hospital.

Anger when put to proper use becomes beneficial for the society at large.

There are a few examples in the Bible of people who expressed righteous anger.

In Exo 32, When Aaron made a golden calf, Moses saw that he got angry that people drifted away from God. What did he do?

Exo 32:19 - When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.

And what about Jesus? Did he get angry?

Jesus was angry at the Pharisee’s hard hearts. In Mark 3:5 After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Mark 3:5Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

In John 2:13-17, Jesus was angry with the money changers at the cleansing of the Temple

So it’s okay to get angry when you get angry about the right things and in the right manner (Eph 4:26). Notice that none of the above examples of anger involved self-defence, but a defence of others or of a principle. Anger is righteous when it does good rather than harm.