INTRODUCTION
• VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• To soften the tension of the video…
• One day a lady in a brand-new Volvo had been driving around in a crowded car park, had finally found a spot and was just about to back into it when a young kid in a tricked-out Honda whizzed into the spot before her.
• As the Honda driver got out of his car and was walking away the lady in the Volvo called out “I found that spot first. What gives you the right to push in and take it?”
• The young man laughed and said “Because I’m young and quick” and kept on walking.
• All the sudden he heard the hideous sound of a car being heartily smashed.
• He turned around to see the lady in the Volvo repeatedly ramming her car into his. She caught his eye and said “That’s because I’m old and rich!”
• Anger can be so destructive.
• Today we are going to examine a new way to deal with anger.
• In the video clip from the movie Fireproof, that scene plays itself out in many marriages today.
• One person does something that angers the other, and instead of dealing with the problem, they let it build.
• As I alluded to last week, over time, when our anger is not dealt with, we use the things that we allow to upset us to as bricks to build a wall of separation between ourselves and others.
• When things happen to us that we are not pleased with, we get angry, when we get hurt by situations or other people, we get angry.
• When we get in the checkout line at Wal-Mart, WAIT, too close to home!
• When we hit the 5-hour light at Target, Oh, boy! Never mind!
• When we do not get out way, we get angry. There are so things that have the potential to make us angry.
• This subject is one that is close to home for me. Down deep inside, I was an angry person. I could not stand to lose and I could not stand to be insulted or slighted in any way.
• Being angry all the time is not healthy and it can cause others around you to catch the angry fever from you.
• WE live in a world that anger seems to be the norm, and when one gives themselves to Jesus, how we to deal with our anger?
• What does the world tell us to do, to stay mad, to get retribution, to make the offender pay for making us mad?
• Today we will look at how one should deal with their anger. We will be in Ephesians 4:26-27 today.
• SLIDE #2
• Ephesians 4:26 (HCSB) Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. The emotion of anger is part of our life.
• Anger is something that even when you are in Christ, will be a part of your life.
• In verse 26 and in verse 31, in the English translation we see the word anger and in some translations, the second-time anger appears in verse 26 is translated as WRATH.
• What is interesting to me is in those two verses, where we see the word anger or angry, each one is a different word in the original text.
• The word in verse 31 denotes a turbulent, fierce indignation. Passionate outbursts.
• The second time the word anger is used in verse 26 denotes an anger accompanied by irritation and embitterment. It is a state of being quite angry and upset with something.
• The first time angry is used in verse 26 denotes an anger aroused under certain circumstances and sometimes the emotion can be a good one when righteous anger is involved. It means to be relatively angry.
• There is an anger that is righteous. Christ was angry at times (Mark 3:5). We should be indignant over injustice, sin, blasphemous statements, and so forth.
• Despite these nuances of the original, one thing that should not escape our sight is the fact that Paul tells us BE ANGRY.
• This is not a command to be angry but rather it can be translated IF YOU ARE ANGRY OR WHEN ANGRY…or BE ANGRY IF YOU MUST.
• In other words, even in Christ, you will still have to deal with the emotion of anger.
• The implication is that anger is inevitable in one’s life. Being angry in itself is not a sin.
• God was angry several times in the Bible, like in Psalm 79:5-ff.
• I do not think that when Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple, He was not smiling!
• Look at Mark 3:5
• SLIDE #4
• Mark 3:5 (HCSB) After looking around at them with anger and sorrow at the hardness of their hearts, He told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
• The word ANGER is the same one used the first time in verse 26.
• Yet from Matthew 5:22, where the same word is used we can see where anger can degenerate into sin.
• SLIDE #5
• Matthew 5:22 (HCSB) But I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Fool!’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But whoever says, ‘You moron!’ will be subject to hellfire.
• Nonetheless, anger is something that we need to put away and when it happens, we need to know how to deal with it properly.
• We must not indulge our angry feelings or let them lead to pride, hatred, or self-righteousness. Jesus Christ became angry at the merchants in the temple, but this was righteous anger and did not lead him to sin.
• Believers must follow Jesus’ example. We ought to reserve our anger for when we see God dishonored or people wronged. (Life Application Bible)
• Let’s look at the rest of verse 26 to see two things we need to do so that we do not let our anger degenerate into sin.
• SLIDE #6
• Ephesians 4:26 (HCSB) Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,
• SLIDE #7
II. The proper way to manage the emotion of anger.
• If the emotion of anger is something we will deal with until the day we die, it the emotion is somewhat unavoidable, there are two things a Christian can to avoid letting this emotion get one into trouble.
• The first is BE ANGRY AND DO NOT SIN!
• This tells as I said before that anger is something that will happen. Once again, we see that anger up to a point is not a sin; however, if left unchecked, anger will wreak a great deal of damage on you as well as those in your path.
• An action taken in the heat of anger is almost always the wrong action. (College press Commentary).
• In anger, we are not to seek our own revenge.
• SLIDE #8
• Romans 12:19 (HCSB) Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for His wrath. For it is written: Vengeance belongs to Me; I will repay, says the Lord.
• Another way to look at is not to let your anger cause you to do wrong. I mean how many times have you done something in anger that was good?
• One of the ways we allow anger to cross the line to sin is to feed the anger. When we overindulge in what made us angry, it will push us over the line to sin.
• When we feed the beast, it will grow and the longer we feed it, the more it grows.
• This leads to the second thing we can do to protect ourselves from the potentially devastating effects of anger.
• Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,
• ONE OF THE WAY WE STOP NOURISHING THE ANGER IS TO PUT A TIME LIMIT ON IT.
• Because of the human tendency to allow personal vindictiveness to permeate anger, the safeguard suggested here is to put definite limitations of time on the exercise of anger.
• Sunset marked the end of one day and the beginning of another day; a Christian should not continue to be angry with his brother or sister in Christ from one day to the next but should seek reconciliation at once.
• The same is true in the family. When people allow themselves to keep feeding their anger day after day, it will eventually destroy them along with their relationships.
• The longer you allow the anger to build and control you, the harder it is to get past it, the more bricks you put in the wall of anger, the harder it will be to heal the hurt and restore the relationship.
• This leads to our final point in verse 27.
• SLIDE #9
• Ephesians 4:27 (HCSB) and don’t give the Devil an opportunity.
• SLIDE #10
III. The danger of prolonged anger.
• When we open the door by allowing anger to continue to reign, we open the door of opportunity for Satan to do his thing.
• The word OPPORTUNITY means a PLACE, like we give him a place or a workspace within our lives by which he can destroy us as well as our relationships.
• Think about this carefully. Do you have someone in your life in which you have deep seated anger? How do you feel about them?
• Maybe you are holding anger toward your spouse and they may not even know it.
• Do you have good feelings toward someone you are angry with?
• When emotions are out of control, the devil steps in to exploit the situation. Whether in an action taken in the heat of passion, or in a smoldering resentment, the devil is given room to operate.
• The Life Application Bible Commentary states:
• SLIDE #11
• Anger that is allowed to smolder and burn over time can eventually burst into flame and give the devil a foothold, causing people to sin as they become bitter and resentful.
• We should resist the devil (James 4:7). Satan can use our anger against one another to destroy our unity and our love. It is so much better to deal with the situation immediately; perhaps the previous admonition to lovingly speak the truth can solve the problem.
• Anger when vented thoughtlessly will hurt others and destroy relationships. When Anger is bottled up, it will cause one to be bitter and destroy you from within.
• When anger rules your life, it will burn you down and will burn down anyone in your path.
• When anger is allowed to fester, it WILL open up an opportunity for Satan to come in and mess with you and make you miserable.
• If you are holding in anger, are you happy or miserable? MISERABLE!
• Once you open the door of opportunity for Satan, he WILL let himself in!
• Prolonged anger is like a cancer that will slowly take over the body and kill the body the longer it is left unchecked!
CONCLUSION
• In a 1994 article, “Wars’ Lethal Leftovers Threaten Europeans,” Associated Press reporter Christopher Burns writes: “The bombs of World War II are still killing in Europe. They turn up—and sometimes blow up—at construction sites, in fishing nets, or on beaches fifty years after the guns fell silent.
• “Hundreds of tons of explosives are recovered every year in France alone. Thirteen old bombs exploded in France last year (!((#), killing twelve people and wounding eleven, the Interior Ministry said.
• “‘I’ve lost two of my colleagues,’ said Yvon Bouvet, who heads a government team that defuses explosives from both World War I and II.... ‘Unexploded bombs become more dangerous with time,’ Bouvet said. ‘With the corrosion inside, the weapon becomes more unstable, the detonator can be exposed.’”
• What is true of lingering bombs is also true of lingering anger. Buried anger will explode when we least expect it.
• Today is the day to let it go, if you are having trouble letting it go, come forward and let us pray with you!
• If you are not in Christ, come forward and accept Him as your Lord and Savior and let Him help you let it go!
