We are continuing our teaching series devoted to the Seven Deadly Sins. In his autobiography, Number 1, famous New York Yankee manager, Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas with the legendary, Mickey Mantle. Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch and the two decided that would be fun. When they reached the ranch, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he checked in with his friend. Mantle’s friend quickly gave them permission to hunt, but he asked Mickey a favor. He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind, and he didn’t have the heart to put him out of his misery. He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him. When Mickey came back to the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door. Billy asked him what was wrong, and Mickey said his friend wouldn’t let them hunt. “I’m so mad at that guy,” Mantle said, “I’m going out to his barn and shoot one of his mules!” Mantle drove like a maniac to the barn. Martin protested, “We can’t do that!” But Mickey was adamant. “Just watch me,” he shouted. When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran inside, and shot the mule. As he was leaving, though, he heard 3 shots, and he ran back to the car. He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle, too. “What are you doing, Martin?” he yelled. Martin yelled back, face red with anger, “We’ll show that son of a gun! I just killed three of his cows!”
Now, all sin is deadly but the Seven Deadly Sins are some of the biggest problems we can find ourselves in. Anger makes the list of the seven deadly sins because for centuries people have witnessed its destructive power and influence.
I am sure that you’ve notice we ALL have unmet expectations in life. Take thanksgiving for example., Mom, thinks Thanksgiving is going to be as picturesque as Norman Rockwell painting. But, Dad’s thinking that Thanksgiving should look more like Buffalo Wild Wings – including five TV’s showing every game being played. What does this equal? Unmet expectations.
Let’s think about dating apps. You see someone whose picture on the app looks very attractive. But, when you meet in person, the first date reveals his picture might just be of someone else. What does that equal? Unmet expectations.
Often our anger is aroused when we encounter unmet expectations.
The Sin of Anger
Anger can take many forms - from resentment to indignation, to rage or even fury. Anger can also present many problems to our personal health. Anger can translate into eating disorders and increased weight, says 2004 study from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The study goes on to say that our anger problems can lead to a high risk of cardiovascular disease at a young age. You probably knew that uncontrolled anger can lead headaches and ulcers. But did you know it can also cause lead to depression, stroke, and even heart attack?
There are so many problems with anger. Some of the people who are closest to us can feel the weight of our anger. Anger can hurt you, but it can also be tornado of pain for everyone around you.
Look in your Bible at 2 Kings 5. Our story comes from around 800 years before the time of Jesus. Naaman was the commander of the army of the king of Syria (present day Damascus) in the time of the prophet, Elisha.
Today’s Scripture
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. 2 Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. 3 She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” 4 So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” 5 And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. 6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” 7 And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.” 8 But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” 9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. 10 And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” 11 But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage” (2 Kings 5:1–12).
We are going to see three forms of anger in our story today. You will encounter the anger of a king, the anger of a military general, and lastly the anger of a prophet. I encourage you to find the kind of anger that most closely models your own.
1. The Anger of a King: Recognize the Source of Your Fear
1.1 Analyze Your Anger
Think about your anger. Really, think about all anger with me for a moment. When you analyze your anger, your anger will reveal what you love. Anger is the emotion I feel when something I love is challenged. In a minute, you’ll see how pride-filled the anger of our military general. Consider the king with me, for we see that his fear turns into anger. So it’s important to analyze the source of your anger.
1.2 Asking for the Moon
Look at Israel’s king in verse 7: “And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me’” (2 Kings 5:7).
Now, the king sees this commander coming into his country and he’s threatened. You have to understand the astonishing amount of hatred and disdain there was between these two nations at this time. Syria had the upper hand during Naaman’s day; they were winning the military clash between the nations. So, it’s really unusual that a Syrian official would go to Israel for help. Naaman comes to Israel with money and an official letter of request from the king of Syria. The Syrian king has asked the Israeli king to show his commander every possible courtesy, open up every door, and make your finest healers available to him. The king is so threatened by Naaman’s request for healing, that he tears his clothes in frustration.
Can you not see the King of Israel pacing his throne room in panicked fear and this personal letter addressed to him in one hand? But Israel’s king thinks to himself, “This a trick. This is a pretext to war!” Fear soon leads to frustration, which morphs, into anger.
1.3 Molly’s Parent Divorce
There was a girl named Molly whose parents divorced when she was young. She and her sisters would spend Wednesday and every other weekend with their father. They could do anything and everything at their dad’s house. He would let them wear make-up, stay up as late as they wanted, and watch TV in their rooms. There were no rules at dad’s house! He never made them do any chores because the housekeeper would take care of anything they needed.
Yet, when Molly and her sisters stayed at their mother’s house, it was really different. There were chores to do and a strict curfew on school nights. There was no TV allowed in their rooms and only one phone line that everyone shared. Molly’s mother hated her ex for letting the girls get by with everything when they were with him. She would cry herself to sleep at night certain her daughters hated her and certain they loved their dad more than her. Molly’s mother possessed a deep hatred – a fear based anger at her ex! And yes, the girls took every advantage of their father’s laissez-fair style of parenting when they teenagers. But, once they were grown and the girls were parents, they emulated their mother for she was their rock and their safe place.
1.4 Single Mothers
More than half of the children born in 2014 will spend some or all of their childhood with only one parent, typically their mother. They are more likely to experience higher rates of poverty, school failure, and other problems as they grow up. Single mothers face huge challenges when they are working full time and raising children!
1.5 Fear Turns to Anger
It’s not hard to imagine the fear in a single mother’s heart, is it? It’s not hard to see how her fear could quickly turn into rage at anyone or anything. Our emotions are interconnected and fear can quickly give way to anger. When we face uncertainty, we are prone to move to anger when we cannot control our future.
The king of Israel could not defeat the superior Syria and he is so angry, he ripped his clothes at the very thought of it all. It’s easy to see he fear what he could not control.
1.6 Jesus in Nazareth
When Jesus arrived at his hometown, He was asked to speak in His synagogue. And when Jesus opened His mouth, he talked about this commander, Naaman. Jesus said, “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian” (Luke 4:27)
The people were so angry, the rose up immediately and drive Jesus to the edge of town in order to throw Him off the cliff. Just the mention of the Syrian commander made the people of Israel rise to anger some 800 years later. Why? Because they feared God would pass the Jewish people by if they rejected him.
It’s been nearly twenty years ago, but then Governor Rick Perry proposed a new super highway through our beloved Texas. The idea was to start out by building an 800-mile long superhighway to compete with I 35 from Oklahoma to Mexico. This new highway would have 6 lanes for cars and four more for trucks, plus railroad tracks, along with oil and gas pipelines and even broadband transmission cables. But 15 years later, there’s no super highway. Why? For a number of reasons. But one reason was a fear of the loss of business when traffic would be diverted from them.
Jesus was nearly killed because people were threatened by the thought of God’s kingdom bypassing them. Jesus pointed this miracle in Naaman’s life as an illustration that God’s reaches all of the people of the earth.
Watch the source of your anger?
2. The Anger of a Commander: Recognize the Intensity Of Your Pride
The source of your anger will show you what you love. Secondly, the intensity of your anger shows the degree you love something. The amount, strength, and intensity of your anger shows just how much you love something.
2.1. Naaman the Capable
I want you to pay attention three things with our general friend. First, he had connections to the top people, the king and others. Secondly, he had a lot of money. Yes, he was an extraordinarily wealthy man. Thirdly, he had power. So, put the three together - we have a man who has connections to the top, with money and tremendous power. Can you see them? Imagine him with his all those medals on his chest. Every woman reaches out to touch him as he goes down the street. Every dad lifts up his son to say, “There he is. There goes Captain Naaman. One day son, I hope you can be like him.”
But his connections, power, and money couldn’t help him. He suffered from this wasting disease – a condition the Bible calls leprosy. Here was a man who was at the end of his rope. Naaman is a sophisticated and powerful Syrian. We are shocked he would go to little ole’ Israel for help. Now, he mustered up the courage to come to the backwater country of Israel and knock on the door of the two-bit prophet, Elisha.
2.2 Naaman is Slighted
“But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, ‘Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper’” (2 Kings 5:11).
Naaman feels slighted. And again at the end of verse 12 we read, “So he turned and went away in a rage” (2 Kings 5:12b). When the important Naaman knocks on the door of the prophet, Elisha, and the prophet will not even come to the door to speak to this powerful, important man. Instead, his assistant, Gehazi, answers the door, which sends this “important man” into a rage. Naaman might have expected to see the king’s ambassador, but surely, some two-bit prophet could come out to meet him!
Watch carefully the unmitigated pride of Naaman. His pride is slighted because the prophet sent his assistant to the door to greet him. After all, prophets don’t live in mansions. It’s not as if Elisha’s house was so large he couldn’t hear the doorbell ring. He’s probably no more than just a few feet away when Gehazi told the general where to go for a solution. The general had gone to the “trailer park” of Israel and Elijah couldn’t even walk across his tiny shack of a house to get the door. He sent his assistant! Kings have assistants; Prophets don’t have assistants!
2.3 A Personal Story of Anger
It’s been nearly ten years ago now, but I remember a late morning in our house when I was all alone and I could not, I could not find my keys. I had an important lunch appointment with a leader in the community. It was hard to get on this guy’s appointment calendar, and I was angry with myself for losing my keys. After searching throughout my house, retracing my steps, and blaming everyone else for moving my keys … I finally found the keys just where I had left them the night before. I was surprised at just how angry I was. I was so angry that I had to sit down to calm myself. I was visibly shaken because my day had been interrupted.
Remember, pride is the mob boss of all sin. All sin answers to the boss of pride, including anger. Pride wants to take God aside to teach him how to think like you.
2.4 Rushing into Anger
Watch the general as he turns on his heels as he rushes out the country in a rage. Naaman, the Commander rushed into anger because his pride had been challenged.
A father told his young, elementary-aged son who a penchant for misbehaving, “Now, I’m allowing you to go your classmate’s birthday party. But don’t you misbehave. If you get into trouble and are sent home early, you are going to really get it when you get home. Do you hear me?”
The boy went off to the birthday party and was sent back home in just 15 minutes. His father flew off the handle and made sure his son was disciplined. After he calmed down and the boy was in tears, the father asked, “Just what did you do to be sent home?”
The boy replied, “Nothing. I didn’t do nothing because the party isn’t until tomorrow.”
“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
2.5 “I Thought”
Look and listen to the silliness of this Syrian general for a moment: “I thought …” said the Syrian general (2 Kings 5:11b). How many of us are just like Naaman here?
We are like this Syrian general when he said, “I thought …” If I had a nickel for everyone who said, “I’m angry with God,” or said, “I thought one thing but was totally blindsided by what God did.”
Preconceived notions are obstacles to genuine faith.
2.6 Trust God
Let us trust and let God plan. Let God make the plan and let’s trust His plan. How many people fail to see God’s answers to our prayers because our minds already know the way God’s going to answer? Our preconceptions and our forecasting surely fail us. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9). May God save us from our “thoughts.”
Again, preconceived notions are obstacles to genuine faith. Peter’s preconceived thought was to tell Jesus He was wrong about His predicted death on the cross. Peter had a preconceived notion and great was his fall.
How many of us thought that we need to wash in “better rivers” when all the while God has another plan? How many of us hear the message of God, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times,” and turn our nose up at the silliness and “narrowness” of such a notion? Remember, we are to walk by faith and not by sight. It’s God who walks by sight. Let us trust and let God plan.
2.7 The Antidote to Prideful Anger
But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” 14 So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” (2 Kings 5:13-14).
I wish there was a YouTube video of Naaman going into the Jordan River that day! His servants speak up, “Mr. General, had this prophet asked you to do something really difficult, you would have done it. Why not just go do what he asks when he says, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” Humble yourself to admit you don’t have all the answers.
For all of Naaman’s pride, he does listen. Naaman listens to his servants, and Naaman listens to the slave girl.
You will go a long way to solve your pride-filled anger when you but listen.
“Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel; so accept now a present from your servant.” 16 But he said, “As the Lord lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none.” And he urged him to take it, but he refused.” (2 Kings 5:15–16).
Watch how God heals our friend and how heal He’ll you.
Naaman was going to hell, singing a song, “I did it my way,” when all of sudden he turns around and he’s going to do it God’s way. He is now repenting. I’d love to see ol’ Naaman pull up that chariot, remove his magnificent uniform, all those metals stripped from his chest. I want you to notice he did it all this publicly. At this point, he didn’t care who was there to see. He went down into the muddy Jordan - one time, two times, three times, four times, five times, six times, seven times he went under. He came out of the river clean – no more leprosy!
2.8 Sam Houston
Texas legend Sam Houston was baptized years ago – more century before. George Washington Baines, the great-grandfather to future president LBJ, explained how Christ died for Houston’s sins. Sometime later as Houston came up out of the water, the pastor said, “Sam, your sins are washed away,” to which Houston replied something to the effect, “God help the fish!”
3. The Anger of a Prophet: Recognize the Injustice Of the Moment
Follow the anger in our story. First, it’s the king that is upset, and then it’s the commander’s anger that’s kindled. Yet, here toward the end, both of their respective angers have come under control when all of sudden, another form of anger crops up.
Look at the prophet with me in verse 19: He said to him, “Go in peace.” But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance, 20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “See, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not accepting from his hand what he brought. As the Lord lives, I will run after him and get something from him.” 21 So Gehazi followed Naaman. And when Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him and said, “Is all well?” 22 And he said, “All is well. My master has sent me to say, ‘There have just now come to me from the hill country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of clothing.’ ” 23 And Naaman said, “Be pleased to accept two talents.” And he urged him and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of clothing, and laid them on two of his servants. And they carried them before Gehazi. 24 And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand and put them in the house, and he sent the men away, and they departed. 25 He went in and stood before his master, and Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant went nowhere.” 26 But he said to him, “Did not my heart go when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Was it a time to accept money and garments, olive orchards and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male servants and female servants? 27 Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and to your descendants forever.” So he went out from his presence a leper, like snow” (2 Kings 5:19–27).
3.1 Gehazi’s Deception
Gehazi looks at Naaman as he is leaving and says to himself, “That guy probably has a lot of money. Elisha let him get away. We could help ourselves out a little bit here.” Gehazi pursued Naaman’s chariots on foot. He must have run as fast as he could because they had taken off before he decided to go after the gifts. He makes up this elaborate lie saying Elisha had sent him and how 2 young prophets had come who needed money and clothes. Gehazi asked for what he thought would be a reasonable gift: 1 talent of silver and 1 set of clothes for each of the prophets. But, the gifts he asked for were really for himself. Naaman gives him not 1, but 2 talents of silver and 2 changes of clothing.
Follow the anger with me. Though Elisha had not gone with Gehazi, his prophetic insight gave him knowledge of what he had done. Elisha would not be fooled by Gehazi’s deception.
3.2 Older and Wiser
Oftentimes, when you are older and wiser, you become less angry. When you are young, you are often angry at injustice. You see something that isn’t okay, and you become angry about it. But often, once we are older and wiser, we are less angry, we lack the passion of our younger years. There’s nothing that bothers us. There’s no passion in
us to rally others. You know what I like about Elisha the prophet here? He’s older and wiser but he still has passion.
3.3 Angry Jesus
The Lord Jesus got angry. Not all anger is sinful. There is good anger, even godly anger. The Bible tells us that anger is a gift of God that can be used for good and for evil. Not all anger is bad. Some anger is good.
3.4 How Can I Tell If My Anger is Good?
How can I tell if my anger is a good anger? In order to determine if your anger is righteous anger, identify the object of your anger. Look at the reason you are angry.
Pornography ought to make you angry. Child abuse ought to make you angry. The drug trafficking ought to make you angry. The slumlords ought to make you angry. Those who oppress the poor and the downtrodden ought to make you angry.
Conclusion
What ratchets up the intensity of your anger? Which person are you? Are you the fearful king? Are you the prideful military commander? Or are you the older, wiser prophet who still has a righteous passion?
I get most angry when ___________________________ (fill in the blank). Which of the three is the most common source of your anger? Fear, Pride, or Righteous Anger (Injustice)
