There are so many things that the world believes you should know. From the moment you are born, your progress begins to be tracked to make sure you are learning and growing and developing properly. When you begin public schooling, the teachers make sure you know all the skills and knowledge that you should - basic math, shapes and colours, how to count, how to read. And then as you get older, you begin to be taught about history, science, and life skills that you need to know. When you become an adult, you are taught or learn more skills, like filing taxes, budgeting, cooking, and the like. There are so many self help books written with catchy titles about the three things you need to know to blank, or 7 steps to achieve whatever.
The church is no different. If you grew up in church, you probably spent your childhood learning about all these stories from the bible that your sunday school teachers believed you needed to know. There are all these books written to help new christians learn all the things we need to know, and as we learned last week, we are supposed to disciple new believers so that they learn all that they need to know. Every week, someone gets up here and talks about what you need to know about Jesus and God, and Christian life.
There is so much knowledge and information in the world around us, but at the end of the day, somebody has decided what it is that you need to know as you grow and develop. Someone has sat down and decided, you know, all of this information is important, but here are the things you absolutely HAVE to know, you absolutely HAVE to be taught and learn, in order to grow up and be successful in our world. Today we are going to look at one of those NEED to know topics from the bible. The author of James believed that it was so important, that before he taught it to his readers, he wrote this command in Greek: “KNOW this”. The author commands his readers to KNOW what he is about to say with an imperative statement. Everything else he writes is important, but this is something you need to KNOW. Hear it, remember it, follow and do it. LEARN IT AND LIVE IT. KNOW it.
What is this topic that is so important, that this author directly commands the reader to know what it is he is about to say? (Dramatic pause) Anger. IAnd this is such an important subject, because we all get angry. Being angry in the 21st century is probably more common than being happy. Something as simple as driving in town can be enough to send my blood pressure through the roof.. Anger is such an easy emotion to feel, but it is such a difficult emotion to control. Now I know it seems very strange to preach about Anger on VALENTINE’S DAY of ALL Days! But Anger is such a prevalent problem, and it keeps us from being able to love, and that is why I think it is important, because learning to control our anger increases our capacity to love others. The apostle John speaks of Love and Hate on a spectrum, we are either moving towards one end or another. It is similar to how he contrasts Light and Darkness. And while there are times when anger is justified (Which we will talk about), oftentimes our anger is not necessary, not beneficial, and we allow it to control us. And this is why the author believes this is so important. As Christians, we are called to allow God to transform our lives and minds to live more like Jesus, and because of Jesus, we have the freedom to pursue this without fear of punishment if we mess up, which is great because boy, do we mess up. But human anger is controlling, it is evil, and it is incompatible with life in Christ. So to you and to me, the author says, KNOW THIS: Everyone should learn to master their anger because human anger does not achieve the righteousness of God.
Alright, so let's crack open our bibles and turn to James 1:19-21: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (ESV)
Ok so first let's look at these verses a little deeper. The first thing I want to talk about is the phrase “Know This”, and I already talked about this a little bit. The greek word here “eido” is an active, imperative verb. Imperative is a fancy word for an explicit command in Greek, and we’ve looked at a few imperatives in scripture over the last few weeks. So this is a command, he is not just saying, “This is something you know”, like some versions of the bible translate it. It is a command written with an active verb. So this is something he expects you to actively DO. I am commanding you to KNOW THIS truth I am about io give you. Be aware of it, consider it, have knowledge of it, perceive it, understand it. GET THIS. I specifically picked the ESV translation because of how it translates this part. Some versions translate this as “This you know, but…” and then progress into the next part, which makes it sound like the author is transitioning from the part before. You already know this, but here is something you DON’T know. However, the Greek doesn’t really translate like that. The Greek word used for “but” in this passage is “de”, and it is actually one that is often unexpressed in English, and so it doesn’t translate well here, so most translations plug the word “but” in there. He isn’t contrasting with the previous text, it is actually a type of conjunction that is joining and connecting the command to his thought after. The best way to translate this in english is to not put a word at all, but a colon, which is what the ESV does. KNOW THIS: and then continues on.
So what is it that you should know? What is it that it is so important that the author COMMANDS you to GET it, to KNOW it? Here it is: Every person should be these three things: (1) Quick to listen, (2) slow to speak, (3) slow to become angry. That is some pretty good wisdom. Easy to read, hard to apply. The description here is one that is painted often throughout proverbs, the picture of a wise righteous man. Prov. 10:19, “When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise.” “A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger” That’s Prov. 15:1
“He who restrains his words has knowledge, And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.” Prov 17:27–28. “He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly”, that’s Pr 14:29. And then here in James, Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. And I think these apply to both our relationship with others, AND our relationship with God. We are to be quick to hear and slow to talk both toward other people and toward God.
When Jesus was walking among us, he often used the phrase, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear”. The idea of being quick to listen, of hearing, is an important concept in Judaism. In the Bible, the ear was described as an organ of cognition, along with the heart and mind. In Proverbs 2:2, it says, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; True hearing in the biblical sense means to both listen and to understand, to seek and to test. Job 34:16, “But if you have understanding, hear this; Listen to the sound of my words. And then in Job 12:11, “Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food?” Most ancient religions sought revelation through the eyes and through visions. Throughout the Bible however, God’s people primarily sought revelation through the ears and hearing, and “hearing God” symbolizes the proper response to God. We also see many places in the bible where people rebel against God, and just as the bible describes hearts being hardened, it talks often about people who do NOT hear. Isaiah 48:8, “You have not heard, you have not known. Even from long ago your ear has not been open…”
So this is a very biblical concept. Not only in our dealings with others, but with God, should we be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. This is what a wise, biblical person looks like. Now, that does sound much easier than it is. But the point here is the next verse: James 1:20. “For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.”
And this is really what I want to focus on today. There are so many resources that tell you how to work on anger and begin to control your anger, and I don’t want this to be about that part, the how part. I want to focus on the WHY aspect, why bother to change? Why does it matter?
It matters, because everyone who has a relationship with Jesus has signed up to be a part of a race. We talk often about the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We talk about how he paid for our sins. We talk about how because of his sacrifice, our sins are forgiven, and we are no longer held to a standard that we can never measure up too. And I want to make sure you do not lose sight of that, because it is true, and it is good news. But the thing is, becoming a Christ follower is only the beginning of the journey. Faith demands action. That is a huge theme throughout the letter of James. Let me read you just a couple of verses from James that explain why this matters: This is RIGHT after our passage: Jamess 1:22–25, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.”
This is why it matters. It matters because while yes, our sins have been paid for, and yes, we no longer have the requirement of being perfect to be a child of God, we now have the opportunity to strive to become more like Jesus every day. And we should want that more than anything. And the people James was writing to understood that. The reason he gives makes sense to them. They want to be like Jesus! And James says, listen, if you live your life in anger, you are not living as Christ. Human anger does not bring about the righteousness of God, and the righteousness of God is what we are racing towards, even though that process will never be
complete in our lifetime. And this is not easy, it does require hard choices, but it is worth it.
James 1:21 says this: “Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.”
So let's talk about application, because we all have things that make us angry and frustrated, and it is a well trained habit that is hard to break. How does all of this connect to our lives today?
I used to work at a software company. Best job I’ve ever had. I loved working with technology, I loved the office environment, and I had great coworkers, including a few people who I went to church with. So it was a super cool place to work, great co-workers including some from church, and a fun office environment. A lot of things you don’t find often in a job! The only downside is that the majority of my job was helping customers on the phone with technical problems. And while I love working with technology, I have a really, really hard time dealing with people who are angry or frustrated in a positive and receptive, customer service type manner. If someone is mad, even if it's not personally at me, I struggle to not take that personally when I am on the receiving end, and that is kind of an important quality to have in that type of role! And I found over the course of two years, that I became more and more bitter. I would find myself hashing over some of these conversations and situations with angry or frustrated customers when I wasn’t at work, and I would just boil with rage and indignation. I would find that the anger was flowing into many areas of my life, I was letting anger control me. And I really did not like who I was becoming as a person as a result. Eventually I decided that if I couldn’t control my anger in this role, if it was controlling me, then I had to do something to get rid of that, because the anger I felt at customers (who honestly, were just frustrated and confused and needing help) was human anger and frustration. And living in that was in no way bringing about the righteousness of God in my life. In the end I had to make a decision about what kind of person I wanted to be.
The first thing you need to take away from this passage in James, is that controlling human anger is really important, because it prevents us from becoming more Christ-like. James says that the anger of man does NOT bring about the righteousness of God, and as Christians, the righteousness of God is what we are striving for. This is important! You need to know this. So much sin is born out of anger. In Verse 21, James essentially says, DO what you GOTTA DO to get rid of the anger in your heart. Jesus says in the sermon on the mount that if your eye or hand causes you to sin, you should cut it off or gouge it out. This obviously is not to be taken literally. But you know what? I loved my former work environment, but the job itself was causing me to be filled with anger, and it was affecting the rest of my life. It was controlling me as a person, but that was a set of circumstances that I could control. Now, I get mad at drivers all the time on PEI. I haven’t worked out how to overcome that perfectly yet, although sometimes Larissa will limit me to three complaints per road trip, which I can use as I wish. But the point isn’t to be perfect. It’s to recognize human anger for what it is, and its destructive nature, because so much sin and pain and suffering is born from anger. If you allow it to, it WILL control your life. This is important! KNOW this!
Second, you need to know that there is such a thing as righteous anger. James specifically says in our passage that the anger of MAN does not achieve the righteousness of God. But there is righteous anger, and there are times when we should definitely feel angry. When you see oppression and unjust hurt and pain in the world, that should make you angry.
Proverbs 31:8-9 says “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. Isaiah 1:17 says learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. And Psalm 82:3 says “Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Listen, we are all made in the image of God, every one of us. And when people who are made in the image of God are being oppressed, treated unjustly, murdered, that should make you angry. And biblical, not only should it make us angry, it is our job to be angry at injustice such as this, it is our job to stand up for those who are oppressed, to defend their rights and to seek justice, to correct oppression. While anger can control you, and while anger can be unhealthy, there is such a thing as righteous anger. There is most definitely a time to be angry. You need to know and understand that as well.
Third, and I kind of mentioned this already as well, you will never be perfect. Like I said before, I don’t want you to lose sight of the fact that Jesus has paid for your sins. You no longer have to be a perfect person to achieve righteousness in God’s eyes, he has you covered! This gives us the FREEDOM to strive for godliness, without the fear of what happens when we fail. And as we run this race, the holy spirit will be working in you, changing you and making you new. This is called sanctification, which is a fancy word for the process of becoming or being made holy. And this isn’t a process that will be complete during our time here on earth. But it is a process that you begin the moment you become a Christ Follower. You will never be perfect, and that is ok, Jesus has you covered. But you still run the race, and strive for perfection, and allow the holy spirit to do his work in you. It’s like learning how to swim on your dad's shoulders, instead of being pushed off the end of a pier and left to drown.
Richard Foster says this, “Conversion does not make us perfect, but it does catapult us into a total experience of discipleship that affects - and infects - every sphere of our living.” See, the goal is not perfection. But faith in Jesus should change you, and if you pursue him, it will infect every part of your life for the better. This means that the pressure of being perfect is gone! You don’t have to worry about being a perfect person to meet God’s standard. He has already met the standard for you, and now he wants to personally change you and begin to make you holy. It just so happens that one of the things we have to be willing to let go of is our anger, in order to let that happen.
Alright, I’m gonna wrap this all up for you. There are things you need to know in life. One of those things, that you need to know and understand, what you need to hear from this, is that human anger does not bring about the righteousness of God in our lives. You need to recognize human anger for what it is, and its destructive nature, because so much sin and pain and suffering is born from anger. That being said, there is still a time to be angry, and there is such a thing as righteous anger. Even Jesus got angry sometimes! But being angry about the things of God, such as injustice and oppression, and the things of man, such as a dumb driver or an angry customer on the phone, are two very different things. If you let anger control you, it will flow throughout all the areas of your life, and it can and will cause you to sin. Now, controlling your anger is easier said than done. Believe me, I know that just as much as anyone else, I’m just as bad at this. But we need to let go. Not just of anger, but trying to be perfect. Jesus has you covered, and his Spirit is willing to work on you, and to make you into a new creation, if you are willing. Let’s all strive to follow his will for us in this, because his ways are higher than his ways, and he wants what is best for his children.
