It was one of the best-known photographs and most tragic photographs of the Vietnam War. The picture a young burn victim running down the road in terror with her arms outstretched while soldiers walked behind her at his distance. On June 8, 1972, Kim's village came under attack. The South Vietnamese army mistakenly dropped a jelly-like chemical called napalm on some children, severely burning many children. The anguish on nine-year-old Kim Phuc's face was evident to all. More than a third of her body was burned, leaving her with scars that are four times as thick as her skin in some places. After months of hospitalization and many surgeries, Kim returned to her family. Since then, Kim, now in her late 50s, has experienced pain and loss of mobility.
Sometimes simply holding her purse would cause discomfort; she couldn't quite reach out as far as she'd like with her left arm. But what doctors couldn't heal, Kim Phuc says, was her heart. She said, "The anger inside me was like a hatred high as a mountain."
Anger is such a potent emotion.
Harvard researcher Walter Cannon described what happens to our bodies when we are confronted by the "fight" or "flight" syndrome: "Respiration deepens; the heart beats more rapidly; the arterial pressure rises; the blood is shifted from the stomach and intestines to the heart, central nervous system, and the muscles; the processes of the alimentary canal cease; sugar is freed from the reserves in the liver; the spleen contracts and discharges its contents of concentrated corpuscles, and adrenalin is secreted."
That's the physiological description of an angry person. Again, anger is such a potent emotion. And the Bible teaches us how to handle our anger: "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26).
What makes you angry?
One sister is so angry at another sister because of the way she handled the will of their parents. She has made up her mind that she will not forgive her sister. One man confessed is so angry at a particular political party for what they are doing to our nation. Another man was angry and frustrated because his brain was not functioning properly after a stroke. Still, another was angry at himself for his long-held drug and alcohol addiction. He's angry at the hurt he's caused his family. Some of you are seething mad because you were abused by someone you trusted. In the moments to come, I want to tell you how the Bible speaks of using our anger and controlling our anger. The truth is anger can consume us. We want to model our minds and hearts after God's mind and heart. His anger is to be our anger. His patience is to be our patience.
1. The Complexity of Anger
"Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27).
Notice the Bible doesn't say, "Christians don't get angry." Instead, the Bible says, "Be angry…" Pause and repeat. The Bible says, "Be angry…" Anger can be wrong, but not all anger is wrong.
Again, not all anger is wrong. Some anger is good. The Lord Jesus got angry. There is good anger, even godly anger. And the Bible says that God, the Father is angry.
1.1 God and Anger
The Bible says God Himself is angry at times: "Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love" (Micah 7:18).
The Bible speaks a great deal about the wrath of God. Jesus Himself spoke of God's wrath in the very place where He famously spoke about God's amazing love: "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36).
And that's just a sampling of the numerous places where the Bible says God is capable of wrath. Perhaps you don't like the idea of a wrathful God. Times have changed, and many people reject the Bible's idea of God's wrath.
1.1.1 Sinners in the Hands of Angry God
One of the most famous sermons preached in American history is a sermon entitled, Sinners in the Hands of Angry God. Many of you were like me, and you studied this sermon a little in your English class. Some years ago, I held Jonathan Edwards very notes to this sermon he preached back on July 8, 1741. Edwards preached the message to a hard-hearted congregation. It had a profound effect on the people in attendance and in school history. The group gathering for church that day was described as "thoughtless and vain" by one person who was there. No one was serious as the worship service was going on. Few even knew this visiting pastor from another town. And Edwards was what we would call an academic – he wasn't a "yeller' and a screamer.'" Instead, history tells us he was a methodical preacher – really steady delivery. No, he wasn't a big-hair lunatic that could dismiss with a sweep of your hand. Still, Edwards' imagery in the message is powerful.
I'll share with you just a couple of images from Edwards' famous message.
God is actively working to keep you, sinners, from sliding into hell: "Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly'" (Deuteronomy 32:35). Our own attempts to avoid falling into the "bottomless gulf" of hell will not work, and all of our efforts to keep ourselves out of hell amount to a spider's web attempting to stop a falling rock. At any moment, God should snuff out your life, and Satan stands ready to fall upon the wicked and seize them as his own. "Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten bridge, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they won't bear their weight, and these places are not seen…" Edwards speaks of hell as the great furnace of God's wrath and a wide and bottomless pit that you are held over. God is working to keep wicked people from being overtaken by the devil and his demons - "like greedy hungry lions, that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back [by God's hand]."
Again, the people were not ready to hear this kind of message in July of 1741 at the beginning of the service. And then something strange happened in the message. History reports that there was crying and weeping during the message. One person said all the groaning and the responses from the people there that day was like the groaning of someone's bones breaking. And the crying became so loud in time that Edwards was forced to discontinue the sermon. The sermon was interrupted many times, and people were crying out, "What shall I do to be saved?"
1.1.2 Your Reaction
Times have certainly changed. It seems that God and sinners have changed places since Edwards' day. Now you're more likely to hear "God in the Hands of Angry Sinners" rather than "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."
I pause now to consider your reaction to all of this. It's interesting the reactions of so many of you. Now some of you want to hear more hell, fire, and brimstone. While others may seriously consider getting up and leaving the worship if hell is even mentioned. Put aside your reaction for a moment if you can. Simply press pause on your emotional reaction to all this for a moment.
"to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:22-23).
God wants the Christian to grow in the very likeness of God. And part of your growth is to model your anger after Christ's anger. You are to have the emotional life of God creating inside your heart and mind. Again, part of your growth is to model your anger after the Father's anger.
This entire part of Ephesians is calling on us to grow as believers in Christ. God doesn't want us to "freeze-frame" at the moment of our conversion. Instead, He wants us to sprout upwards. You are to form the very character that Jesus Christ had when He walked on this earth (Ephesians 4:13).
The Bible says a Christian is a changed person. A Christian is someone who puts in work on his character. God designed the Christian to be someone with a contrasting before and after story. Like HGTV and the fixer-upper homes, a Christian is to have a "before and after" in their story. Our "after" is supposed to be really different than our "before."
So when Paul says, "put on the new self," he means, "Act out of your nature." If you have been created anew after the likeness of God, clothe yourselves with godly garments. Your clothing is what men see. So when Paul says, "Clothe yourselves with your new nature," he means, "Make it visible in your attitudes and behavior." If the hidden spring has been purified, let the visible streams of your life run clean.
1.3 God's Emotional Life
So what is God's anger like?
1.3.1 God Gets Angry
"God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day" (Psalm 7:7).
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…" (Romans 1:18).
Bible Fact#1: God is angry.
God loves all that is right and good. Sometimes it is a sin not to get angry. The Bible says, "O you who love the LORD, hate evil" (Psalm 97:10a)! It should not be surprising to any of us that God would hate anything that is opposed to His good character.
We witness three times Jesus was angry while He was on the earth. Remember, Jesus turned over the money tables in the Temple (John 2:13–17). Jesus was angry when the children were not permitted to come to Him (Mark 10:13-16). Jesus today still gets angry with anybody who tries to keep anyone from Him, whether it be because of race, sex, creed, or color. And Jesus was angry when the Pharisees because they sought to stop Jesus from healing on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6).
Again, you are to copy and paste God's emotional life into your heart and mind. You should hate that which is evil. Pornography ought to make you angry. Child abuse ought to make you angry. 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. His anger should be your anger.
Again, the Bible calls on us to take care when we are angry.
1.3.2 God is Slow to Anger
The Bible says that God is "slow to anger" (Exodus 34:6).
Bible Fact#2: God is slow to anger.
1.3.2.1 My Two Grills
I bought a new grill a couple of years ago. Our grill at the time was around seventeen years old, and it took so long to get the fire going in the grill. My new grill fires right up and gets super-hot. The old grill takes some TLC if you're going to use it. All of you come over some time, and I'll grill out for you. Now, God's anger is more like my old grill. He's slow to anger.
"Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God" (James 1:19-20).
Again, His anger should be your anger. Again, you are to copy and paste God's emotional life into your heart and mind. If you had the ability to go to God's throne room and watch Him for a thousand years, you would never see Him hurl an object in a fury. God never breaks the walls of heaven with His doubled-up fists in a rage. And God has never attended anger management class. Even though God feels this wrath against anything or anyone that is evil, the Bible says He is the God of peace (Hebrews 13:20). So God is at peace, and yet He feels fury and wrath.
How can this be put together into one comprehensive picture? I like how Pastor John Piper puts it: "The hurricane of his wrath is somehow swallowed up in the great calm of the divine mind — like the firing of cosmic pistons while the engine idles smoothly and quietly, or like the churning of massive generators far inside the dam sustained by a great reservoir of deep, calm water." Yes, it's a difficult picture, and why should we expect anything less? After all, we are trying to comprehend the very mind of an infinite God.
1.3.3 The New Self
The Bible says to put on the new self once you have embraced Christ so that your heart and mind are like His heart and mind. You are to have "true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:23b).
Yes, there are some things that should make you angry. But, the Bible calls you on to have a slow wick when it comes to anger. "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27). You are to have the emotional life of God creating inside your heart and mind. Again, His anger should be your anger. Again, you are to copy and paste God's emotional life into your heart and mind.
1. The Complexity of Anger
2. Take Care with Your Anger
"Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27).
Yes, there is a time to get angry, and the time to stay angry is short. Anger is a dangerous emotion, and you should not nurse your anger. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Whatever is causing you to be angry, deal with it as soon as possible.
2.1 Realize the Complexity of My Anger
The Bible says controlling your anger is more than what the human eye can see. There are supernatural forces at work to stir up your anger. There's an evil being seeking to stretch your anger. The Bible fingers prolonged anger as an excellent foothold for the devil. A foothold is often associated with rock climbing. And a foothold is where you identify a rock ledge that holds your weight and is large enough for your foot to push on it for leverage. Satan is looking for a moral foothold in your life. Say this with me: Satan is looking for a foothold in my life. Satan is looking for even the smallest area in your life to wedge his foot into for leverage.
Ephesians contains three warnings about anger: "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27). "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice" (Ephesians 4:31). "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). The Bible even tells us to be careful about anger when we come together for times of worship: "I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling…" (1 Timothy 2:8).
So let's put a bow on this and give you some handles on how to effectively manage your anger in the power of the Holy Spirit. Satan would love to stir up your feelings over masks and divide this body.
Realize the Complexity of My Anger
2.2 Realize the Source of My Anger
First, know the source of your anger.
At the beginning of time, Adam and Eve had two boys, Cain and Able. Cain became angry at his brother because God preferred Able's offering. "The LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door'" (Genesis 4:6-7a). God asked Cain in Genesis 4:6: "Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen" (Genesis 4:6b)? Then God said these immortal words just before Cain murdered his brother, "if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door" (Genesis 4:7b). God was saying to Cain is, "Cain, you think your problem is your brother, Abel. That's the furthest thing from the truth. Don't you see? Actually, there's a sin in your life. Your pride, your self-centeredness, and your anger are crouching at your door. It's right there in the shadows. It wants to have you. Give it no quarter! Give it no foothold!" Yes, Jesus was angry, and He turned over the money tables in the temple. But much of your anger isn't righteous anger – it's just plain old sinful anger!
When I'm on hold with AT&T for hours, that's not likely to be righteous anger. When you are compared to someone else, and they prefer the way the other person does the job, this is probably not good anger. If you are given to prolonged anger, then God says, "sin is crouching at your door." Look at the reason you are angry. A lot of anger is because I have been inconvenienced.
Brooksville, Florida, accidentally sold their water tower to a private citizen. Let me say that again: the city of Brooksville, Florida, accidentally sold their water tower in a bundled real estate transaction to a private citizen. The small town of around 8,500 people, just north of Tampa, did receive their water tower back when they realized what happened. When the media asked what happened, the city council blamed the city manager, and the city manager blamed someone for the use of a bad legal description. Can you imagine the social media reaction to this? The online anger would be overwhelming. What's the source of your anger? Or, what's the object of your anger?
Remind yourself of the mistakes you have made in the past. When you are plans for the evening are interrupted, you shouldn't be angry as you are with those who abuse women and children.
Righteous anger is elusive – really elusive. The truth is most of our anger demonstrates our selfishness. Again, anger is a foothold for the devil.
Recall the Complexity of My Anger - Satan
Recognize the Source of My Anger – The Go
2.3 Realize the Length of My Anger - Retaliation
Movies and TV shows where vengeance is enacted are really popular. John Wick, Denzel as The Equalizer and now Queen Latifah as The Equalizer, or Clint Eastwood as "Dirty" Harry – they all have the same theme. Revenge. Retaliation. Vengeance.
"If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord'" (Romans 12:18-19).
I quoted the first part of this verse this week with a friend. Their family was considering never speaking to them again because of a number of reasons. My advice to my friend was to live at peace with everyone if possible. But some people get under your skin. Ever since Genesis 3, Satan's goal has been to make us put ourselves in the place of God. Know your place: you are not God.
Conclusion
At the beginning of this message, I shared the story of Kim Phuc, the little nine-year-old girl whose body was burned tragically through napalm being dropped on her village during the Vietnam War. She said, "The anger inside me was like a hatred high as a mountain." God reached down to young Kim. She found a Bible in the Buddhist stronghold of her community. She then began to speak to a Christian believer who invited her to church. Kim said that she trusted Christ, and in her words, "Jesus helped me learn to forgive my enemies."
When you repent, you remind yourself of the great truth of the gospel: "I'm far more wicked than I ever dared to believe, but I'm also far more valued and accepted than I ever dared to dream." You have to confess your sin, forsake your sin, and deal with your sin in light of this tremendous truth. The is the great truth of the cross: "I'm far more wicked than I ever dared to believe, but I'm also far more valued and accepted than I ever dared to dream."
