ANGER IS A THREAT TO SELF-CONTROL
Text: Ephesians 4:25-5:2
“A small girl was showing a friend the bathroom scale: "I don't know what it is . . . but my mom and dad use it every day. All I know is, when you stand on it, it makes you really mad!".” (Steve May. The Story File. “In The Pit”. Peabody Hendrickson Publishers, 2000, p. 65). What does it take to get us mad?
I once read a sentence sermon that went like this: "He who angers you controls you". Anger can make us lose control. Anger is dangerous is because it can hinder the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22 -23) if it is left unchecked. Paul warns us not to let the sun go down our anger in Ephesians 4:26. Paul's reasoning for not letting the sun go down on anger makes sense and Ephesians 4:27 explains why, letting the sun go down on our anger could give the devil the advantage of a foothold (NIV).
ANGER HARMS OUR HEALTH
Anger can harm those who entertain it's passion. Billy Graham once wrote "Doctors tell us that when any human emotion is over stimulated, excessive amounts of adrenal are supplied by nature to replenish the emotional drain on our systems. The person with a violent temper uses up this extra supply of energy to feed to feed the flame of his passion rather than to put out the fire". (Billy Graham. The 7 Deadly Sins. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1955, p. 29). When our adrenalin is operating like that, our blood pressure can rise, our stomachs can get upset and our bodies can feel the results and harm our own bodies.
Do you believe that anger can harm your body? Anger can harm the human body in numerous ways. "Several researchers even believe that some types of cancer result from the mega-doses of stress that unhealthy anger carries with it." (G. Samlley. Love Is A Decision. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1989, p. 78). Anger can contribute to heart problems, bleeding ulcers, depression, anxiety attacks and a lowered resistance to colds and flu (p. 78). It should not surprise us that anger has this kind of potential.
The ultimate worse case scenario of anger is that it can be deadly for those who entertain it's passion. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over you tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back---in many ways is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you." (Frederick Buechner. Wishful Thinking. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1993). How often have we allowed our anger to eat at us?
Have you ever heard of the hostility index? "… In a study conducted by the Gallup Organization and reported in 1994, Philadelphia ranked first among U.S. cities on what was called the "hostility index." The hostility index was based on a nine question scale that asked people how they felt about such things as loud rock music, super market check out lines, and traffic jams. Other cities on the hostility top five were New York, Cleveland, Chicago, and Detroit. At the bottom of the hostility index were Des Moines, Minneaplois, Denver, Seattle, and Honolulu.
"Medical experts looking at the results felt it was no coincidence that the cities that rated high on the hostility index also had higher death rates. Commenting on the study, Dr. Redford Williams of Duke University Medical School said, "Anger kills. There is a strong correlation between hostility and death rates. The angrier people are and the more cynical they are, the shorter their life span." (Craig Brian Larson. ed. Contemporary Illustrations For Preachers, Teahcers &Writers. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996, p. 17). This story proves the point that anger is deadly when it leads to an ongoing attitude of hostility.
ANGER ALIENATES OUR SPIRIT
Can anger anger can cause cloud our judgment? It has been said that you can tell a lot about a man by the size of what it is that makes him angry. Although Alexander the Great conquered the known world, he couldn't conquer his own temper. On one occasion, Cletus, a childhood friend and a general in Alexander's army, became drunk and insulted the leader in front of his men. Alexander became enraged and hurled a spear at Cletus, intending merely to scare him. Instead, the spear killed Alexander's life-long friend. Remorse engulfed Alexander as he assessed the destruction of his uncontrollable anger. If we don't control our anger, it will control us! (See James 1:20). (Moody, March 1993, p. 74). There can be no doubt that his anger made him temporarily insane. How many times have we seen someone who got so angry that he or she over-reacted? How many times have we ourselves gotten so angry that we over-reacted?
The Bible cautions us about how anger can alienate our spirit of godliness. There are numerous verses in the Bible that remind us of the harm that anger can do to those who harbor it in their hearts.
> Ephesians 4:26 and 27 remind us that anger must be handled appropriately and why: "Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity [NIV] to the devil. " (Ephesians 4:26 RSV).
> Ecclesiastes 7:9: Anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
> Proverbs 14:29 says: "He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly" (RSV).
> Proverbs 29:22: An angry man stirreth up strife.
> James 1:19-20: "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God" (RSV). When we have allowed anger to consume us, it is then that we have allowed anger to cloud our judgment so that our "wrath will not work the righteousness of God".
The way we handle anger says a lot about our meekness or its lack.
"A monk who had a quick temper was known to "pass the buck" for his fits of anger----always blaming his fellow monastery residents. So he decided to move to a place of absolute solitude in the desert, thinking that if he got away from others he could be victorious. One morning he accidentally knocked over a pitcher of water. A few minutes later he bumped it again, and once more it fell on its side and spilled its contents. Losing his temper, the monk picked up the pitcher and hurled it to the ground. As it broke into smithereens, the truth hit him: he couldn't blame others for his flareups. The real trouble was within him". (Roy B. Zuck. The Speaker's Quote Book. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1997, p. 14). The monk in this story epitomizes how we can be our own worst enemies because . That is why the Bible says, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city" (Proverbs 16:32 RSV). With God's help we either learn to master anger or find that it will master us.
ANGER MUST BE HANDLED BEFORE SUNDOWN
This urgency about not letting the sun go down on our anger makes sense.
1) Spirit guided anger management: If we are to manage our anger and practice self-control, then we must do all that we can to keep the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3), speak the truth in love.
2) Maturity: Dishonesty for the sake of vengeance destroys unity---the bond of peace. Consider Ephesians 4:13-14 "until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles" (RSV). Consider also Ephesians 4:29: "Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear". Any behavior that threatens the bond of peace can give Satan an opportunity. Satan is known as the destroyer (Revelation 9:11 where both Abaddon [Hebrew] and Apollyon [Greek] mean destroyer). That is why it is said that Satan subtracts and divides whereas God adds and multiplies. That’s why Satan wants us to believe that we are justified in our anger so that he can hopefully get us to continue to nurse anger’s passion.
Consider Matthew 5:23-26: "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to you brother; then come and offer your gift. Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown in prison. I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny" (NIV). The longer we wait to be reconciled, the more we give the devil a chance to drive us further apart from each other as we might nurse our anger against one another until it becomes a grudge. Therefore, we must take care of the matter before the sun goes down (Ephesians 4:26). Anger is dangerous is because it can hinder the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
There is the story of a little girl who was reciting the list of the fruits of the Spirit. A mother says of her daughter, "Our daughter was learning the fruit of the Spirit, so she asked her daughter to recite them to her. "Love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and remote control!" was her reply". (Edward K. Rowell and Bonne L. Steffen. Eds. Humor for Preahcing &Teaching. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996, p. 74). Although we laugh at the cuteness of this story, we give the "devil a foothold" that he will strive to use like a "remote control" when we do "let the sun go down on our anger". Anger that is left unchecked has the potential to cause us to act irrationally and lash out in retaliation in some way or another----in deceitful words or deeds of meanness or both. How can we turn the other cheek when anger has gotten the best of us (Matthew 5:39)? So yes it is true that those who anger us control us when we allow our anger to cause us to lose self-control. And it is more than obvious that the one who wants to control those of us who are Christians by enslaving with their anger and using it against them to destroy them is Satan. Again, the urgency about not letting the sun go down on our anger reminds us that people are important, time is short and that life is not a dress rehearsal. We must remember that we are called to forgive and love one another as God has forgiven and loves us. The temptation to sin because of our anger loses its power when we surrender our anger to Jesus who gives us the strength we need to overcome it.
