FREE FROM CHOLER
TITUS 1:7
I have a confession to make to you this mourning. It may come as a surprise to some. But I have admitted it before. It is something that I have to go ask God for forgiveness over and over again. You see I have a problem with "choler" (cô-ler). No that is not the southern way of saying cola, but choler. Does any one here know what "choler" means? It means "a tendency toward anger". Means to be irascible, (ir-as-able). To have a hot temper, to be easily provoked".
Unfortunately that is something I have struggled with all my life. Now you may not have noticed that about me, I have been pretty good at hiding it. But if you were to talk to my wife and children they would tell you, that I can be choler. That have seen my in action, they have seen me be easy provoked by others, and at times with them. This is certainly something I am not proud of, but it is something I am aware of and working on through the power of God. I will say I am better then I have ever been.
Just there is no misunderstanding here I do not beat my wife or my children when I am angry. I just kind of act like a idiot.
Today I want to talk about anger and outbursts. Please turn with me to Titus chapter 1 verse 7, that would be page 1032 in your pew Bibles this morning. Let us keep in mind that Paul is giving to Titus the qualifications of the elders of the church, or the leaders of the church.
Titus 1;7; "For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money,"
Now there are two phrases I this passage I want to deal with because I believe that they go hand in hand. That is "not quick tempered," and "not violent". Because of you deal with the "quick-temper" it will take care of any acts of violence, as that would be the root of violent acts.
The follow comes from a written rule of the early church, "We believe that the pastor who hits an erring believer should be deposed." That sounds like a good idea.
I believe that we can translate that phrase "quick tempered" with the word "choler". Because I believe that that is what Paul has in mind. Someone who has a tendency toward anger.
Some may be thinking well Pastor if you have a problem in that area does that not disqualify you from being a pastor. Well I guess to some that answer would be yes. But we must remember that Paul is not referring to perfection here. As I look down the list of qualifications I know of no man who can clam all these things. I know of no man who loves good all the time, if he did he would sinless, I know of no man who is just all the time, I know of no man who is holy.
So what is the point of the list? One reason is to make leaders aware of their weaknesses and to go to God for forgiveness and strength to overcome these faults in our lives. If I refused to ask forgiveness because of my temper, if I refused to go to God for strength to overcome it, then yes I would say I should not be a pastor. But I am keenly aware of the struggle I have will it and when it rears its ugly head I do humble myself before God and ask forgiveness.
But as we have stated right along with our study into these qualifications of an elder these are not things that an elder or pastor ought to be, but things that all Christians are to be.
I know for a fact that I am not the only one in this room who struggles with their anger, I believe we all do to a certain extent. So let us look at something’s concerning anger.
First we need to realize that anger from a quick temper is a mental attitude sin. While all anger is not sin, I would say it is very rare for us to be angry and not to sin. Most of the time our anger comes from our own selfishness, from not getting our own way. I these cases the anger itself is a sin.
Even if you do not respond to the anger, just being angry can be sinful, especially when it comes from selfishness, which again is usually where it comes from.
We will deal with anger that is not sinful in a few moments but right know I want us to look at some characteristics of sinful anger.
First of all sinful anger comes from our carnal or flesh nature. Sinful anger is the type of anger that comes most natural to us. If you are a born again believer in Jesus Christ you have with in you two natures, a spiritual nature and sinful or flesh nature. Scripture tells us that these two natures are at war with each other. (This is something we will be talking about in the Adult SS class which starts next week.).
But anyway sinful anger comes from our flesh nature. Listen to Gal. 5:19-20; "Now the works of the flesh (sinful nature) are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,"
Sinful anger, or anger which comes from a quick temper, or "outbursts of wrath" as it is stated here are works of our sinful nature. Understand that there is nothing within our sinful nature which is good or pleasing to God. Paul states in Roman chapter 7, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find."
That is why the Scripture tells us to put to death the deeds of the flesh, again in Romans, "For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
Anger that comes from a quick temper is never pleasing to God, it is a work of the flesh a work which Paul states we must put to death.
Another characteristic of sinful anger is that it is related to foolishness. This is why we look like fools when we have outburst of anger. I am sure you have seen, or maybe it was you someone take out their anger on a inanimate object.
I once witnessed a man assault his car. He was so mad he was giving that car a good whipping. Kicking the doors, pounding on the hood. I am sure after he calmed down he took a look at his car and realized how foolish it was to beat it.
I have seen people throw their golf club in the water after a bad shot.
I have seen people destroy tennis rackets. And I could go on and on with the foolish things people do because of outbursts of anger.
In the book of Eccl. We are told, "Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, For anger rests in the bosom of fools." As I read that I realized why it is I look and act like a fool when I have an outburst of anger. A man cannot look anymore foolish then he does while he is beating up a waste paper basket, or yelling at someone who is in another car and cannot hear you. Sinful anger brings out the fool in all of us.
Another characteristic of sinful anger is that it is associated with grieving the Holy Spirit. In Eph. 4:30-31 tells us; "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice."
Our outburst of anger grieve the Holy Spirit, they grieve God. When God looks down and sees us flying off the handle He is not only offended but He is grieved, He is saddened by the sins of His children. God finds our anger offensive and saddening.
That should cause us to do some serious reflection. If our actions our causing sadness to our creator, to the one who gave His only Son so that we could have salvation by placing out trust in His shed blood, that should in turn grieve us, and cause us not to want to commit that action again.
If God is saddened by some thing I do, why do I continue to do it? I can answer for us all when I say that it is because we do not love Him as much as we should. So we need to deal with our outburst of anger lest we grieve the Holy Spirit of God.
Another characteristic of sinful anger is the it will effect out prayer life. We cannot prayer properly if we are angry. Listen to Paul’s words in 1 Tim 2:8, "I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;"
When we go to the Lord in prayer we must do it with the attitude of humility, not anger. When we are angry we cannot keep our focus on God. We keep thinking of what it was that made us angry. "I can’t believe he did that", "What was she thinking".
When we pray to God, God wants our full attention. He wants us to focus on Him.
So before you go to the Lord in prayer you need to deal with any anger you may feeling, you need to put to death that work of flesh, and focus on the one and only living God.
Let us also realize that anger is always accompanied by other sins. Anger from a quick temper will always lead to us to commit others sins. God words tells us in Proverbs 29:22; "An angry man stirs up strife, And a furious man abounds in transgression."
Anger can be and usually is a springboard to a host of other sins. Anger promotes gossip. You get mad at someone and just can’t wait to tell someone else about what a jerk this other person is.
In promotes self-righteous judging. The thinking that we are better, and the other person is at fault. It promotes maligning, revenge, complaining, (God hates complaining by the way, just read the story of the Jewish people in the wilderness). Angers brings forth bitterness, cursings, and host of other sins.
If we can get in control of our anger we would do away with many of the other sins in our live. Just think of the sins that come out of your anger. Think of how they would all but disappear if you did not have those outbursts of anger.
Anger is dangerous thing to our spiritual walk with God.
Sinful anger is our own worst enemy. Anger does not help us feel better. Angers best friend is misery. Some of us know people who are seem to be angry all the time, and they are the most miserable people you ever want to meet. Anger bring misery.
Anger bring misery because when we are angry we fail to be occupied with Christ, outburst of anger show that we are failing to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and are being controlled by our flesh nature.
Continued anger shows a failure to grow in Christ, which means a lack of joy, a lack of love, and lack of divine view point.
Anger also caused misery for our loved ones, our friends and our community. Every man knows that truth of Proverbs 21:19; "Better to dwell in the wilderness, Than with a contentious and angry woman."
Also in Proverbs, "Make no friendship with an angry man, And with a furious man do not go,"
Anger not only affects us, it will affect all those around us. It makes people around us uncomfortable, uneasy. And anger can at times cause some to be violent with other, including their children and spouses which of course is never acceptable.
So we can see sinful anger is an ugly thing. It is an evil thing. It is something that we need to be on guard against at all times.
Now earlier in my sermon I stated that all anger is not sinful anger. In fact in Eph. 4:26 we are told to be angry "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,"
So how is this possible.
Well Jesus got angry. He got angry at the money changers in the temple for turning the temple in a den of thieves. He was angry at the Pharisee for the hypocrisy.
Look at the Old Testament, we see God’s anger several times. Num. 32:14, "And look! You have risen in your father’s place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the LORD against Israel."
Judges 2:14, "And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel. So He delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before their enemies."
Jer. 4:8 "For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, Lament and wail. For the fierce anger of the LORD Has not turned back from us."
Over and over we are told of the anger of the Lord in the Old Testament and the punishment which it brought.
So what is the difference between our anger and Gods anger, and how do we "be angry, yet not sin".
Let us first realize that God is not human, he is God. He does not act emotionally. God is never surprised or shocked. God does not fly off the handle. Every time God has been angry it has been an anger that as been settled in eternity.
God’s anger is always in response to evil. His anger is always in response to sin. And that is the big difference between our anger and God’s anger.
Very rarely are we really angered by sin. Very rarely to we get full of wrath because someone has sinned against our Holy God. Sure we might be bothered by it, we might be offended by it, saddened by it, but how often our we angered by it.
When Scriptures calls on us to be angry and do not sin, it is a call to be angry at sin, to full of wrath at the sin we see. And it is also a call for us to deal with it in a Godly way, deal with it according to the Word of God.
So that is the difference between God’s anger and ours. While ours is for the most part sinful and uncontrolled, God’s is a Holy anger, and always under control.
So we see that we are all called not to be full of anger, not to be quick tempered, but to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is a quality that not only should be true of the leaders of the Church but for all who call themselves Christian.
But I know and you know it is easy to say we should not be quick tempered and angry but it is quite another to do it.
How do we have victory over the sin of anger.
First and for most we must recognize that it is a sin and confess that sin to the Lord. This is true with all our sins. As 1 John 1:9 tells us; "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Confess your sins of anger to Him, this will help you maintain your walk with God, it will help you to be controlled or filled with the Holy Spirit.
We also need to continue to "grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ". This means reading His word, prayer, and fellowship with other believers. Forgiveness is just one aspect of the grace of God. We need to continue to seek His grace.
We also need to trust in God more and more. God tells us to cast our cares upon Him because He cares for us. When you find yourself in a stressful situation, give to God, pray to God to take it from you. Place your trust in Him. Talk to him about it. When you feel that anger building, just take time to pray. I know that can be hard, but obeying God can be hard, we need to just to get in the habit of praying to Him during those times.
In closing I just want say that God’s anger while it is a Holy thing, it is a frightening thing. God’s anger is something none of us want to experience first hand. God’s wrath is something we all should want to escape.
But sadly not everyone will. You see our sin makes God angry. Our sin brings the wrath of God upon ourselves. Yet there is a way to escape the wrath and anger of God, only one escape. And that is by placing our trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
They only way you can escape the wrath of God is by trusting in Jesus to cleanse you of your sin. Believing that He died for you, that He was buried for you, and that He rose again for you.
I would ask that if there is one hear today who as never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour, never asked him to forgive you of your sins and come into your live would you do that now. The Bible states today is the day of Salvation, today is the day that you need to escape from the coming wrath of God. Because without Christ there is no escape.
Please pray this pray with me. (Sinners prayer).
