The Anger Issue

The Anger Issue

Ephesians 4:26-27

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpH0NtBfAWY

In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus, he makes one of the most controversial and one of the most discussed statements from his writings, if not in the Bible itself.

“Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” (Ephesians 4:26-27 NKJV)

And while we’ll discuss the fullness of these two verses, the whole of today’s message will be looking at when Paul says, “Be angry, and do not sin.”

There is a common misconception amongst many Christians that being angry is a sin. And so, instead of determining the cause and dealing with their anger issue, they hide it behind smiling faces and a demeanor that says, “All is well,” allowing the anger to fester until it does become a sin, until it does hurt their relationship with others and with God.

Earlier in Chapter 4, Paul pointed out our need to patient, kind, compassionate, and forgiving of each other.

In Ephesians 4:1-2, he says, “Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:1-2 NKJV)

And then to make sure we get the point, he said that we need to “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32 NKJV)

Therefore, the road that leads away from anger is paved with kindness, goodness, gentleness, compassion, patience, and most importantly, forgiveness.

And while most if not all of us know this, the truth is that when something doesn’t go our way, or when someone gets our goat, or when our plans go south while we’re headed north, we get mad. And in the process our patience takes a hike, and the long suffering we’re supposed to display leaves by the back door, and our anger rises to the point where it’s about ready to, or already has, overflowed the dam that was keeping it back.

And here’s the point and what we’ll be taking time to discuss, and that is, our anger issues aren’t with others, but rather it is with the sin that has resulted from it, or worse, it is directed towards God, as we raise our voices and shake our fists at heaven, at what we perceive is the injustice being done, and the Lord not doing anything about it.

Now, the Bible is full of examples of God’s people getting angry at Him.

When I think of anger issues, especially aimed at God over a perceived injustice, the story of Jonah comes to mind. Now, Jonah was trying to escape God’s call to go to Nineveh and tell them of God’s upcoming judgment. But this is not what he gets angry over. It’s when God provided some shade from the hot sun through a plant, and then has a worm eat it. Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious over this slight, knowing that God would spare Nineveh, but he couldn’t save a plant that was keeping him shaded.

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.” (Jonah 4:1 NKJV)

And then there’s Job who said to God, “Do not declare me guilty! Let me know why you prosecute me.” (Job 10:2 CSB)

Job was saying, “Hey God, I haven’t done anything wrong, so why am I going though all these things.” Job was mad at the injustice.

And then probably the classic case of anger against the Lord is Cain, and the Lord addressed it saying, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 6:6-7 NKJV)

And so, when our temperature begins to rise, and we start to get angry over a slight or a wrong, what are we to do? I mean, is it possible to be angry and not sin, that is be angry and maintain a semblance of godliness?

So, let’s look at these three areas where we find ourselves angry, and what then are we to do.

Anger Issues Towards Others

We see this anger issue in the sibling relationship of Esau and Jacob. After Jacob took Esau’s birthright and blessing, it says that Esau hated Jacob, and he was so angry he said that after the days of mourning were over for his father, that he would kill Jacob. Now, that’s being angry.

But he was also angry at his father and mother for not doing anything about it, and when he realized that they sent Jacob away to her brother Laban’s house to get married, because they didn’t want him to marry any of the local girls from the Canaanite tribes, Esau goes out and marries two of them.