Why Are You Angry?

INTRODUCTION

Genesis 4:1-6 …”Why are you angry?”

Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.

So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?

APPROACH

Angry. Miffed. Huffy. Offended. Ticked off. Grumpy. Touchy. Hurt. Out of sorts. Irritated. Sore. Resentful.

We’ve all been angry from time to time.

Unresolved anger makes us unhappy, and damages relationships and community.

Lets explore anger this morning.

* What is anger?

* Why do we get angry?

* How does it relate to our spiritual health?

* How should we deal with it as Christians?

WHAT IS ANGER?

Anger is one of our basic emotions, such as: mad, sad, glad, afraid, ashamed.

Emotions are just symptoms of the various aspects of our health.

Anger is like the check engine light in your car. It tells you that something is wrong, and requires immediate attention.

Years ago my friend Nathan was driving his VW bug when the oil pressure light came on. (This was before Check Engine lights) He decided to ignore it until he got to the next town. Two miles later the engine overheated and seized up. If your oil pressure light comes on, do not keep driving. It requires immediate attention.

Anger is a sign that something is wrong.

WHY DO WE GET ANGRY?

A good explanation that I’ve found to be true is: Anger comes from believing your rights have been deliberately violated.

* Believing – have to be aware of the violation.

* Rights – your rights are based on laws such as the 10 commandments, federal law, state law, town ordinances, contracts.

* Deliberate - this shows disrespect rather than simple ignorance

In finding the cause for anger, look for rights that you think have been deliberately violated.

SO WHY WAS CAIN ANGRY?

Did God violate Cain’s rights? No, that would be out of character for God.

Perhaps Abel violated Cain’s rights?

1 John 3:12 …we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

This says that Abel did not violate Cain’s rights, and the whole thing was somehow Cain’s fault.

But we have a clue. Cain was “of the wicked one”. Who is that, and what is his character?

John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

Perhaps Cain believed a lie about his rights?

Testimonies for the Church Volume 5, p. 310 "Through Christ you may and should be happy and should acquire habits of self-control. Even your thoughts must be brought into subjection to the will of God and your feelings under the control of reason and religion. Your imagination was not given you to be allowed to run riot and have its own way without any effort at restraint or discipline. If your thoughts are wrong the feelings will be wrong."

If your thoughts are wrong the feelings will be wrong.

Illustration

I recall a story about a woman in an airport terminal, who bought a bag of cookies, and sat down to wait. She ate one cookie, then the stranger sitting by her reached over and took a cookie. She took another cookie, and so did the stranger. The nerve! How could they be so rude!

Finally, they boarded, and as she settled in, she found her unopened bag of cookies. She had been eating the stranger’s cookies.

If the thoughts are wrong, the feelings will be wrong.

Anger doesn’t come from what happens to us, but from how we interpret it through our beliefs. Our beliefs may be misbeliefs, based on a lie.

What were Cain’s misbeliefs about his rights?

He was angry with God because he believed he had the right to bring a substitute offering, even though God had spelled out the prescribed offering. God did not respect that assumed right.

So if he’s angry with God, why did he kill his brother?