SERMON OUTLINE

Be Angry But Do Not Sin      Ephesians 4.26-27

“In your anger do not sin.”            Ephesians 4.26

Introduction

Christians are new creations in Christ and have been given all they need to live godly lives. 2 Peter 1.3

Be Angry

-A permissive command that allows anger

-It does not say “Don’t be angry” but “do not sin in anger”

-There is righteous and sinful anger

-What is the cause of the anger tells what kind of anger

-David and Saul

But Do Not Sin

-The world says Suppress or vent anger

–Express righteous anger and Process sinful anger

-Feeling angry is not sin until we give in to it

-Confess to God; Process the source of anger with God and others; Commit; Forgive; Grow

Two Warnings

1) Do not let the Sun go down on anger. Deal with it now

-Anger will become resentment and bitterness and poison

-Anger undermines unity and love

2) Do not give the Devil a foothold

-Anger is an open door to the Devil to disrupt our lives

-Anger is alignment with Diabolos, the Slanderer

Conclusion

-Do you need to settle some overdue anger accounts today? Do it today. I will be more difficult tomorrow.

-I need to go before God and confess my anger and determine the cause of my anger, then I need to re-commit myself to God and submit to His Lordship.

-I need to ask forgiveness for my anger from ________

SERMON NOTES

Careful Living in 2010   (Ephesians 5.15)

Be Angry But Do Not Sin       Ephesians 4.26-27

-Your behavior as a Christian today should be different from your past behavior as a sinner. The reason your behavior should be different is because if you are a true Christian, you are a new creation in Jesus Christ. In union with the death of Christ, God put to death your old life in Adam. You are no longer driven to sinful behavior by your old life. In union with the resurrection of Christ, God gave you a new life in the Holy Spirit. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is the new source of your life. Peter tells us that, “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness”. (2 Peter 1.3) Therefore as a new creation in Christ you are to put off the behaviors of your old sinful life, and you are to put on the new life of the saint who lives by the Holy Spirit. As a Christian you are a different person and because of that you must live a different kind of life than the world around you lives.

-Paul is not only concerned about individual behavior but about unity in the Church, and about the influence of the Church in the community. Christian love, and godly attitudes and behavior produce unity in the Church and this influences the community to consider Christ as Savior – the One Who can transform a sinner into a saint and enable a group of people to love one another.

-Some of the new behaviors of the Christian are given to us in this chapter. We are not to live a lie, and we are not to tell lies. Rather we are to tell the truth and we are to live in truth. In verses 26 and 27 we are taught about anger. There is much treasure in these verses. Let’s start digging.

-The first word in verse 26 in the Greek is a command and commands the Christian to “Be angry”. This is a permissive command which allows a Christian to be angry and even expects the Christian to be angry. Does that surprise you? This verse does not say “Don’t get angry” it says, “In your anger do not sin”. The problem for the Christian is not anger but having the right kind of anger and responding properly to anger. Most of us have too little of the right kind of anger and too much of the wrong kind of anger. The point here is that anger is part of the Christians life. Anger can result in much good if handled in a Biblical way.

-There are two kinds of anger in the life of the Christian. The Christian can practice righteous anger, which is the right kind of anger and the kind we do not practice very much. Or the Christian can practice sinful anger, which is the wrong king of anger and the kind we practice too much. What determines the kind of anger we are practicing is what has caused the anger to rise up within us.

-If you are angry at someone or something because they have interfered with your plans, your comforts, your rights, your preferences, because they have messed you up, messed up your schedule, messed up your goals, that is sinful anger. Most of us are too touchy and reactive to others or to the things they do that impede our progress. Some of us are like dry gun powder waiting for a spark to explode it. James writes, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires”. (James 1.19-20) What we need to understand is that we belong to God and we serve God, and God may have other plans for us which are related to conformity to His Son and not just to completing a project and satisfying a pleasure. I call this kind of wrong anger – personal anger because it is all about interference with my control and all about me.

-If you are angry at someone or something because they lie against the truth of God, are against God’s purposes, defame the Name and Glory of God, cause others to sin and produce evil and destruction, that is righteous anger. Most of us are not very sensitive to what is godless and blasphemous, and do not get angry because we care very little for the Majesty and Holiness of God. Not only is wrong anger a problem for the Christian but not being angry enough at evil is also a problem for the Christian. Psalm 97.10 says, “Let those who love the Lord, hate evil.” I call this kind of right anger – principled anger because it is all about the Glory of God. Only the Christian can react with principled anger. The more we know God and the character of God and love the truth and holiness, the more we will be angry for the right reason.

-What comes to mind here is David and Goliath and King Saul. King Saul and all the army of Israel considered Goliath a military threat, but David who had a heart for God saw Goliath as “an uncircumcised Philistine who defied the armies of the living God”. Goliath’s defiance of God’s people and of God Himself filled David with a righteous anger and a determination to go and defeat this blasphemer of God. We are told in the story that Goliath cursed David by his gods, but God’s Glory was vindicated by David. David is a picture of righteous anger. Saul is a picture of sinful anger. Saul was filled with sinful anger because he became jealous of the glory given to David by the people of Israel. David’s anger was motivated by the Glory of God while Saul’s anger was motivated by loss of control and jealousy for his own glory.

-God is wise when He says to Christians, “Be angry”. God knows that we will get angry. The world either teaches that anger is wrong and that a person should suppress their anger or that anger is a person’s right and should be vented and not held back. Both of these responses are wrong.

-Suppressed anger leads to depression and eventually to a volcanic eruption of anger. Vented anger causes all kinds of relational problems and isolation, and poisons the work and home environment. The person who lets their anger fly may not get depressed but becomes an ugly person to be around.

-God says “Be angry” but God also says “but do not sin”. The Christian should express righteous anger when righteous anger is called for but must be careful that this righteous anger does not become sinful anger. The Christian should also allow himself or herself to feel sinful anger but without exploding on others. A feeling of anger is not a sin. Anger becomes sin when it is allowed to lash out on others in word or deed, and when it is allowed to become an attitude of resentment and prejudice toward another person.

-The Christian should take that feeling of anger or frustration and confess that anger to God. The anger should be processed with the Holy Spirit to determine the source of the anger. Find out why the anger is there so you can do something about the source of the anger and become more conformed to the image of Christ. You may need the help of others in this process of healing and change. Anger is a sign of a spiritual problem and God says admit to the anger and find out why it is there and do something about the cause.

-Most often the cause of sinful anger is because we have not totally abandoned our will, our rights, our dreams and our goals to God, and we have not made Him total Lord of all of our life. We have not yet fully accepted the Sovereignty of God over our lives. We have not chosen to allow God to let others stamp all over us if He so chooses, in order to bring Glory to His Name. Sinful anger is often a sign of our need for a greater trust in God and a fuller giving of our life God. Sinful anger when examined often exposes a control problem and a need for more trust in God. Sinful anger may also point us to an area of unforgiveness in our life. Let me remind you of what comes at the end of the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 5.14-15, “If you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

-The teaching on anger closes with two warnings and we need to pay attention to them. The first warning says, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry”. What this means is deal with your anger right away. Don’t put off dealing with anger. If it is righteous anger than do what is needed and then let it go. Don’t let principled anger fester in you because it will turn into personal anger and cause you problems. Write that letter to the person or group that is angering you because of their sin, make that call, speak to that ungodly offender. Do what needs to be done in response to righteous anger. Do it now.

-The same goes for personal anger. Take your anger to God in prayer right away, process it, give yourself to God and His Sovereign control over your life, forgive where forgiveness is needed.  Deal with your anger right away. Don’t let anger seep into your bones and fester into resentment and hatred.

-The word “angry” is found two times in verse 26 but two different Greek words are used. For the first “angry” the Greek word just means to be angry. But for the second “angry” the Greek word is intensified and means “a nursed anger that has become personal resentment”. The original anger has become a bitterness of spirit, hatred, a desire for revenge. The anger has been allowed to soak into the person’s being and has moved beyond the original emotional reaction to personal resentment. Paul commands that we do something about anger right away so that anger will not take up residence in our being and become a bitter poison against another person or group. Deal with anger as soon as it wells up and do what is required to get back to God’s rest in Christ.

-A person who is controlled by anger does not think soberly and is biased especially toward the focus of their anger. They continue to wound others with words and actions that even after forgiveness is given and received leaves permanent wounds. Those who hold anger towards another person are really wounding themselves. One person said that anger is like drinking poison so you can hurt the other fellow. Anger is self-destructive so take care of anger right away.

-When anger is active in a fellowship it disrupts unity and love and the power of God to work His Grace in the lives of His people and in those who do not believe. Don’t let angry hand around to long. Deal with it now.

-The second warning says, “And do not give the Devil a foothold”. To hold onto anger against another person opens the door of your life to the Devil. Anger not processed says to the Devil “Come on in and disrupt my life”. Anger is an open door invitation to the Devil into your personal life and into the fellowship of the Church. The Greek word for Devil is diabolos and means slanderer. The Devil can get cozy with the angry person. The angry person and diabolos become partners until anger is processed and the person gets right with God. So what are you doing about your anger? Take care of it now.

-Perhaps you have let too many suns go down on your anger and your anger has become bitter personal resentment against someone or the church or another group. Do you need to settle some overdue accounts? Do it today. Get rid of the poison of anger in your life. Take your anger to God and then process the cause, and then give yourself fully to God. Ask for that forgiveness from God and from others and move on in the peace and power of God. Do it now.