Ephesians 4:26-27
The Hulk isn’t the only one with anger issues
Ben Stiller, Bill Bixby, Alec Baldwin and more
I have known Davey for about 35 years. He goes by Bruce to most people, his middle name, but
I have always called him Davey. He is a little older than me and had his doctorate in his early
20s. Actually M.D and PhD (physician and scientist). Like really super smart. We used to be
great friends, but circumstances have changed. We talk maybe once a year when he feels it’s safe
to call. I can never call him, because he doesn’t own a phone and doesn’t stay in one place for
very long. He is always hitchhiking from one town to another. He basically lives his whole life
hiding from the law and newspaper men like Jack McGee—that guy really makes me angry.
Anyway, they are always looking for him because of that accident in the lab. You may remember
the news reports, it was huge news in the 70’s.
You see Dr. Banner was working on a theory about adrenaline and gamma radiation and things
went wrong. Really wrong.
Whenever he gets angry, life gets, shall we say, complicated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOXpKUu6pUg. Just the couple seconds at 1:24-1:26
But Dr. Banner isn’t the only one in Hollywood with an anger problem.
Check out J. Jonah Jameson in Spider Man, or Col Nathan Jessup in a Few good Men (“You cant
handle the truth!”) or anything from an early Adam Sandler movie—he was always punching
people like Bob Barker.
My favorite angry man is Mr. Furious. Do you guys know him? Ben Stiller plays a man who is
convinced he is a superhero and that when he gets angry he gets stronger. The problem is that he
actually doesn’t have any powers. I find it hilarious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFRTka15Kq4 second 2 to 25
But anger isn’t really funny. Some of the actors who pretend to be angry are actually often angry
in real life.1
Sean Penn has assaulted more than one photographer in his day
Kidd Rock punched out a DJ, Tommy Lee (from Motley Crue) and some guy at a waffle
house.
Grace Jones assaulted a train manager and cursed him out in French. In 1981 she
repeatedly slapped a British TV show host because he kept turning his back on her to
speak to another guest.
1
http://styleblazer.com/121943/why-so-angry-15-celebs-who-need-serious-anger-management/
Alec Baldwin is known as a rage-aholic. He pitched a fit in an airplane because they
asked him to turn off his cell and anyone can hear the voicemail to his 12 year old
daughter in 2007 calling her a “rude thoughtless little pig.
Let’s not even talk about Chris Brown, Mike Tyson.
But that’s actors, famous people, divas. They think the world revolves around them. Of course
they have anger problems.
But let’s go ahead and admit that this goes way deeper than some divas on TV. It’s an epidemic.
Just find out what happens if you decide to touch your brothers stuff in HIS room.
What happens if you really think that the thing your spouse really wants to buy is just not
a good move?
What happens when you drop your iphone 6 and you chose not to get insurance?
What happens when your kid forgot to tell you about a phone call that was super
important.
What happens when that same kid then drops the grape juice all over the floor because
they didn’t listen to you and instead thought moonwalking back to the table with the juice
was the best delivery method?
What happens when one of your good friends confronts you about a problem that you
don’t want to admit?
What happens when that parent keeps cheering on his athletic child as the child pretty
much completely humiliates your child over and over again?
Oh and it’s pretty deep inside of us isn’t it? It’s not just adults or teens that get angry. Take a
look at these kids.2
2
. http://static2.lxdcdn.net/images/0f2f6758bc6b9cecc2b1d62bcff5dfc0.jpeg
And many of you probably know some wife or child who was beaten as men give in to their
anger.
And what about road rage? There is even a term for it, because it is so prevalent. One website I
visited said that more than 1500 people are killed or injured in road rage every year.3 I don’t
know if that is right, but if more than one person is killed because someone didn’t drive the way
we want them to, then this world is a mess.
Two thousand years after Seneca wrote the first known treatise on anger, I think we can still
agree wholeheartedly with his sentiments: “No plague has cost the human race more dear.”4
So many of us spend far too much time angry.
Well, what does the Bible say about this? Should we do away with all anger; what is the real
problem with it. Sometimes you just have to let off a little steam, don’t you?
The Bible actually has quite a lot to say about anger, although today I just want to look at the one
verse that fits into our Mission3.10 theme. Don’t forget this theme. That through the unity and
relationships right here in the church, the heavenly authorities themselves will know that God is
wise. That even though we are easily angered people, that somehow our unity and love will shine
through and make the gospel attractive.
This morning’s text is Eph 4:26-27 and it states
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and
do not give the devil a foothold.
Can anger be good?
The first thing I notice about this text is that it assumes anger. It doesn’t say don’t sin by being
angry, it says when you are angry, don’t sin.
3
4
http://www.kgbanswers.com/how-many-people-die-in-road-rage/4194503
De Ira 1.21
Does this idea match up with the rest of the Bible? Can anger be good?
No question that we see angry people in the Bible:
Paul seems more than a bit angry from time to time, even cursing people.
The Psalmist does the same. Check out psalm 22 when David is ticked at God over his
trials.
Of course, that’s Paul and David and other admittedly sinful people. We know they get angry but
that doesn’t make it right.
Except that Jesus himself gets angry from time to time and God sure spends a lot of time angry.
You remember Mark 3:4-5 when Jesus gets angry because the leaders try to stop him
from working on the Sabbath.
And let’s not forget the “temple tantrum” he threw in all the gospels.
And God the Father?
And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Moses (Exodus 4:14)
I can’t even tell you how many times in the book of Numbers that Yahweh’s anger was
kindled against his people.
In Deut it continues, even calling it the great indignation, the wrath and the hot
displeasure.
In the stories of the kings, it’s amazing how many kings provoke the God of Israel to
anger.
Hugely angry in Isaiah and especially Jeremiah and throughout the prophets.
Even when we read these things, we struggle. Because anger always seems so wrong. It’s always
about beating up some innocent woman, or screaming at a boss, or yelling at a kid who spilled
something, or just seething in a corner. And God and Jesus don’t seem all that different.
Defining Anger
But let’s not go any further just yet. Is it possible that our definition of anger is so wrapped up in
all these terrible responses that we struggle to see anything good in anger?
Here is how Tim Keller defines anger. He says “anger is always tied to that which is your focus .
. . Anger is always an outgrowth of love –anger is that which rouses you and rallies all of your
faculties to defend that which you ultimately love. You get angry to the degree that you love
something. Anger is that which defends the thing which is threatened which you love. Your
hierarchy of loves is your hierarchy of anger. Things that you don't love at all don't get you
angry when they are threatened. Things that you love a little get you a little angry when they are
threatened. Things that you love a lot make you very angry when they are threatened. You are as
angry as you are as loving and you are angry when that which you love is threatened. that's what
anger is.”
Anger is a means of communicating what we care about—usually ourselves—and is an attempt
at punishment. It is a chemical and physiological reaction to our displeasure that the world is not
as we wish.
Three things to keep in mind in regards to anger
1. What are you angry about?
And that is good. The world is not as we wish. Things should get us angry. If we never get angry
then we can’t really claim to love anything. We could state it the other way, never being angry is
sinful, because we don’t love anything.
Since anger is nothing more than an emotional response to something, it seems that the problem
comes when we respond either to something that shouldn’t matter or we respond too severely to
something that does.
Let’s look at Jesus for our example:
Jesus’ anger at the leaders wasn’t some fit of rage, it was an emotional response to these leaders
who simply would not understand that the Sabbath was designed to point to him. It was a
placeholder that was looking to Jesus. And the leaders of the religious law refused to see that
Jesus was the Messiah upon which all ceremonies were shadows. He was angry because they
refused to see that he was the focal point of history. That might seem kind of ego-maniacal, but if
all of the world is designed to revolve around you, it’s really just the truth. Its anger at the world
because they don’t get what could be their greatest hope and joy.
And Jesus wasn’t having a “temple tantrum.” There was nothing that sent him into unnecessary
rage. It wasn’t a tantrum like those kids we were looking at. In fact, depending on which version
you read of the story, he either took the time to make a whip from leather chords (something you
can’t do quickly in an out of control rage), or he waited until the following day. And this was a
symbolic action, not an uncontrolled one. He wanted to make the point that the temple would
soon be destroyed because it was no longer relevant—that which the temple was holding a place
for had come. The signpost was no longer needed because that to which it was pointing was right
there. Jesus was the new temple, the new presence of God on earth.
This is saying that we get angry because we aren’t getting our way. If our way perfectly aligns
with God’s way, then this is a perfectly justifiable response. That’s what Jesus was doing. He
was concerned with the glory of God and anything that detracted from it resulted in anger. He
had to defend it. This is righteous anger.
This fits for us too, on what may seem to be smaller circumstances
If you get thrown out of a game without cause, then justice has been stepped on and anger
is fitting.
If someone constantly berates the church that Jesus bled for, it seems appropriate to get
angry.
If someone decides that they will start a war because their economy is hurting, then anger
seems necessary.
If an abortion doctor is 20 minutes away performing late term abortions, I hope you get
angry.
If someone complains about the problems in iphone 6 while others try to stop the spread
of ebola, anger seems a good response.
If your child disrespects a teacher or rolls their eyes at you, then anger seems warranted.
2. What is your response to anger?
That is, the physiological response to sin should be something like anger. But Scripture
says, in that anger, do not sin. Even justifiable anger often turns into sin.
If you get thrown out of a game without cause and you decide to curse out the ref or jump
the ref or even mutter under your breath about how big of a jerk he is, you are letting the
anger control you.
If someone berates the church and you decide to egg their house that night, then your
anger has turned to sin.
If you are upset by war and decide to kill the president or upset by abortion and decide to
bomb a clinic, your anger has taken you too far.
If your child disrespects you, and you decide to slap them, then you have sinned.
It’s the response that matters.
Though Alexander literally conquered the world he was unable to control his anger. Alexander
had a friend and a general in his army named Cletus. On one occasion Cletus became drunk and
ridiculed the emperor in front of his men. Blinded by his anger Alexander snatched a spear and
threw it at Cletus. Though he had intended to scare him the spear took the life of his childhood
friend. As a result Alexander was overcome with guilt and attempted to take his own life. History
records that Alexander feel into a deep depression and laid in bed for days calling for his friend.
Sometimes our responses literally kill others. Often they kill their spirit or wound them forever.
Jesus’ response to the feelings of anger was to drive people out of the temple and to heal
someone anyway. These aren’t sulky responses, they are symbolic responses. They are trying to
make a point.
3. How long are you angry?
The verse tells you more though. It has a warning about time as well.
Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,
I am not going to argue about how literal this is, but I think we can all agree that the general
principle is that we shouldn’t allow anger to continue very long. As soon as possible we are
supposed to get rid of it. Because Jesus knows our hearts. We can be legitimately angry at our
spouse, and then just keep on being angry. As we continue to be angry, bitterness creeps in and
we start piling new guilt on old guilt. We start pushing them away. We start demonizing them.
I am not a very angry person. This isn’t a major problem for me. I do get angry at traffic and that
is sin because it’s just me protecting my agenda. I get angry at my wife from time to time, but
even if I go to bed unhappy, by morning I just don’t care anymore.
But recently I have had a problem. I don’t know how many of you follow what is going
on at Westminster Theological Seminary. I did my PhD work there in the early 2000s
when Rhyston was a baby. The Old Testament department was my home. I loved those
men. PhDs unlike most degrees are very small and so most of my work was done with
one of 3 professors and 3 or 4 students, so you can imagine we got close. It was my home
away from home. PhD students had special access to professors. I had keys to an office, I
called them all by their first name, I drank beer with them. They were friends.
Of course, I finished my course work and moved on and things there started to get hostile
there. The systematicians and the historians didn’t like what the Bible guys were teaching
and the cold war that had existed became hotter. Two NT professors left early on because
they had no freedom. Then all out war. Pete Enns, my teacher who had tenure, was sent
packing. Then earlier this year, Doug Green was granted an “early retirement.” He was
forced out. In June, they tossed out another professor who I had done my OT work with
for years. He is my good friend. Its really bad.
Recently Sam Logan, who had been the president of the school sent around a paper for us
to sign if we disagreed with WTS movements and supported the hermeneutical
methodology that was becoming more prevalent at WTS. Just a few weeks ago, Chris
told his story and Tremper Longman, big name scholar has been posting on facebook his
righteous anger towards this whole affair.
Two weeks ago, I wrote Tremper. I told him I didn’t know what to feel. I was angry and
his posts made me angrier. I felt it was righteous anger but I had no direction or purpose
in the anger. I wanted to know who to fight, how to stand for right, what I was supposed
to do besides just whine on FB. He was smart I guess. He didn’t tell me what to do or
how to feel, he just told me he was sorry for helping to provoke the negative feelings and
that he was there if I needed him.
I don’t know why I tell you this story. I guess I tell you it because it seems a much safer story to
admit to you then to tell you about when I get really angry at my wife. She is not always as sweet
and innocent as she looks right now. But I do have to admit, most of the time I get angry at her,
it’s because she is somehow keeping me from my agenda. Go pick up the kids, fix the toilet,
clean up this mess, spend money on this. It’s all because I want to be doing something else. Or
not doing anything. And even when it is justified, my responses are seldom right.
I tell you about WTS because I am angry and I don’t know what to do about it. I feel like
injustice has been done. I start day dreaming of certain “bad guys” (in my current state of mind)
losing their jobs or other things bad happening to them and I am not sad.
It’s like how I have felt about Mark Driscoll for the last couple of years. He bullies everyone, has
very little humility, and is often a jerk. So I have been angry at him. Now he has stepped down
for some fiasco over plagiarism and deceitful book promotion and I am smugly happy.
What’s happened is that a righteous anger has somehow turned into bitterness and the devil has
indeed gotten a foothold (that’s verse 27).
Look to the cross
Look, I doubt seriously there is anything new that I have said this morning. You knew it all. But
preaching isn’t merely about giving you new information; it’s about charging you with
something.
If there is one thing I know, Jesus had a right to be more than a little bit angry. It would be
perfectly justifiable (in our thinking) for him to hate the Pharisees and the Romans and even the
disciples who abandoned him. And as he hangs there on that cross, he says “Father forgive
them.” That’s astonishing to me.
And it’s that example and that death on the cross that enables and encourages me to move from
anger to peace. From anger to forgiveness and reconciliation.
Let me ask you a few questions
What do you get angry at? Anger is a protection response that reveals what is important to you.
Does slow internet make you angrier than children being forced to fight wars in Northern
Uganda?
Do bad calls during a little league game make you angrier than starving children in
Ethiopia?
Does someone who belittles you make you angrier than churches being bulldozed in
China?
Does someone who doesn’t like you, make you angrier than someone who doesn’t like
God
We have to then properly evaluate what you are loving–to identify your anger. Anger is a
function of defending what you love. To determine what you love—follow your anger. What
angers you a little—you love a little and vice versa.
Now let me ask another question.
How does your anger make you respond? I know what comes most often to your mind in
regard to anger. Murder, fist fight, screaming, silent treatment.
Maybe like the woman who caught her husband cheating, you might cut off one arm of each of
his very expensive, privately made suits, before he comes back home to move everything out?
Or perhaps you would be cutting in different areas (can I say that at church?)
But maybe we can use our anger in a positive way.
Maybe we have a conversation with that person who made you angry and let them know
they are doing that. Maybe they don’t even know and would be happy to change.
Maybe we get a group of people together to sign a petition and let the government know
our feelings.
Maybe we stand in front of a clinic letting our protest be heard.
Maybe we discipline our children so they realize the importance of their action and they
refrain from doing it again.
A third question:
How long will you remain angry?
If you are justifiably angry and the kingdom has not arrived in all its fullness and the anger keeps
you moving forward in seeking justice and peace in the world, then let it stay. It is healthy.
But perhaps you are still angry at your dad for leaving your mom 30 years ago.
Perhaps you are angry at your boss for treating you like dirt three weeks ago.
Perhaps you are still angry at that school friend who humiliated you yesterday in front of so
many others.
Perhaps you are hanging onto your anger and it has become bitterness, depression, maybe the
people you remain angry with have become demons in your mind, and every day you become
more incapable of moving on and forgiving them.
Today is the day. We must follow our Savior’s footsteps in this.
Be angry at the right things
Respond well to our anger
And don’t let it destroy us by letting it linger.
Aristotle said it this way, “Anybody can become angry… But to be angry with the right person,
to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way - this is not within
everybody’s power….”
But it is within our power. The spirit that empowers the church is in you. He will create in you
the ability to forgive and love and reconcile. I wonder what would happen in this town if
everyone in this church went to everyone who wronged them and told them you loved them. I
wonder if we were all willing to forgive, what a testimony we would be to the authorities in the
heavenly places. Mission3.10 would thrive and God would get the glory.