“Whoever Is Angry" - Part I

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Preacher: Ross Macdonald Scripture: Matthew 5:21-22

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Well this morning we press on in Matthew 5 and with verse 21 we're now beginning the series of antitheses so called where Jesus is saying you have heard it said of old and then the antithesis the
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Contrast to that but I say to you and we'll see this series of six of these antitheses beginning in verses 21 and going all the way up to verse 48 and as we begin this morning with verses 21 and 22 we
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We're not going to have a lot of comments about the form or the structure of these six
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Antitheses as we move through these verses over the weeks to come we'll have more to say about the structure
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But let me at least begin with what we can expect to find along the way Along the way we'll find that Jesus is not countering the law
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Jesus is not countering the law Again, the the form of this contrast is is meant to grab your attention
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This would be one of the reasons that it could be said of Jesus. He doesn't teach like anyone else
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He doesn't teach like the typical teachers. We've had he doesn't teach like the rabbis or the scribes or the
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Pharisees He teaches like one who has authority And you can see that authority you've heard it said from the very beginning, but I'm saying to you
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That's one who's claiming authority So we'll find that Jesus is not countering the law
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Rather he is clarifying the right understanding of the law and sometimes there was so much of man's tradition
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Blanketed over what the law was actually pointing to that It seems as if Jesus is overthrowing the command when in fact, he's establishing it clarifying it in different ways
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Sharpening it deepening it Especially in light of what his hearers would have understood what they would have been taught
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So again, Jesus is not countering the law rather. He's countering an external restrained sort of fleshly
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Understanding of the law Series saying something went wrong.
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I think that went right in other words What we're going to see is several ways that Jesus stands against the traditions of the scribes and the
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Pharisees Remember we said last week verses 19 and 20 Jesus said your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the
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Pharisees and that in some ways was a preface to what we'll be going through for the weeks to come and So Jesus is showing us the ways in which the righteousness of Christians must exceed the traditions of men a fleshly external understanding of the law
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Matthew 5 21 Beginning in in verse 21 and we're gonna just look at verses 21 and 22 this morning
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The first and the sixth antitheses the beginning in the end are the longest within within Matthew 5 and So we want to spend a little time
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Partly because there's just so much to say about these verses and so we're gonna look at this idea of anger as really part
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One and we'll carry on with verses 23 through 26 next week this morning
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We're looking at the first two verses and let me read them for us Matthew 5 beginning in verse 21 you have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not murder and Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment
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But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause
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Shall be in danger of the judgment and whoever says to his brother Raka shall be in danger of the council
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But whoever says you fool shall be in danger of hellfire We have six antitheses now a little note on structure the first and the fourth
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Actually repeat this phrase you have heard that it was said to those of old We have that repeated twice and what that does structurally is it gives us really two tables within the rest of chapter 5 in other words two
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Series of three antitheses and so when we get to the fourth one We're beginning a little bit of a shift and when we get there
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We'll explain why as an aside that little phrase it was said to those of old that might actually be an explicit way of referencing that the teaching of the scribes and the
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Pharisees a Chapter earlier in Matthew 4 when Jesus is being tempted in the wilderness.
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He replies to Satan it is written Jesus is pointing to the law.
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He's quoting from the law and he's saying it is written Whereas here in Matthew 5 though He quotes the law
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Jesus says you have heard it was said that might be a way of speaking To the way that the scribes and the
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Pharisees had been teaching who are those of old? Or literally in Greek the ancient ones
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Well, it certainly could be said of the older generations, right? My great -grandparents are the ancient ones as far as I'm concerned that could be
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Jesus immediate reference He's he's come now at this point in time and within that sort of second temple
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Intertestamental period all sorts of traditions have been unloaded upon The the
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Israelites, but most likely it goes all the way back to the original generation Those of all the ancient ones that from the very beginning had received the commandments at the foot of Mount Sinai And of course
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Jesus quotes the sixth commandment you shall not murder Now he adds to the sixth commandment
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And there's no explicit quotation here But he seems to be putting together ideas about how the sixth commandment was applied in the life of Israel He speaks of the civil consequences of murder things that were outlined in Leviticus 24 in Deuteronomy 17
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Whoever murders will be in danger of judgment So there's certain ways that death or manslaughter or so on are carried out civilly in the life of corporate
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Israel And so Jesus seems to be bringing some of that into the sixth commandment But then
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Jesus presses into the aspect of judgment All right, you shall not murder whoever murders will be liable to the council liable to judgment
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But I say to you, here's the contrast whoever is angry That's the emphasis
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I say to you whoever is angry Shall be in danger of the judgment.
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Now. Jesus is proclaiming again with absolute authority. I say to you He doesn't say well,
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I've really studied it and you know, I have a couple thoughts and perspectives I'd like to share that might help kind of balance out some of the things that you've been
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No, he just says I'm saying to you here it is Let me give you the right understanding of the law This commandment now shall not murder is understood in this way by Jesus.
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Whoever is angry with his brother will be judged by God Now we have to unpack that carefully, but I want to get that across whoever is angry with his brother
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That's an absolute statement Whoever is angry with his brother
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Now you'll notice in perhaps the Bible you have on your lap if you come to That phrase without a cause whoever is angry with his brother without a cause if you have a good translation
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That phrase without a cause will probably be in italics There's a good reason for that It's disputed whether this was originally part of the manuscripts
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It's certainly there early on but some of the key early manuscripts It is it is absent.
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And so the question for the translators for textual critics is was this Original and it fell out early on but was recovered or at least remained in later
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Witnesses or was it something that was inserted early on and generally speaking?
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It's not a huge problem to read it in either direction Because it certainly makes good sense as far as application goes
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Certainly a right application is whoever is angry without a cause There's many examples that we could point to for why there's times when angry angry, you know
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Being angry toward a brother is actually appropriate Give me an example in Galatians 2 when
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Paul withstands Peter to his face and he's sort of outraged That's appropriate anger. And so it's right in terms of application
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But I think it probably is hard to maintain that it was originally there and then fell out of loose fell out of use
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But was basically recovered later on And in fact, I think it's far easier to explain why it might have been a parenthetical
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Explanation or a scribal assertion. They were wrestling with the idea of can it really be?
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That just to be angry with my brother means I'm going to face the judgment of God that seems so extreme
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Let me at least sort of qualify that unless there's a good cause It shows how naturally we squirm at the force of Jesus warning and we're gonna see that throughout these antitheses
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Whoever is angry with his brother and we want to immediately say well, well, well, well, let's be reasonable Of course, there's there's all sorts of ways that it might be it might be right that I'm angry who wouldn't be angry
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And I would argue know what Jesus is saying is simply this whoever is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment
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Reminded that Jesus is first of all addressing his followers He's addressing the community of faith.
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We saw that with the Beatitudes This language of brother then is really important by the way that that term brother
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It certainly extends to sister as well. The idea of sibling relationships brother sister this language never justifies hatred or anger
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Toward an unbelieving neighbor to say whoever is angry with his brother doesn't mean it's fine to be angry with your neighbor
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In fact as we work our way through Not only the rest of the verses, but when we get to the very end of the chapter
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We're going to see especially how there's this sort of evangelistic Dimension to these antitheses, but he begins here simply with the household of faith.
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Whoever is angry with his brother He intensifies the outrage of the warning in this way.
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I think that's why he includes it It's not to justify anger toward those who are outside. That's not the
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New Testament posture far from it But rather he's trying to intensify the outrage.
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What right do you have to be angry with one who is your brother? You have been adopted into this family.
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What right do you have to be angry with your brother? Whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.
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That's technical language It doesn't just mean it may or may not happen. It means he's he's being judged
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He will be judged in some context It's used to actually say he is condemned in other words the verdict is already passed liable or subject to judgment sometimes is translated as condemned a
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Brother is one in whom dwells the Holy Spirit so any anger any malice toward a brother is the most grievous way to act and For this reason
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Jesus goes beyond the act of murder to the very cause of murder, which is in this case anger
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Jesus intensifying the law but clarifying the law. It's not the act of murder that breaks the sixth commandment only
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It's also the cause of murder that hatred that spite that malice that if we had the
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Opportunity if we could get away with it that anger would like a volcanic eruption explode even to snuff out life and you see that Almost instinctively when you're really angry.
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It's just get away from me. I wish you weren't here. I wish you weren't around me I wish I never knew you that's essentially saying in my anger.
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I wish you were dead. I Really wish you weren't here.
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I essentially wish you were dead. That's what anger does Anger in this way then is viewed by God With the same offense with the same abominable reaction as murder itself.
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You shall not murder And Jesus says whoever is angry with his brother
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Is subject to the judgment of the sixth commandment? Whoever says to his brother pressing a little bit further
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Raqqa shall be in danger of the council, but whoever says you fool
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Shall be liable to judgment The illustrations given by Jesus demonstrate that out of the mouth proceed the very thoughts of the heart
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What what are these insults you can almost hear it, right? Maybe you're not familiar with that Greek term
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Raqqa, but it just sounds derogatory doesn't it Raqqa just you know Sounds bad doesn't it the way it comes off the mouth
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If you were if you were going through the old Greek town in Boston and someone walked by you briskly and said Raqqa You would know they're not complimenting you
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Out of the mouth proceed the thoughts of the heart. There's that bubbling burning anger that might not be in any way
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Sort of aggressive physically, but it's just the sort of spike the condescension that quick reactive insult that slur
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It's directed without because of the anger within Raqqa perhaps the the best
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Translation would be an idiot. That's kind of a modern gloss on it the the term in Aramaic is actually it means empty so that is you know, empty -headed a
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Blockhead if we want to maybe lessen lessen the blow a little bit and you fool
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That's the Greek more from which we get the term moron. It means the same thing you you fool.
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You're ignorant You're dumb That's the idea. Both of these are equivalent insults
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Some some commentators. They say these are supreme insults And then
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I read others and they go these are just really banal generic insults I mean nothing really that fancy here and I I'm inclined toward the latter
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I don't think these are these are the insults that must never be said. I think that's missing
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Jesus point entirely Because he's intensifying the weight of God's law
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He's saying even a careless almost lightweight insult when it's spoken with malice
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When it's sort of veiling the hatred the kind of anger that leads to murder
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It's viewed by God as something worthy of his judgment It's a straightforward insult
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It's not something that is done by men You know, sometimes men like to kind of rib each other and it's a way of actually oddly enough showing affection
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I love you because I tease you. I love you because I rib you It's not that it's the kind of insult that lingers for years
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It's the kind of insult that in private conversation. They go they said that to my face and It's it's stuck with you.
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That's what Jesus is talking about this insult this contempt. I remember years ago
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Traveling with a small group and we were in the Munich Airport and something had happened in the luggage storage area and as it was taped off one of my dear brothers returned and One of the one of the businessmen who was now late for his flight went directly up to his face and he said you fool and That was something we talked about for the whole trip.
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In fact, even years later. We chew on that every now and then That's exactly what Jesus is talking about here this direct
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Insult this face -to -face contempt. I want you to hear this. I want you to know how
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I feel about you The progression of these verses follows a process that really began in verse 21.
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Jesus talks about being subject to judgment Subject to the civil courts and in view now would be the
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Sanhedrin that council that high council that judged matters Among the corporate life of Israel, but of course
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Jesus does not intend to say the civil court really needs to be dealing with insults I mean already it's sort of the the swamp to write it to try to get a court hearing nowadays
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It's it's months out. All right. Can you imagine if you actually had to prosecute insults?
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All right, just in Worcester alone. There would be a backlog of decades Right on any given day hundreds of offense thousands of offenses would be added anytime
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There was a traffic jam. There'd be hundreds of new offenses that would need to be prosecuted. That's not what
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Jesus is after He's simply saying when anger is really extreme You know that there's nothing else to be done
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Those parties must be taken to court judgment must be rendered and I'm telling you that God is going to render judgment
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Even down to this degree the courts aren't going to hear matters of insult They say that's not big enough, but Jesus is saying for God that's significant enough.
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You won't escape judgment for that That kind of contempt it it might not even cause a wince among any
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Supreme Court justice But God the Supreme Court overall will hold you liable.
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You will be subject to his judgment so the point is beyond earthly judgment is
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God's judgment because at the root of murder is Anger at the root of murder is this contempt this malice this disregard for the brother
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Jesus is looking in other words at the heart. How does the heart regard the neighbor?
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How does the heart regard the brother? So the the Sanhedrin goes way to the judgment seat of God and you see that not just not just subject to the council subject to hellfire
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So how intense this language is Jesus didn't say well, you'll have to answer for that insult and it's going to be a fine
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It's going to be a slap on the wrist. No, he says it will be hell itself the term there for hell
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Gehenna it has that's a that's a Greek transliteration of a Valley to the south of Jerusalem called
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Hinnom the valley of Hinnom and so Gehenna And that's just the Greek transliteration Gehenna.
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And what is that? Well, it was a valley where Molech was given sacrifices in the days of the
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Kings And now ever since then to show their sort of derision and contempt for all of that They they turned it into sort of their rubbish heap
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That was the city dump and what they would do is they would drag their waste out to that Valley and and they would burn it so there were these perpetual fires and the valley of Hinnom and there was a stench and there was flames and sulfur and it
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Became for them symbolic of hell itself and so Gehenna is the place of torment the place of judgment and Jesus says to have anger or Contempt in your heart toward a brother will subject you to that place to that judgment of God.
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That's what he says Raqqa Fool these are just basic disparagements and Jesus says even a thoughtless careless
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Impulsive insult born from anger breaks the sixth commandment in such a way that you could not escape hellfire
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I say to you Whoever is angry with his brother Shall be in the danger of judgment
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Well, how do we understand and apply these things well the first thing as grant Osborne I think says so well
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There can be no anger marring the life in worship of God's people There's no place for anger to mar the the life in the worship of God's people
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Theology is not just about God and spiritual life as though that was detached from our
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Relationships as brothers and sisters or as men to men women to women as neighbors
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We cannot separate our relationship with one another from our relationship with God It cannot be that the way we relate to others is somehow abstract or void in the way we relate to God part of worship part of the
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Christian life is Relating to God in the very way we relate to others That's something that Jesus is showing us here in these antitheses
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For that reason we'll dive into that with part two next week as we practically talk about how do we bear these things out?
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How do we walk with with with caution with introspection with with humility and forgiveness with one another?
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That'll be for next week The point here is we like to think of ourselves as anything but murderers, don't we?
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Anything but murderers we feel the pinch of the Tenth Commandment.
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Oh, I Know I covet We haven't even had
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Thanksgiving dinner yet And my kids are already talking about what they want for Christmas that Tenth Commandment boy.
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It comes early every year doesn't That coveting we certainly know that we're guilty of breaking the first Can it be said that we truly love
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God with all of our heart soul mind and strength in this very way? We have nothing else before him. He alone is
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God We feel the pinch of these commandments, but as we work through them We we sort of come to the
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Sixth Commandment. You shall not murder and we go. Yeah, that's good. Check At least I got that one.
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I might not be doing great on everything else, but I definitely haven't murdered anyone Until we come to Matthew 5
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We begin to understand what Jesus is saying and we ask have I not felt anger toward a brother or toward a sister?
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Have I not held people in this body with contempt Have I not at times felt cold towards someone have
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I not felt bitter? Have I not brought about a distance? Have I not viewed them narrowly? Have I not thought about them in all sorts of unbecoming ways?
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Have I not stripped charity away from how I view them? Have I not even brought a stain upon them in the way that I speak about them?
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Well morally speaking Jesus says this place is a squarely in the category of a murderer when
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Paul Points in Romans 3 to that which describes the This the sinner devoid of the grace of God.
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He says there are none righteous In fact with their tongues they practice deceit the poison of asps is under their lips lips
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The poison of asps whose mouth is full of cursing full of bitterness their feet swift to shed blood
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And in Colossians 3 Paul's addressing the church and he says oh It's because of these very things that the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience
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He says in fact church you once walked in these very ways So what were the ways that you walked?
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Well, he tells us he says well now you yourselves put off all these Anger, that's the first one
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That's the first thing he points to and in some ways you can sort of see it as the origin for what follows anger wrath
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Malice blasphemy filthy language out of your mouth. What's that all stemming from? The very first thing he says anger
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It used to be that you had the poison of vipers under your mouth But now you've put that away.
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In fact because of Christ you've put off Anger and yet to the church at Corinth.
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He says I don't want to come to you in a way You wouldn't want me to come. I don't want you to have me come and find you in this way 2nd
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Corinthians 12 full of contentions Jealousies outbursts of wrath selfish ambitions backbiting whispering conceit tumult
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See Paul saying this is what was meant to be put off And the church at Corinth had become a hotbed of these very things think of it outbursts of wrath
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So you have both whisperings and outbursts Anger being described in Scripture like a fire and there's some places where sparks are just beginning to heat things up And there's other places where there's a bonfire outbursts
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These things must be put off Paul says They're characteristic of sinful nature prior to Christ.
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These things ought not be brethren They're not to be shrugged off as some universal struggle for all
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That's what we tend to do. Oh, come on. Who isn't angry? We normalize we generalize rather than taking
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Scripture at its word Surely Jesus didn't mean that surely that's extreme
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Who can really live like that? And that's the whole point Jesus wants us to see that anger against a brother is unjustifiable
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Now just in saying that I'm tempted to jump in and qualify that By saying a sinful anger against a brother is unjustifiable or in the same way almost
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Anger without a cause you can see why a scribe might want to insert that because we're tempted to say oh, hold on Aren't there some exceptions here?
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And let me just say sort of buried in a footnote somewhere in this sermon, yes, there are we could talk about them and In doing so we'll miss entirely the weight of what
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Jesus says Never make the the qualification bigger than what's actually being said in the verse
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Jesus wants us to see anger against a brother is unjustifiable We often jump to those qualifications because we want to excuse our feelings of bitterness and anger
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We want to justify them and not feel the pressure of what Jesus is saying But again, Jesus wants us to see anger against a brother is unjustifiable.
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It's liable to judgment and that presses us It presses us why well usually our anger feels perfectly justified in the moment
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Doesn't it that's why we get angry we feel justified It feels like it's okay.
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It feels like it's natural. It feels like I should be angry about this Of course, there is something called righteous anger in Scripture We're gonna get there as the last point.
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The problem is this our anger almost always feels righteous to us and it rarely is
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For a man or a woman who has their temper blowing in that moment. They feel justified. They feel confident.
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They feel righteous No, you're going to hear me. No, you're going to listen to me. No, I know that I'm in the right No, I don't care what you have to say anger always feels like righteous anger and Jesus wants us to see
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No anger toward a brother is justifiable James 1 19 and 20.
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So then my beloved brothers Let every man be swift to hear slow to speak slow to anger
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For the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God Here's the issue and James knows this he says be slow to anger brothers.
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Listen carefully. Don't say much Be slow to anger why because your anger the the wrath of man it never brings about the righteousness of God Never brings about a good righteous thing.
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It never establishes what God desires But here's the issue. We always think it will We always think my tantrum my raised voice my feelings somehow that will bring about righteousness if I can just get this off my chest if I can just vent if I can just let
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Them know how hurt I am if I can just react in this way that will establish something righteous No It will do the very opposite It seems that we can make things right with our anger.
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That's why we get angry But as you know anger only makes things worse more difficult
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It doesn't get you closer to the things you desire. It actually gets you much farther away. It's like If you're if you're trying to build a model kit
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I used to love building model kits, you know 172 scale where the parts are almost microscopic and you're using tweezers and you know almost using a sort of magnifying glass to kind of get the glue on the little dots and put up these little pieces together and you
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It's going somewhat well, and there's one part that you entirely botch Your whole goal has been to put this thing carefully together
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So it looks something like what was on the cover of that model kit and what happens with someone who has no control over their anger
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Snap smash break break, right? Feels good for a moment
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And now instead of thinking well, how can I troubleshoot this you've completely destroyed it all together
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So how can we be slow to anger? Well James tells us in part be swift to hear and slow to speak
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Don't rush forward in anger Rush forward in listening and hearing things out
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Be slow to speak let your words be few In other words, we're not to be reactionary
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We're not to be impulsive proverb 1429 puts it this way He who is slow to anger has great understanding he who is impulsive exalts foolishness
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So it is we're not impulsive. We're slow to react. We're not reactionary we're not out of control in that way and and the
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Proverbs say The one who has wisdom or great understanding is someone who is slow to anger
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They have great understanding they know if I react in this way nothing good will come of this so I'm not going to react in This way
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I'm gonna take a deep breath. I'm gonna go walk in a circle I'm not gonna make things worth anything.
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I say right now is only gonna make things worse. I'm not gonna do that I'm gonna hold my tongue. This is someone who has great understanding.
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They know something about themselves. They know something about relationships They know something about what needs to be done and how they're not in a place right now to do that Jesus warns about that kind of demeaning anger that blurts out fool
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And the irony is that the people that would shout fool are actually in scriptural terms foolish
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Ecclesiastes 7 9 anger rests in the bosom of fools So the people most prone to say
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Raqqa are actually the Rahim they're actually the foolish ones as Proverbs continually shows us the wise are able to restrain anger and it's not just that they restrain it in Themselves the wise in fact turn away wrath
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Even when it's not about them when they see a situation where anger is beginning to inflame
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They know how to turn away that wrath. They know that a soft answer turns away wrath They know that a harsh word stirs up anger
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The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly Proverbs 15 18 a wrathful man stirs up strife
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But he was slow to anger allays contention. In other words, he delays that kind of animosity
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Scoffer set a city aflame 29 8 but the wise turn away wrath So the picture is here is not only can
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I can I dissuade anger in myself? I actually know how to Cut the yellow wire on the ticking time bomb of other people's anger
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That means in the home that means in the marriage things that we'll dive into more fully next week You're either the stirrer or you're the bomb squad
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You're either provoking and and you know throwing out all sorts of fire starters or you're coming in with that big green sort of flak suit
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Looking to how you can get rid of what's about to explode God's people are not to be scoffers not to be stirrers not to be impulsive not to speak unfiltered
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Quick to listen very slow to speak turning away wrath in themselves even turning away wrath for others
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Blessed Jesus says out of peacemakers. They shall be called sons of God Now we know that some are prone to anger in other words
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And in God's wisdom, there's certain things that we've grown up maybe exposed to maybe certain quirks of our
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Personality that lend themselves in sinful directions where we're not perhaps following the
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Lord or perhaps those areas in our sanctification Where we struggle the most and there's some that for whatever reason really struggle to control their temper
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And if they're repentant and seeking after Christ This is something that he will continue to sanctify in their lives and he'll use opportunities even like being in Matthew 5 as one of the many means to do that and let me just say this as a
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Sort of a hidden encouragement sometimes when you begin to address things in your life, it gets a lot worse before it gets a lot better You say it's time to finally get this under control
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I don't want to burn down the very things that I'm trying to build up And so this is the week that I really work hard on getting my anger getting my temper under control
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And you'll find that this is one of the worst weeks you've had in a year Well, don't be discouraged.
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The enemy is trying to discourage you don't be discouraged When you actually address things in your life it often gets worse before it gets better Now again, we know that some are prone to anger
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James 3 talks about the power of the tongue this this image It makes me think of old World War two footage from Iwo Jima When you had the the troops and they're all sort of spread out among the jungle and they're looking for these sort of cement barricades that the
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Japanese soldiers were hiding in and they have their m1 carbines and they're sort of Shooting into the bush and then here comes one soldier and he's got this big gasoline tank strapped to his back and he's got a flamethrower
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It's kind of like you can put all those rifles away. That's not gonna do much here comes a flamethrower He launches this flame into the foliage and James 3 says that's a lot like the tongue
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The tongue is actually set on fire from hell itself and a church can quickly like the church at Corinth devolve into The front lines of Iwo Jima and people have flamethrower mouths and they're just spreading the flames wherever they look
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There's some people that are prone to that But Jesus is not just addressing them Jesus is not just in Matthew 5 21 and 22 addressing the hothead
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Addressing someone who we all are kind of looking through the side I like we kind of know he's got a hothead.
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We kind of know that this is a good sermon for him No, this is a good sermon for you Jesus is addressing all of us because he's addressing the regard of our heart
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Not everyone struggles to contain anger from exploding without But if we understand what
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Jesus has to say about our regard for brothers all of us struggle With how to rightly regard others with them
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Some may not have an obvious fire an obvious flame of temper lighting up their home
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But that doesn't mean they somehow escape what Jesus is saying here if you visit our home hidden down in the bottom floor in the back room in the back corner is this little propane boiler and Behind the covering you have to pull off the covering.
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You'll see a really hot flame burning It's a hidden little flame and you'd never know it was there
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In fact, if the covers on and you're looking right in front of it You wouldn't know that there's a fire inside of it And certainly if you're out of that room on the first or second floor you you wouldn't know that there's a fire at all but there's heat everywhere in the home and What Jesus is doing is he's saying deep hidden away in the deepest recess of your life
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God sees that secret jealousy that pride that self -pity that no one else can see and You're liable to judgment for it
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So this isn't a sermon for the hothead this is for the this is a sermon for someone who has secret contempt in their heart a coldness an inability to love
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From a free and pure conscience a brother or a sister Jesus says that even what is hidden Especially what is hidden Will be judged by his father on that day again.
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Jesus wants us to see anger against a brother is Unjustifiable Now what are some common sources of anger?
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I want to give three and I just mentioned them There's of course more and there's more that we'll explore next week.
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But just looking at a few passages I think in some ways these are the main three These are the big three at least in my understanding common sources of anger first.
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We have the anger of jealousy the anger of jealousy secondly the anger of pride and Then thirdly the anger of self -pity.
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I think these are three common sources of anger Well first the anger of jealousy
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And just to begin just we'll just go back to Genesis 4 And Genesis 4
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Abel is one who's calling upon the Lord He's one who has known the
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Lord and from knowing the Lord. He knows his own sin He knows that a blood sacrifice is necessary and so he brings the very best of his flock to the
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Lord and sacrifice Cain, of course takes a Perfectly fine offer. There's nothing wrong with a grain offering, but he clearly doesn't understand what
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Abel understands He doesn't have faith in God's mercy and the way that a blood sacrifice is is
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Automatic to him in the way it is for Abel. And so God receives the sacrifice of Abel. He rejects the sacrifice of Cain and Rather than Cain recognizing his affront to the
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Lord rather than humbly learning from Abel Can you please witness to me? What have you understood about the
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Lord that I haven't what do you know about yourself? And the need for a blood sacrifice that I don't understand about myself rather than that.
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He sees against his brother He's jealous. His brother has been accepted And so the
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Lord comes to him and this is a mercy in and of itself and the Lord says this to him Cain why are you angry?
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Why are you angry why is your countenance fallen if you do well once you'd be accepted
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So the Lord calls out Cain he asked him this question about his anger Why is it that you are angry and if Cain was honest he would say
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It's because of my brother. I'm jealous of my brother I'm jealous that he was accepted
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I'm embarrassed that I was turned away. I'm humiliated I'm angry that he seems to have something that I don't have
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I'm jealous about him And so pressing into that that anger Was the very root of murder
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That's why Jesus says this kind of anger against a brother is viewed by God as equivalent to murder itself
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We see another example that that doesn't end in murder unless we read a little bit between the lines
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Luke 15 25 and following Here you have the parable of the prodigal son
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Now the older son is in the field of course the prodigal has returned and with that a great feast a great celebration
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Erupts and there's music and there's dancing and Jesus in the way. He narrates this he says the older son was in the field
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What's he doing in the field? It's what he's always done. He's working He's working
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He's out working as a dutiful son He didn't empty his father's coffers and run off to spend it in sort of a
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Vegas fever dream And then come back empty -handed Insulting just to have this party thrown in his honor
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He's just doing what he's always done. He's out in the field working And you can almost get the sense as Jesus narrates it
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He's out in the field and we read as he came near to the house. He heard music and dancing So he's tired his arms are hanging low.
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He's sweaty and thinking well, that's good. Okay I served my father in that way and as he's drawing near to the entrance he hears
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What in the world Confetti's bursting out the windows what he sees all these servants running with, you know roasted meat and wine
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And he's thinking what in the world is going on Very important he doesn't enter in he calls out one of the servants what's going on and this is what's told him your brother's come your brother's back
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Safe and sound and your father's killed the fatty your father's throwing a party to end all parties your brother's back
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And this is what Jesus says He was angry He was angry the father could come out like the
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Lord came to Cain and say Why are you angry and the brother actually explains why?
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All I've done is served you I've always been the dutiful son Where's my party?
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Where's my acknowledgment? I'm jealous. I hate him
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It's the anger that leads to murder that that older son is Cain as it were
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Now here it's very interesting because there's a lot of ways that Luke 15 is to be understood and one of the ways it can be understood is is pointing back to the sort of struggle between Jacob and Esau and in redemptive history and that also is a way of pointing forward and we see here this sense of tension between the one who came from the far -off country and was
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Received with gladness in the father's house In other words the Gentiles who were not part of the kingdom serving
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God and yet they came out of a far Country and were received by the father and now the older son the one who had been there
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Israel is going. What about me? isn't it interesting that Paul says of The nation of Israel that the
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Gentiles have come in part to provoke them to Jealousy, it was intentional that the older brother be made jealous
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And it causes him to have to say Am I welcome in my father's house because I've worked
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Or am I to welcome in the father's house because of his mercy And the answer is not given in Luke 15
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That's the open question to all of his heroes the Israelites the lost sheep of the house of Israel Will you come into the father's house?
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When task collectors and prostitutes and those from a far country are coming in or will you be so offended? Will you be so angry in your jealousy that you will not come?
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So that's the first thing the anger of jealousy and the diagnostic question here is why are you angry?
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Why do you feel that contempt toward a brother? Is there not some root of jealousy? Secondly the anger of pride the anger of pride
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The Lord shows mercy to the Ninevites in Jonah chapter 4.
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You would think Jonah would be pleased with that He was the prophet that had been sent and though he gave this sort of Oracle of God's impending judgment
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This was the best -case scenario. They actually repented and now God's judgment won't come on them
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You'd think that this prophet would go praise the God of all mercy and grace but in fact
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He's angry Jonah for it displeased Jonah exceedingly he became angry and He prayed to the
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Lord and said Lord was not this what I said when I was still in my country I fled to Tarshish because I knew you're a gracious and merciful
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God slow to anger Abundant and loving kindness one who relents from doing harm therefore now
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Lord take my life It's better for me to die than live talk about melodramatic He's so angry he wants to die
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I can't believe he showed mercy to the heathen And the Lord says to him is it right for you to be angry is it right for you to be angry
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So Jonah went out of the city sat on the east side Made himself a little shelter sat under the shade.
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He's in total depression nap mode Not doing anything. He's just sitting under this little shelter
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Basking in the Sun and God and his mercy even to Jonah makes this little plant to grow over him and give him some relief
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So he's there under this little plant that is shading him in Full misery in anger against the
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Lord in anger about the mercy being shown to the Ninevites But he was very thankful for the plant
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Until God also not only sent the plant but sent a worm that withered the plant
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And so when the Sun came up God Allowed all of that Sun all of that light all of that heat to break out on Jonah's head
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And he began to wish he could die And then he said again, it's better for me to die than to live and God asked again
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Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? Jonah is so defiant.
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It is right for me to be angry. I Didn't ask for much. I've been a reluctant prophet, but at least
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I went and I can't even just have a little shade Why are you so vindictive? Why are you after me?
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It's okay for me to be angry, but I didn't deserve any of this That's where Jonah's at in his anger his anger about the heathen has turned to anger against the
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Lord You see the pride welling up within him. The Lord said you've had pity on a plant and would
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I not have pity on this nation? So you see that the contempt he felt
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Toward the heathen was a contempt he began to feel toward God and it was just full of his pride
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I don't deserve this. This isn't fair to me Selfishness is really the core of sin.
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You can't think of sin without thinking of selfishness and what is selfishness? But the breeding ground of pride
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The pride that causes us to look down at others to feel cold to feel contempt for our brethren
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Jonah has this pride He's so angry about the Ninevites that he begins to be angry with the Lord This is the thing the root of anger is in the sixth commandment.
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It leads to murder What what was Jonah wanting? He wanted them all to be killed He went there as a faithful prophet
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Relishing the fact that everyone he was preaching to would one day be wiped out by the judgment of God It was murder in his heart
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Like Cain the Lord would have Jonah reflect Why are you angry? Is it right for you to be angry?
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third the anger of self -pity numbers Tells the story of Moses leading the people of Israel through the wilderness and a people that were wearisome grumbling complaining rebelling
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Making life very difficult for Moses and frankly making life more difficult for themselves, but it didn't stop them from grumbling
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It didn't stop them from reacting didn't stop them from doing the opposite of what James 1 19 and 20 calls them to do
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And eventually much like Jonah Moses anger toward the people begins to turn as anger against the
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Lord and what we see is it's not so much pride But it's self -pity in numbers 11.
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He lays out this huge complaint to the Lord He basically says kind of like Jonah. I just I just rather be dead why did you even take us out in the wilderness to begin with and all the sudden
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Moses is sounding less like the Lord to The people and more like the people to the Lord so he begins to complain against the
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Lord The Lord doesn't respond with any sort of harsh judgment He kind of allows
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Moses to have his temper tantrum even as he allowed the people of Israel have their temper tantrum But it comes to a head in Numbers chapter 20
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The Lord spoke to Moses saying take the rod you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together Important speak to the rock.
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That's the command Lawgiver, here's the law speak to the rock Before their eyes and it will yield its water.
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So here's a people that are thirsty deprived perhaps on the verge of death of Dehydration and God says
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I want to show them a sign and oddly enough in the rebellion of Moses It's the perfect sign and God says
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I want to show them a sign So so though you're weary of them though, you're angry about them gather them
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Speak to the rock and let it open up and flow with water to them That's the command gather them
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Speak not to them speak to the rock. Let it fill them with life and with water Thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock.
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Thus you shall give drink to the congregation So Moses takes that Takes the rod from before the
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Lord as he commanded Moses and Aaron gather the assembly together before the rock It does he speak to the rock so that water comes?
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No, he speaks to them and he says Listen up you rebels He's full of rage this isn't what
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God had commanded He gathers them together and in his anger. He says listen now you rebels
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Must we bring water out of this rock for you? He's so frustrated if it's up to me you'd all die
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It's the anger that leads to that death wish Must we bring water out for you?
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And so reluctant rebelliously he lifts up the rod and rather than speaking to the rock He strikes it in his anger and he still has a lot of rage with him.
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So he strikes it again And the rock breaks open and water gushes forth
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You can imagine minutes go by The people are all rushing on their hands and knees clawing after any vessel they can to fill their water and quench their thirst
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Moses heaving his blood pressure now beginning to fall comes back to himself that anger felt so righteous in the moment and Then God comes to him and says you didn't believe me to hallow me and So you will not bring this assembly into the land, which
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I have given them after all those decades of wandering
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Moses is still not able to enter the land He has to die in the wilderness in the same way
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He had wanted the people to die in the wilderness when he said you rebels. Do I really have to give you water?
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Anger in his heart it's almost like you've ever had the situation as a parent maybe you have maybe two kids and One of the children has done something wrong
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And you're going to deal with it and being a parent you're wise and more patient. So you go to address you say, you know
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What you did was wrong and all of a sudden the sibling chimes in you that was awful that you did that You know, you're gonna you're gonna get it now and you kind of go.
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Okay, you know dad's got this, you know In other words like yeah, what they did was wrong.
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I know that and you're just reacting out of anger It's about how you're feeling how that's affected you.
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I don't deal with children in that way I I'm trying to understand how can how can I direct them against what was wrong towards something?
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That is good I'm trying to give them admonition Nurture into the
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Lord's ways, right? And so you don't allow that child to have a tantrum even though they're just reacting to what's wrong
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And that's kind of what the Lord is doing with Moses here, you know, it's like, okay, I get it You're angry, but you don't have a right to be more angry than me, and I'm the one dealing with this
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You're just concerned about yourself and what that meant for you and that's what he says You didn't believe me to hallow me
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Moses. You made this about you you pitied yourself Where's the
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Moses that led the people with with a singular eye to hallowing my name to making my name great
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When you led in that way, you weren't wallowing in self -pity You are actually this righteous man patiently meekly dealing with a very wearisome people
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And in some ways Moses you reflected my patience You were like me slow to anger willing to relent full of mercy
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But look at you now your self -pity has made you so angry You wanted to you wanted to see the people die that I actually
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Use my mighty arm to save the very people you led out of Pharaoh's bondage now You want to see waste away because you're so full of self -pity.
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I have one more point and we have to do it briefly as We come to a close Since we're talking about Moses.
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Let me let me bring the one qualification. I'll add this morning Most areas of our life
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We are sinfully selfish and most of our anger is sinfully selfish whether out of jealousy out of pride or out of self -pity
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But there are some areas in our life where anger is not only appropriate it is needed
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When Moses was warning of the ten plagues and plague after plague He saw Pharaoh sort of waffling and then hardening his heart waffling and then hardening his heart
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When it came finally for that that last play the tenth and final plague Moses recognized.
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This is it now You've had ten redos and you still haven't learned still. You're the stubborn mulish fool
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And so we read there in Exodus 11 Your servants are going to come begging me get out and all the people who will follow you and after that I will go out
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And we read Moses turned from Pharaoh in great anger That was the kind of anger that hallowed
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God's name That was the kind of anger that was reflective of God's anger burning against Pharaoh That is righteous anger.
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It wasn't wrong for Moses to be angry In fact, it was very needed for Moses to be angry in this situation with righteous anger
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The problem is when his anger was fueled by self -pity As any anger fueled by our selfishness our jealousy our pride
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When it's about us and our comforts or our needs and it's not about God and his hallowed name
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So there's an appropriate anger and then there's an inappropriate anger Jesus himself calls Pharisees fools
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And he's not breaking what he's saying here in Matthew 5. He says in Matthew 23 17 fools and blind
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He's saying Raqqa to the scribes and the Pharisees. Why is that not wrong? Why is that not a contradiction?
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Well, he's speaking it as the judge as the lawgiver. He's reflecting the righteous indignation of God himself
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Paul scolds the Galatian Church as foolish. He says you fools who's bewitched you Again, this is not serving himself.
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This is not pride self -pity. This is not about himself. This is about the Lord And so many examples about I could give a dozen if we had the time the point is this
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Anger is not sinful in and of itself Every emotion is from God and every emotion is good when it's used biblically when it's used rightly
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Anger can be consistent with the righteous character of God. What's the difference? The difference is the anger that hallows
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That makes God's name Magnified that that shows holiness anger that hallows versus the anger that hollows
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The anger that is empty It's a fire that burns everything down and then there's nothing to show for it
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And you need to learn the difference as a Christian between the anger that hallows and the anger that hollows
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I would venture to say we all have the anger that empties that frustrates that shows contempt
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But very few of us walk in the kind of anger that magnifies the holiness of God and that's an anger
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We need to develop Martin Luther said this is essentially the fuel of his reformational writings
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He says I work better than when I'm inspired by anger when I'm angry I can write I can pray
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I can preach My whole temperament is quickened. My understanding is sharpened Why do we not have a reformation in our day?
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Could I venture to say most preachers aren't angry enough? They're not angry enough about the way things are and the things that are tolerated and the things that are taught the things that are accepted
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We don't need less anger and more kumbaya circles. We need more righteous anger anger that hallows
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God's name So again, most areas of art of anger in our life are sinfully selfish, but we need to cultivate
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Anger in our life that is godly John Stott said We are in great need in this world for Christian anger
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When human beings compromise with sin in a way in which God never does in the face of blatant evil
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We should be indignant not tolerant angry not apathetic if God hates sin
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His people should hate sin to all the times that Moses is angry about the people's rebellion
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God has favored toward Moses. God sees that as a holy reflection of himself in the life of Moses It's when
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Moses begins to allow anger to be against God when anger is about himself That's when it's sinful.
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That's when judgment comes upon him So most areas of our life have anger that is selfish.
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We need to cultivate areas of anger That is righteous that is godly Ephesians 4 26 actually gives us this command.
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I bet you never thought of this You never had this on your sermon bingo card. Let me tell you a command from Scripture Ephesians 4 26 ready be angry
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That's a command. Hey, what command are you trying to work out in your life right now?
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I'm working really hard on being angry That's a command be angry
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But you've got to read the whole thing and here you see
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Everything we've talked about held together as a principle in one verse Ephesians 4 26 be angry and do not sin
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In other words be angry and then as we heard from Psalm 37 cease from anger be angry
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But do not sin be angry But not from pride not from jealousy not from self -pity be angry
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But do not sin be angry in a way that hallows God's name Don't be angry in a way that breaks the model kit and burns everything down in your home and in your marriage
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Jesus teaches us to pray hallowed be thy name and there's times in Jesus ministry when to hallow his father's name
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Looked like anger looked like flipping tables looked like driving people out with whips
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So we need to be anger angry in a way that glorifies and hallows God What would the
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Lord ask of you this morning as we come to a close now? I? Think he'd ask you two questions
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Why are you angry? Is it right for you to be angry?
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You struggle with these things if you're struggling with contempt, however hidden it is in the propane boiler of your heart
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You're struggling with these things you need to reflect deeply on those two questions. It's the question asked of Cain It's the question asked of Jonah It's the question he would ask all of us if we would not be under the judgment of the
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Sixth Commandment Why are you angry? Is it right for you to be angry?
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You have heard that it was said to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be in danger of the
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Judgment, but I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother shall be in the danger of judgment.
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Let's pray Father we thank you for your word
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Lord. You know our hearts. You know the thoughts of our hearts You know the intent of our heart, you know
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Lord the commandment you gave With perfect clarity and understanding in ways that we excuse we ignore we marginalize we justify
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May it not be Lord May we learn how to look into this royal law of Liberty and not forget what we've seen that you by your spirit would liberate us from the contempt from the bitterness from the coldness from the lack of Humility and forgiveness that we all are prone to stumble in and by that same spirit
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Lord Compel us to repent and seek you and seek forgiveness in such a way that by your spirit
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We fulfill this righteous requirement of the law this righteous requirement of the Sixth Commandment lest we fall into judgment
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May no one leave this room with any anger in their heart toward a brother or toward a sister
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May they deal with you may they feel the weight of your conviction and Come to the fountain that only can cleanse them from this sin deserving of Gehenna fire and May you cleanse them in the blood of the
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Son The sacrifice that speaks better things than the sacrifice of Abel and the lamb in whose name we pray.