Be Angry And Sin Not!

 

“Be Angry And Sin Not!”

 

“Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Ephesians 4:26

“Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah” Psalm 4:4

“Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret–it only causes harm. Psalm 37:8

“He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly.” Proverbs 14:29

“He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. Proverbs 16:32

“An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.” Proverbs 29:22

 

The Scriptures have a lot to say about anger and how we behave when angry. Being angry is easy, controlling behavior while angry is the issue. Our example is CHRIST who even though He was guiltless He was rejected by His own people, scourged, beaten, and crucified for the sins of the world and He never raised His voice in anger or threatened revenge. He could have called out legions of angelic warriors or spoken a Word of judgment on those who crucified Him. But! We are not CHRIST and we do not have His nature, though we should be striving to be like Him in every way.

 

The example we can live up to is the Apostles, they learned in JESUS presence about not getting angry and lashing out and with the HOLY SPIRIT that we also have they were able to take all forms of rebuke, rejection, beatings imprisonment and death.

 

The only time JESUS showed anger was with the religious leaders of Israel especially the two times He went to the Temple during Pesach (Passover) when He made a whip and chased the money changers and sellers of animals from the Temple courts. The Apostles stood up against the same religious leaders that crucified JESUS, but made no threats against them nor sought to do them harm; even Paul when he was attacked in Jerusalem by the religious Jews and spent more than two years in prison before he was finally sent to Rome to face the Emperor.

 

Our basis for not acting out and doing anything that is a sin is found in JESUS’ teaching during the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:21-26, “You have heard it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in subject of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire...” That is very serious and we mostly ignore what JESUS was teaching about anger and speaking. Many people are ‘hot headed’ or have a ‘quick temper’ and we usually say things we regret later, JESUS said there are serious consequences for that behavior. The judgment is death; Raca means empty head, or dummy or stupid or some such insult and fool according to scriptures is very serious, that is a judgment that only GOD can bring on a person and He reserves that judgment for Himself.

 

Matthew 5:43-48 “You have heard it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven:…” These are hard things, after years, decades even a lifetime many of us still struggle with responding to anger caused by hurt, rejection, abuse, slander, or anything else inappropriately.

 

So how does this compare to GOD’s anger? Well first of all we are not GOD; we are His Children, so we should behave like His Children!

“Now The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed The Name of The LORD. And The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, The LORD GOD, Merciful and Gracious, Longsuffering and abounding in Goodness and Truth, keeping Mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.’” Exodus 34:5-7

 

“Now, therefore, says The LORD, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning.’ So tend to your heart, and not your garments; return to The LORD your GOD. For He is Gracious and Merciful, slow to anger, and of Great Kindness; and He relents from doing harm.” Joel 2:12-13

 

“But they and our fathers acted proudly, hardened their necks, and did not heed Your Commandments. They refuse to obey, and they were not mindful of Your Wonders that You did among them. But they hardened their necks, and in their rebellion they appointed a leader to return to their bondage. But You are GOD, ready to pardon. Gracious and Merciful, slow to anger, abundant in Kindness, and did not forsake them.” Nehemiah 9:16-17

 

We do know that GOD expresses His anger: Numbers 14 when the people refuse to enter the Promised Land GOD was going to “Strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make you a nation greater and mightier than they.” But Moses interceded and The LORD relented, “And now I pray, let the power of my LORD be great, just as You have spoken, saying, ‘The LORD is Longsuffering and abundant in Mercy, Forgiving iniquity and transgression, but He by no means clears the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.’ Then the LORD said, ‘I have pardoned, according to your word; but truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the Glory of The LORD.” In Acts 12 we see GOD’s jealous anger to Herod, “So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, ‘The voice of a god and not of a man!’ Then immediately an angel of The LORD struck him because he did not give Glory to GOD. And he was eaten by worms and died. But The Word of GOD grew and multiplied.”

 

So the challenge is to us who call ourselves Christian to present ourself after the example of the all the writers of The Bible; they all tell us that it can be and must be done in our lives. As Paul told the Philippians, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is GOD who works in you both to will and to do for His Good Pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, Children of GOD without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Philippians 2:12-15; and to the Romans “Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ says The LORD.” Romans 12:17-19