Now we're going to come back to Proverbs chapter 19, if you would go to Mark chapter number
3.
Mark chapter number 3, and tonight I want to talk about the subject of anger.
Now anger is a subject that's dealt with often in the Bible, and there's a lot of scripture
on the subject that we could go to.
And the first thing I want to show you is that anger is not always a sin, but that anger
often can be a sin.
And so we need to be able to differentiate between righteous anger or righteous indignation
and anger that is sinful, because there is a lot more scripture in the Bible dealing
with anger as being sinful than there is about anger being justified.
But the first thing I want to show you is that anger is sometimes justified, and so
we don't want to fall into the trap that many have fallen into thinking that it's always
wrong to be angry, we should never have any anger.
Look at Mark chapter 3, this is Jesus Christ when he's asking them if he can heal on the
Sabbath day.
Jesus Christ wants to heal a man in the synagogue whose hand is withered, and it says in verse
5, when he had looked round about on them with anger.
So this is Jesus Christ looking on those that are there with anger, and why is he grieved?
It says he's grieved for the hardness of their hearts.
He saith unto the man, stretch forth thine hand, and he stretched it out, and his hand
was restored whole as the other.
Go to Matthew chapter 5, go back to Matthew chapter number 5.
So there Jesus Christ was angry at the Pharisees because of the hardness of their heart, because
of their false teaching, because of their lack of compassion.
In Matthew chapter 5 verse 22 the Bible says, but I say unto you that whosoever is angry
with his brother, watch this, without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
And whosoever shall say to his brother Rekha shall be in danger of the council, but whosoever
shall say thou fool shall be in danger of hell fire.
And let me just point out the fact that all of the modern versions of the Bible, the NIV,
the RSV, the ASV, all of these modern versions of the Bible, they take out the phrase without
a cause there, thereby making anger always a sin, which would make Jesus Christ himself
a sinner because he did become angry.
And God in the Old Testament is constantly talking about how angry he is and his wrath.
Go to Ephesians chapter 4.
So anger is sometimes justified, but when we look at the Bible and we see examples of
anger that is justified, usually that anger has to do with anger at false doctrine, anger
at sin, anger at those who are hurting other people or oppressing other people or harming
other people.
Look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse number 26, it says, be ye angry.
So if anger were always a sin, those three words would not make any sense, would they?
He's telling us, he says, be ye angry and sin not.
So it must be possible to do that.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands the thing
which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good to the use
of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers and grieve not the Holy Spirit
of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Now watch verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
So we've already established the fact that sometimes anger is justified and we could
find plenty of examples in the Bible of people who were angry and they were justified in
their anger.
King Saul became angry when he found out what was happening with the Nahash and the Ammonites
and so forth.
But I'm going to put that aside.
I want to talk about the type of anger that's wrong tonight, the type of anger that we need
to stay away from that is sinful.
And the first thing that I see in Ephesians chapter 4 as being a wrong type of anger is
it's anger that is an unforgiving, bitter anger because somebody has done wrong to you.
Now the Bible here says be ye angry and sin not.
Verse 26, let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
So right there I can see that anger, even if it were justified, if it rests in our heart
from day to day becomes sinful.
When we just live in anger and when we let wrath and anger make us bitter from one day
to the next, you know, that is wrong.
God is commanding us not to let the sun go down on our wrath.
That means if something makes us angry today, it should not make us angry tomorrow.
The next day we should start over and that means giving the people around us a fresh
start or a fresh chance.
You know, perhaps someone in your family has said something to you that made you angry
today.
You know, that shouldn't be brought out tomorrow.
That shouldn't be something that we're still upset about tomorrow or on the job or whatever
example you want to give.
The Bible says in verse 31, let all bitterness, and bitterness is a word that the Bible often
uses for people who have a grudge against someone else.
You know, we have the expression today, holding a grudge.
It's when you just cannot let go of things that people have done wrong to you.
Go to Colossians chapter 3, a few pages to the right in your Bible.
It says in Colossians chapter 3 verse 4, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then
shall you also appear with him in glory.
Mortify, mortify basically means to put to death, therefore your members which are upon
the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness
which is idolatry for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience,
in the which he also walked sometime when you lived in them.
But now ye also put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth.
So in Colossians 3, 8 there we see that there's a lot of anger that we need to get rid of.
And he's saying, you know, when you get saved and you get right with God and you're walking
in the Spirit, you're going to end up getting rid of a lot of anger.
You're going to put off a lot of anger that you previously had when you were walking in
the flesh.
Go to James chapter number 1.
Toward the end of the New Testament there, James chapter number 1.
James chapter number 1 in the Bible reads in verse 19, wherefore my beloved brethren,
let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God.
Again he's not telling us that there's never a time to become angry, but he says we ought
to be slow to become angry.
So another type of anger that is sinful is when we are angry at the drop of a hat.
We shouldn't just instantly get angry, just instantly blow our top.
Something doesn't go our way, somebody says something that we don't like.
We shouldn't just instantly just blow up and be angry and have all this wrath.
You know, we should be slow to anger.
And even the Lord, who has more wrath than all of us combined, you know the Bible says
over and over again in the Old Testament that he is slow to anger and slow to wrath.
Go to Titus chapter 1.
So we're seeing a lot of admonitions in the New Testament warning us about anger, telling
us, you know, don't be quick to get angry.
And then once you're angry, don't just let anger reside in you from day to day and fester
and become bitterness in you.
Look at Titus chapter 1, this is talking about a pastor, and one of the attributes of a pastor,
it says in verse 7, for a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God.
Not self-willed, watch this, not soon angry.
Not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre.
Now you say, Pastor Anderson, why is it so important for a pastor not to be one that
is soon angry?
I'll tell you exactly why.
Because when you're a pastor who actually preaches the word of God, which is what he's
talking to, you're going to constantly be insulted and attacked and assaulted.
And if you're one that is soon angry, you're going to be angry a lot.
And you're going to be blowing up all the time, and the Bible says don't be a striker.
But one that is soon angry and blows his top at the drop of a hat is constantly going to
be in a rage if he's a pastor because you get so much criticism and attack and insult.
You've got to be able to be patient enough to handle that in order to be a pastor or
it's going to destroy you.
Anger is going to just destroy your life.
You know, people get angry.
Go back to the Old Testament.
I'm going to show you a lot in the Old Testament.
And by the way, you know who a preacher was in the Bible that had a tendency to anger
was Jonah.
Because remember, Jonah got really angry about the Ninevites when they repented.
It's funny because in Jonah chapter 4, God is rebuking Jonah's anger.
He says, doest thou well to be angry, Jonah?
And then a little bit later on, God rebukes Jonah again and says, doest thou well to be
angry?
Go to Proverbs 15, by the way.
He says, doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?
And here's what Jonah answered, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
You know, he's just saying like, oh man, I'm going to stay mad, you know.
And God was very understanding with him and patient with him because he had been through
a lot, you know, that whole three day and three night ordeal in the whale and he preached
a great sermon.
So God's gentle with him but he explains to him, look, you need to get your anger under
control here, okay?
But look if you would at Proverbs chapter 15 verse 18.
The Bible says, a wrathful man stirreth up strife.
What does that mean, stirreth up strife?
It means he makes trouble.
A wrathful man stirreth up strife but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.
So there the Bible is again reiterating how we should be slow to anger.
Look at chapter 16 verse 32.
The Bible says, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth
his spirit than he that taketh the city.
So according to Proverbs 16 here, the key to being slow to anger is having rule over
your spirit.
That means someone who is soon angry, someone who becomes angry very quickly, basically
they lack self-control.
They don't have any control over their spirit, they don't have any control over their emotions.
The Bible says if you lack self-control, if you lack rule over your own spirit, that's
when you're just going to become angry at the drop of a hat.
And he says, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty and he that ruleth
his spirit than he that taketh the city.
Look at chapter 14 verse 17.
And do you see how often this is coming up about being not soon angry?
I mean we've looked at what, five, six scriptures that taught this so far?
Look at chapter 14 verse 17.
He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly and a man of wicked devices is hated.
Look at Proverbs 21 verse 19.
It says it is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman.
So the Bible here warns of, you know we've seen a lot about the angry man in the last
few verses, right?
Now we're being warned of the angry woman.
And God says that it's better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and
an angry woman.
And when he's saying they're dwelling with a contentious and an angry woman, he's talking
about being married to a contentious and an angry woman.
He said you'd rather be living by yourself out in the wilderness, you know that's why
a lot of men go camping a lot.
But he says, you know, you'd rather dwell alone out in the wilderness in that tent,
he says, than to basically be in the house with a contentious and an angry woman.
You know, ladies, that tells me that you need to work on anger also.
This isn't just men.
Because he talked a lot about an angry man, but now he's warning about women who are angry
women, wrathful women.
He says in Proverbs 19 verse 11, the discretion of a man deferreth his anger and it is his
glory to pass over a transgression.
So there in Proverbs 19 and 11 we see another key to not becoming angry too often or too
fast.
He says in that verse, the discretion of a man deferreth his anger and it is his glory
to pass over a transgression.
You know what that says?
It's saying there that we don't have to get mad every time someone around us commits a
transgression.
You know, what God is telling us is that we'll be less angry as people if we can learn to
just overlook certain transgressions and not just every time anybody makes the smallest
mistake we're just, you know, just get mad, blow up, you know, we just need to let things
go sometimes.
And you know, I mean, choose your battles.
You know, people sometimes they get mad about silly things.
You know, it's like the old saying goes, there's no use crying over spilled milk.
You know, you spill the glass of milk and all of a sudden there's a bunch of screaming.
You know, that's soon angry.
I mean, before the puddle has even formed and we're already, you know, it's already
screaming.
I mean, God's saying, you know, rule your spirit, pass over a transgression, you know,
get your spirit under control, don't become angry at the drop of a hat.
You know, there's anger that's justified, you know, get mad at sin.
Get mad at false doctrine, but don't get mad, you know, over such little things and don't
get mad so quickly at the people around you.
Stay calm is what the Bible is saying.
Control yourself, okay?
It says in chapter 22 verse 24, do you see how much there is in the book of Proverbs?
I mean, we're jumping all over Proverbs.
Look at Proverbs 22 verse 24.
It says make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man thou shalt not
go lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul.
So the Bible's teaching in this scripture that being a really angry person, a really
furious person all the time, that rubs off on the people around you.
And God's even warning us, you know, not to make friends with people that are really angry
people because we will learn that.
I mean, that will be something that will become a part of our life.
And again, anger's not always wrong, but it often is wrong and there's a lot of anger
in the New Testament that God's telling us to get rid of.
There's a lot of anger in the book of Proverbs that he's telling us is the wrong type of
anger.
It says, you don't have to turn there, but in Ecclesiastes 7, 8 the Bible reads, better
is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit is better than the
proud in spirit.
Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
So again, talking about not getting angry quickly, not hastening to be angry, but rather
being patient in spirit, staying calm, relaxing, and being patient with those around us overlooking
certain transgressions.
You know, nobody's perfect.
People make mistakes.
We don't always have to just flip out and become angry over the little things.
Now look, I'm not saying not to correct the problem.
And if you would, turn to Proverbs 22 because it's interesting how much anger comes up in
relationship with child rearing in the book of Proverbs.
It's coupled, those two subjects are coupled, I found I believe about three times or four
times where the Bible just really clearly connects the issue of being angry and correcting
your son, okay?
Or even correcting your employees it refers to.
You see, a lot of times, you know, instead of correcting a problem we get angry.
Now look, I'm not saying don't correct the problem.
You know, sometimes, you know, people do wrong, let's say on your job.
Let's say you're a supervisor at your job.
And let's say someone makes a mistake that's a serious mistake, they're breaking the rules,
they're not doing their job, they're disobeying instructions.
You know, I'm not saying just let that go and just let them continue to do a poor job,
let them continue to fail to do what's expected of them.
But do you have to get angry in order to correct a problem on the job?
Do you always have to just be enraged in order to fix a problem on the job?
Okay, well let me ask you this, when your children do wrong, do you always have to become
enraged in order to fix that problem?
Or can you not correct and discipline your children and separate that from anger?
You know, it's not that you just must get angry every time.
So do you see how you can control your spirit and stay calm and not get angry while still
correcting problems that need to be corrected?
Now look if you would at some scriptures that tie in the two subjects.
Look at Proverbs 29, 15, the Bible reads, the rod and reproof give wisdom.
Now the rod is obviously referring to corporal punishment, right?
You know, the Bible says, thou shall beat him with the rod and he shall not die.
You know, thou shall beat him with the rod and shall deliver his soul from hell.
The Bible talks about using the rod to spank your child, you know, to correct your child.
And the Bible teaches spanking many times in the book of Proverbs, it's a very clear
biblical doctrine.
What is reproof?
Reproof is a verbal correction, you know, telling the child what they've done wrong.
And he says, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother
to shame.
So here's a lot of the problem with children is that they're not getting enough attention
from their parents, they're being left to themselves.
You know, a lot of parents today just stick them in front of the TV, ship them off somewhere
to be watched by someone else.
You know, if you're not interacting with your child, you're not playing with the child,
talking to the child, teaching the child, and then you wonder why that child is bringing
you shame.
Well, the answer is right here.
You know, you can't leave children to their own devices.
You must be there to interact.
And notice it says, the child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame because obviously
the mother is the primary caregiver.
You know, dad's often at work for long hours and the mother is the one that's home with
the children.
You know, she has a choice.
Am I going to sit in front of the soap opera?
Am I going to be hanging on the phone and hanging on the internet all day?
Or am I going to be actually interacting with my child?
Talking to the child, playing with the child, teaching the child, and you say, oh, that
can be so boring.
But you know what?
That's your job.
My job can be boring too.
You know, all of our jobs can get boring, right?
Most of our jobs, no matter what your job is, I'll bet you a lot of your job is very
repetitive, right?
You were just telling me that, right, Quinn?
You know, certain jobs that you're on can be very repetitive, can't they?
And they can get a little boring, right?
That's life.
Okay?
And yeah, you know, teaching a child to read is a very tedious, difficult task.
And especially when you teach the second one to read and the third one to read and the
fourth one to read.
But you know what?
It's so important and critical.
And that child will bring you joy someday if you take the time and invest in your children
and not just leave them to themselves and then just, you know, get all mad when they're
not doing what they're supposed.
Of course they're not doing what they're supposed to do.
You didn't spend the time and invest the time to train them to do what they're supposed
to do.
Of course they're doing everything wrong.
He says, and look, child-rearing is a lot of work.
It's a full-time job.
You know, my wife does not work a job.
I mean, she doesn't, she hasn't, the whole time we've been married, she's not had a job.
But let me tell you something.
My wife has enough to do without going out and getting a job.
I mean, just training and teaching the children is a full-time job.
And it's hard, hard work.
And especially if you do it right, it's hard work.
Because it's easier to stick them in front of the TV, drop them off with this person,
drop them off with that person, but you know, when you actually sit there and take the time,
talk to them, care for them, teach them, train them, that's a lot of work.
So he says, the wrought and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother
to shame.
When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increases, but the righteous shall see their
fall.
Look at verse 17.
Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest, yet he shall give thee delight unto thy soul.
That correction there, again, referring to the wrought and reproof.
From verse 15, look at verse 18.
Where there is no vision, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law, happiest he.
Verse 19, a servant will not be corrected by words, for though he understand, he will
not answer.
So here the Bible is talking about the fact that sometimes telling people something is
not enough to correct them.
You know, sometimes, you know, you correct somebody on the job and say, hey, tuck in
your shirt, you know, let's say that's the policy, whatever, right?
You know, every authority and every rule and every person who has any kind of an authority,
there has to be some teeth.
There has to be some kind of a consequence for failing to obey the rules, okay?
You know, now, here's the thing.
You're not going to apply the rod to the fool's back on your job today in the United States.
You know, that guy at work that's fooling around and you're going to, alright, let me
handle this, you know, you're the supervisor.
That's probably not going to fly real well at your job when you try to cane your fellow
But, you know, that's something that they did in the Bible days.
That's something that God talks about.
You know, people that just won't work, people that just won't do what they're supposed to
do.
I mean, that's what he said.
Okay?
And he's saying here, a servant will not be corrected by words.
You know, and often today, obviously, there are other consequences that are dulled out
on the job for those who refuse to obey, you know, there could be other punishments and
other consequences that are dulled out on the job besides corporal punishment.
But he says here, a servant will not be corrected by words for though he understand, he will
not answer.
Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words?
There is more hope of a fool than of him.
Now look, don't you see a connection between verse 19 and verse 20?
See sometimes when we're reading the book of Proverbs, we think these are just random,
you know, proverbs of wisdom that are just coming at us one at a time.
But do you see how everything in this passage is kind of connected?
And do you notice how he says, a servant will not be corrected by words for though
he understand, he will not answer.
Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words?
There is more hope of a fool than of him.
He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son
at the length.
Then he ties back in with child rearing by saying he'll have him as a son at the length.
He just talked a few verses ago about dealing with your son.
And then he says in verse 22, an angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man abounded
in transgression.
So let me ask you this, isn't the guy in verse 20 that's hasty with his words, isn't that
the same guy that's hasty to be angry?
And he's the angry man that stirreth up strife, the furious man in verse 22.
Do you see how the angry furious man in verse 22 is the same one that is hasty with his
words in verse number 20 because he's constantly trying to correct with his words in verse
19 and it fails?
You see, what am I getting at here?
Well you see often a lot of people who refuse to spank their children.
And what do they use as a substitute?
They get angry and yell at their children.
Now is that an effective form of discipline according to the Bible?
But have you seen it in your life?
Oh yeah.
A substitute for spanking, and look, someone who spanks their children is calm, can be,
not always, but you know, a person who spanks their children can be calm, cool, collected,
in control of their spirit, ruling their spirit, you know, patient in spirit, not soon to be
angry and saying, look, there's a problem here, I'm going to fix this problem.
I'm going to lovingly correct my son.
The Bible says, whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
So it's not that it's an unloving act to discipline your child.
There's nothing unloving about it.
And so he says there that, you know, correcting your son with the rod and with the proof is
something that can be done without being hasty with your words, or hasty to be angry, or
just being furious all the time.
I mean, are you seeing the picture that is painted between verses 15 through 22?
You know, verses 15 through 22, they all fit together, they all go together, all the pieces
of the puzzle are there, and you have to look at this as a passage that is all connected,
not just individual statements.
Because he starts out talking about raising your child in verse 15, he ends up talking
about raising your child in verse 22, and he mixes in a lot of stuff in between that
all applies, it all fits.
Look if you would at chapter 19 where we started tonight.
Proverbs 19 verse 18.
Proverbs chapter 19.
Again watch this idea of chastening your son be tied in with anger.
The Bible says in verse 18, "...chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul
spare for his crying.
A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment, for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do
it again."
That's after we're being told to chasten our son and to not spare for his crying.
Saying that, you know, you go to spank your child and they start crying, oh, I'm not going
to.
They're already sorry.
You know, and that's what some people do, like the child is like, oh, I'm sorry.
It's like, oh, they're already sorry.
They don't need the spanking.
They've suffered enough.
Look, they're crying.
But the Bible says they need to be spanked anyway, saying, you know, let not thy soul
spare for his crying.
And then look, it's contrasted with the man of great wrath, the angry man, the furious
man.
Look at chapter 22 verse 6.
Chapter 22 verse 6, Proverbs 22 verse 6, "...train up a child in the way he should go, and when
he is old he will not depart from it.
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity, and the rod of his anger shall fail."
See sometimes anger can become a rod in people's hands and it's going to fail.
Instead of using the physical, literal rod, you know, the rod of anger is used.
Basically people use anger as a punishment.
You know, just getting angry.
Well here's the thing, you know, your children are going to disobey a lot when they're very
young because foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction
will drive it far from it.
And so when your children are very young, obviously they don't know anything.
You know, they're growing up, and you know what I often do?
When I look at my children and I feel like, good night, you know, why are they acting
this way?
I go back in my mind to what I was like at their age and I think to myself, man, they
are way better kids than I was.
I mean, you know, I look at Solomon, I think back to when I was 11, I look at Isaac, look
back to when I was 9, and I'm just thinking like, you know, man alive, these kids are
doing way better than I was at that age.
You know, and you ought to do that too because I'll bet you if you go back in your mind,
you weren't, you know, a little perfect child yourself.
And so you're kind of reaping what you've sown in some ways.
But honestly, you know, you've got to put it in perspective, you know, that you're,
you know, and you know, my wife is a wonderful parent, but one thing, just one thing that
she said before, she said to like a 9 year old, you know, how are you going to hold down
a job?
And I'm thinking to myself like, this is why no 9 year old holds down a job, you know.
And I told my wife, I said, there's going to be a lot of maturing that takes place,
you know, between 9 and 16 or 9 and 18, you know, it's like, you can't expect a 9 year
old to be responsible enough to run a household.
How are you ever going to run a household, 5 year old?
If you can't, you know, do it now.
If you can't do it now, how are you going to do it then?
I mean it's obvious, see how some people can have an unreasonable expectation?
Okay, but here's the thing, children are going to make a lot of mistakes because they're
children, because they're foolish.
The Bible says foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, okay?
So wouldn't it stand to reason that if your reaction to children doing wrong is to become
angry, you're going to be a really angry person?
I mean doesn't that make sense?
I mean if children are making mistakes on a daily basis, when they're young, if children
are making mistakes on an hourly basis and your response to a child making a mistake
is instant anger, that means you are going to be an angry person every day because the
children are going to make a mistake every day and you're going to get mad about it every
day.
And then wouldn't you start to be defined as the furious man?
Or the angry and contentious woman?
I mean isn't that eventually what you're going to become?
And that's part of what's wrong with our society today is that people, they have children,
they don't discipline them properly, they don't train them, they don't spank them.
And look, it's easier to yell than to spank.
Spanking takes more work.
You know, it takes time, it takes work, it takes energy.
It's a lot easier just to throw something from across the room and just yell, right?
I mean just, yeah, take your shoe off and just throw it, you know, without even having
to get up.
But that doesn't make it right, okay?
And I guarantee you, nobody's perfect in this area.
Nobody's perfect in this area.
And you know, God forbid that any children today would be thinking, yeah, my parents
need to hear this.
Well why don't you quit provoking your parents so much?
You know, I'll always side with the parents against the children.
But still the parents do need to hear this.
But it's not for children to stand in judgment of or correct their parents.
That is not right.
You know, let the parents correct the children and not vice versa.
But you know what, as parents, we could all work on this.
But you know what, just in general, and again, yeah, there's a tie in with child rearing.
But this is not just a subject that has to do with child rearing.
Whether you're single, whether you're married, whether you have children, whether you're
a supervisor at your job, whether you're an employee at your job, whether you're the
owner of the company.
I mean, this is something that everybody needs to apply and take a hard look at yourself
and say, wait a minute, you know, am I doing well to be angry as Jonah was asked by God?
You know, am I just out of control?
Do I have a lack of control of my spirit to where things happen, I get bad news or somebody
around me makes a mistake or spills a glass of milk, you know, and I just become enraged
at the drop of a hat, or what about this, driving down the road.
You know, somebody cuts you off and then they wave at you, but it turns out they only have
one finger up, you know.
And then you just, you know, do you just become enraged, you know, road rage, where you're
going to like retaliate with them, you're going to catch up to them and cut them off
and pay them back.
You know, honestly, you know what my dad used to do?
And I used to think this was hilarious when I was a kid.
Whenever somebody would flip my dad off or get angry at my dad and just flip out and
be enraged, he would always just smile real big and go, hi, hi, and it would make him
even more mad.
They would just infuriate people when he'd just go, hi, you know, they would just blow
it, because they didn't know how to react to that, because, you know, they expected
like a stern look, you know.
They know how to handle that.
But my dad would just go, hi, you know, and then they'd just be like, ah, and then they
would really freak out, drive into a ditch, you know.
He'd see them in the rear view mirror flipping over, no, I'm just kidding.
But anyway, you know, the bottom line is that this is something that, you know, could affect
every part of our life.
And you know, we don't want to just look at the Bible and say, well, there's some anger
that's justified, well, Jesus became angry, and well, the Bible is telling us to become
angry in some circumstances, and then just take that as a carte blanche that just says,
I can be angry whenever I want.
Being angry is a virtue.
No, being angry is not a virtue.
Although it does have its place, although there are times when anger would be appropriate,
it is not a virtue to be described.
I mean, look, if someone just asked about you, you know, give me an adjective to describe
so and so.
Angry.
That's not a good attribute to have.
Now it's okay, you know, and sometimes it's, you know, it can be wrong when people just
refuse to become angry about anything ever.
But most people probably have the opposite problem, you know, of becoming angry a little
too often.
You know, and it all has to do with being patient, ruling your spirit, governing your
spirit, staying calm, and look, this will add years to your life because a lot of health
problems are exacerbated by people being under stress, being angry, bitter, and you
know, people can't sleep at night, or they get all, you know, I mean, they can just always
just feel their heart beating in their chest, you know, veins are popping out in their head
and everything.
I mean, that is a stress on your body.
You know, and there are all kinds of scientists and studies that will tell you that, you know,
people who know how to stay calm and people who know how to like, you know, maybe when
they get home from work they can kind of forget about work for a little while, blow off a
little steam, people who spend time praying or, you know, because the Bible talks about,
you know, that if we be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication,
make our requests be made known unto God that the peace of God which passeth all understanding
shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
So those who spend time praying, you know, they're angry, they're upset, you know, they
just pray about it, just move on, just stay calm, just breathe and just take it easy and,
you know, and honestly, you know, I know what stress is.
You know, I mean, is there anybody in this room that doubts that I know what stress is
because I know what it is to be stressed out.
Okay, my life is constantly spinning out of control is the way that I like to describe
it.
And honestly I do, I feel like my life is just constantly spinning out of control and
I'm just constantly putting out fires and just juggling so many different things.
But you know what, I can honestly say that I know how to just turn it off and just say,
you know what, let's eat, drink, and be merry, tomorrow we die.
You know, sometimes you have to just be able to just calm down, relax, let it go, and you
know what, I've become angry, you know, both in a right, I've become angry rightfully,
but then there have been times that I've wrongfully become angry, you know, just like anybody
else.
There have been times when my anger is justified and there have been times when my anger was
not justified, but you know, the one thing I can say is that, you know, I've been able
to put off anger at the end of the day and that's something that we need to learn.
And this is something that I've worked on, just not getting angry at the wrong things
because you know what, if we just go with the default, if we just let ourselves do what
our flesh wants to do, there are a lot of things that are going to make us angry that
should not make us angry.
So we have to be able to rule our spirit and say, you know what, I want to get angry, my
tendency is to get angry right now, but I'm not going to.
I'm going to keep the center of control, I'm going to stay calm, I'm not going to get angry.
You know, that's a great skill to be able to have is to keep yourself from getting angry
because let's face it, sometimes when you get angry, you know, the Bible talks about
the fact that, you know, it could cause other sins because when you're angry, you can sometimes
say and do things that you shouldn't do just in the moment of rage because anger can kind
of blind you sometimes to the logic of a situation.
And so it's something that everybody should work on, anger, and there's plenty of scripture
and you know, you better take it to heart, don't be soon angry, don't flip out every
time.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
We thank you so much for your word and we thank you for your teaching on this subject.
Help us not to be angry people, it's for our health and it's also going to, you know, cause
us to have better relationships with our wife, with our children, with people on the job.
Help us to be able to stay cool and calm and not to just constantly be in a rage in our
driving or anywhere else and in Jesus' name we pray.