Thoughts in Considering Anger
Consider (1): Anger itself is not sin, but its exercise either in or out of God’s sanctions. Are not food and sex similar? They themselves are not sin, but whether exercised according to God’s sanctions.
Consider (2): Judgement is the foundation of anger. At its core, is anger a response to a judgement of that which opposes our expectations? Is anger a force we use against what opposes us, that what opposes us would come to meet our expectations? Doesn’t judgement precede our anger?
Example: My anger rages against [him/her/that] which will affect the outcome [loss/gain/circumstances] I want. I have judged this, and hate what brings this outcome.
The Problem: God governs all circumstances and interactions, so He is exercising His judgement. He also dictates how we should view and respond. Anger is rightly expressed toward that which opposes God, to as far as we are responsible to judge. However, anger expressed outside of our responsibility, or outside of God’s expectations, is sin.
The Solution: Understand the bounds of your responsibility. Surrender all opposition to God, and strive to understand, repent, and obey. Refuse any expectations you find that oppose Him, and allow Him to overrun your heart.
Jude 1.9 – But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
Mark 3.1-5 – He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
John 2.13-16 – The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.”
Matt 23.1-4, 29-33
– Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: “The
scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of
Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do
according to their deeds; for they say things and do not
do them. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s
shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much
as a finger. // “Woe to
you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets
and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in
the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the
blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves, that
you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then,
the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You
serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence
of hell?
Judging Others
Matt 7.1-2 – “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
Judging a Fellow Servant
Rom 14.4 – Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
In the Lord’s Prayer
Matt 6.12 – ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
God Speaks Now to Job
Job 38.1-4 – Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
2 “Who is this that darkens
counsel
By words without knowledge?
3 “Now gird up your loins like a man,
And I will ask you, and you instruct Me!
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the
earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding,