The Church of Eleven22 - Grace is Slow to Anger - Run Over by the Grace Train - Wk 8

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

Anger is often rooted in unforgiveness. Have you received the grace of Jesus that covers your sin? - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Amen and amen and amen. How we do it, church? Good. Hope so, hope so. We got a lot going on this weekend, right? A lot, a lot, a lot of emotion. Tuesday is the election, a lot of emotion there. Today, the Jags play.

We know what one emotion that gives us. It's terrible. That's all right. We'll be first in heaven, man. Go Jags. I'm a fan. A lot of emotion yesterday. The Georgia Florida game, that was fun.

Yeah, go. Praise God. And then Thursday. Thursday was a big day. that was? Don't say Halloween, you pagans. It was Reformation Day. Do you realize this? That 507 years ago, there was this Catholic kid named Martin Luther, and he started reading his Bible. You know, that's dangerous. Anybody grow up Catholic? You start reading your Bible? That's why you're here. All right, so. And he got to this part, and he's like, whoa, the Book of Romans looks like

that we were justified by the righteousness of Christ, not our own righteousness. And they were selling indulgences. You could pay money to get out of hell or get your family out of purgatory, and that also wasn't in the Bible. And so on October the 31st, 570 years ago, Martin Luther writes down 95 theses or problems that he has with the church. Because again, what the church had done is the church had elevated the opinion of some men, some very important men with pointy hats, had elevated their opinion over what the

word of God says. So he takes these 95 thesis and he nails them to the door. at Wittenberg. He basically says, I got 95 problems and the Pope is one. That's kind of what he said. And he was very angry, which led to a righteous activity to elevate the Word of God, soul of scripture, as our authority. And it began what is known as the Protestant Reformation. And so today, we are going to talk about anger. That when you get run over by the grace train, it changes everything about everything about everything. I've had some people say, they've asked about the practicality of grace, because, you know, we've been talking about it

theologically a lot, but there's nothing more practical than the grace of God, particularly when it comes to things like navigating our emotions. There's no bad emotions, there's no bad feelings, but they are a good gauge. They make a terrible God. And so we're going to talk about anger. So good news. This isn't even for you. You probably don't even need it. But you want to probably send this one to your father-in-law because Christians don't get angry, right? We get frustrated. Anybody want to be honest? Anybody struggle with anger? All right?

Anybody? Okay, good. There's us, and then everybody else struggles with the truth. So that'll be another sermon later. Yeah, man. Anger is like the pen being pulled into the grenade. And what we're going to try to do with the Word of God and the help of the Holy Spirit

is we're going to try to ask the Holy Spirit to put the pen back in. The Bible talks about anger over 200 times. And I love it when science catches up with the truth of the scripture. Don't you love it when that happens? scientists tell us that if you have extended periods of anger, it will raise heart rates and will raise blood pressure. It will lead to cardiac arrest.

It shortens life. It clouds brain function. If you struggle with anger, it lowers your immune system. It increases your risk of stroke by 50%. And that a gallop poll came out recently and says, our world is sadder, angrier, and more worried and stressed out than in the history of doing polls. And yet, we live in relatively the safest, most conditions. convenient, comfortable place in human history. Anger is considered to the primary cause of road accidents

with aggressive driving constituting 66% of traffic fatalities. This seems to be a problem. And yet some of you still, you're like, no, not me. I'm not angry. Well, let me, maybe this will check you. You might be angry if your kids flinch every time you call their names. You might be angry. If you don't judge people, you just constantly think, how could you be so dumb? You might be angry. You might be angry if you would never yell, but your exhale sounds like a city bus letting out its air brakes. Right? You might be angry if you're undefeated, both in past events and the current circumstances that you play in your mind, as well as your imaginary conversations as you tell everybody how

right you are. You might be angry if people often ask, what's wrong? And you answer, it's just my face. You might be angry. You might be angry if they know you by name at Home Depot for your frequent visits for drive all and spackle. You might be angry at the Little League umpowers cower and fear every time you walk out on the field, as they should. You might be angry if you regularly use your husband's toothbrush to clean the toilet. Gretchen gave me that one. That's terrifying. And you may have an anger issue if you

are afraid to put an 1122 bumper sticker on your car because of your lack of highway hospitality. Amen? Hey, listen, I get you here. If you need your pastor to be a black belt in a topic in order to teach it that I am completely disqualified because I can get angry and get a little heated, I'm passionate, I'm emotional. There's all kind of stuff that gets stirred up. I've told you this before, but a few years ago, my son was playing flag football, not real football, it's kind of like communist football. You know, it can't touch each other and everybody's eligible. I don't understand it. But whatever, something to do in the off season where we weren't playing real football. And he was the quarterback, and his little best friend, Colin, was the receiver. And they were really

good, and they set a record for touchdowns. And about every other year, the way the age brackets work out, we had a shot at the title. And so we played to win. And me and my friend Scott and Sean, we coached. And occasionally we get some kid they may be on our team. And that kid would show up and say, my dad said, this is for fun. And I would say, you tell your dad, he's a loser, okay? We played a win around here.

And that's what we did. And we won a lot. And so we're in the championship game over here at UNF. And because it was the championship game, they gave us like multiple referees. I think we had two referees. And again, J.P. is the quarterback. And again, it's flag football. It's not even real football.

He can't even touch each other, really. And so he backs up to throw the ball, and this big-boned kid trucks JP as he releases the ball. No flag. And I begin to scream at the ref. This 19-year-old kid, he's probably getting $8 a game. And I go, ref, what are you doing? Where's the ruffing the passer? And this poor kid looks at me and goes, I wasn't watching.

Now, Jesus says, you have heard that it was said, thou shalt not murder. But if you hate somebody in their heart and you've murdered him, so I murdered him in my heart. And at the top of my lungs, I screamed, you have one job as loud as I could. And about that time, from the other team on the other side of the field, some lady goes, hi, Pastor Jobie. So I murdered her too in my heart. Okay, so. I got issues.

But here's the thing. So do you. You have issues too. And so we're going to talk about it. What does grace have to do with our emotions and our anger? James, the brother of Jesus, helps us understand how to navigate this. In James chapter 1, beginning in verse 19, and remember James is the brother of Jesus, he says this, he says, know this.

It's actually a transitional verse. And what he wants us to know, he wants us to know, verse 18, which says, of his own will, he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. In other words, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, then he puts his spirit in you. It's like putting a seed in you. And you do not manufacture peace from the outside end that the Spirit of God produces peace from the inside out. And so there is no such thing as a fruitless Christian. When you get run over by the grace train, it begins to change everything about everything, about everything.

It may not change you as fast as your wife hoped it would, but eventually we become more and more and more like Christ. And again, this is not the kind of thing you can. can manufacture. This is the kind of thing that happens from the inside out. And the things that James is going to talk about, these are symptoms of the gospel infected life. Like if you are infected with the flu, then we know that because you have symptoms. Your nose will run, you'll get a fever. And so if you are infected with the gospel, then we begin to display symptoms that come from him and not from us. He says this. Know this. And then before he talks about what to do, because that's where we want to go as Americans. Just give me the to-do list. Before he

talks about activity, he's going to begin with identity, because identity precedes activity. He says, know this, my beloved brothers, he wants you to know, before we talk about what's going on on the inside of you, he wants you to know who you are. And the label that he gives us is this, beloved. I would ask you, do you know who you are? It may be why you're so angry. because oftentimes when you feel out of control, anger is a way to feign control. A.W. Tozer, this old dead theologian, he used to say, the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. The most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God.

For instance, if you think God is distant, then you're kind of probably living a distant life from him. If you think God is just a judge trying to set a bunch of rules, then you're going to try to live up to those kind of rules. If you think God is just some kind of sky fairy that doesn't care about what's going on, then you'll probably live a licentious life. The most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. I would say the second most important thing about you is what you think God thinks when he thinks about you. And most of us think God is frustrated with us. You know why?

Have you lived with you? You're frustrating. Are you not? How many times have you let you down? How many times have you not lived up to a standard that you said you would live up to? How many times have you broken promises to you? Right. And because we can frustrate ourselves or we live with frustrating people,

we have this belief that we think God woke up today in heaven and this surprise about the things that we've done. God has never sat up in heaven and we're like, what in the name of me is she doing at church? I saw her at the game last night. It's not how it goes. In fact, the Bible says that this is love. Not that we first love God,

but God first loved us and sent his son as the propitiation for our soul. sin and propitiation means a payment that satisfies that when Jesus pushed up on his nail pierce feet and says it is finished he made the payment for our sin that satisfied the legal requirement the justice the holiness of god therefore if you are in christ god cannot be dissatisfied in you that when god sees you the label that he gives you is beloved know this my Beloved brothers. And if you look at what the word is, it will tell you what it means. If you split the word apart, it says, be loved.

If you could be loved by God, then we would be loving towards one another. That first part, B, the covenant name of God is I am that I am, or to be that I be. God's name is B, and God loves you. And if we are going to express love and not anger towards one another, then we first have to know that we are beloved by God. Not because we're awesome, but because he is. You see, some of you are angry because you don't know that you're loved by God. He says, know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person, underline that, let every person, and then he's going to give us a three-step process. I don't typically do like three-step processes, but this was in the Bible. Ready? He says, step one,

be quick to hear. Step two, slow to speak. Step three, slow to anger. For the anger of of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your soul. Now who does this apply to? This applies to every person. So let every person. Now I'm just going to confess once again, I have a long way to grow and go when it comes to anger. All right? I just do. Now, I told the Thursday night service that I suck at this, but Gritson said I'm not supposed to say suck in church, so I won't say it, okay? I sip when it comes to this one. One time, I was taking this personality exam. We're obsessed with personality exams on our staff. I don't know

who makes us do it, but, golly, we take an exam all the time about who we are. You ever take those personality exams? Mine always comes about the same way. And they asked the random questions. They're like, would you rather kick a baby or stab a puppy? And you're like, I don't, what? So I'm sitting in my living room, I'm taking this exam, and Gretchen comes walking through. She's like, what are you doing? I'm taking one of those personality exams. And she goes, huh, just like that, huh? So what do you mean, huh?

What, huh? What's that mean? And she says, give me some grace here. I didn't say this. She goes, they're just going to give you a new word for a-hole. That's what she said. I know, I know. Pray for her, all right?

It's a heart issue, I think, is what's going on there. That's what she said. But she's right. Every time I take one of those things, it's like you're aggressive and you're a driver and you're a D and you're an eight on the diagram and you see red and you know. In fact, do you remember strength finders? Remember that one? My number one strength was competition.

C.S. Lewis says it's the greatest sin because it comes from pride. Sweet. I'm winning at sinning. That's the best thing I got going on. And James says, let every person. so we don't get to blame our personality profile for the way that we act. Because oftentimes people will hide behind, hey, no, no, no, it's not my fault. This is just who I am.

I'm just being my authentic self. I'm an eight. I'm a D. My Myers-Brigg is J-E-R-K. It's not my fault. You don't get any excuse here. There's no excuse to sin in our anger. He says, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, slow to

tweet, slow to comment, slow to repost, I may have added a few. But these all apply. He said, be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Listen, I've been in ministry for 32 years with people. And over the last four years, I've never seen so many angry people in all of my ministry. And I think it could be about four years ago, we were supposed to sit inside by ourselves for six months. Some people did it for long. California is still waiting to get it. out, but whatever. And every day you would turn on the news and you just saw the world being burned down. And then some keyboard warriors went to their keyboard and said, I'm going to burn some stuff down to. So let me ask you this. Are you quick to listen and slow to speak or are you

quick to defend and slow to understand? It is almost impossible to be quick to listen and understand while you're simultaneously preparing your defense to fight back. And so James says, let every person be quick to hear slow to speak and slow to anger. Why, James? For, he's going to tell us why. Here's why we should slow it down. Pump the brakes. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. He doesn't say anger in general. He says, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Anger is an emotion that can overtake all the other emotions. And most of the time where anger comes from, anger comes from unmet expectations. Anger comes because we're not getting what we want. It's not going our way.

James chapter four, later in James chapter four, James is very, very practical. James asked this question. He says, what causes fights and quarrels among you? Like if I were asked you, think about the last fight that you were in, and then I gave you my little mic and I got brought you up on stage and I said, I want you to explain why, what was the cause of the last fight? Some of you I'll go first. And you would get up here and with great emotions. I'm about to tell you what happened. He said, she said, that dirty government, that crooked referee, whatever it is, almost all of

us would say there were something that happened out there and that's why I was angry. And then James is crazy, man. He answers the questions that he asked. That's kind of rare in the Bible. He says, what causes fights and quarrels among you? Isn't it the desires from within you? you know what he goes on to say he says basically this he's like do you know what the you know what the common denominator in every fight that you've ever been in is you and he goes on to say the reason that you're

angry is because you want something and you don't get it well that sounds childish does it not can you imagine gentlemen look at me husbands the next time you were in robust dialogue with your wife can you imagine if you're like hey hey hey hey hey hey hey hey you know what the problem here is I want something and I'm not getting it. You sound like a two-year-old. Man, you know what I mean? You just do. And James is like, right.

Oftentimes, the anger of man is because you want something, but you don't get it. And the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Because we don't get what we want. Now, there is kind of anger that can be righteous, but unrighteous anger is when we get mad because other people are not worshiping at the idol of me. The key is, the reality is. is we are going to get angry. The key is how do you respond when you do get angry? The reality is oftentimes we try to blame our anger on somebody else or some kind of external

circumstances. How many times have you ever said, well, you made me mad? I've got a terrible news for you. Nobody can make you anything. You have to take total responsibility for you and your own emotions and particularly your reactions to them. Because, I mean, have you ever said something? then wish you didn't say it, and then tried to blame it on your anger as if it wasn't your fault?

Well, I didn't, listen, hey, quick round, listen. I was angry. I didn't mean it. Well, do you realize the only thing that can come out of you is what's in you, okay? Let's put it on the bottom shelf here. This is a water bottle. If I were to take the lid off and shake it, what comes out? Water, not Jesus.

Water. Why? Because there's water in here. The only thing that can come out of here is what is in here. So Jesus says, out of an overflow of the heart, the mouth speak. So nothing can slip out. The only thing that can come out of here is what is in here. So you don't have a potty mouth, or you might, but your real problem is you've got a potty heart.

And so we have to take responsibility for the way that we respond. And when you have unrighteous anger, the anger of man, the anger that is centered around the reality that I'm not getting what I want, It is smoke to a fire. It is not good. Your check engine light is flashing, and the engine is your heart. The danger of us excusing our anger is we convince ourselves that the problem is out there somewhere. But the gospel demands that we first look in the mirror, and we look deep down in here. You see, unrighteous anger is often rooted in fear and control.

And yet James says, pump the brakes, bro. be slow to anger, not no anger and not blow up anger, but slow to anger. I think what's going on here is I think James is actually referencing Exodus chapter 34. In Exodus 34, Moses goes to God and says, God, show me your glory. And God's like, it'll kill you, but let me tell you who I am. I am full of mercy. I am slow to anger and I am abounding and steadfast love. And actually in Hebrew, this is kind of funny, I think, in Hebrew,

what we translate slow to angry, slow to anger. It literally is, I am long of nose. The God says, I've got a huge nose when it comes to you. You're like, what in the heck does that mean? Well, Hebrew is like a word picture language. And the way the Hebrew people believe that anger started is that it would start deep down here in your guts, or they would call it your bowels. That's where it started. And then it would begin to, as it festered, it would begin to work its way up into your heart, make it heartbeat fast. And then it would work its way up to your neck, make your veins come out. Then it would make your face, flush. When you were really mad, what happens, man, your nose, your nostrils begin to flare.

And so what God is saying is when you do things against God and he has the right to be angry and that anger gets stirred up, he makes sure he stretches his nose way out. So it takes a long time for his anger to actually come out against you that God is slow to anger. So we can be assertive. We can even be aggressive without festering in anger. The Apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians, he gives us some advice on anger too. In Ephesians 4, verse 26, he starts out this way. He actually says, be angry. To which if I stop there, some of us will be, man, I'm nailing it.

Sweet. He says, be angry. There's some things to be angry about. Be angry and do not sin. So is it possible to be angry and not sin? It is. It is actually advised. Be angry and do not sin.

Do not let the sun go down on your anger. and give no opportunity to the devil. That word no opportunity in the new international version is translated foothold. Don't give a foothold to the devil. Because if he gets a foothold, he'll make it a stronghold and then he'll take over. It literally in Greek means room, give no room for the devil. I mean, I don't know about you. I don't want the devil in my life.

I don't want him in my marriage. I don't want him in my family. And when we have unresolved anger, it will lead to bitterness. And that will bring about a foothold for the devil. Here's what this means, man. We're supposed to keep very, very short accounts. Instead of letting these things build up and build up and build up, we're supposed to address them immediately.

The day of the hurt ought to be the day where the healing begins. Because if you don't, you're going to leave a foothold. You're going to leave a little wedge where the enemy can get in there. And the only thing he wants to do is steal, kill, and destroy. I've got a brother that's 40 years younger than me, okay? It was great when we were growing up. Because when I was in the 10th grade, he was in the 6th grade. And now he's a policeman.

And if I tried to fight him, he'd probably tase me. and put me in jail, but back then I could whoop him, man, all the time. It was just because I was that much older. And there'd be times I'd be sitting in the living room in the, like, 10th grade, just probably minding my business, reading my Bible, praying for my family. That's usually what I did. And so, he would come up and like, wet willy me, you know, and then take off. And I would go tearing after him, and he'd run down the hallway and go in his room.

And if he could get that door shut, there's nothing I could do. He was safe. But if I could get a foothold, older brothers, you know what I'm talking about? If you could just get that one foot, pah, and get it in there. Even if the door wasn't even open, just barely my toe was in there, you couldn't get a credit card like through the door. But there was just that much room. Over time, I could work my way and get into his room and then bring down the vengeance of God that he deserved.

You know what I mean? He's saying, be careful, because that's what unresolved anger will do. You see, because that unresolved anger will begin to ferment. And when things ferment, two things happen. It stinks and you get drunk on it. And you walk around with that unresolved anger. If you're a bitter person, I'm just telling you, man, you stink. Nobody's going to tell you that because you'll be mad at them, but you stink.

And you can get drunk on that kind of emotion. And so she says, be angry and do not sin. When you get angry for no real cause, that's sin. But if you don't get angry when there is a just cause, you are out of step with the character and nature of God. This is a really, really big deal. Did Jesus get angry? Yes. Did Jesus sin?

No. Even if you're new to the Bible study, you've probably heard, maybe you've heard about Jesus getting angry and cleansing the temple. And so he had anger, but he did not react to his emotion. He responded with justice. Here's what happened. Jesus goes into the temple, and there are money changers there. Now, here's the thing. There was nothing wrong with there being money changers in the temple.

Back in Deuteronomy 14, God is setting up this sacrificial system, and he basically gives this provision. He's like, all right, look, I know some of you live a long way from the Holy Land, like you live out in Palacca, and how are you going to get a goat all the way from Palacca to the Holy Land? So here's what we're going to do. Sell your goat where you live and just bring the change, and then when you get to the temple, we'll have a system there, and you can buy a goat there, no problem. Well, over time, what began to happen is that religious leaders began to use the rules of God to take advantage of the people of God. and to defame the name of God.

And it ticks Jesus off. So they're not selling the high-quality spotless lambs that they're supposed to. They're selling like the reject three-legged lamb over here. It's all dirty. So they're defaming the name of God. And this is like original price gouging. They're charging three times. This is like a Coca-Cola at Disney.

Sinful, right? $14. What's in it? Magic? No. All right? So that's what they would do. And so Jesus walks in and he sees them using the law of God to take it

of the people of God and defamed the name of God and he gets angry. And he says, my father's house is supposed to be a house of prayer and you have turned into a den of thieves. And then the Bible says that Jesus goes and makes a whip. They ever made a whip? I don't know how long that takes. I got whipped a lot, but my dad had a pre-fashioned one. It was hooked to him.

He'd bring it out like that. Even that noise today kind of triggers me. It makes me get nervous, okay? But Jesus goes and he makes a whip. And I imagine the disciples are like, hey boss, what's you doing? He's like, I'm about to show you what I'm going to do. And he walks in there and flips over tables and turns and whips the people out of the temple. Righteous anger always results in right action.

And so the righteousness of God is a thing that we are supposed to act rightly about. And listen, man, if you call yourself a Christian and there are things in our world that don't stir up some anger, then I don't know, I don't, you're going to have to help me understand how the spirit of God is in you. There's some things in our culture right now that are against the character and nature of God. There's some things that anger God that should anger us. The mutilation of children in the name of health care should anger us. The taking of innocent human life in the womb and calling it a right should anger us. The trafficking of boys and girls and the most vulnerable in this world should anger us. Enough deadly fentanyl.

coming into our country every year to wipe out a generation should anger us. All over the world, corrupt governments stealing money while their people starve should anger us. Any injustice against an image bearer of God should anger us. Women being brutalized by men and calling it a sport should anger us. The government trying to take children from their families because they disagree with them ideologically should anger us. Liberal school boards trying to indocturate our kids with pornographic materials in the

libraries should anger us. There's things we have to do. Listen, man, you break into my house. I ain't praying for you. I'm going to pray the cleanup doesn't last long. And I'm getting more in a whip. Because we are supposed to protect and provide and defend. There is a way in our culture, in this republic that we live in, that there is a way to get a whip.

On Tuesday, you can go to the ballot box and vote and fight for a week. image bearers of God. This is a way that we fight for justice for image bearers of God. Read your Bible, follow Jesus, and vote for life and freedom and law and order and for justice. And listen, particularly in Florida, there's an amendment called Amendment 4. It's a lie. It's deceptive. And it is written in such a way so that people will be deceived. It is to change the Constitution of Florida to make an abortion state for any reason or no reason. up to the point of birth, not by a medical provider, and children could get this done without their parents' consent.

You go get a whip, you go to the ballot box, and you make sure that that does not happen under our watch. Now, honestly, nobody will ever, you guys are awesome, but, you know, a lot of people watch online and stuff, and some people will say, Pastor, aren't you getting a little political? Nah, man, I've been theological the whole time, and the government is trying to get theological. The moment you thought your role was beyond building roads and teaching math, and you begin to try to redefine the family or take children from parents or indoctrinated our children with pornographic materials, then our job is to sidestwipe you or honk the horn and definitely go to the ballot box and do whatever it takes for you to get out your lane and we're going to stay in our lane because God has established the church.

Okay, so there's righteous anger and if you're not stirred up, you better check your heart. There's unrighteous anger. It was just about you all the time. So did Jesus clear the temple? Yes. Was he angry? Yes. Was there violence?

Yes. Did he sin? No. Now, if this is your go-to Bible story, if this is one you bring up more than all the other Bible stories. So it either happened once or twice. Depends on the commentators you look at. It happened early in John, later in Matthew.

So either John was out of order or maybe it happened twice. Let's just say it happened twice. two times in the 33 years of Jesus' earthly ministry, he cleared the temple. He didn't do it every other Tuesday. So if your go-to Bible story is about Jesus making a whip, then you've lost the narrative of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That Jesus did not come to beat us up, nor did he send us to beat anybody up. Jesus came to be beaten up by those that were beating us up.

He took a beating at the cross so that we could be saved, redeemed, and rescued. You see, there are times for the glory of God that Jesus got violent, and so should we. I just want you to know this. I just want you to know this. If you come to live between me too and you bring your ties and offerings,

a part of every single dollar goes to fund a team. We partnered with the Tim Tebow Foundation to fight against human trafficking around the world and right here in the United States. And there is a team of men and women. I love it. I meet these people. They're awesome. They are uniquely gifted. They have a very special skill set based on their past. And when little boys and little girls are in Jacksonville and around

the world crowd, God, if you're real, please save me. Then he sends this team very well equipped with things that we buy. And they kick down doors and they take out bad guys in conjunction with local governments. A bunch of people are arrested. Sometimes people are sent, you know, they fast line it straight to the judgment day, and we rescue boys and girls in Jesus' name, because not only do we pray, but we are answers to those prayers, and we would go do that. Tim Keller says this about anger. Anger is love in motion to protect what you love most. Say that again.

He says, anger is love in motion to protect what you love most. So the way to distinguish is this righteous anger or unrighteous anger is ask the question, what are you protecting? I mean, most often, we're not protecting image bearers of it. God? Most of the time when we get angry, we're trying to protect me and my comfort, my reputation, and my ego, or because I'm embarrassed. I mean, be for real. I know you had a rough day, but when you're screaming at your kids, what are you protecting? Or when you yell in the car, what are you protecting? Or when you lose your mind online or you give your spouse that silent

treatment or when you yell at cable news station that you're watching, when you lose your mind on the refs, who are you protecting? And if you're at the center, when I'm at the center of that, I'm protecting me and the anger of man will not bring about the righteousness of God. Ultimately, the question is this when it comes to anger, is do you trust God? Because most of the time, I know we would never say this, but what we're doing in our actions is we're saying, God, I don't believe that vengeance is yours and you really need my help on this one.

but when we are able to release it, we trust that he will either cover it with his grace or he'll confront it with his justice. All sin will be accounted for. Do you realize this? It'll either be accounted at the cross where Jesus made the payment or it will be accounted in hell if that person does not repent and they will pay for it for the rest of eternity. God can be trusted. God can be trusted. Now listen, man, preaching is so much easier than living. Oh, my goodness. I believe all these things theology. And I have a confession. I'm into the Jesus thing. This is not a show. I love him.

I love the word. I read the word. I pray. I sing with my hands up. I do all the things. And I also realize that God is producing in me his fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. See, I didn't even have to look them up.

I know what they are. I'm into it. And yet, even though I've been abiding in Christ and walking with him for a long time now, there are still these times where my hands. emotions take over, my anger takes over, my flesh rises up. And I look at myself and go, what is wrong with me? Dads, how in the world are kids going to believe that God is the God of love if every time you call their name, it's in anger? These are the kind of things that I deal with, which leads me to Romans 7. I think Roman 7 was put in there for people like us.

Can we agree that when the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans, he was a Christian, right the answer is yes you don't get read the Bible if you're not a Christian he had been he had surrendered his life to the Lordship of Christ and yet there were some things that he struggled with he doesn't talk about anger specifically but he was a pretty aggressive guy and he says to God is kind of a prayer and he basically asked this question what is wrong with me you ever asked that question what is wrong with me he's like there's like a war going on inside of me I want to do good things I promise I'm going to do good things I feel like I want to do good things and I can't pull off the good things I want to do. And then there's these bad things that I said

I'd never do again. I'd never yell again. I'd never use those words again. I'd never call those names again. And yet I fight and I do them again and again. He says there's a war going on in here. And then he gets to the right question. He doesn't say what should I do. He says, who will save this bucket of death? Lose translation. See, the question is not a what must I do. The question is who's going to save me. And then he says, thank God for my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, because that's the who. And therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. You see, there's this old Native American proverb, this kind of wisdom story that says there was this Indian chief, and he was the wisest, most respected guy in all the tribe.

And this Western journalist came to interview him to see how he was so awesome. And he was like, why are you so awesome? The guy said, I'm not awesome. And the guy said, well, everybody here things you're awesome. He goes, listen, I wake up every single day, and there is a war going on inside of me. There is a good dog, and there is an evil dog, and they are at war. And the journalist says, well, which one wins? And the chief says, the one that I feed. Yeah, that's very Pauline here. You see, some of us are so angry, because all we're doing is feeding the anger and feeding the anger, and everything you watch stirs hate, and everything you scrolls, stirs hate. And what James is going to tell us that we need to do is where there's some things we need to put off and there's some

things we need to put on. The old Puritans would call this mortification and vivification. That the one that you're going to feed in your life is the one that's going to grow. And when we feed our relationship with Jesus, things like love and joy and peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control, those are all anti-anger things. Those things grow. But when you feed yourself nothing but what the world offers, you're going to get what the world offers. So he says, therefore, so since the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God, therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness. How many of you know when you're ruled by anger, you can say some filthy, wicked things.

So listen, sometimes you kind of got to fake it until you make it, man. Put away all filthiness. Don't give yourself an excuse to talk that way ever again. There's never, it's never okay to call somebody that's made. in the image of God some name that is dehumanizing or degrading. Do you realize that? Words are so powerful. The Bible says James is going to say, in the words that we speak, they have the power of life and death.

Sometimes you're in relationships that you kill because of your words. And if you try to excuse it because you're mad, is that helpful at all? The book of Proverbs says, careless words stab like a sword, but wise words lead to healing. How long does it take to get stuck with a sword? Immediately. It's an immediate action. Whether I meant to stick you or not. If I stick you with a sword, you're going to be wounded. If you're careless with your words, you're going to wound people, and it's going to kill relationships. Some of you have spoke death over your children because of the names you've called them. Death into relationships. Death into your own future. You've got to put away all of that filthy talk.

You've got to put away all of that kind of wicked talk. And you've got to put away all of that kind of wicked talk. and you've got to put on the righteousness of Christ. Listen, man, words are like toothpaste. You can't get them back in the tube. I dare you to try it when you get home today. They don't go back in. They're very, very, very powerful. Very powerful.

And so he says, put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive or put on with meekness, the implanted word which is able to save yourself. In other words, you're not going to be able to pull this off on your own. That word meek, if you've been around here for a while, I think you know what it means. We don't like, especially men, we don't like the word meek because it rhymes with weak, but that's not what it means in Greek. I know it's not what it means in Greek.

That's not what I mean. Meek in Greek is a bit bridled horse. They would take a big, powerful, thoroughbred of a war horse, and they would train him or tame him, or some people call it break him. and when you put a bit in the mouth of the horse and he turns over the reins to another master, do you know they live longer, they're stronger, they'll work together, they can pull a heavier load, everything is better about their life when they say here, why don't you run my life because I haven't been able to? And so when we receive with meekness, the implanted word of God, it's not enough to just hear a sermon on anger and think anything's going to change.

You have to turn over the reins of your life to a different master, not your flesh. You have to take the word of God and say, God, I need you to do something in me and plant your word on the inside, because that's what's going to save my soul. So I got some words on what the Bible says about anger. Maybe you would jot these down. Maybe you would memorize some of these. Proverbs 1417. It says, a man of quick temper acts foolishly. A man of evil devices is hated.

Have you ever had anger lead to a terrible decision? Ever been there? Says a man of quick temper acts foolishly. You know what a fool is? A fool is a person that tries to divorce activity from consequences. A fool is a person that knows this is bad and they do it anyway. My favorite modern day example is that if you are a cigarette smoker, you're a fool. That's right.

I'm not trying to beat you up. You're just a fool. I'm not even, I'm not saying you're going to hell. You smell like it, but I'm not saying you're going to hell, okay? You can do what you won't. You're just being a fool. And here's what I mean. You know it's going to kill you.

It's not a surprise. You buy cigarettes and on the package they got some lip-less guy going, don't do this. That's what it says. And you're like, that's fine. You're a fool. And every time I do it, somebody's like, Pastor, I saw you smoking a cigar. Listen, cigars are cool, so that doesn't count.

Okay, everybody knows that. So, but a man of quick temperance acts foolishly. Proverbs 151. soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs of anger. A soft answer turns away wrath. Husbands, how many of you know it's not what you say but how you say it? Have you learned that yet? It's not just the words that come out of your mouth. It's the tone. It's not just the song you sing. It's the key that you sing in, right? If you constantly find yourself going, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, stop crying. Hey, all I said was, then you should memorize this one. It's not just what you say.

It's how you say it. Listen, husbands, I'm going to give you this one for free, okay? When you're communicating with your wife, if she's talking about feelings, you respond in feelings. If she's talking about facts, then you can respond with facts. If you get those things mixed up, it's not going to be good. Give you an example. If your wife says, I feel fat, feeling. And you say, don't eat so much.

Fact. It is a fact. You're just dumb. Soft answer turns away wrath. A harsh word shows of anger. Privile is 1429. whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. You can never take it back.

Proverbs 1518, a hot tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger, quiets contention. Proverbs 1632, whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes the city. Proverbs 1911, good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. You're going to get offended. It is to your glory if you overlook an offense.

What our culture has taught us to do is overreact to everything. We're like walking around just waiting to be offended. What you said? Oh, I'm tweeting that right now. And the Bible says, if you do that, you're a fool. Good sense makes one slow to anger and it is to his glory to overlook an offense. Ecclesiasties seven, eight, nine. Better is the end of a thing than a beginning.

I was quoting this yesterday, last night. The ball game, okay? So, doesn't matter how it starts, ready? Better is the end of a thing than it's beginning, and the patient and spirit is better than the proud in spirit. Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. You see, you think anger is just a reaction?

And anger is actually a pathway. An unresolved anger turns into bitterness. And when you don't deal with bitterness, again, it fernets, man. It metastasizes in your life. And it begins to ruin everything and everybody around you. Jesus says in Matthew 522, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel. And whoever says, you fool, will be liable to the hell of fire.

Ephesians 431 says let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Paul says in Colossians the same thing, but now you must put them all away. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Peter, a different apostle, says the same thing. So put away all malice and deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. You see, some of us treat the emotion of anger like a binky and we just keep. carried around with us. Because when things are out of control, it gives us the feeling of control. And the Bible says over and over and over and over is, it's time to put the binkie away.

When you were a child, you act like a child. Now you're a man. You act like a man. And love is not easily angered. And love keeps no record of wrong. And so, if you continuously put on these things, put on these things and put on these things and wonder why you're so angry all the time. It's just because you're walking in the clothes that you've been putting on. Don't you remember when Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus? He's been dead four days. There's already a stone in front of the tomb and he's going to heal him. He's going to call him out of the grave. And the Bible says that he walks up there and he calls Lazarus by name. Lazarus, come forth. And a lot of commentators will say the reason that he had to call his name Lazarus is because

if he just said, come forth, he'd have emptied the graveyard. It'd have been like a thriller video. Commentators don't say thriller video, but you know what I'm talking about. And he says, Lazarus, come forth. And Lazarus doesn't walk out of the grave. He's covered in burial cloth. And he's got to, like, hop out of the grave. And the first command that Jesus gives, he tells his friend, take off those grave clothes. Why? They stink. And Lazarus is alive. And living men don't wear dead men's clothes. And so he didn't carry those around with him for the rest of the life. Why? Because he would stink. And so we don't carry around this anger trying to defend our own flesh for the rest of our life, we do what it takes to put those things away. Why? Here's why. Because that's how

God treats us. That's the fundamental difference here, man. He says, therefore, put away all filthiness and rampanty wickedness with meekness, receive the implanted word which is able to save your souls. Anger can be a very dangerous thing because of anger. Cain killed Abel. Moses was banned from the promised land. Pharaoh lost his army. Saul lost his throne. Baylam beat him. his donkey. That's a lot funnier in King James, if you read it that way. Nebuchadnezzar lost his mind. Peter cut off a man's ear. Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. The Jewish leaders had Jesus arrested and flog, and Lucifer tried to overthrow the throne room of God. And yet, James tells you and me,

be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. And the reason that we should be quick to listen and slow to anger is because that's how God treats us. Listen, if God was quick to anger, it would be a lightly attended service this weekend, would it not? Because we would not be here. We would have incurred the judgment of God that we deserve. You think you've ever angered God? Oh, you think?

Do you know every single time you've mistreated another human being, whether it was face-to-face or online or even in your mind what you were doing is, is, is, you know, demeaning an image bearer of God? Do you know every time you've called somebody a name? Can you imagine somebody calling your child that kind of name? Can you imagine? Take it some of the worst things that you have done to other people. Imagine somebody treating your child that way?

What would you do? You'd be a little angry? I'd be angry. Do you know every single time you've made much of yourself? You tried to rob glory from God himself because you and I are glory hounds? Do you realize every sin we've ever committed is in the face of an almighty holy holy, and just king. He has a lot he could be angry about.

And you know how he responds? He got up from his throne in heaven. He took off his royal robe. He took off his royal crown. He laid down his scepter. He came to earth and in humility. He dressed himself in humanity. He actually became one of us.

And he lived the perfect life. He never sinned. He never disobeyed his father. He never mistreated another person. He never mistreated another person. He never said an evil word or have an evil part of his heart about any other human being. He gave this unbelievable message of, come to me, all who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest for your soul.

And you know what we did? We killed him. We crucified him. And he's nailed to a cross. And he's looking at the people that literally, with a God, hammers and nails nailed him to the tree. And what does he say? Get him, God. He could have. And he says, Father, forgive them, but they know not what they do. And then later, he says, it is finished. It is finished. But he wasn't finished. They put him in the ground in a borrowed tomb. You know what?

It was borrowed. He only needed it for the weekend because on Sunday he came out. And he appeared over 500 people for about six weeks. And then he ascended to the right hand of God the Father. Before we went, he prayed this prayer. You know how the world is going to know that you're my disciples? Because you tell them, because you're right. No, no, no, no. It's going to be the way that we love one another. And do you know what he has been doing for the last 2,000 years

that God the Son has been sitting at the right hand of God the Father? And while we are in here right now and church, he is in the right ear of God the Father. And the Bible says that he is interceding. is praying for you and for me. And the reason that we should be quick to listen and slow to anger is because that is how he is treating us. And one day, one day, believe me on this, there will come a day where the trumpet will blast

and the heavens will be ripped open and he will return. And you will bow or you will bow. Every tongue, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And he will either be the Lord of your salvation because you know him by grace or he will be the Lord of your judgment because you did not bow to him. And then you will know the anger of God. And so you and I are called to love one another just as Christ has loved us. And you know how he loved us? When we did things to make him angry, he responded with grace. And so this week, when you get angry

and you realize what am I defending? If you're defending image bearers of God, then you get to right activity because righteous anger leads to righteous activity. But if you know what I'm trying to defend here is me

and my own ego, then you say, I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So my flesh will get mad at you, but Jesus, because you live me, I'm going to treat that person the way you treated me when you had the right to be mad at me. So listen, the way we respond around here matters, man.

It matters a lot. We're going to sing and we're going to bring and we're going to pray. You notice that most of the time when you get angry, the thing that gets you in most trouble is your mouth. And it's crazy the way God has orchestrated this thing. The same instrument that can spew hate can also spew praise to God. And so we're going to sing. We're going to sing, I will make room for you.

The reason we're picking this song is because anger, unresolved anger, makes room for the enemy. And there's some rooms in your life that the enemy has taken up residence in, and Jesus rules and reigns. And you've got to say, enemy, get out of here. Jesus, I need you to move in here. I want to make room for you, not the enemy. And I told you, the most important thing about you is what you think when you think about God. And people that worship and pay attention to the words we sing, they have better thoughts about who God is. and so we're going to sing and we're going to bring our ties and offerings just like we always do we're going to bring our first and best and we're going to pray and do you know why we pray

because the god of the universe is slow to anger this is mind-blowing and he's quick to listen you're not even going to give him any new information we're going to tell him something he don't know and yet the moment you get down here and you get on your knees and you say father you have his full attention because he is quick to listen to you. And we are going to try to receive with meekness the implanted word of God. In other words, if you struggle with this one, like I struggle with this one, you need to get down here on your face and say, I'm sorry, God, I need your help. If one of the best things you could do, James says, don't be merely a hear of the word and so deceive yourself, but do what it says. Today ought to be full of husbands going to

their wives saying, I'm sorry for, and don't give some kind of generalization thing and definitely don't blame her feelings. I'm sorry you felt that way. Do you know how dumb that is? No, no, no, no. And maybe you need to go to your children and you just need to own it. I'm sorry, I said these words to you.

And honestly, there's a bunch of children, teenagers, college kids, that should go to their parents and say, I am sorry. I have been dishonoring with my words. You see, the first thing, I told you at the very beginning, Thursday was Reformation Day.

The first of the 95 thesis that Martin Luther writes down is this, the life of the Christian should be that of daily repentance. The repentance is I'm going to change my mind that's going to lead me to change direction. So if you struggle with anger like I do and have, then we are going to bring, and we're going to pray, and we're going to sing. Would you please stand?

Let me pray for us. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything. And God, I thank you that you were slow to anger. I thank you that you've demonstrated, your love for us by not giving us what we deserve. Instead, you gave us the gift of your son, Jesus Christ. And so, Lord, I pray that as His spirit is implanted in each of us, God, I pray that your love and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control would be produced through us. God, I pray that we would be loved, therefore we would be loving.

and God, I pray that when we see things that anger you, God, we would go to action for your glory and the protection of your image bears. But God, when we're trying to protect ourselves, Lord, I pray that we would lay down our lives and we would respond to people the way you have responded to us. God, help us because we need your help. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So, church, we're going to respond.

We're going to sing. We're going to sing. We're going to sing. I will make room for you. We're going to bring our ties and our offerings, and we are going to pray. If you need the help of God in this area, or you know that you got some repenting to do this week,

then I dare you to sprint down here, get on your knees before a God who is quick to hear your prayer. Let's respond.