Be Ye Angry and Sin Not

Ephesians 4:26-27

INTRO: Good morning church. For our text this morning I invite you to turn to Ephesians 4. In just a moment we'll read verses 26 and 27. There are people that I know who have expressed concern to me about a family member or a close friend who is not listening to their doctor. I suspect many of us have seen this problem. We go to the doctor, the doctor tells us what to do, and then it seems we think we know better and do what we want to. Unfortunately, we sometimes pay the price. There are times when we need help medically. We go to a doctor that we trust, and we want their recommendation. Then, of course, we need to put this recommendation into practice. I wonder, if we don't listen to what the doctor says, then why go to them? We need to follow the doctor's orders.

There's a doctor I want to speak about today that we read of in the Bible. He's called the great physician. His name is Jesus. What good does it do to go to Him for spiritual healing if we don't listen to what He says? That just doesn't make any sense for us to go to the Lord, have Him tell us what He wants us to do so that we can be healed spiritually, and then not pay any regard to what He tells us.

By inspiration, the apostle wrote in Ephesians 4:26-27. “Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” Here the Lord speaks to us through the apostle Paul. Today, we will base our lesson on the opening words of verse 26, “Be angry, and do not sin”[NKJV].
That's the title of our lesson.

These days it seems we are constantly exposed to angry people, and we see the effects of uncontrolled anger all the time. We're concerned about all the violence taking place in our country and throughout the world. We hear about a person with a gun taking innocent lives. Often the root problem is anger. There might be other issues, but sometimes they are a symptom rather than the real problem. The Bible has a lot to say about anger.

We're constantly exposed to outbursts of uncontrolled anger. There have been many appalling instances, but one I recall was reported on February 24th of last year by the MetroWest Daily News. Two ladies, (if you want to call them that), got into a brawl in a store. Someone recorded it with a phone, and I thought, how sad. To make matters worse, there happened to be a little boy there, I would guess, about five or six years old. He was the son of one of the women and his mother encouraged him to get involved, and he started kicking the other woman. I thought, ah, there's my nomination for Mother of the Year. I'm being sarcastic, of course. Just last month there was a video of 2 men fighting outside of a Miami Publix Grocery over a parking spot. One man pulled out a gun and fired a shot fortunately missing the other. What leads to fights like that and other things that are even worse? Uncontrolled anger. We're constantly exposed to outbursts of anger, and if we're not careful, it can rub off on us. What takes place in the world will affect God's people if we're not watchful. We have to guard against that influence.

I. Let God in His word, teach us some things that He wants us to know about being angry and yet not sinning. First, we consider some general principles that relate to anger.

A. We just touched on this, but as you examine the scriptures, you can't help but see that anger leads to irrational behavior. That particular point is made numerous times in the scriptures. Let’s look at three illustrations.

1. In Genesis 4, just a few chapters into the beginning of the Bible, you read about Cain and Abel. In Genesis 4:5 it says “…Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.” [NKJV]. In other words, he was filled with wrath. He was filled with uncontrolled anger. Why? Because God did not respect the offering that he gave. By faith, Abel gave of his flocks. He presented an animal sacrifice unto the Lord, and the Lord was pleased, and He had respect for Abel and his offering.

a. Cain presented an offering of the fruit of the ground, his produce. God was not pleased with that, and He had no respect for Cain and his offering. Consequently, Cain became very angry.
b. What did his uncontrolled anger lead Cain to do? Genesis 4:8 tells us that he killed his brother Abel. At almost the very beginning of the Bible, we see that uncontrolled anger leads to irrational behavior. A man killed his brother.

2. In 2 Kings 5:10-11, we read about a man named Naaman. He was the commander of the army of the king of Syria, a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master. He was also a mighty man of valor, but he had leprosy. He learned that there was a prophet, Elisha, who could cure him. So he went to Samaria to be healed, and he was told what to do.

a. “Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.'' But Naaman became furious,” How did Naaman respond? He was furious, - angry, - mad because of what the prophet told him to do. His irrational behavior was that He refused to do what the prophet told him so that he could be cleansed of his leprosy.
b. Thankfully, that's not the end of the story. After he cooled down, his servant came and reasoned with him and said, “Sir, if that prophet had told you to do some great thing, you would have done it. Why don't you just go wash and be cleansed?”[para] His anger had subsided, he went and washed in that old muddy Jordan River seven times, and he was cleansed of his leprosy. As long as his heart was filled with anger, he refused to do what he needed to do so that he could be cleansed.

3. There's a third illustration I want to mention. It involves the parable found in Luke 15, the parable of the prodigal son. I’m sure you recall it.

a. He had an older brother. After the young son returned home and his father received him so graciously and prepared a great feast, the older brother wanted to know what was going on, and a servant told him, 'Your brother's home and your father has received him safe and sound, and we're going to have a great feast.
b. The Bible says in Luke 15:28 “But he was angry and would not go in…” What did his anger lead him to do? What was his irrational behavior? He refused to go into the feast that his father gave for his younger brother.
c. These are three illustrations in the Bible that show anger leads to irrational behavior. Even if we didn't look any further, that ought to get our attention and help us understand how important it is that we be angry and sin not, as we're taught in Ephesians 4:26.

4. Anger not only causes irrational behavior but there are some other principles that we need to mention.

B. Did you know that anger is habit-forming? Let's look at Proverbs 19:19 which says, and I paraphrase, “A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty; rescue them, and you will have to do it again.”[para]. That verse has to do with the fate of those who are overcome with anger, but listen to this; if you rescue them, you will have to do it again. In other words, anger becomes a habit. It has to be dealt with. If it isn't, it will continue and will probably get even worse.
C. Did you know that anger is contagious? Let's look at Proverbs 22:24-25, “ Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go,” Why? “lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.” Have you ever heard it said, “It’s easy to be good when you're around good people”? Unfortunately, it's also easy to be bad when you're around bad people. Any parent who has worried about the friends their child has knows this instinctively. It's also easy to be angry when you're around people who are prone to be angry. That's what the writer is teaching us here, Solomon, of course, was a wise man. Anger is contagious.
D. Sounds to me like maybe a visit to the doctor is necessary. Anger leads to irrational behavior. Anger is habit-forming. Anger is contagious. Let's go on. Anger leads to other sins. Look at Proverbs 29:22, “An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.” Anger leads to other sins. It opens the door to doing things we might not otherwise do.
E. Let's look at Proverbs 30:33. This verse shows us that anger causes strife. “For as churning milk produces butter, and as striking the nose produces blood, so stirring up anger produces strife.”[para] Notice how strife is associated with anger. Anger causes strife. It doesn't reduce strife. It doesn't eliminate it. It causes strife. These are some general principles that relate to anger. Let me mention them again very quickly. Anger leads to irrational behavior. Anger is habit forming. Anger is contagious, anger leads to other sins, and anger causes strife.

II. With those general principles before us, let's go back to our text in Ephesians 4:26-27.

A. As we study these verses we need to look at them in the context. Always study passages in the proper context. That will avoid a lot of misunderstanding.

1. Chapter 4 has to do with the way that God's children are to walk. Notice how it begins in Ephesians 4:1, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,”.

a. Reading on through verse 16, we're shown how we are to walk. We are to walk worthy of our vocation.
b. Notice the change in Ephesians 4:17, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.”[ESV] Continuing through verse 24, we are taught that we're not to walk like people in the world. This chapter begins by showing that we're to walk worthy of the vocation by which we've been called. Then beginning at verse 17 and going down through verse 24, we find that we're not to walk like people in the world. These are general instructions related to our walk. Next Paul gives some specifics.

2. In verse 25, he dealt with lying. Then in verses 26-27, the verses that we're studying, he gives us some instructions that relate to anger. As we strive to understand the meaning of what's written in Ephesians 4:26-27, we need to look at them in the proper context. Christians are being shown how to walk.

B. What do these statements in these two verses mean?

1. I’m using the NKJV here. Verse 26 says, “Be angry” followed by a comma, not a period. If there was a period, then we would be commanded to be angry, but that is not what it says.

a. What is anger? How do we define it? Anger is an emotional response. It's an emotional response we have to something or someone that displeases us. Something happens to us that causes us to be displeased, and the emotional response to that can be anger.
b. Let me point out right here that not all anger is wrong. Mark 3:5 says that Jesus looked at some people with anger. “So when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts,…” Jesus was angry, being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts.

He was in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. There was a man there with a withered hand, the Pharisees were present, and they were watching to see if Jesus was going to heal this man on the Sabbath day so they could accuse him. They were looking to bring an accusation against the Lord. Jesus, remember, knew people's minds. He knew what was inside man. Jesus knew the condition of these people's hearts, and He was filled with anger. He went ahead and healed the man. They left and started a conspiracy to try to bring something against the Lord.

c. There are times when people try to pass off a sinful type of anger as righteous indignation, but there is a difference. The Bible doesn't condemn all anger.

2. There is a particular anger that the Bible does condemn, and that's what we're concerned about today. We all have emotions and some of us are probably better able to control our emotions than others. We also have things that displease us. Some people have more things that displease them than others. Since we all have emotions and we all have things that displease us, we're all subject to being angry. It can happen. It can happen to the best of us. These verses teach us not to sin as a result of being angry. Notice what it says, be angry, and do not sin. What we're being taught is not to sin as a result of being angry.

C. It is the anger that leads us to sin that scripture condemns. We're all subject to it, but the Bible teaches us to have it under control. As we examine the scriptures, we see that often this particular anger is also referred to as wrath. Anger that causes sin is condemned, not justified, not rationalized; it's condemned in the scriptures.

1. Let's look at Ephesians 4:31-32. “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.” Verse 31 is very clear in teaching us that wrath and anger are to be put away. In my Bible, it says, all, all of it. Not some of it, not just a little bit of it, but it says, Let all of it be put away.
2. In Galatians 5: Verses 19-21, the works of the flesh are listed. These are serious matters because they'll keep people from inheriting the Kingdom of God. Verse 20 includes wrath. That's the uncontrolled anger that we're concerned about.
3. Colossians 3:8. “But now you must also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.”
4. I think it's interesting that a long, long time ago, back in the first century, it was necessary for these instructions about wrath to be given to the Lord's people in various areas.

a. Ephesians was written to the Christians living in the city of Ephesus. Galatians was written to the Christians living in the area known as Galatia. Colossians was written to Christians living in Colossi. It was important for them to be taught about the perils of anger.
b. It is important for us as well. We live in the same old world, and the same old things that were present in the first century are still present today.

III. We are being taught in Ephesians 4:26-27 that our anger must be controlled and we must not allow it to result in sin. That being the case, let's turn our attention to some instructions that will help us to control anger.

A. Ephesians 4:26 says, Let not the Sun go down upon your wrath.

1. In other words, let go of your anger the same day it arises. Easier said than done you might say. Yet it can be done and must be done. Otherwise, God wouldn't tell us to do it. The problem is not God and His word. The problem sometimes is our implementation of what He wants us to do.
2. What good is it to go to the doctor and they tell us what to do, but then we don’t do it? The great physician tells us to not let the sun go down upon our wrath. We have already seen from the Book of Proverbs that anger leads to other sins. If it's not turned loose, if we do not let it go, then it leads to things such as malice, hatred, and even a desire for revenge. Don't let the sun go down upon your wrath.

B. Look at Ephesians 4:27. This verse says that we're not to give place to the devil. We must determine in our hearts that we're not going to give Satan the opportunity to lead us into sin.

1. As James said, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. The devil has many tools at his disposal. The Bible teaches that he's crafty. He's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He knows our strengths, and he knows our weaknesses. Do you think he's going to attack us where we're strong? No. He'll attack us where we're weak. If he knows that we have a problem with anger, you better believe he's going to attack it with all he's worth.
2. The Bible says, Resist the devil. We have to stand up against him. Anger is a point of temptation. When we're tempted to become angry and fly off the handle, as we sometimes say, we have to resist the devil. If we do that, he will flee from us. That doesn't say he won't come back because he will. He walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, 1 Peter 5:8. If he's resisted though, he will flee.

C. These are some very helpful instructions. Don't let the sun go down upon your wrath and don't give place to the devil. Let’s look at some additional instructions. I’m going now to the Book of Romans, and in chapter 12 there are some very short instructions given to us that are very, very helpful in leading us to live as the Lord wants us to live.

1. Romans 12:19 teaches us to remember that vengeance belongs to God. “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.””[ESV] Often these days we hear about or even find ourselves exposed - to road rage. Do you know what the root problem behind a lot of that is? It’s anger on behalf of the person who started it. Often the other person responds by wanting to take vengeance. It can lead to very serious consequences. We have to remember that vengeance belongs to God. He can enforce it a whole lot more fairly and a lot more forcefully than I can.
2. Vengeance belongs unto the Lord. Let's look at Romans 12:20-21. “Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”[NKJV] These verses teach us to overcome evil with good. If we respond to evil with evil, that's the wrong way to go. That's going to lead to a conflict. You know that as well as I do. If you respond to evil with good, even though the other person may not change, you just might give them something to think about. You never know how that might lead to a change of life later on for that person.
3. A man was in a public setting, and some various opinions were being batted about. This man let an offender go instead of avenging himself for an insult he had received. His friend Bob criticized him for that, telling him he should have stood up to the man. The man replied, “Tell me Bob, if you were climbing a hill, and a great stone rolled down toward you, would you consider it disgraceful to step aside and allow it to roll past? There is no disgrace in avoiding and giving way to a person aroused by anger until they have had time reflect on their actions.” To overcome evil with good… that's not always easy, but it's still the right thing to do. It's the right thing to do, and the Lord will bless us for it.
4. As we think about instructions that will help us control anger, we have to look at James 1:19-20. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” Swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Notice the order given here. Why do you suppose it is important we follow that order? James says, “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God”. Man's uncontrolled anger won't lead him to do God's righteousness.

a. Anger will lead us to participate in unrighteousness. We need to follow this order. Develop the habit of being swift to hear. Rather than spout off with something before the other is done speaking, take the time to listen. Rather than be quick to speak, be slow to speak. Don't be hot-headed and quick-tempered. The Bible says, be slow to wrath.
b. If more people would follow those instructions, our world would be a lot better place. The Lord's Brother wrote in the first century to Christians. It was important for them to learn this, and we need to learn the same lesson today.

5. Let’s recap these instructions that will help us to control our anger. Don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Don't give place to the devil. Remember that vengeance belongs unto God. Remember to overcome evil with good. Then we need to follow the instructions of James to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. If we treat people according to the first promptings of anger, we shall always do them wrong.

CONCLUSION:
Let’s look at Proverbs as we close. It's amazing to me how much the Book of Proverbs has to say on this subject that we're studying. Let's look at Proverbs 15:1. So far, we emphasized the fact that we are to control our anger, but we're also responsible for avoiding things that will cause other people to become angry. Listen to this verse, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” When we respond to someone else's anger, we have to do so in the right way. We have to refrain from doing and saying things that will cause others to become even angrier. This is one of the reasons I will never attend a demonstration. Solomon here is dealing with defusing a serious situation. You've got a volatile situation where an explosion can take place. What has to be done? It's got to be defused. Just like an unexploded bomb. How do you do that? Respond to someone else's anger with a soft answer. Remain in control. That will defuse the situation many times. If we do our part, then it's the other person’s responsibility to not escalate. We, however, are still obligated to follow the Lord's will. A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up even more anger.
We are responsible for controlling our anger, and scripture teaches us to refrain from doing and saying things that will cause others to become angry.

Let's turn to Proverbs 14:29. Notice the contrast here, “He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly.” There's a contrast made here between someone slow to wrath and someone who is hasty of spirit. These verses teach us that we need to consider ourselves and ask; am I slow to wrath? Or, am I hasty of spirit? Am I able to keep things under control, Or am I prone to fly off the handle? Some people have the mistaken idea that being quick-tempered and quick to say harsh words is a sign of strength. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Proverbs 16:32. “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” I'm amazed at the great illustrations that are presented to us in the Bible. You think about a mighty warrior as someone who's able to take an entire city, a great military leader. We would consider him to be a strong person, wouldn't we? Well, here the Bible is teaching us that someone who has his anger under control is a really strong man or a strong woman. One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, a mighty warrior. And someone who can control his spirit is better or stronger than one who can take an entire city. So while men might have a problem looking at that in that way, we know how the Lord views it. He teaches us that true strength is having our anger under control. And a soft answer turns away wrath. I'm very concerned about things we see happening in our country and our world. One of the reasons why there's so much evil and why there's so much harshness, even to the taking of innocent lives, is because people don't have their anger under control. I want to say this, any religion that teaches people to act on their anger and take the lives of other people didn't come from God.

We know from our study today what God Almighty has said in His word. In our own country, we find a lot of things to blame for irrational behavior. But let's go to the heart of the matter. Uncontrolled anger is what we need to deal with. Unfortunately, we don't find too many people willing to control their anger.

Isn't it interesting that this old book that's been around for a long, long time tells us what we need to know? Yet, so many reject what it says. God help us to open our Bible, study it afresh, learn the Lord's will, and then put it into practice to the very best of our ability. We will be pleasing the Lord. We will have a good influence on others, and we'll be prepared to meet the Lord on that last great day. Let's remember these very important passages and consider them regularly. They can change our lives for the better, and as that happens, other lives will be changed for the better as well.

The lesson is yours. If there is anyone in the assembly today who has the need to be buried with Christ in baptism or anyone who desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage you to come forward while we stand and sing. 

# ??? Reference Sermon by: Raymond Sieg