KILL ANGER BEFORE IT KILLS YOU!

John Owen once wrote in his book On the Mortification of Sin in the Believers Life, "Be killing sin, before it kills you." Sin is the great destroyer of a life. Specifically, the sin of anger is a killer of our soul and life. Anger is a terrible enemy. Anger can have many faces: Rage, hatred, aggression, revenge, bitterness, cynicism, resentment, frustration,feeling that life is out of control and helplessness, tears, silence, picky criticism, it may strike out at persons that have noth­ing to do with its origin, it may strike out at a petty thing when inside it rages against a larger thing. It will often feel warranted by how wrongly it has been treated. After all, Jesus got angry (Mark 3:5), and Paul says, "Be angry and do not sin" (Ephesians 4:26).

I must confess that in my own life good anger is seldom in my life. Oh how I want to have good anger and not sinful anger. I have learned allot about my own sinful anger as a pastor. I have been angry at God for disappointing me, for not fulfilling my hopes and dreams, for seemingly not caring about me, for seemingly blessing those who are carnal or evil and giving much difficulty to the good, and for His plans for me. I have been angry at life for being hard, transient, short, constantly changing, fragile, I have been angry at people who have hurt me, lied to me, left my church for trite and trivial reasons, who have been dishonest with me, who have been ungrateful and disloyal, who spoken bad things or lies behind my back, who have erased themselves from my life with no closure whatsoever,who have used me or the church for what they could get and than thrown us away. In short, in my flesh, I have been very vulnerable to the heinous sin of unrighteous anger.

That's why James says, "Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires" (James 1:19-20). And Paul says, "Men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling" (1 Timothy 2:8). "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you" (Ephesians 4:31).

Therefore, one of the greatest battles of life is the battle to "put away anger," not just control its expressions. To apply what John Owen said, "Kill anger, before it kills you." Let me show you some scriptures that I use to combat this deadly enemy of mine. I am grateful to John Piper who has convicted me and helped me greatly in this area.

1. Ponder the right of Christ to be angry, but how He endured the cross, as an example of long-suffering. Ponder how Christ has been so long suffering towards you in your sins against Him. "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps" (1 Peter 2:21).

2. Ponder how much you have been forgiven, and how much mercy you have been shown. "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). John Newton wrote, "The 'wretch' who has been saved by grace believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him a habitual tenderness and gentleness Spirit. Humble under a sense of much forgiveness to himself, he finds it easy to forgive others."

3.Ponder your own sinfulness and take the beam out of your own eye. "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:3-5).

4. Ponder how harbored anger gives place to the devil. You do not want to make room for him or invite him into your life. "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27).

5. Ponder the foolishness of the numerous detrimental effects of anger to you. Oh what folly! There are spiritual effects that harm my fellowship with Christ. There are mental effects such as depression, despair, hate, bitterness, resentment, and a victim self pitying mentality. There are physical effects. There are numerous relational effects. "Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones" (Proverbs 3:7-8).

6. Confess your sin of anger to some trusted friend, and, if possible, to the offender. This is a great healing act for your soul. "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16).

7. Let your anger be the key to unlock the dungeons of pride and self-pity in your heart and replace them with love. "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

8. Remember that God is going to work all your frustrating­ circumstances for your good as you trust in His grace. God is even using the one who has hurt or wronged you for your good. "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his pur­pose" (Romans 8:28). "Count it all joy, my broth­ers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces stead-fastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:2-4).

9. Remember that God will vindicate your just cause and settle all accounts better than you could. Either your offender will pay in hell, or Christ has paid for him. Your payback would be either double jeopardy or an offense to the cross. "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' (Romans 12:19). "When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting [his cause] to him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23).

So let us all kill anger so that it doesn't kill us. For his name sake, for His glory, for the sake of others, and for our soul's satisfaction. I love God's patience toward me.I love it that God describes Himself as slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Oh, I want to be more like Him! Don't you my friend? May God have mercy on our easily angered hearts! May He forgive our many peeves and murmuring. I pray for us that we would be utterly and fully saturated with merciful, forgiving, long suffering, and contented grace. May we learn to submit to the place God has us and adopt to the pace He is working in our lives. May we show it to others as we desperately need it for ourselves.

Pastor Bill