SUNSETTING OUR ANGER

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on June 25, 2023 under 2023 |

Bethany Bible Church Sermon Message; June 25, 2023 from Ephesians 4:26-27

Theme: We’re to ‘put away’ sinful ways of being angry, and ‘put on’ godly ways of processing it.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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In Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul—under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—gave us a pattern for life-change. It’s a pattern that is only made possible through a relationship with Jesus Christ. But in Jesus, it’s a pattern that can truly transform us in every area of life.

In Ephesians 4:22-24, the apostle wrote to his believing friends and exhorted them

that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:22-24).

Because we have been united to Jesus in such a way that we have—by faith—died with Him on His cross and been raised with Him in His resurrection, we are now new creations in Him. And so, just like taking off old garments and putting on new ones, we’re called upon to ‘put off’ the old practices of sin, be transformed in our thinking by the word of God, and ‘put on’ the new practices of righteousness that characterize our Lord Jesus.

And in order to show us how to put this into action, Paul went on to identify five different areas of life in which this is to be done:

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 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, even as God in Christ forgave you (vv. 25-32).

Now; as I’ve been suggesting to you, each one of these applications deserves its own unique treatment. We shouldn’t rush through them; but we should go slow and learn what we can from each one. And so, today, I ask that we look at the second of them—from verses 26-27;

“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil (vv. 26-27).

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; these two verses present a bit of a challenge. Viewed in the larger surrounding context, what exactly is it that these two verses are telling us to “put off” concerning anger, and what exactly is it telling us to “put on”? It might be tempting to think that we’re to “put off anger”, and put on “not being angry”. But then, how do we account for the fact that it tells us to “be angry”?

This means that we have to be careful and very thoughtful in how we apply these two verses to our lives. And so; let me share with you how I’ve come to understand Paul’s intended meaning. What we’re to “put off” isn’t ‘anger’ itself; because he actually tells us to “be angry”. Rather, what we’re to put off is our old sinful ways of processing that anger. We’re to no longer ‘hold on’ to wrath in the way we used to. We’re to get it into our thinking that we have a powerful spiritual enemy. He knows how to use sinful expressions of anger to destroy our lives and our testimonies for the Lord. And now—being on guard against the devil—we’re to “put on” an expression of anger that is godly and productive. We’re to behave like Jesus in our anger.

And so, I’d like for us to consider these things just exactly as Paul presents them to us in these two verses. First, let’s consider the new practice that is to be ‘put on’; which is, “Be angry, and do not sin”. Second, let’s consider the old practice that is to be ‘put off’; which is, “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath”. And third, let’s consider how we are to be ‘renewed in the spirit of our minds’; and that’s by recognizing the tactics of our enemy and “do not give place to the devil”.

So; let’s begin with the thing to be ‘put on’; which is what we find at the beginning of verse 26 …

1. “BE ANGRY, AND DO NOT SIN.”

Now; what exactly is ‘anger’ anyway? We’ve all felt it; but how do we define it? It’s probably best described as a strong emotion or feeling of irritation or displeasure directed toward a perceived wrongdoing or injustice of some kind. It can also be directed at someone who is perceived to be responsible for that wrongdoing or injustice. If someone’s irritation isn’t really directed toward a perceived cause, then it’s probably not good to call it ‘anger’. It’s better just to call it ‘irritation’. But anger—in order to truly be anger—has to be directed toward something or someone.

And does this then seem like a strange command? Is it surprising to discover that the Bible actually commands us to ‘be angry’? How exactly are we to understand this? Well; we need to know that this isn’t an idea that Paul made up all on his own. He’s actually quoting something from the Old Testament. He’s quoting from Psalm 4. And it will help us if we go back to that psalm and consider what it tells us.

Psalm 4 is a psalm that was written by King David at a very difficult time in his life. Most Old Testament scholars believe that it was written at a time when his son Absalom had stirred up rebellion against him, and had turned many of the people of Israel away from him, in an effort to take over the throne. David had to flee for his life. He began this psalm by calling out to God in his time of need;

Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
You have relieved me in my distress;
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer (Psalm 4:1).

He was in distress because slanderous things were being said about him; and because of how the hearts of the people of Israel were being turned against him. And so; he spoke, as it were, to those who were speaking against him and said;

How long, O you sons of men,
Will you turn my glory to shame?
How long will you love worthlessness
And seek falsehood? Selah
But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly;
The Lord will hear when I call to Him (vv. 2-3).

There’s no question that David would feel anger in his heart over this. It was directed toward an injustice—and a very heart-breaking injustice, because it was from his own son. And what’s more, his anger was justified. Lies were being told about him. His God-given rule as king was being questioned and undermined. And humanly speaking, there didn’t seem to be anything he could do about it. But look at how he went on to process this ‘justifiable anger’. In verses 4-5, he seems to speak to himself—and perhaps (because he speaks, in the original language, in the plural) even to those of us who would watch or read on and become angry along with him—and say,

Be angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the Lord (vv. 4-5).

In the Hebrew language of this passage, it uses a word that means “to tremble” or “to be in awe”—much like when we would be shaking and out of sorts because of our distress. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament (which was what Paul was quoting from), it translates it into the phrase “be angry”. But David spoke to himself—also spoke to those of us who feel this anger along with him—and said, “Do not sin” in the process. He directed these deep emotions in a God-ward direction; and—in the midst of this anger—put his trust in the Lord.

And as a result, David was able to process his justifiable anger in a godly way. He evaluated his feeling of injustice rightly; and went on to write this testimony:

There are many who say,
“Who will show us any good?”
Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.
You have put gladness in my heart,
More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety (vv. 6-8).

Was David angry? Yes! Did he have a right to be angry? Absolutely! But in all of it, he didn’t sin. He didn’t allow his anger to boil over into some kind of vengeful action. Instead, he quieted his heart—trusting that the God who had installed him as king of Israel will secure his throne in due time.

And that’s what the apostle Paul is talking about when he quoted those words—“Be angry, and do not sin”. He was reminding his readers of what King David did with his anger.

Now; there’s a very important principle we learn from this: It’s not wrong—in and of itself—to be angry. Many Christians mistakenly think that it is. But we have the best of all examples to follow in knowing that anger—itself—is not a sinful thing. And that example is none other than our Lord Jesus Himself.

Think, for example, of the time—at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark—when he was in the synagogue on Sabbath. The Jewish religious leaders hated Him and wanted to trap Him. So they planted a poor crippled man in the congregation—knowing that He would compassionately heal the man and break the Sabbath. What an injustice this was on their part! In Mark 3:3-5, we’re told;

And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other (Mark 3:3-5).

I love that story; don’t you? Jesus robbed those religious leaders of their opportunity to accuse Him by the fact that he healed the man without even touching him. But did you notice? Our Lord got angry. He was angry at the Jewish leaders when He saw their hardness of heart.

Or think of the story of how He cleaned out the temple. People were misusing the temple in a very dishonorable way. He cleansed it once at the beginning of His earthly ministry, and did so again just before He went to the cross. He didn’t just ‘feel’ anger over this injustice. He put His anger into action. John 2 tells us about the first time He did this. It says;

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” (John 2:13-17).

I detect ‘anger’ in all of that; don’t you? Great anger, in fact! Zealous anger! And what was He angry about? It was that the holy temple—the house of His Father—was being dishonored and turned into a marketplace!

Or read Matthew 23 sometime! It’s almost shocking to read the ways Jesus expressed His anger in that passage! He was very angry at the scribes and Pharisees—the religious leaders of Israel—who had placed a bunch of rules and regulations on the people that they had made up; and who then wouldn’t even lift a finger to relieve the burden they placed on people’s souls. Over and over, He called them “scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” He called them “blind guides”! He said, “Woe” to them in light of their coming judgment! In verse 33, He even said;

“Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” (Matthew 23:33).

I’d say He was pretty angry; wouldn’t you? Shockingly so! And what was He angry about in these things? He wasn’t angry over any injustices that He Himself had suffered personally. He wasn’t angry about anything that had been done to Him. Rather, He was angry over things like the hardness of heart toward others in need; or over the dishonor of His Father’s name and over the mistreatment of the holy things that belonged to His Father; or over the hypocrisy and falsehood of those who pretended to be holy, but who hid their sin. The objects of His anger were true acts of injustice and wrong-doing.

If we’re angry at the things that our Lord was angry about, then we’re not doing anything out of order. In fact, there are times and situations—injustices such as this that are done in this world—in which we would be in the wrong if we were not angry! Before God, it would be just as wrong to not be angry when we ought to be as it would be to be angry in ways that we shouldn’t be.

But this is where I believe ‘anger’ can present one of the most difficult temptations we face as believers—and this would be especially true for believers who are deeply concerned about righteousness. The more we love Jesus, and the more we are devoted to His high standards in His word, the more we become angry over things that would cause Him to be angry. There legitimately is such a thing as ‘righteous indignation’ … and nowadays, we have a lot of things going on around us over which we should be righteously indignant. But the problem comes in when the ‘righteous’ part of the equation falls out of view … and when all that remains is the ‘indignation’ that we feel. That’s when the unique temptations of ‘anger’ that plague us as Christians begin to show themselves.

Paul’s words tell us, “Be angry”. But they also tell us “and do not sin”. In other words, it’s not wrong—in and of itself—to be angry. Our Lord’s own example confirms that to us. But it’s wrong to sin in our anger. It’s wrong when God’s concerns fall out of focus, and our own selfish concerns get in the way.

The Lord Jesus taught us about this in the Sermon on The Mount. In Matthew 5:21-26, He said;

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:21-26).

To be angry with our brother or sister ‘without cause’ speaks of a bitter resentment that comes from a focus on self. We can detect the presence of this kind of ‘self-focused’ anger by the temptation to resort to name-calling and character assassinations.

Or take a look at Ephesians 4:31. It tells us;

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice (Ephesians 4:31).

What a list! We can know that we’re sinning in our anger by the kind of company that our anger keeps—things like bitterness (which speaks of an ongoing resentment), wrath (which speaks of emotional heat), clamor (which means ‘a shouting match’), and evil speaking (which speaks of slanderous gossip). When our anger is accompanied by sinful things like these, then we know that it’s no longer ‘righteous’ indignation.

So then; Paul’s words teach us that ‘anger’ itself is not wrong. In fact, there are times when we should be angry. But we must not sin in our anger. We must constantly be trusting in the Holy Spirit, looking carefully to God’s word, and making a careful evaluation of ourselves in our anger.

* * * * * * * * * *

So then; that’s what we’re to ‘put on’. We’re to put on anger expressed in a godly way. But what are we to ‘put off’? Paul goes on to tell us in the later half of verse 26 …

2. DO NOT LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON YOUR WRATH.

Now; do you notice that—in the translation that I’m using—Paul doesn’t say that we’re not to let the sun go down on our ‘anger’? It’s translated as, “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath …” Not all translations make that distinction; but the one I’m using does. And that reflects the fact that, in the original language, Paul actually uses a different word than the ordinary word for ‘anger’. He uses a word that means something more along the lines of “being put in an angry mood” or “provoked” or “stirred up” emotionally. Paul uses a form of this word when he writes in Ephesians 6:4 that fathers are not to “provoke” their children “to wrath”.

There’s a difference between ‘being angry’ about a thing, and being ‘provoked to wrath’ about it; isn’t there? One thing has to do with our intelligent responses toward a thing; and the other has to do with how we are emotionally feeling about that thing. And Paul is telling us to “put away” our tendency to keep the emotion of ‘wrath’ going on endlessly within us. We’re to put a stop to it.

King David—who seemed to know a thing or two about this—put it this way in Psalm 37:7-8;

Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm (Psalm 37:7-8).

We’re not to “fret” in our anger. We’re to “cease from anger and forsake wrath”. We’re not to let it sit in us, boil and stew in us indefinitely. Trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit, we’re to bring it under His control. That is what Paul is urging us to do. In fact, he even gives us a time limit and tells us when we’re to bring a stop to it. We’re not to go to bed bearing it in our hearts; but are to, instead, have that emotion resolved in us before the day’s end. We’re to ‘meditate within our hearts on our bed, and be still’. We’re to “sunset” our anger.

Whenever we let that ‘wrath’ boil in us too long, it begins to poison us. It often motivates us to take action in a wrong way—responding to someone’s injustice with an act of injustice all our own. I love how the apostle Paul puts the matter in Romans 12:19-21. He writes;

Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, 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 (Romans 12:19-21).

* * * * * * * * * *

So; we’re to ‘put on’ being angry—and not sin. We’re to ‘put off’ allowing ourselves to hold on to wrath longer than we should. And there’s one more thing we need to notice; and that’s how to renew our minds with the truth.

The truth that we learn from Scripture is that we have a powerful spiritual enemy. As 1 Peter 5: tells us, our adversary the devil “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour”. He has had several thousand years of experience in tempting human beings into sin. He knows how to take advantage of us when we hold on to wrath longer than we should.

And so, as Paul tells us in verse 27 …

3. DO NOT GIVE PLACE TO THE DEVIL.

Another way to put this is, “do not give the devil an opportunity” through your anger. And we do so whenever we process anger wrongly; or hold on to our angry feelings longer than we should; or act out in our anger in a self-interested and vengeful way.

The apostle Paul issued a great warning about this in 2 Corinthians 2. He had to encourage the believers in Corinth to forgive a sinning member of the church who had repented. The Corinthian believers were holding on to their anger against this injustice far longer than they should have. He wrote and told them;

Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices (2 Corinthians 2:10-11).

We shouldn’t be ignorant of his devices either. If we’re not careful, we can become so angry toward someone who fell victim to the devil that we end up doing the devil’s own work for him! That’s why we must not hold on to our angry feelings any longer than we should. We will end up giving the devil a great opportunity against us when we do. We must take the opportunity out of his hand by ‘ceasing our wrath’ by the end of the day.

* * * * * * * * * *

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; let’s ask the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts in this. If we have been failing to be angry at the things that make our Lord angry, then let’s repent—and ‘be angry and do not sin.’ But if we’ve been holding on to anger longer than we should, then let’s also repent of that—and ‘do not let the sun go down on our wrath’. And let’s do it all with great care; because we have a dangerous enemy, and we must ‘not give place to the devil’.

Let’s grow increasingly to be like the Lord Jesus in how we deal with anger.

AE