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Everyday Idols: Anger
Sunday, July 7, 2024
Pastor Jojo Ma
Weekly Bulletin | Worship Lyrics
Galatians 5:16-25
Gal 5:16-25 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
David Powlison: “Every aspect of the Spirit’s fruit is the explicit opposite of sinful anger.”
I. The Problem: How is this self-worship?
Sinful human anger is a form of self-worship because it comes out of a heart of self-exaltation. It is an everyday idol.
Robert Jones, Uprooting Anger: “Anger is a universal problem, prevalent in every culture, experienced by everygeneration. No one is isolated from its presence or immune from its poison. It permeates each person and spoils our most intimate relationships. Anger is a given part of our fallen human fabric…Sadly this is true even in our Christian homes and churches.”
We each need grace, we need the gospel, we need Jesus to take us from self-exaltation to God’s exaltation in our lives.
Do you have difficulty letting go of personal hurts? [Unforgiveness, holding grudges]
Are you known for being argumentative or defensive?
Would you (or others) say you have a short-temper?
When you feel wronged by someone, is your first response one of wrath and vengeance?
Do you have to have the last word?
Are there people you haven’t talked to in a while simply because you’re angry with them?
In arguments, do you say things intended to inflict hurt and focused on “winning”.
Does the very notion of forgiving somebody who’s hurt you make you angry?
If you’re an authority over others, say at work or with your kids, do you have a hard time disciplining without sinful, condescending, venting anger?
Can you say that your anger is like Jesus’ (i.e., for God’s glory and others’ well-being)?
II. The Solution: How does Jesus lead me to true worship?
Admit Responsibility
Ps 51:3-4 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight.
No one causes you to be sinfully angry. The cause is your own heart: your desires, your wants, your cravings, your selfishness, your pride, your desire to control others with your voice or your violence.
Matt 15:18-19 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heartcome evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
Be with Other Believers
Will you be praying about this? Will you ask God to lead you to someone of the same gender to walk with you in your anger?
Confront the Idol
Depend on the Holy Spirit
So lean on Him and depend on Him. Don’t have self-confidence, have God-confidence.
Evangelize Your Heart
Believe the good news that He forgives you as you repent of sinful anger and self-exaltation.
God’s love is not un-conditional, it’s contra-conditional! His love and gospel toward you is against conditions of you earning anything or doing anything to deserve it.
The next time you start to feel like blowing up in anger, or the next time you feel like clamming up in simmering hatred, take a deep, long, look at the love of God for you in Jesus His Son. How does the good news change your heart in those moments (of worship)?
As you go deeper in awe of the gospel, as you see how good and kind God has been to you in the gospel of His Son, you will find yourself being slower to anger, you will see that you’re reacting more and more with calm and reason, you will seek the well-being of others more and more, and you will discover that what you want most of all is to exalt Godand not yourself in those heated moments (of worship). This is true worship. This is where Jesus is taking you.
Foster a Praying Life
Pray to Him; pray Scripture especially. He speaks through His Word. And for this issue of anger, especially read Proverbs, Ephesians, and James. Those 3 books in particular address and dissect the heart of sinful anger.
Graze on Scripture
Rom 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
2 Pet 1:3-4 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Himwho called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.