Scripture Passage
Sermon Text
Jesus turned a sternly word about anger. So I want to talk about anger today. This is what Jesus said, very seriously, “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.” If we take this literally, who can escape the hell of fire? In the course of our lives, we all at least once talk to our brothers – not real brothers, but brothers and sisters, “Are you stupid or are you a fool?” Then you will be liable to the hell of fire. Jesus equated anger even with murder. This is what he said, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’” And immediately after that, he said, “If you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.” Same thing, same punishment.
Anger Within Us
Jesus teaches us that the anger will ultimately bring violence. Murder is violence. So when anger is mature, it all be expressed in violence. Anger is expressed in many ways. Anger has many faces. It’s not just one face, not just in the form of yelling, shouting and cursing. Sometimes anger is expressed in the form of giving a cold shoulder, being rude, completely ignoring, hating, and wanting revenge. Sometimes you don’t show anything on the surface, but deeply you can harbour anger within you. So you don’t even know that there is anger boiling inside of you. It’s not a really obvious emotion, but somehow that anger within you affects you. The way you are, the way you treat others, the way you see your life. Because it’s so deeply embedded within you, sometimes you don’t know. When somebody curses you, immediately you get angry so you know why you’re angry. Because you know the source, you know the reason. But once anger enters deep into your heart, you don’t even know why you’re angry. The source is gone. The reason is gone, but you’re still angry because the anger is still deep within you.
We don’t know how much anger controls us. Anger does not express itself in action. Anger is not action. Anger is what’s inside you. When we have lot of anger within us, even little things can trigger our anger. Nothing, but that little thing can trigger anger within you. Jesus said, “If you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.” It’s not about whether you actually said, “You’re stupid,” or not. Whether “You fool,” or not. That’s not what Jesus meant. Jesus’ main point was whether you have deep anger within you or not.
I don’t want to say that all anger is bad. Not all anger is bad. That’s not what I mean. Anger itself is not a bad thing. Appropriate anger is a sign of healthy emotion. Even Jesus was angry. He was angry in the temple and made a whip and chased out the money changers. It’s not that all anger is bad. When you should be angry, if you cannot be angry, then you’re not healthy. When you’re supposed to be angry or the situation requires you to be angry, if you cannot be angry, then that’s a problem. And also there is a righteous anger, anger for those people who are unjustly treated. You should be angry for them. Let us be careful that we don’t confuse our anger with righteous anger. When you say that this is a righteous anger, deep inside it is just your anger expressed with excuse of righteousness sometimes.
When Anger Takes Control
Whether we have anger within us or not is not what is important. I believe that we all have anger. All of us have anger. There’s nobody who lives without anger, but we have to ask ourselves whether that anger within us is so big that it controls you. When anger takes control of your life and governs you, it will paralyze you. We cannot think logically. We lose touch with reality and it will drive us deep into darkness. When anger controls us, we can never be happy. We’ll live in hell. In personal torment.
We all have anger, but we have to ask ourselves, what should we do with that? What should we do with that? Anger does not stay the same. Anger grows. Small anger can become a huge anger depending on how we deal with it. Jesus gave us the image of fire. Yes, anger is like fire. It doesn’t stay the same. It grows. It can start like a small spark, but it can grow into a huge fire. We should not feed our anger so they become so big that we cannot control it. Once anger becomes so big, you cannot control it. It is not wise to feed a small spark to become a huge fire of hell that you cannot control. Then you cannot even sleep. You cannot eat. You’re consumed with anger and hatred. Some people say, “I don’t want to be angry.” But just because you don’t want to be angry, you cannot control that because anger controls you.
We should not let anger become hatred. Saint Paul said, “Be angry but do not sin.” That means do not let anger harbour within you. “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Do not leave it so that it can become so settled within you. If we keep our anger within us and let it settle within us, then we let the evil take the opportunity to work within us. You’re opening the door for the evil to come in and work within you. Because evil works with your anger. Don’t let anger build a nest within you. Don’t let anger be a master within you. Once it becomes settled and becomes a master within you, then you become a slave to anger. Even if you don’t want to be angry, anger controls you rather than you control the anger.
The Remedy For Anger
Where does this anger come from? Anger comes from fear. Have you ever seen the animal in fear? This is what it looks like. An angry face. Yes. Sometimes some tremble in fear, but when they are threatened, they have this angry face. It’s like self defense. When you are stressed out, sometimes you get angry. Why do you get stressed out? Because you have a lot of work? Because you’re busy? No. No matter how busy you may be, no matter how much work you may have, if you’re efficient you can do well and then you’re productive. You don’t get stressed out. But no matter what you do, when there is no result, then you’re not productive. You’re not doing very well. And then fear comes in. What if I fail? What if I cannot do this? Then you get stressed out. And once you get stressed out, sometimes you express that in anger.
Then if the anger comes from fear, how do we deal with the anger? Let love grow within you because love is only thing drives out fear, casts out fear. This is what first John said, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.” So if anger comes from fear, the best remedy is love that casts out that fear. That subdues the anger.
Because of corona virus, we don’t even shake hands these days. I want to shake your hands, but there’s no remedy. There is no vaccine for corona virus right now. But there is no remedy for anger except love. Love is a vaccine. Love is remedy for our anger. And I don’t want you to fear anger within you. Befriend your anger rather than fearing it. The more you try to get rid of it, the more aggressively anger will take hold of you. That’s not how you get rid of anger. Anger will be always within you, but like a little child, tenderly you care for it. Instead of trying to get rid of it, you have to be tender towards your anger so the anger does not take control of you. Soothe it.
An Offering God Does Not Accept
When we have to discipline ourselves, we have to discipline ourselves to grow love within us. That’s the only way for you to be able to deal with your anger problem. When love finds its place within us, anger loses its gripping power. And then we can use our anger appropriately. Another bad thing is when anger controls us, we cannot give meaningful worship. Worship is not what you do here on Sunday, worship is your heart. But when you’re filled with anger, God is not pleased with your worship. God does not accept the offering of anger. So we cannot give proper worship when we are victims of our own anger.
This is what Matthew said, “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.” God will not be pleased with our offering and our gift that we give while in anger. I was always wondering, why did God receive Abel’s sacrifice but not Cain’s? I was always wondering, did God like meat more than vegetables or corn? This is what is said when you look at Genesis, “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.” I thought Cain was angry because God did not receive his offering. No, he already had anger deep within him. And God saw that. And when God did not receive it, that anger just came out from within. God does not accept the offering that you give out of anger. And ultimately, Cain killed his brother.
Grow In Love
Anger destroys us. Anger not only destroys you, but destroys others. A van incident in North York, gun shootings in Greek town and Dallas and a gun shooting in a synagogue. Just one person’s anger causes so much sadness, sorrow, pain, and hardships in so many people. Anger does so much damage to the people around us. Maybe around us, because of our anger, we might have caused some pain in other people around us. We should not harbour anger within us. It is very destructive. Let us grow love. May the love of God melt the anger within us so that we may be free from that anger that controls us. That is what Jesus wants for us.
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