Conservative Christians hate sin and value authority structures. And I concur with those sentiments. Sin is THE problem with the world, and I hate it. God set up authority structures in the Christian community as a means of His GRACE and GOODNESS in our lives (this sermon is particularly good on this subject). I value God’s authority structure deeply. But we can hate sin and value authority to the point that we sin in our hatred and sin in our authority. Sin in defense of both of these ideas happens with sickening regularity in conservative Christianity, and it is as wrong and destructive to the kingdom of God as anything we’re trying to react against.
Thankfully, Scripture clearly addresses these issues.
James 1:19-20 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
This is a profound warning. Man’s anger does not produce the righteousness of God. Don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking that an angry rant against sin is any less sinful than the original sin itself. That is unbiblical thinking.
The authority figure that wants to justify his sinful anger will often cite Jesus overturning the moneychangers’ tables in the temple as justification. But this act was particularly about revealing Himself as the Son of God with the authority to do exactly what He was doing (read the reactions of His disciples and the Pharisees in every one of the gospels – they all marvel at His AUTHORITY). Claiming this particular act of His as justification for angry rants of righteous indignation is COMPLETELY without merit. It’s like claiming you can forgive sins because Jesus does in Mark 2. Or that you can heal a blind man because He does in John 9. Each of those acts are particular things that Jesus did that established His identity as God and His authority as His Son. And He does NOT call us to do the same. There is no command anywhere in Scripture that even remotely comes close to justifying a turning-tables-in-the-temple response by you or I.
Yet, we are called to be like Christ. But we must let Scripture define what that looks like as well.
Phil. 2:3-8 Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Be very wary of the teacher or spiritual authority figure that doesn’t get this distinction!
The Scripture at times allows for anger, but it commands that if you are angry, don’t sin with it. The context of that instruction in Ephesians 4 is our language. So if you are angry, deal with it before it exits your lips. Angry speech never ministers grace to the hearer. It doesn’t “produce” anything righteous. Instead it sucks grace out of the room. Ephesians 4 is clear on this. Nowhere does Scripture EVER say that anger accomplishes any good for God’s Kingdom. Nowhere!! And Scripture does actually say the exact opposite – that man’s anger definitely does NOT accomplish God’s righteousness.
You can get angry and not sin. In other words, you can maintain the status quo if you control your anger and keep your mouth shut. But you cannot get angry and positively move yourself or others in righteousness. Anger submitted to God can morph into something God can use. But it must transform – perhaps into resolution, resolve, or conviction but always submitted to the constraints of Biblical language – before it can have any use in God’s kingdom.
So our first problem is that we conservative Christians hate sin and have bought into the lie (that is directly contradicted in Scripture) that “righteous anger” actually accomplishes anything righteous. The second problem is that we, rightfully, value God’s authority structures. I won’t write out the Biblical restraints that Scripture enforces on it’s own God ordained authority structures because I just did in a recent blog post. But we need to understand that God not only sets up authority structures, He also sets them up with restraints. On this particular issue, God specifically says that a man is disqualified from holding the office of an elder if he has an anger problem. The Amplified Bible is insightful on the qualifications of elders.
1 Timothy 3:3 (Amplified Bible) … not combative but gentle and considerate, not quarrelsome but forbearing and peaceable, and not a lover of money [insatiable for wealth and ready to obtain it by questionable means].
Angry men shouldn’t be elders. God knows that authority can be abused, and His restraint on the office of elder/pastor is that men known for their verbal anger or physical violence are not to be trusted with such authority.
If you hate sin and realize that “righteous anger” isn’t the answer, what is it that equips you to change?
Titus 2:11-13 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
It is the preaching of gospel grace that disciples us in righteousness! Gospel grace trains us to renounce sin and to replace it with godly living. Beware the spiritual authority figure who doesn’t understand that GRACE is God’s chosen method for dealing with sin and turning man toward righteousness. He doesn’t believe in the power of the gospel, grace seems wimpy, and he takes it into his own hands to bring about righteous change. He has an anger problem. But more importantly, he has a gospel problem.
“Righteous anger” is reserved by God for the day of judgment, and it is His and His alone to use. Beware the spiritual authority figure who uses such faulty reasoning from Scripture to justify his anger problem. He is not qualified to hold spiritual office, and it is not becoming to Biblical Christianity to allow him to. If we want to be more than just conservative Christians and actually be Biblical Christians, we need to honestly assess ourselves and obey Scripture on this issue.
**A commenter pointed out the lack of grace and hope extended in this post to men who struggle with anger. I must correct that. For the angry man too is not defined by his anger but by his identity as a son of God. I have seen angry men humbled and tearful when they come to their senses after a rant of angry destruction. Many hate their sin. And there is great hope in the gospel that through the renewing of the Spirit, they (or you) can put off their anger and put on new ways of dealing with sin that reflect the humility and grace of Christ.**
6 comments:
Proverbs 19:19 says, "A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again."
Thank you for your post.
Kindest regards,
Brook
http://www.Matt5verse6.blogspot.com
I have considered Proverbs 19:19 quite a bit over the years and have seen a few men of wrath get repeatedly bailed out by others only to see those men give themselves over to wrath again, get themselves trouble, and blame othersfor the trouble instead of considering their anger as a contributor. Few things are disappointing quite like seeing people given to anger continuing to think that it is their anger that establishes their righeousness. The folks who would benefit from actually acknowledging their own anger are rarely the ones using it to, as it were, mobilize the troops.
Jesus snorting with rage was at the tomb of Lazarus, if memory serves, and not at the moneychangers tables. Doesn't mean Jesus wasn't angry cleansing the temple but in all the gospels Jesus' greatest anger was at death. I'm remembering a Tim Keller sermon on the passage in John having read your comment. When Jesus displays His greatest anger at an enemy that will destroy us all it's hard for us to mimic that anger since we are inevitably powerless in the face of death. We can, however, place our hope in Him to deliver us even in the midst of the death that we face and see around us. I've had three people I have known to different degrees die this year so (you know) I'm not thinking about any of this from an abstract level.
I ran into this post from someone I know who reads this blog. I thought this was an informed and doctrinally correct post, but I wonder if there could be more redemptive language in it?
I think labelling people as "angry men" for example, might be counter-productive. Christians get sinfully angry, they struggle with gossip, they sin by lusting, they sin by making things idols... Yet, I think we would be doing these people a disservice by labelling them "angry men," "lust-addicts," "gossipers" and "idolaters." Our first identity as Christians is in Christ, redeemed by his blood. That is not to say we don't call out sin, identify it and put it to death - but is it possible that the language of this post goes into labelling more than it ought?
Anger is a sin that often (in fact, almost always) damages others, and so those on the other end of anger often want justice and sometimes punishment/retribution. They may not get "angry" about it (as was done to them), but this can lead to bitterness and unforgiveness. We have to be cautious as we deal with these sins which are particularly damaging (anger and adultery are the first two which come to my mind) that we who were damaged do not fall into those sins which are the refuge of the victim.
The gospel reminds one who sins in anger that he has no right to be angry - the wrath of God is pure and righteous, yet we have been spared this wrath by God's mercy and love. The one who is hurt by anger also is informed by the gospel: because of our sin, we deserved even greater wrath and anger than was shown by that "angry man" - our guilt was worthy of the greatest wrath imaginable.
My own experience, having been on both ends of sinful anger, is that Christians who sin in anger need help just like anyone else struggling with sin. However it is often difficult to see "angry men" as sinners saved by grace because of the damage they have done to us or people we know or with whom we sympathise. It is even more difficult to get past our own attitudes of victimhood and make firm and decisive steps towards working with the "angry man" to see him sanctified and his sin put to death.
C, that is a great point. I have tried in the past to show that gospel grace is the best response and help to those who angrily sin against us, but I didn't aim the gospel in their direction in this post. My first point was simply that they shouldn't hold spiritual office. But I should have also had some measure of hope for change directed toward them. Your point is well received.
I remember a sermon about how I shouldn't chastise my son b/c he was a man at 13. Any chastisement would be assault.
And yet when I complained of my husband's abuse, I was told that I "...should be willing to be a martyr for Jesus Christ..."
This same pastor once had all the teen girls stand up so he could "rebuke" them as whores for being too fast while he refused to "rebuke" the teen boys b/c they would be damaged by some action.
so yes, sin can hide (or even be very obvious) when the authority figure supplants the Bible for whatever his reasoning maybe.
And yes, I am glad that we are reminded of the grace of God that extends to all our sin even men and women with anger issues.
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