Is anger worth it?
Del Tackett recommended a book entitled, I Once Was Lost (https://www.amazon.com/Once-Was-Lost-Postmodern-Skeptics/dp/083083608X). It is by two campus ministers who explored how their former students came to faith in Christ. What they found was these students all started with a need to find a Christian they could trust. Our walk through the Sermon on the Mount has challenged us to focus on the internal heart change rather than behavior modification. As we saw Sunday, cleaning the outside of the cup/life without addressing the inside of the cup/life leaves us hypocrites just like the scribes and Pharisees; or we are like whitewashed tombs, full of deadness but looking good on the outside (Matthew 23). The character trait of a hypocrite is never going to enable another person, especially a lost person, to trust us.
Sunday we saw where Jesus addressed murder and anger. When our talk about loving God and loving others is not mirrored in our words, attitudes and relationships with others, it becomes apparent to all those that are in our sphere of influence. And when this hypocrisy is apparent our witness is tainted, trust is not built and the gospel is not shared. This is part of the reason Jesus gives us applications dealing with worship. Our attitude and unresolved anger inhibit our ability to worship God, to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. And they also affect those around us in freedom to worship. Is anger worth it? No more than actually murdering someone, but the results are destructive. This is the pathway of the enemy (John 10:10a) while reconciliation (whether with God alone or God and then man) is the purpose Jesus came to give us (John 10:10b).
Is murder or anger a part of the citizenship of heaven? The Pharisees would say “no” to murder, but not address anger (note their actions towards Jesus). Our passage Sunday, thankfully, stated, “but I say to you.” Neither murder or anger are hallmarks or character traits of those who call themselves the children of God. As I asked Sunday, is a diaper change needed?
Pressing on…
Ron Tipton, Senior Pastor
