SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/11/2020 8:19 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Evil and Danger of Anger
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:22a
Message of the verse: “everyone who is
angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court.”
When
we talk about anger we know that there are certain kinds of anger that are
found in the Word of God, and in the life of Jesus that are not sinful. When we look at John 2:14-17 and Matthew
21:12-13 we see that Jesus cleansed the Temple of God and did it with righteous
anger. We will look at the section from
John’s gospel: “14
And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and
the money changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of
cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the
oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their
tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these
things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business." 17 His
disciples remembered that it was written, "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL
CONSUME ME.’” Next we will look at
Ephesians 4:26 “BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down
on your anger,” and the reason why is found in verse 27 “and do not give the
devil an opportunity.” So as stated
before that there is righteous anger that is not sinful, and faithfulness to
Christ sometimes does demand this kind of anger, but we must be careful to make
sure that are anger is not sinful. I
mentioned that there was a lady in our church who along with her husband spoke
of the ministry that God had given her at an abortion clinic and when she and
her family first went there she was angry over abortion, and I suppose that is
something that is not sinful to be angry over.
God taught her to curb her anger so that she could minister to the
ladies who were about to abort their babies, or to kill their babies. The ministry is now growing and she has
learned to have great compassion to these ladies as she talks to them and saves
some of the baby’s lives and then ministers to the ladies as some have received
Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
John
MacArthur writes “In our day of peace and harmony at any cost, of positive
thinking, and of confusion godly love with human sentimentality, we often need
to show more anger against certain things.
There are things in our country, our communities, our schools, and even
in our churches about which we have no excuse for not being angry, vocally
angry. Many of the trends in our
society, many of the philosophies and standards to which our children are exposed, and some of the unbiblical philosophies
and standards within evangelicalism need to be challenged with righteous
indignation, because they attack the kingdom and glory of God. God Himself is ‘angry with the wicked every
day’ (Ps. 7:11 KJV).”
In
the section that we are looking at this morning Jesus is not talking about
godly anger as the verse indicates, about anger over God being dishonored, but
He is talking about selfish anger, anger against a brother, whoever that might
be, and the reason is that person has done something against us, or perhaps
that person simply irritates and displeases us.
MacArthur adds “Orgizo (to be
angry) has to do with brooding, simmering anger that is natured and not allowed
to die. It is seen in the holding of a
grudge, in the smoldering bitterness that refuses to forgive. It is the anger that cherishes resentment and
does not want reconciliation. The writer
of Hebrews identifies its dept and intensity as a ‘root of bitterness’ (Heb.
12:15).”
This
kind of anger Jesus says is a form of murder, and the person who harbors angers
“shall be guilty before the court.” If
one is guilty before the civil court they should have been guilty of murder and
they should deserve the death penalty. “Anger
merits execution, because the fruit of anger is murder.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: There is much to think about in this section
in light of all the anger that is being seen around our country today. Our country is on the brink of falling, and
our only hope is Jesus Christ.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I trust the
Lord to use me to get the word out so many people can be saved.
8/11/2020 9:03 AM
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