What the Bible Says About Anger [Repost]

From here: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/challies/XhEt/~3/kMXRtwtxgtk/what-the-bible-says-about-anger
I suppose it should come as no surprise that the Bible has a great deal to say about anger. Anger is, after all, not only a result of sin but also a common cause of sin. Here is what the Bible has to say: It is good to be slow to anger. Those who are quick to anger display a lack of wisdom. Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. (Proverbs 14:29) Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. (James 1:19) Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. (Ecclesiastes 7:9) Anger should be addressed as soon as possible because it can easily turn to sin. The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7) You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment …. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. (Matthew 5:21-24) Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger. (Ephesians 4:26) Though at times anger can be righteous (see especially Mark 3:5 where Jesus becomes angry), anger is generally to be avoided.
For I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. (2 Corinthians 12:20)
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 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.
(Galatians 5:19-21) Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (Ephesians 4:31) But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.
(Colossians 3:8) 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. (James 1:19-20)

Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders

Matthew 23 is a favorite...and below I have some thoughts on making this practical.
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Jesus Criticizes the Religious Leaders:
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.* 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.

5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.* 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’* 8 “Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters.*

9 And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your spiritual Father. 10 And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you must be a servant. 12 But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
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Verse three is the first big shocker. It's "do what the Bible says" but "don't follow the example" of those who are not practicing what they teach. So how do we know if a "teacher" is practicing what they teach? One word: LOVE. Does the "teacher" exemplify the sort of Calvary love which our Lord revealed to us? Is his or her life defined by love, driven by love, and known by others as love? Is the legacy he will leave a legacy of unconditional, self-sacrificial love, and not just to a select few, but to all those who knew him? The religious leaders were known for crushing "people with unbearable religious demands."  We are all to be known by our love for one another.

"Everything they do is for show." But what if its not "everything" but just "some things" they do is for show? Well, it's still wrong. Now this is a matter of the heart mostly. Each of us must ask the Spirit of God to search  our innermost and weed out that which we do for show. We must place ourselves on the alter and let God kill our pride and our insatiable flesh desire for human approval. Our approval must always come from God. And because our fallen selves always war against the Spirit the task of killing this pride is ongoing, internal, and deeply personal. Occasionally, however, it is obvious to us that another person "loves to sit at the head table" or in a special seat in church. And it's obvious that they love "respectful greetings" and special titles. Note that the instruction is to the leader, that he should "not let anyone call him" Rabbi, or any other special title. Why this instruction? Because "we are are all equal as brothers and sisters." Once again, "we are all EQUAL as brothers and sisters" in Christ. That's the church!

But what should we do in the case that a church leader does not personally refuse special titles and special treatment?

1. Number one: Stop feeding their ego! Don't let them have the special seat or special title. It's not good for them and it's not good for those of us who give it to them. Leaders are to be known not by their titles or chairs but by their love and servant-hood. If they won't lead by example those "followers" must rise up and declare the necessity of Christ's teaching -- that we must be known by our LOVE. Anything else is religion -- watered-down, ineffective, divisive, power-less religion.  
2. Number two: Pray for them. Most likely their desire for a special place and a special title comes from a spiritual identity crisis. We are to have our full identity in Christ Himself -- in Who He is and what He has done for us. There is nothing the world can offer that can give us security. A special title and special chair actually breeds more insecurity. We must pour over the scriptures that teach us exactly WHO we are in Christ and little by little those desires for anything the world can give us will be replaced by only that which Christ can give us. So we must pray for them and for one another, and always point to Christ as the author and perfecter of our faith.  

A religious person and a religious church is a weak person and a weak church. It reminds me of the structures my kids like to build with our base-ten math set. Some of them are SO ready to fall. Their impact on the world will fade into history. So purge the religious before it does. There's always time to do so if we humble ourselves immediately and dedicate ourselves to God's sort of unconditional love. 

That's our job -- to humble "ourselves." God's job is to exalt. Ours is to be humble and to serve.

The greatest among you must be a servant. 

But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, 

and those who humble themselves will be exalted.  

The Berlin Walls of the Heart

Last week I laid my hand on part of the original Berlin Wall. Then I walked around and lay my had on that other side. I went back and forth, touching it, leaning against it, looking up at the top and imaging an attempt to get over it. I walked down along side of it. I imagined I was in communist country, the East side, and I want my freedom so badly I considered risking my life. That's what so many did.

We discovered it wasn't just one single wall. It was several walls with distance between them. If you made it over one wall you then had to run 30 feet and jump a steal structure. If you make that you run another 20 feet and jump a barb-wire fence. All the time you're hoping you don't get shot! My assumption was there was this wall. It divided the city. Period. But keeping people from leaving bondage Berlin and getting into the new land of freedom was a full-time, expensive, and difficult task. I have a few thoughts and observations.

One: Creating a wall to keep people from being free is a very difficult, ongoing job.

Well after the War, far enough in the future that the remains of Hitler's most zelous followers were certainly decayed to bones, there was a great army of builders and guards assigned to this massive Berlin wall project. And it was indeed massive, the upkeep project that is. It would be easy if you could just build a wall and walk away. But not this time; not this sort of wall. This is a wall for a specific greater purpose than your average property marker wall, or animal containment wall. This wall was for the people; people who kept on and kept on trying to get free. Their desire for freedom made them relentless and resourceful. Many died trying to cross over. But many others made it freedom. Enough people did make it to freedom that it emboldened those still in bondage. The more people became brave the more they would try to escape. The more people would try to escape the more effort and material was added to the Wall. Creating a wall to keep people from being free is a very difficult, ongoing job.

Two: NO one was trying to escape from the free side into the communist side. No one.

Freedom is a basic human need. A Dictator is simply someone who dictates to another how they should live their lives, thus robbing them of basic freedom. The drive to be free from a dictatorship is as strong as our will to live, eat, or love. Therefore the real burden to maintain a communist way of thinking and living falls to the Dictator and his most dedicated adherents. But this is different than the desire to be governed. People DO want laws that provide for a greater, more safe, level of freedom. But if a leader crosses the line of law making into the gross area of complete life-management, taking over your life and declaring it the property of the State, then you can be sure the fight for freedom will begin. People always, always move toward freedom.

Three: The Berlin Wall is a two-fold symbol.

On the one hand it is a symbol of division, reminding us about our human nature and the easy way in which we can slip into separation.  On the other hand it is also a symbol of change, reminding us that it is never too late to make it right, to tear down that wall.

We all have the potential to build Berlin Walls of the heart.

One of the GREATEST challenges to being is a Christ-follower is learning how to be friends with those who disagree with us and how to love those who have different views of how to be a Christian. The KEY to to learning this, I'm convinced, is knowing WHO we are in Christ! If we are secure in our identity we are less likely to be threatened by another person's interpretation of scripture, or preference in worship, or goals for parenting, or believe in man's origin, or theology of the church or .... etc., etc., etc. Pick a topic. At any given point if we are not drawing our self-worth from the God who created and defines us we are more likely to construct walls in our hearts. Once the wall project begins it will be a constant labor, stealing our joy and draining our spiritual vivacity.

Fortunately the walls of our hearts can come down and we can experience great freedom ourselves, as well as set others free who we lead or influence. I know this personally, because I made a Berlin Wall in my own heart, dividing in my mind a true and right way to be fully "Christian" from a great many of wrong ways. This was my wall of judgementalism. As it grew I had to maintain it. The Wall project began to consume me.

The great enemy of God is a Dictator himself and is an expert Wall builder. I let him in to swing his hammer and pour his mortar. I spent so much energy maintaining my own heart's wall.  And it wasn't easy, because my own heart also wanted to be free. Fortunately, the Spirit of God is represented by a dove, a perfect symbol of freedom. He flew over to my side of the wall and brought a green blade of grass from the other side. I realized in that season of my life that loving others regardless of whether they agreed with me was indeed a greener grass on the other side of the wall. And I wanted that freedom, the freedom to recognize and cooperate with the millions of Christians around the world, and not think my own little way of "church" was the only right way, or the best way. The beauty of the grass became a weapon against the wall, allowing me to chip away -- and then hack away -- at the foundations of the wall. And I could hear a voice, not the gruff cowboy voice of Ronald Raegan, but the sweet soft voice of God Himself whispering to me, 'Tear down this wall.' And so I did. Today I cannot describe the great happiness which comes from the freedom of not judging other Christians if they don't believe like I do.

It is never too late to obey God's sweet voice and tear down the walls of our heart. The walls don't make those persons on the free side want to come into our hearts, nor are they able. Our barrier attitude does not make the free less free, or less happy. They are the free ones. When we build walls we are those who are NOT free. Our wall only harms us. And we have to work so hard to maintain it. God never intended for His children to build walls. God never intended for churches to build walls.

It's time to tear down these walls in our heats and unite to build God's Kingdom instead.

“The worst thing is not being wrong, but being sure one is not wrong.”

“The worst thing is not being wrong, but being sure one is not wrong.” ~ Paul Tournier

"...knowledge puffs up while love builds up." 

~ 1 Corinthians 8:1

If you ever come across a teacher who thinks that he has all or most of the right answers -- about God, Church, Bible, Creation, etc. -- do proceed with extreme caution! There is nothing more dangerous than a proud religious leader who believes his or her interpretation of Scripture is the only correct one. I have seen so much damage done to fragile faith and young believers when those with charisma and influence do not take the humble road and question their own opinions and interpretations.
I knew a teacher in a church one time who was so sure of his own reading of Scripture that he carried a condescending tone with anyone who disagreed with him. I asked him one time how sure he was of himself and he replied, "I am 98% sure of my conclusions. But it might as well be 100%." I'll call this interpretive pride. It's the pride that one's own interpretation of scripture, books, research, etc. should not be questioned, because the interpreter has already risen above all others in their process of discovery and of interpretation. All that remains is for those who are "below" the prideful interpreter to concede his or her knowledge and cease any personal exploration. The result of this spiritually crushing haughty attitude is this:

1. Interpretive pride causes a widening gap between clergy and laity. In many cases the prideful interpreter may not even believe in a clergy-laity distinction. Never-the-less the mere attitude inevitably creates the distinction and the subsequent growing gap because the feeling most followers are left with is we must access God in some way or another through this "smart" man.
2.  

We are to remain true to the teachings of Christ, first and foremost.

Accidental Pharisees! I bet this book is going to be great. Ordering now...

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Accidental Pharisees: Avoiding Pride, Exclusivity, and the Other Dangers of Overzealous Faith [Paperback]

Larry Osborne (Author)

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Book Description

Release Date: October 9, 2012

Zealous faith can have a dangerous, dark side. While recent calls for radical Christians have challenged many to be more passionate about their faith, the down side can be a budding arrogance and self-righteousness that 'accidentally' sneaks into our outlook. In Accidental Pharisees, bestselling author Larry Osborne diagnoses nine of the most common traps that can ensnare Christians on the road to a deeper life of faith. Rejecting attempts to turn the call to follow Christ into a new form of legalism, he shows readers how to avoid the temptations of pride, exclusivity, legalism, and hypocrisy, Larry reminds us that attempts to fan the flames of full-on discipleship and call people to Christlikeness should be rooted in love and humility. Christians stirred by calls to radical discipleship, but unsure how to respond, will be challenged and encouraged to develop a truly Christlike zeal for God.