1. By Roger Stoesz

2. Two tales: The man with the speeding ticket and the two missionaries

3. My early belief about anger

4. Is it possible that anger could be a gift from God and something that if we learn to control can be expressed in healthy and life giving ways?

5. What was Jesus angry about and how did he express that anger?

6. In Mat.4:10 (Mk.1:12-13; Lk.4:1-13) Jesus is being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. In Mat.12:34; 15:7; 22:18; 23:13-36; Mark 3:5 Jesus is angry with the religious leaders. In Mat.21:12-13 (Mk.11:12-19; Lk.19:45- 48) Jesus is angry with the shop keepers and money changers who have set up business in the temple, turning God’s house of prayer into a market.

7. The conversation after my last message What the conversation left me with was a curiosity about whether we are uncomfortable with an angry Jesus.

8. Does an angry Jesus make you uncomfortable? And if so why?

9. A closer look at Jesus’ anger (Mk.2:23-3:6)

10. 23 One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grain fields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. 24 But the Pharisees said to Jesus, “Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?” 25 Jesus said to them, “Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 26 He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.”

11. 27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” 3 Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. 2 Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.

12. 3 Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” 4 Then he turned to his critics and asked, “Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” But they wouldn’t answer him. 5 He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! 6 At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.

13. The first thing I notice is that Jesus is slow to anger. The second thing I notice is that Jesus, the Prince of Peace isn’t afraid of a confrontation. The third thing I notice is how Jesus expresses his anger and how he doesn’t express his anger.

14. The fourth thing I notice is that Jesus is not only angry at the religious leaders he is also saddened by them

15. In Jesus both anger and love could be present together

16. Peter, in his last talk shared about the term for disciple, mathetes, saying that it refers to being a follower of Christ, an imitator of Christ. If we are to be imitators of Christ it probably involves us being imitators of his anger.

17. So how can we imitate the anger of Jesus in our lives and partner with God in his purposes?

18. By facing our anger with humility and wisdom

19. Jas.1:19-20 – “You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

20. Eph.4:26-27 – “Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry. For anger gives a foothold to the devil.”

21. God can use our anger but not our bitterness. Satan, however, is more than happy to use our bitterness to do his work.

23. “That Monday I went home with a heavy heart,” he wrote In his autobiography. “I was weighed down by a terrible sense of guilt, remembering that on two or three occasions I had allowed myself to become angry and indignant. I had spoken hastily and resentfully. Yet I knew that this was no way to solve a problem. ‘You must not harbor anger,’ I admonished myself. ‘You must be willing to suffer the anger of the opponent and not return anger. You must not become bitter. No matter how emotional your opponents Are you must remain calm.’” Martin Luther King Jr.

24. By allowing God to stir up within us his anger

25. There have been several people in history that were clearly motivated by anger that have done some great things to curb injustice in our world

27. She decided to channel her grief and anger into fighting drunk driving

28. One more example

30. Don’t waste your anger

31. If we are regularly getting angry about so many trivial things how can God stir up his anger in us to make a difference in the things that really matter?

32. “Let my heart by broken by the things that break the heart of God.” Bob Pierce (founder of World Vision and Samaritan’s Purse)

33. Like Jesus I think we often need more than God’s compassion to motivate us to do what he is calling us to do, we also need his anger

34. “Let my heart be broken by the things that break your heart and at the same time, following Christ’s example, let it be stirred to anger by the things that stir your heart to anger.” My rephrased version with additions