CTK | Austin
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"The fire within"
Sermon Reflection
Nothing reveals the condition of our hearts quite like anger. Anger is a significant moral emotion because it actually reveals what we love and what we believe ought to be protected, restored, or defended. We must note up front that anger is not inherently sinful. Jesus was angry at times, yet in his anger he never sinned, and God is angry at evil. So the problem is never just anger itself. The problem is that our anger is often disordered. Biblical wisdom does not eliminate anger. Biblical wisdom governs it. If anger reveals what we love, here is our focus: God's wisdom reveals and reorders our loves.
We need to become aware. Wisdom helps us recognize how anger shapes our lives, and we are being shaped constantly. How quickly do I become angry? Do I have a short fuse? The hothead is always looking for something to be angry about, and the way of folly is to be outraged all the time. Pressure always reveals what is real. Pressure doesn't create our problems, it reveals where the fault lines already exist. And anger doesn't stay hidden in the heart. It leaves footprints and fingerprints throughout our lives. A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. Some of us spew and some of us stuff, but what we bury alive rarely stays buried forever. The wise person gives appropriate vent to the anger, governing the response, because biblical self control is not emotional suppression but spirit enabled self control under God's rule.
But we must also become honest. Anger is just a messenger, and wisdom listens before it reacts. We often think anger reveals what we hate, but the truth is anger usually reveals what we love. The opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy. Anger is our emotional response to threatened love. As Augustine taught, sin is not merely loving bad things, it is loving good things in the wrong order. Anger reveals our idols and our fears. What good thing has become your ultimate thing? What desire of yours has now become a demand? Because our anger reveals disordered loves, we need more than better coping strategies. We need our loves to be reordered. We need our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus so that we can become like him.
This is why the order matters. The gospel comes first, the promise, God's grace, and then the law comes in after. The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. We love because He loved us first. It is God's love that leads us to repentance. God's love does not eliminate his wrath, it redirects his wrath against evil and sin. At the cross, God's righteous wrath against sin and against you was poured out fully on Jesus, and Jesus took all of it. For those who kiss the Son, there is no wrath left to bear because Christ has borne all of it. When we get the order wrong and put law first, we open ourselves to the floodgates of anger because we are always losing something. But you cannot earn it. His love is conditioned on the cross and his arms are open for you.
Jesus shows us what it looks like to live free from the fear of ultimate loss. He laid his life down of his own accord, saying no one takes anything from me. He entrusted himself fully to the Father, praying not my will, but yours be done. Because the resurrection is coming, nothing, not suffering, not loss, not even death, can ultimately take from us what matters most. The goal of the Christian life is not to become people who never feel angry. It is to become people whose loves have been so reordered by the grace of God that we increasingly love what God loves, and we become slow to anger because our Father is slow to anger.
We need to become aware. Wisdom helps us recognize how anger shapes our lives, and we are being shaped constantly. How quickly do I become angry? Do I have a short fuse? The hothead is always looking for something to be angry about, and the way of folly is to be outraged all the time. Pressure always reveals what is real. Pressure doesn't create our problems, it reveals where the fault lines already exist. And anger doesn't stay hidden in the heart. It leaves footprints and fingerprints throughout our lives. A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. Some of us spew and some of us stuff, but what we bury alive rarely stays buried forever. The wise person gives appropriate vent to the anger, governing the response, because biblical self control is not emotional suppression but spirit enabled self control under God's rule.
But we must also become honest. Anger is just a messenger, and wisdom listens before it reacts. We often think anger reveals what we hate, but the truth is anger usually reveals what we love. The opposite of love is not hate, it is apathy. Anger is our emotional response to threatened love. As Augustine taught, sin is not merely loving bad things, it is loving good things in the wrong order. Anger reveals our idols and our fears. What good thing has become your ultimate thing? What desire of yours has now become a demand? Because our anger reveals disordered loves, we need more than better coping strategies. We need our loves to be reordered. We need our eyes fixed firmly on Jesus so that we can become like him.
This is why the order matters. The gospel comes first, the promise, God's grace, and then the law comes in after. The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. We love because He loved us first. It is God's love that leads us to repentance. God's love does not eliminate his wrath, it redirects his wrath against evil and sin. At the cross, God's righteous wrath against sin and against you was poured out fully on Jesus, and Jesus took all of it. For those who kiss the Son, there is no wrath left to bear because Christ has borne all of it. When we get the order wrong and put law first, we open ourselves to the floodgates of anger because we are always losing something. But you cannot earn it. His love is conditioned on the cross and his arms are open for you.
Jesus shows us what it looks like to live free from the fear of ultimate loss. He laid his life down of his own accord, saying no one takes anything from me. He entrusted himself fully to the Father, praying not my will, but yours be done. Because the resurrection is coming, nothing, not suffering, not loss, not even death, can ultimately take from us what matters most. The goal of the Christian life is not to become people who never feel angry. It is to become people whose loves have been so reordered by the grace of God that we increasingly love what God loves, and we become slow to anger because our Father is slow to anger.
Meditations for this week
Anger reveals what you love
We make the mistake of thinking anger reveals what we hate, but anger is usually our emotional response to threatened love. Ask honestly the next time you flare: why am I angry, what am I protecting, what love feels threatened, what desire has become a demand? Whatever you are most angry to lose may be the very idol you have elevated above God. Let your anger become diagnostic, a window into your heart, and bring those disordered loves to the only One who can reorder them by his grace.
Govern, don't stuff or spew
A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. Some of us spew like Captain Hook and some of us stuff like Milton, but what we bury alive rarely stays buried. The wise person does not suppress emotion or explode, but allows the vent to open only when appropriate and only to the degree that is warranted. Pray for the Spirit's gift of self control, then practice pausing before responding, praying before speaking, confessing your anger quickly and apologizing even faster.
Free from the fear of loss
Anger comes from a sense of loss, real or perceived, of something we love being taken from us. But Jesus laid his life down of his own accord, trusting that God would vindicate him fully because the resurrection is coming. Whatever loss you fear in this life cannot compare to the glory that is coming when every wrong is made right. Entrust yourself fully to the Father as Jesus did, praying your will be done, and meditate on God's slowness to anger and his relentless love for you displayed at the cross.
We make the mistake of thinking anger reveals what we hate, but anger is usually our emotional response to threatened love. Ask honestly the next time you flare: why am I angry, what am I protecting, what love feels threatened, what desire has become a demand? Whatever you are most angry to lose may be the very idol you have elevated above God. Let your anger become diagnostic, a window into your heart, and bring those disordered loves to the only One who can reorder them by his grace.
Govern, don't stuff or spew
A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back. Some of us spew like Captain Hook and some of us stuff like Milton, but what we bury alive rarely stays buried. The wise person does not suppress emotion or explode, but allows the vent to open only when appropriate and only to the degree that is warranted. Pray for the Spirit's gift of self control, then practice pausing before responding, praying before speaking, confessing your anger quickly and apologizing even faster.
Free from the fear of loss
Anger comes from a sense of loss, real or perceived, of something we love being taken from us. But Jesus laid his life down of his own accord, trusting that God would vindicate him fully because the resurrection is coming. Whatever loss you fear in this life cannot compare to the glory that is coming when every wrong is made right. Entrust yourself fully to the Father as Jesus did, praying your will be done, and meditate on God's slowness to anger and his relentless love for you displayed at the cross.