Today is a fascinating theme in the service. If you accept the Bible reading today and use it in your life, you will add months if not years to your life and you will be happier and enjoy most days more.
Because today we are thinking about dealing with anger. And anger is like a high quality ice cream – we like to have a lot more than we should. A survey in England shows that 25% of the workforce experiences office rage, 23% of staff feel extreme anger at work, 18 days are lost each year due to anger and stress-related illness.
I want us to think on this today because the news this week contained an incredible Christian witness about living out the life of Christ at times of greatest provocation. I’m thinking about the Amish. Who knew that their faith was so strong that they immediately forgive the one who killed their children? That didn’t happen because of horse and buggies. They reacted as Jesus would because they have taken the Bible into their lives.
We tend to let anger consume us. We focus on the unfairness. Anger seems like a way to regain control of something after being made a victim. Like too much ice cream, it is very satisfying in the moment. And just like ice cream, anger comes in different flavors.
For most people, anger comes four sources – a meanness where you are the victim. Someone steals your purse. They don’t know you and its all over in a moment except for your anger. A second source is bullying. A lot of marriages and parenting has bullying problems. Perhaps you have a spouse who always knows how to make you feel bad. Perhaps your mother always knows how to make you feel inadequate. There is so much family bullying that psychologists call it ‘killing off’ each other. In some families, people try to murder each other with words.
A third source of anger comes from illness or death of others. When you really need someone and they die, there is a lot of grief but also a measure of anger. How could they think of dying when you need them so much? And a fourth source of anger is low self esteem where you manage to offend yourself.
We’re going to look at Jesus’ method of dealing with the 4 angers. My prayer is that you will find healing today so that you are able to leave some of the anger at the foot of the cross. It will literally save your life
We are dealing with the four angers this morning and Jesus calls for us to forgive. His command to forgive 70 times 7 is a play on the number 7, a number of perfection, but it is also a direct response to Genesis 4:24 which says “”If Cain is revenged seven fold, truly Lamech seventy-seven fold.” Lamech wanted revenge and Jesus says that this is not the way of God.
Here are some situations where we will need to choose the way of Lamech or the way of Christ.
The Greek word for forgiveness means ‘letting go’. We have very limited control over the things in life that are unfair. What we have a choice about is our response. I don’t mean to make the process sound easy but we can say to God at such times, ‘Dear God, push out the rage and anger and let me feel your love in a fresh way.’
Let’s look at the first anger – random meanness. Someone stole your credit card and you have all the problems of calling the bank, contesting the charges and waiting for a new card. This is very upsetting and you want to tell a number of your friends and feel the anger. This kind of anger is usually the easiest to stop eating. Its like a diet ice cream. The person did not know you, was not plotting to harm you, you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
That said, sometimes random meanness can be horrific. The Amish were not the victim of a plot, but the meanness has changed families forever. They have closed the school and plan to build in a new location.
The only power of forgiveness that conquers such evil is feeling again and again the great love of God for you. There are no words that I can use to describe God’s intense love for you. God’s love for you is where your forgiveness starts towards others. In verse 35 of this passage, Jesus says that God expects that God’s love for us will enable us to forgive others. The two forgivenesses are connected.
Rev. James Lawson was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement and I had the honor to stand next to in Washington last Spring. He just returned as a visiting professor to Vanderbilt University, a Methodist school that expelled him during the civil rights movement in Nashville. James Lawson found a group of about 50 students and led them thru 6 months of non violence training before they ever started a protest. He was getting them to experience God’s love and respect for them so that they could face the meanness of the larger community. Some people got impatient with his ways and left the training. They thought he was timid. No, he understood that you get to choose whether to base your life on violence and anger or forgiveness and the love of God. He has chosen to build his life on the love of God. The Amish chose to build their lives on the love of God.
The beauty is that if you are building your life now on God’s love, then if you ever need the right response, you’ll be ready. The Amish attended the funeral of the murderer yesterday. Friends, that is knowing the love of God and living it out when it is suddenly called for. Are you ready to do that? Would you like to have more of God’s love in your life?
If there is persistent put downs and bullying in your family, try asking for God’s forgiving love. Bullying thrives on the angry response of the victim. If you are in bullying situation, this is incredibly important to get support from a prayer partner. Find someone in a Disciple Group that you can meet with once a week for prayer support. I repeat again that bullying often leads to illness and even death. You need to have the healing love of God and the advice of a wise Christian friend to support you in such situations.
Anger at illness and death. Use the prayer garden. Tell God again and again about your fears and anger. Call on the Lord to show you the love that will care for you and keep you going after a loved one leaves. Use the psalms. The Psalms are called the responses of humanity to God. Some of the Psalms cry out to God in distress. Use them to help your own prayers. God will answer and bring safety. I believe it.
And anger at yourself. This is again a healing that takes time. Remember that James Lawson did training for 6 months with students before they faced the hatred of racism. How much longer when the enemy is yourself?
Friends, we are in a profoundly anti Christian world. The United States allowed anger over 9 11 to control us and it is killing us. But our nation is also filled with angry people. And we need to be a witness and say that the way of anger and vengeance leads to death. Matthew 18 is God’s call to intentionally reverse anger, revenge. But it is not just a position paper that we write – it is a life that we each have to live.
Next Sunday, I will invite people to come forward and join this church. I hope you consider the invitation this week. Joining a church is affirming that you have asked Jesus to come into your life and replace the hatred with healing, and the anger with peace. If you have never invited Christ into your life, I hope you do that in these moments this morning. Christianity is not a philosophy to believe, its not a rule book to follow, it’s a love affair with God to be experienced. It will give you victory over the 4 angers and it’s the way to eternal life. Amen.
