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[0:00] Thank you very much. It is great to be here and I do bring greetings from the bustling metropolis of Morehead City. And it's also great to have the Kinsters back. You guys all know they've been gone, right? Everyone knows that they're back?

[0:16] Was there like any kind of pool on whether or not they'd make it back? I'd have gone in on that. There was enough uncertainty. We actually at the end of the year, our staff, we do this kind of hilarious thing. We do like staff dundies if you're familiar with the office and we just do funny awards.

[0:33] And they weren't there to get theirs, but they got the award for most likely to be made permanent residents of another country against their will. You did make it back though. So really extraordinary feat. Well done.

[0:46] And anyways, I am just delighted to be with you guys. I say that with sincerity. I love coming here. And I think one of the reasons I love coming here is this always feels like a family to me.

[0:59] You all feel like a family and I think that is the best expression of the church. It's when it feels like people really love one another and they really care for one another. And you guys do an extraordinary job at that. So it really blesses me to be here.

[1:13] Why don't we just pray quickly before we jump into the word. Lord, we want to thank you for making us part of your family. This isn't our little family. This is your family. And you have brought us into it. What an honor.

[1:26] What a privilege to call you father. To be your sons and daughters. We pray, Lord, that we would hear your words today and that they would bless us and they would stir us up to love and good works.

[1:40] We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen. So we're, as a whole church, we're starting a new sermon series called Words to Live By.

[1:53] And what we're doing is kind of taking advantage of the fact that we're at the time of year where a lot of us do New Year's resolutions. I know some people think those things are corny. I used to think that myself.

[2:03] But actually, my wife and I, we've been really helped by, you know, at the beginning of the year, thinking about what are the things that we want to do different and change. And a lot of that stuff's great. Resolutions can often deal with things like new habits and new rhythms.

[2:18] And oftentimes, they're like the fruit issues. They're just the things going on in our life that are the easiest to see that need to be fixed. But what we want to do is, while we're kind of in the cultural mood of looking at those things, revisit some of the things that Jesus said, what was most important, specifically in the Sermon on the Mount.

[2:38] And it's a famous sermon that Jesus preached that doesn't so much deal with fruit issues. It goes right to the root. And it deals with things that are going on deep, deep inside of you, beneath the surface, beneath the rhythms and the habits and the actions that we're sometimes more aware of.

[2:59] And so, in the Sermon on the Mount, you have Jesus, the Son of God, as God, giving commands on how to live life. And I would say the more you peel back the layers in that sermon, the more you realize how extraordinary they are and maybe even how shocking and bewildering they are.

[3:19] So, we're going to take this week and then the next three weeks, I think the next three weeks, to look at some of those commands, some of those words to live by that Jesus has given us as we're thinking about the coming year.

[3:31] And this week, we're going to start by looking at what Jesus has to say about anger and hatred. Now, they're clearly timeless topics because Jesus was talking about them thousands of years ago.

[3:45] All human beings have struggled at times with anger and hatred. But it's especially relevant at the moment. I'm sure you're aware of this because it seems to be printed everywhere.

[3:59] But more and more researchers are discovering evidence which suggests that very powerful people and very powerful institutions are increasingly building support by developing and then preying upon your outrage.

[4:17] And that's happening across the board. It's happening everywhere. Rage, anger, and hate could very well be at all-time highs, at least in recent generations. And some of you in the room who are older than me might be able to attest to that.

[4:29] I've heard countless people older than me say they feel like people are angrier than they've ever been in their lifetimes. And we don't like to admit it when it's us.

[4:39] We don't want to admit that we, especially when it comes to something like anger, we don't like to admit it that maybe our anger has been manipulated. It's always easier when you look at someone on the other side of an issue.

[4:50] It's easier to say, like, oh, they're a pawn in somebody's game. It's harder to admit that when it's us precisely because of how anger makes you feel and how outrage makes you feel.

[5:03] You know, I never, when I'm angry, I'm never likely to think that maybe I've been manipulated into this. I'm feeling like I'm feeling something righteous. And that is maybe the most dangerous thing about anger and about hatred is that it feels so good.

[5:20] And that's a really important thing to acknowledge because it differentiates anger from other emotions that you might feel or other things that you might feel.

[5:31] For instance, the Bible also, the Bible warns us about all kind of things. We're warned about lust. You may experience lust and in the moment you actually know that it's wrong. But with anger you rarely feel like it's wrong when you're angry.

[5:46] Am I right? I mean, it almost always, there's a weird way in which it kind of can feel good. It feels right. It feels practically God-like.

[5:56] When you're angry, you quickly become the judge, the prosecution, the jury, and maybe even the executioner depending on how angry you are. And so I think before even getting into what Jesus says about anger, it's good to reckon with the fact that we are blinded by it.

[6:13] And we are not less liable to being blinded by anger than other people who maybe we disagree with. And I know this personally because anger has been the primary defect in my character that I have been dealing with for the last few years.

[6:29] And if you were to ask my wife or anyone who's close to me, they would tell you that is the number one thing that I have been focused on. In fact, the last few years, I've said this to my wife many times.

[6:40] I feel like in the last few years, it's been revealed to me that I think I've actually had a kind of an anger problem my whole life. But it was very well managed. Very well managed, latent, under the surface.

[6:53] And then I started a family. And funny how things come out. There's a story that I love to tell of when our oldest, Lila Faye, when she was born down at Cartwright General, they make you watch a video, which I don't know if they still do this.

[7:09] It's like when you have a baby, you have to watch a video called Purple Crying. It's something about don't shake your baby. You have to watch this video before you leave the hospital. And I remember thinking, how many people are shaking their babies that they've got to make us all watch a video?

[7:22] Who is so dumb as to think shaking their baby is a good idea? I would never do that. And then a few weeks in, Lila, it's like the first night where she's probably, I don't know how many weeks old she was, but it's like the first night where she's just inconsolable and screaming through the night.

[7:39] And it's like 2 in the morning. And I go and I sit on the front porch. And Kimberly comes outside and she's like, what are you doing out here? And I was like, well, I've got to get away because right now all I want to do is shake my baby. I just want to go in there and just say, shut up!

[7:54] And, you know, it's a bit silly. We can all laugh at that. But it's just to highlight, and I like to remind people of this all the time, there is nothing you and I aren't capable of doing. Nothing. And the best way to avoid doing terrible things is to know in the right circumstances you very well might do the worst things.

[8:12] Like shake your baby or something even worse. Because anger can, it can come at you. And it can take over. It can blind you. There's a reason that Jesus talks about it.

[8:23] So I tell you that because I want you to know how I'm coming to you today. I'm really not preaching at you. I'm trying to encourage all of us, myself included. Friday morning, that's two days ago, I was in another pastor's office at our church with tears in my eyes asking for prayer because I was so angry.

[8:44] So this is my thing. This is my thing. If there is a line of people asking God to help them with anger, I'm at the front. I'm at the front.

[8:54] So we're going to turn now to Scripture. We're going to read a couple different portions out of Matthew 5 where Jesus talks about things having to do with anger and hatred.

[9:06] Starting in verse 21. He says, You've 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.

[9:21] Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says, You fool, Will be liable to the hell of fire. 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.

[9:37] First, First, Be reconciled to your brother. And then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, Lest your accuser hand you over to the judge and the judge to the guard and you be put in prison.

[9:54] Truly I say to you, You will never get out until you have paid the last penny. And then skipping down to verse 38. You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

[10:06] But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, Turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, Let him have your cloak as well.

[10:19] And if anyone forces you to go one mile, Go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you And do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

[10:33] I say to you, Love your enemies. And pray for those who persecute you. So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his Son rise on the evil and on the good.

[10:46] And sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, What reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, What more are you doing than others?

[10:57] Do not even Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect. As your heavenly Father is perfect. So I don't know if you caught this, But three different times we heard Jesus say, You've heard it was said.

[11:10] And in fact, in the Sermon on the Mount, He says that six times. Kind of in sequential order. There's six different times that He says, You've heard it was said, But I'm going to tell you something else. And three of those six are around Anger, hatred, retaliation.

[11:26] Like, this is a big deal. And Jesus is taking what people have been told, What's been handed down to them, And He's saying, Now I want to teach you a better way. And I think that if Jesus was here to preach to us, He'd be doing similar things.

[11:40] He would be taking the things that we've heard, That we've been told, And He'd be saying, You've not gotten it quite right. He would tell us, I have things to say.

[11:51] Of better ways. Like the Israelites, We're living within narratives, That have been handed to us. Maybe even that we've assumed.

[12:01] Narratives that may even seem to be based on the Bible, But have warped over time. In each of the six times, That Jesus says, You've heard it said, He's either explicitly referencing, The Old Testament law, Or He's referencing something similar, To what's in the Old Testament law.

[12:21] And what a lot of scholars think that Jesus is doing, Is He is citing a series of, Essentially like legal principles, That seem to have been based in the Old Testament law, But have in some cases, Distorted the intention of the law.

[12:37] So Jesus is not referencing, The Old Testament law properly. He's not, In other words, He's not correcting the law. He's correcting what the abuse of the law has turned into.

[12:47] He's correcting how people have misapplied the law. How they have misunderstood the law. And that's what happens. Again, You know, Culture's always changing, And the values of culture are always changing.

[13:00] And they're handed to you, And you just begin to assume them. And you assume even that they're good. And maybe that they're even in the Bible. So that's what's happening. You know, When Jesus says, You've heard that it was said, Love your neighbor, Hate your enemy.

[13:12] That's nowhere in the law. That's something that had been assumed over time. And probably attached to some sort of like, Jewish biblical sense of righteousness.

[13:23] And Jesus is correcting it. We did the same thing. It happens to us. And man, When it comes to anger and outrage, It has definitely happened to us. So look, I want to say some things That are probably going to be a little hard to hear.

[13:36] But we must be honest with ourselves. I think one thing Christians are good at doing Is throwing stones at other people. Scripture says, Judgment starts within the household of God. So if we are going to criticize, We've got to start with us.

[13:50] We've got to be honest About where we have gotten it wrong. And when it has come to anger and outrage, A lot of us, Myself included, I've tried to acknowledge that. We have gotten it wrong. I acknowledge, I want to acknowledge That probably not everybody in the room Identifies as a conservative.

[14:07] But I would say probably most of us do. And in the South, Many Christians have identified With some kind of conservatism. It's been our camp, So to speak.

[14:19] Recently, At a conservative event A aimed at taking back American, Taking back America from liberal culture, Someone on the stage said this, And I'm quoting.

[14:32] We've turned the other cheek. That's a reference To Jesus' words we just read. We've turned the other cheek. And I understand the biblical reference. I understand the mentality.

[14:43] But it's gotten us nothing. It's gotten us nothing. And we've ceded ground In every major institution. And what this guy is saying At an event that I think a lot of us Would feel very comfortable in.

[14:56] Is he's saying you can't, You can't actually follow Jesus' advice Because it doesn't actually work. If you follow his commands, You're going to be a loser. And that's why, Again, I just want to be honest.

[15:11] This is why so many of us Who identify as Christians, We have really, We have participated In the ways of the world When it comes to the things of the world. We have Christians Who don't see any problem With shouting things like, Let's go Brandon.

[15:26] Because we have normalized hatred. We have normalized outrage. We have normalized anger. And it feels so righteous.

[15:38] And it feels like Listening to the things that Jesus says Will make us into a loser. The irony of that is That the Sermon on the Mount Begins with the Beatitudes, Which are statements of blessing.

[15:50] And statements of blessedness. Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount Not with how to be a loser. He begins the Sermon on the Mount With here's how you get to live A blessed life.

[16:02] He says, The world has told, You have assumed things. We have all. We're no different than the Jews, man. We think we know. Jesus says, You don't know. I have come to show you How to live a blessed life.

[16:14] In the eyes of the world, It's always going to look like losing. I read something on, I heard someone talking about something They had read on Twitter the other day Where a Christian said, In a world where the biggest bullies win, Better to lose.

[16:27] I think that's a good way of summing up The Sermon on the Mount. In fact, Later in Matthew, Jesus said, You should lose so much, You should actually lose your life, And then you'll find it. So we need Jesus to straighten our record Because we're no different than the Jews.

[16:43] We have heard things said. Now Jesus would say to us something else. Not as a therapist, As a king. These are not suggestions, They're commands. So before going too much further, I want to acknowledge a misconception That a lot of people have about anger, And it's directly because of the passage That we just read.

[17:02] A lot of think, Partly because of the Sermon on the Mount, That all anger is wrong, And that is actually not true. Not all anger is inherently sinful. And this is very important. Otherwise, You will never find victory Because you will feel guilty Every time that you feel anger.

[17:17] And the Bible never forbids you From feeling anger. In fact, There's between 400 and 500 references To anger in the Bible. And that includes man's anger And God's anger. I mean, The fact that God gets angry Proves that all anger isn't wrong.

[17:31] In fact, Some people have said The angriest person in the Bible Is actually God. If you think about it, What causes you to feel angry? It's a sense that something's wrong. And a time where it would be appropriate To feel anger is when you see injustice.

[17:45] You have a sense of this is wrong. Well, God sees all the injustice. Think about if you saw Every unjust thing that ever happened. God sees all that. And so he, I mean, Would we trust him?

[17:56] When God saw, Like, Victims being abused And didn't get angry, Would we trust him? Would we respect him? Man, God is more righteous than anyone. And even Jesus as a man got angry.

[18:08] So it's good to remember, Actually, Some people have said The opposite of love Probably isn't even hate. It's apathy. Nothing is more unloving Than telling someone You don't even care about them.

[18:19] God doesn't do that. God always cares. In fact, The best kind of anger Is actually connected to love. God loves us And hates the things That harm people That he made in his image.

[18:32] Romans chapter 12 verse 9 says, Abhor what is evil. There are actually things You should abhor. There are things That should make your blood boil, So to speak.

[18:42] So the Bible Says those things But then has a lot of warnings. Lots And lots of warnings About what happens next When you get angry. And I think I read this.

[18:55] I didn't come up with this. I read it. Somebody said that If you had to kind of take What everything the Bible Says about anger And kind of distill it. It seems like the Bible Is concerned with two things. Why are you angry?

[19:06] And what are you going To do with it? That seems to be The perspective Of the whole of the Bible. Consider the story Of Cain and Abel. This is one of the first Stories of anger in the Bible.

[19:17] Things don't go well for Cain. And the text says That he gets angry. Look at what happens next. God does not rebuke Cain For being angry. In fact Here's what he says.

[19:28] 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 If you do not do well Sin is crouching at the door.

[19:40] Its desire is contrary to you But you must rule over it. So God doesn't come to Cain And say He doesn't rebuke him For being angry. He says why? He wants to know Why Cain's angry. And then he gives him a warning You need to be careful.

[19:54] That getting angry Isn't the sin. Sin is crouching at the door And it wants to exploit your anger. And what did Cain do with his anger? Well he murdered his brother. He didn't resolve his anger well.

[20:05] And it led to sin. And the Bible is warning us Over and over That if we don't take care To resolve our anger well This is the kind of thing That can happen. Now verse 22 Which is one of the verses That we read.

[20:18] Jesus said Everyone who's angry with his brother Will be liable to judgment. And so what do you do with that? Because it seems like Jesus is saying That seems like the clearest verse in the Bible That you just flat out shouldn't get angry.

[20:31] Everyone who's angry with his brother Will be liable to judgment. Well the form of the word being used here Is in Greek Something called a present participle And I'm not going to try to explain What that means But it is a form of a verb That has a wide range of interpretation And often is used to suggest Continuing ongoing action.

[20:50] So one way to translate it Would be this Everyone who is continuously angry Will be liable to judgment. Everyone who keeps on being angry Who maintains their anger Is liable to judgment.

[21:04] When it comes to anger Through the whole Bible To include here in the Sermon on the Mount We get a warning. The Bible warns us about unresolved anger Which destroys relationships. And that is certainly what Jesus is talking about.

[21:17] The next two sentences After mentioning the person Who's continuously angry He talks about the person Who lashes out and insults his friend. Or the person who says You fool. Because when you don't resolve anger What will happen is You end up sinning against other people.

[21:36] Anger which is unchecked And managed poorly Will always bring harm to relationships. That's what it does. Ephesians chapter 4 26 Says be angry And do not sin.

[21:47] Do not let the sun go down On your anger. Again here Anger is a human response. Paul knows You're going to get angry. But he's concerned about What you do about it.

[22:00] You've got to resolve Don't let the sun go down on it. You have got to deal with this Right away Or it is going to be a nightmare. It's going to be a disaster. What are you going to do with it?

[22:11] You've got to resolve it. If it brews in you Man It's going to When anger brews in you And is left unchecked It hardens you. That has been my story. When I have let anger Sit in my heart It makes me a hard man.

[22:26] Bitter Resentful My wife Who is here in the room It's always Awkward to Talk about people When they're In front of you My wife Hates it When I tell people I have an anger problem I started out saying I have a bit of an anger problem And she hates it When I say that And she probably hates That I'm telling you That she hates That I say that Sorry But she I understand her point She's like Man when you say You have an anger problem People probably assume Things are way worse Than they really are You make it sound like You're like out of control And some abusive dad Or all these things That frankly I'm not And I get her point I get that The reason she feels that way Is because When we talk about Having an anger problem Most of the time We are talking about People who are wildly Just out of control And I think that's Maybe just a little bit Unhelpful There's a guy named David Powlison Who wrote a book Called Good and Angry Which is a fantastic book I would recommend it to you He's a Christian counselor

[23:26] By trade And chapter 2 Is titled The title of chapter 2 Is Do You Have an Anger Problem And I'd like to read to you The entire chapter Yes That is the end of the chapter In fact I got the book on Kindle And I thought there was a glitch I was like Because I scrolled over It's chapter 3 I was like Where's the rest And you know You might actually feel like I did When I first read that I was like I don't know That's a bit of a stretch Everyone really have an anger problem But he makes a great point Everyone feels anger But also we're all humans Which means that We don't do anything perfectly To include managing our emotions Not a single one of us Have always managed our anger well Which means every one of us At some point in time Has had an anger problem Now there's a spectrum We're not all at the same place But everyone has struggled To handle their anger Which is why It takes up such a big portion Of the Sermon on the Mount

[24:27] This is for everyone There is not an appendix To the Sermon on the Mount Jesus did not say We're finished with all the normal people If we could now have the psychopaths Come forward I'm going to talk a little bit About rage You know We could have all the The dad struggling with dad rage If you guys want to come down You know we'll talk No he's talking to everybody This is for everyone He's warning everyone The book of Ecclesiastes says Be quick not to become angry For it lodges in the heart of fools It doesn't say don't be angry It says don't be quick Don't be quick to get angry Because it What happens with a fool Is it lodges in his heart It stays there Andrew Lester Who wrote a book called The Angry Christians Said this Like the author of Ecclesiastes Who said that anger lodges Or makes a home In the bosom of fools Jesus points out That anger allowed to simmer inside us Will poison our interpersonal relationships And destroy our inner peace This is how hatred forms When anger blinds you

[25:29] What happens is Especially when it's toward another person Here's what happens And this is how hate forms The thing in that person That you don't like Maybe even justifiably That thing becomes The only thing you can see You don't see grace in them anymore You don't even see humanity In them anymore That flaw Or whatever it is That you don't like Is the totality Of who they are They essentially seem like Pure evil That's when you hate Because we should hate evil That is the godlike response To evil is hate We should hate evil But when we hate people We see them And all we see is evil And that is the opposite Of how Jesus wants to live With one another A theologian writing On the Sermon on the Mount Said that This sermon demonstrates That according to Jesus Forgiveness is to be the hallmark Of all social relationships That's an interesting way To think about the Sermon on the Mount When you read it Is over and over again It seems to be talking about Forgiveness Or things related to forgiveness And that makes sense Right God's love for us

[26:30] Is demonstrated primarily In the death of Jesus Which is an act of forgiveness So it makes sense That if Jesus is going to tell us To live As his heavenly father We should be a forgiving people Our relationships would be Primarily characterized By forgiveness And when we don't forgive And anger builds and builds It turns to hatred And lest you think That a broken or destroyed relationship Is no big deal The New Testament Makes abundantly clear That when you hate your brother You are not capable Of loving God Which is the greatest commandment 1 John 4 Says in verse 19 We love because he first loved us One of the most remarkable statements In the entire Bible And if you've never heard that verse I just want to tell you This is what makes Christianity Christianity Right If you want to know What makes Christianity Different than everything else This is the line Those six words You don't love God So that he'll do something for you You don't love God So that you show up At the end of your life

[27:31] And he can welcome No you love him Because he loved you Before you ever did anything for him That's why we love him But then he says If anyone says I love God And hates his brother He is lying He's a liar For he who does not love his brother Whom he's seen Cannot love God Whom he's not seen And this commandment we have from him Whoever loves God Must Must Also love his brother The Sermon on the Mount Is in Matthew's gospel Right The Sermon on the Mount Where Jesus says Hey if you go to the temple to worship If you're going to go worship God And you have unreconciled anger Stop worshiping God Go deal with that And then come back Later in Matthew It's in Matthew's gospel Where Jesus says The two greatest commandments Are to love God And love your neighbor Matthew Seems to make the case They have to be coordinated They You know It turns out That if you're not doing both You're not doing either You can't pick or choose And We are certainly not thinking about these things When we get angry

[28:31] I am not doing deep theological reflection When I'm angry Doing a lot of other things I'm not thinking about this I'm not acknowledging the fact That when I am stewing When I am stewing with my anger Instead of resolving my anger I am failing Not just to love somebody else I'm failing to love the Lord And it's one of the It's one of the main points Jesus is making In the Sermon on the Mount This is a severe issue And I think I think he's making the point That resolving your anger Is worth any cost Now that might not have come through But I'm going to re-read a couple verses And then I'll give you some context Jesus said in verses 23 and 24 If you offer your gift at the altar And then remember that your brother Is something against you Leave your gift before the altar And then go Be reconciled And then come and offer your gift And that doesn't sound okay You know I don't think we realize What is being asked of these people Jesus is talking to people in Galilee Do you know where the altar is?

[29:29] 80 miles away in Jerusalem Jesus is saying If you go to Jerusalem To make a sacrifice And you realize You're still angry With someone back home You should walk A week's journey back Figure it out And then come back to Jerusalem I think people would have heard this The same way we all hear it When Jesus says Hey if you're slapped with You know If you're slapped on one side of the face Give him the other side also I think people would have heard this And said He surely can't be serious Surely he's exaggerating Who would do this?

[30:00] I mean this is severe The point is It's worth any cost If you are angry Better to walk 80 miles to deal with it Before cavalierly Pretending to worship the Lord Because the Bible tells us We can't worship the Lord properly When we have anger stewing It isn't always wrong To feel angry But whatever it takes You have to deal with it Right away Don't let it fester Don't let it turn to hate Because if you're not willing To do what it takes There's consequences Failing To resolve your anger Will come At an even greater cost The last bit of the That first kind of Paragraph about anger The last few lines I've always felt like Were a bit strange I felt like they didn't quite fit I'll reread them Jesus has said Come to terms quickly With your accuser While you're going with them to court Let your accuser hand you over To the judge And the judge to the guard And you be put in prison Truly I say to you You'll never get out Until you pay the last penny This doesn't seem like

[31:00] It really fits with anger This just seems like It's practical good advice Better to solve your problems Outside of a courtroom And you know what There's a literal sense In which this is just very wise But it points to something Much bigger And much more serious We are all on the way To see the judge And if we're arguing On the way It's going to cost us When we get there It's a warning If you go through life With anger towards others Jesus is literally saying It's going to be held against you You are There is going to be a cost He says you will pay To the last penny If you allow relationships To be destroyed And you prevent them From healing Man you are going to pay Look at the first few lines He says you've heard It was said That those who murder Are liable to judgment That's a reference To the Old Testament law That judgment is capital punishment That's what the judgment is So what does it mean When he says the next line Those who are continuously angry Are also liable to judgment

[32:00] We're talking about The same kind of judgment Jesus is saying There is going to be a cost There is going to be A severe cost To maintaining our anger And let me tell you something I think this Along with the rest Of the Sermon on the Mount When you reckon with this Frankly it's terrifying You come away With the feeling Who can do any of this I mean you've probably If you've ever read The Sermon on the Mount You've probably had that That feeling I mean the final line Of the paragraphs we read Are cheerful Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect Thanks Jesus That's helpful Not feeling so good About this whole Sermon on the Mount thing I'd like to listen To somebody else You can just imagine The people listening to this Thinking who can do this But one thing you have To remember is the very things That Jesus is commanding you To do He has done for you On the cross God resolved his own anger God showed us What it looks like To resolve anger I said that some people Have suggested God is the angriest person In the Bible He's seen all the injustice

[33:01] But he worked it out He resolved it On the cross Because of the cross You can read the Sermon on the Mount Totally differently See without the cross Without the death of Jesus You read the Sermon on the Mount And the only thing That you have is failure There's probably not A day of your life That you have obeyed The Sermon on the Mount Fully Because it gets at Every motive It gets to the center Of who you are But because of Jesus And because of what He did on the cross The Sermon on the Mount Isn't something That's used to grade Your past It's a chart for your future Every day I can get up Knowing I actually failed The Sermon on the Mount Today I'm going to fail it By this afternoon I'm sure I know it But because of Jesus And what he did On the cross for me There's forgiveness Every waking And sleeping moment Of my life And this becomes An ideal This isn't just An oppressive weight This is the target I'm never going to Do it perfect But now I know What I'm shooting for

[34:01] I'm shooting for Perfection baby I'm going into Every day Trying to be like My heavenly father I'm not going to do it And when I fail I'm going to repent I'm going to turn to Christ I'm going to beg for mercy And he's going to give it to me And I'm going to say Thank you And then I'm going To try again So I want to get As we end I just want to get practical How do we deal With our anger How are we supposed To resolve our anger And there's whole books Written on this I've already mentioned one Which I would recommend If you like me Feel like anger is a thing That book called Good and Angry Is a great book To help you Just think through it And process it I mean People way smarter than me Have a lot of things To say about this I'm going to give you Just a few things I'm going to be very short On all of them A few things That have been helpful for me That I think are rooted In scripture That can be helpful for you When it comes to Resolving anger The first is Learning to express Your anger to God And I would say I learned this Unfortunately Very late in life In my life God can actually

[35:02] Handle how you feel See here's what Most of us do Including me We vent to our friends And then we pray Very pious prayers To God We talk to God Like we're better Than we really are We don't We are We actually It feels irreverent To tell God How we feel Like let's say You know Let's say Jesse Has done something terrible Jesse Let's make this more Let's say I do something Terrible to Jesse Much more likely I can imagine Jesse Maybe being hesitant To tell God What he really thinks About me But actually In the Bible Specifically the book Of Psalms We see that it is Really good for you To tell God Exactly how you feel So when you're angry One of the best things You can do Is get it out To the face of God And it's not irreverent We've heard some Paul Miller Came and spoke to our church Years ago And he said Here's what prayer Really looks like It's when the real you Is meeting the real God So you gotta have Good theology You gotta know who God is But you gotta be honest About how you're doing And when you're angry He is a safe place You're not gonna manipulate him He's big enough

[36:03] To handle your little Anger outbursts And your self pity And all the rest You can be honest with him We are actually Gonna be doing a series Through the Psalms After this series This is one of the things We're gonna talk about How to express our anger To the Lord So that's the first thing That I think Could be helpful If you're not already doing that You do actually have to vent You just gotta vent In the right direction Secondly Acknowledge your anger To others And then forgive them And I'm making a distinction here You gotta be careful Not to express your anger To other people You can wound them You can manipulate them You can do all kinds Of terrible things So you don't express it fully You gotta be careful But you have to At least acknowledge it When somebody hurts you You gotta be honest about it You have to deal with it And then you have to forgive And friends I feel like I can't say this Enough as a pastor Forgiveness is not a feeling It's an action A lot of us We struggle to forgive Because we don't have Feelings of forgiveness That is not how it works When you forgive What you're telling someone is I am relieving you of a debt

[37:03] I'm telling you I no longer have the right To hold this against you You're released That's forgiveness And I have found That actually When I give forgiveness My feelings catch up If you feel like You can't forgive someone Maybe you should just forgive them And then you will find That God is helping you To feel different things So you gotta acknowledge Your anger And then forgive Thirdly Try and be more generous And charitable Every day To everybody Hatred makes you see Only somebody's worst Charity insists On not ignoring What is good Maybe you have seen the movie Or heard of the film 12 Years a Slave Which is the true story Of a man named Solomon Northrup And he was a free Educated black man Who was sold into slavery You know this is of course Taking place hundreds of years ago Sold into slavery Kidnapped and sold into slavery And it's the story Of the injustice Done against this man He wrote a memoir Called 12 Years a Slave

[38:04] Which was turned into the film His first slave master Was in the film Played by Benedict Cumberbatch I want to read to you What Solomon Northrup said About his first slave master William Ford The man who was Unjustly enslaving him The man who did it As a Christian No less Here's what Solomon Northrup Said about William Ford In my opinion There never was a more kind Noble Candid Christian man Than William Ford Could you ever say Such a thing About someone Who enslaved you Knowing that you Had been kidnapped But he didn't ignore The issues He then said The influences And associations That had always Surrounded him Blinded him To the inherent wrong At the bottom Of the system Of slavery I'll tell you what Solomon Northrup Was doing He was choosing To be generous And charitable And it kept him From hatred Hatred is

[39:06] You have a beef With somebody And that's all You can see Charity insists On finding the good Even when it's Your slave master If you were to look At my prayer journal What I pray for myself For the last Six months or so The number one thing I've been praying For myself To fight my anger issue Is God Make me magnanimous Anger makes you petty Anger makes you a small When I am angry I am such a small man I'm a small man I'm small minded And I'm small hearted Magnanimity Is big heartedness It's being generous To everybody Even when they've Wronged you We For our elders We do training On how to do conflict And one of our rules At our church Is to always Assume the best Even when you're Doing confrontation On something That's made you angry Even when you're Having to tell someone That what they've done Has hurt you One of our rules is And I've learned To just do this With everybody now When someone has hurt me One of the things I'll say is When you did this thing I'm sure you didn't

[40:06] Mean it the way That it came across But here's how It made me feel Do you see what that does Even if I think Their motives Were malicious and mean I'm going to choose To assume the best That's charity It's generosity I'm going to assume The best of you Even if I'm I'm not convinced I'm going to be generous It guards me From hatred And then lastly Starve what's feeding Your outrage Guys whatever's Making you angry Just cut it off Romans 13 Paul says Put on the Lord Jesus Christ And make no provision For the flesh To gratify its desires Make no provision If social media Is getting you angry Cut it off I did that Three years ago I cut it off For two years Because it was Making me so angry If the news Is making you angry Don't watch it The world will Actually be okay If you don't watch The news It's hard to believe Everything will happen The same Actually If you don't watch

[41:08] The news Whatever it is Starve the outrage Feed the peace I tell you for me Listening to great music Watching great movies Spending time I got to do the things That bless my soul To feed the peace Why don't you take out The communion cup And I want you to open it But we're going to Take it together I want to ask Just a couple questions As we reflect And consider The cross Have you been So angry And have you Even now Or maybe you Feeling shame Because anger Has destroyed things In your life Friends I want you to know I want you to know this If you have been angry God is not angry with you If you have been hateful He is not hateful Towards you All of that got resolved On the cross He loves you And he's made a way For you to be at peace With him And also with yourself

[42:09] And with others Do you feel like Anger is something You can't defeat You cannot But Jesus can And he did And he will In you And this meal Is about your need of him You'll never Master your anger On your own But you can do it With him And lastly If you are not Yet a Christian You know this meal Actually isn't for you This meal is for the For the family Your invitation Is to join the family I'm sure you have Dealt with anger There is a way And it's through Jesus He's made a way for you So I want you To take a moment Before we take this meal I want you to take a moment Where you are I want you to consider him Whose body was broken For you And I want you To talk to him And confess to him And praise him Take a moment to do that Lord we thank you

[43:18] For this meal And we pray you would Bless it To our heart Mind Soul To our very bodies Would you bless this meal We thank you For the gift of Jesus Amen On the night before Jesus was betrayed He took bread And he broke it And he says This is my body Which is broken for you Eat this in remembrance of me And then he took the cup Which scripture says Was poured out For the forgiveness Of sins So to my fellow Rage monsters We've been forgiven All over again Your anger Is not too big for God Drink in remembrance of him Oh he's so good Isn't he Won't you stand We'll close and sing To me Thank you.