2005 Term 3 Week 1 - 99.98% of Anger is Sin

Anger is one of the things we do when we don't want to face the brokenness of our world. 99.98% of my anger occurs because something or someone has disrupted my plans or my life. I reckon only 0.02% of anger is the righteous and it is distinguishable by it being on behalf of another and full of sorrow. It is very rare. Righteous anger is not what we will talk about tonight.
There is only one verse (Psalm 4:4, though quoted in Ephesians 4:26) that separates anger from sin. Only one. Whilst there are many that tell us to have nothing to do with anger (2 Cor 12:20, Eph 4:31, Col 3:8, 1 Tim 2:8, Jas 1:20). And even the Eph 4:26 verse goes on to say not to stay angry. I think it is saying don't make things worse by acting out of your anger.

Anger means that I don't have to change. Anger shuts out feelings of sadness and fear. It is also a good deterent. If somebody hurts me and I give them what-for they will think twice about hurting me again. Anger is violent. It is always about making someone else pay. If I've had a bad day and am in a bad mood (I'm angry) it does not justify me to treat my family poorly. I am not even justified in being angry at the person who made my life harder (in the case of giving me more work). This world is broken and things like this happen. My anger cannot change that. Not even my sadness can change that, though my sadness will remove my resolve to make another pay for the situation I find myself in. So if that's true why don't I go to sadness instead of anger? Because we like anger. It gives us a sense of control and it blocks out the fear and sadness. In short, anger appears to work for us.

"Inside every fist is a fragile dream that I have hoped for but have begun to fear is slipping away" - Andrew Olsen