Is Anger Sin?
Pastor Todd Blansit
New Life Church
January 21, 2024

In Ephesians, Paul calls the church the body of Christ (Eph 4:15-16). So my question for us today is, who do you look like? There are only two options: the world or Jesus. If we look like the world, we will look and act like the non-believers we see around us every day. We will talk like them think like them and value the things they value. We will mirror their lives. Or, we will talk and think like Jesus who looks completely different than the world.
The Apostle Paul, who wrote the letter to the Ephesians, is asking the church at Ephesus the same thing. Who do you look like?

Do you look like the world, or do you look different, like Jesus?

In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul talks about all the grace God has given believers. For example, if you are a believer, God has forgiven you of your sins (Eph 1:7); he has adopted you into his heavenly family (Eph 1:5), and he will treat you with grace and kindness forever (Eph 2:7).

Now, in the second half of the letter, Paul gives a playbook for how God’s grace should change our lives. And he does this partially by contrasting us with how non-believers think and behave.

Why do people think this way? Paul gives us two reasons in verse 18.

Ignorance – They don’t know the truth of the Bible and Jesus (Acts 3:17, 17:30). "Gentiles" in our passage really means non-believers. But does that mean they’re off the hook?

Hard-hearted – They are willfully hardening their own hearts. They don’t want to know the truth. Romans 1:20-23 says all people can see God’s power in creation, but they reject him anyway.

We don't become Christians by reforming our ways. God works a basic change inside through his Holy Spirit. Jesus called it being born again (John 3:1-8).
The first change is in our speaking.

Paul recognizes that anger itself is not sin. Anger can be a natural reaction to injustice, the emotion that God gives us, so we will not passively allow injustice to have its way forever. But we must be very careful of anger, for it can have many deceitful roots.

1. Selfishness. Anger can spring from selfishness as well as injustice. We must observe our motives carefully so that we don't justify righteous anger when it has much more to do with self than with righteousness.

2. Control. Anger urges us to overflow our inhibitions and take action. It is a powerful emotion designed to overcome our. But without careful self-control, our anger can become abusive, violent, and sinful. In your anger, do not sin, says Paul (Ephesians 4:26). Anger can cause us to say and do things that hurt the people we love and that we regret later.

3. Bitterness. Anger can turn into a deep-seated bitterness if we don't deal with it. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, advises the Apostle (4:26b). A lot of our psychological stresses and issues have resulted from buried anger, rather than anger which is openly dealt with and resolved quickly.

4. Foothold for Satan. Anger and the bitterness that it can lead to can give the devil a foothold or place in our hearts (Ephesians 4:27). We know how that works. When we're angry, our inhibitions are less, and many times, we speak our minds without the normal barriers which keep our mouths in check. We justify our bitterness to the point that Satan, the father of hate, can do his work in us.