Ephesians 4:26-27: Anger management

Introduction:

How does the devil destroy churches? If we were hit with an earthquake and all of our buildings were destroyed that would not undermine our standing and integrity as a church. It often happens that persecution is the thing that God uses to strengthen and purify churches, so this is often a tactic that backfires on the devil. The most effective ways to undermine the church are by diluting the truth it believes and the Gospel it preaches, dropping all reference to sin, wrath and sacrifice. We are told that a little leaven affects the whole lump and so sin can undermine a church. Today I would like us to remember and consider another of satan’s tactics that he employs in seeking to destroy churches and that is disunity through anger. The words we will be considering are from Ephesians 4:26-27, ‘Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.’ We can see from v27 that our anger gives opportunity to the devil to get in amongst us and destroy and wound us. This week as part of our spiritual self-defence we will be learning about what the bible says about anger management.

Our text comes to us from Ephesians, this is also known as Paul’s letter on the church. Paul has just stated that Christ has appointed officers and teachers in the church that by means of speaking the truth in love all Christians will mature and cause the body to mature and grow by each part making a contribution. Paul then enters into a detailed list of the many things that we should no longer do or be now that we have been made new and joined to the church. Our verses are sandwiched between a call to stop lying v25, and to stop stealing and be generous v28. We would expect to be sandwiched in between a command on murder but instead we find Paul addressing the seed of murder, anger.

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