Introductory Comments
1. It must have been one of the saddest days in the life of Moses. He had been appointed by God to rescue the people of Israel out of Egypt and bring them to the promised land. He had spent a long 40 years leading them through the desert. He had gone up the holy mountain where God gave him the covenant, including the 10 commandments. He had, for the most part been a commendable and faithful leader. He had just put up with the complaints of the rebellious people one more time.
2. And now God spoke those few words to him that must have hurt him deeply. "You will not bring this community into the land I give them."
3. Wow! After all he did, God would take away his leadership before the work was finished. He did all the work to bring them here and now another would bring them into the promised land. It did not seem fair. He would not see or taste the fruits of his labour.
4. Today we consider why Moses was punished so severely by God. And as we do, we see that his sin is also our sin. It is a sin that may lie hidden so deep within us that we do not know it is there. It is a sin that has plagued this congregation over the years and still plagues us today.
5. It is a sin which prevents us from experiencing the joy of salvation, of crossing the Jordan and living in the promised land while still on earth. For Moses would enter into the promised land of heaven, but he would not experience the joy of these promises here on earth. This sin, because of the blood of Christ, may not prevent us from entering heaven, but we will not experience the taste of heaven, the joy and peace of salvation here on earth. It can even make life feel like hell at times.
6. Today we look at the deadly sin of anger and believe me, it is a deadly sin. If there is a sin that many of us need to repent of, that FRC needs to repent of, it is the sin of anger.
7. Have you ever been angry at someone? Are you angry at anyone today? If you are like me you may be slow to confess your anger. But our words, the tone of our voices, the things we do so easily betrays us and exposes this sin.
8. For the sake of Christ, for the sake of His church, for your own sake, we must see our anger, what it does, and its consequences.
Teaching
1. As said, we may not even see anger in our actions. We may even question if our passage has anything to do with anger. It is clear that Moses sinned - otherwise why would God punish him. But God says his sin is in "not trusting me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites." Moses was told to speak to the rock and it would pour forth water. Instead he struck it twice with his staff. I believe that Moses did this because he was angry. In passages like Ex. 16:20; 32:19, Leviticus 10:16 and Num. 16:22 we read that Moses was angry with the people. And he shows his anger with the people just before he strikes the rock. "Listen, you rebels, must we bring water out of this rock." As my NIV note says, "at once, the accumulated anger, exasperation, and frustration of 40 years came to expression".
a. Psa 106:32-33 "By the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses' lips."
b. Anger leads to rash words. And just as we do not find the word anger in our passage anger it is there for sure. And so we may not always see the anger but it may certainly be affecting us.
2. To understand what anger is, I find it interesting to see the meaning of various word in the OT that are translated as anger or wrath. As we listen to these meanings, i ask you if they might describe you and reveal the anger in you. Theses meanings include - to snort, to be hot or passionate, to burn or glow, to curse or scold, to storm. To rage, to overflow or break out, to be annoyed, to be disturbed or unsettled. When we feel this way there may very well be anger in us.
3. Even if we admit our anger, we find it so easy to justify our anger and the actions that it leads us to . Was Moses not justified in being angry? After all, God Himself was angry with the people. Why is it wrong for us to be angry when God is also angry? Sometimes our anger is justified but usually it is not. Of all the times that anger is mentioned in the NT, only twice is it seen as positive or acceptable.
4. There are difference between our anger and God’s anger or holy anger. God’s anger is that of wounded love while man’s anger is usually that of aroused self-interest. God is slow to anger and we are quick to anger. God’s anger does not lead Him to sin and ours does not. James 1:20 "for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."
5. We may feel our anger is justified because of what people have done to us. "Yes, I am angry, but she made me angry. You’d be angry to if she did that to you." There are things that happen to us but we are responsible for how we respond to them. Some people can take much abuse and others can be set off with just a few words. Our anger is usually a response to pain and hurt. The sad thing is that it leads us to hurt others and so anger grows and grows.
a. We might even say, "Well, that’s just the way we are?". But it is clear from God’s word that we are responsible for our anger.
b. Or we may justify our actions as saying "Well, I was angry." The sin of anger does not justify sinful actions.
6. Anger is affects our lives in so many ways. Aas with envy and other sins it can affect our health and allow us no joy at all.
7. It makes us sin against God and against man. Moses sinned against God. He disobeyed God - he was to speak to the rock but he struck it twice. God was going to provide for their needs out of His grace. He would give them water. God would provide in His way. Moses simply needed to trust that God would provide, but Moses acted as if the results depended upon human effort and not on the power of God alone.
a. I have seen it over and over again how our anger leads us to take action when we should have trusted in God I’m angry at that person and I’ll take care of it. "I’ll straighten them out and give them an earful." "We have to do something about this situation" "I’ll ignore them and pretend they don’t exist." These are taking matters in our own hands, as if we need to make things right. And that is the sin of not trusting in God.
b. I’m not saying we need not act in certain matters but our actions must not be motivated with the anger we feel towards others because of what they have done to us. Just like Moses, we then fail to honour God as holy. And we fail to see His grace at work.
8. Friends - have you sinned against God by your anger towards another person? Toward another member of the household of God. The hardest work I have done is Pastoral Relations. I saw the anger in people towards each other. Anger tearing churches apart. It affects us spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and relationally. I have been frightened by seeing the anger in people.
9. To show the affect that anger has on us as individuals or as families or groups or even nations, wew ill look at one verse from Amos. Amos 1:11 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked,
10. God is pronouncing judgement on Edom. Edomites as descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. So Edom is referred to as a "brother" to Israel in this verse. As is often the case with personal relations, the closest relative can be a bitter enemy. At the time of the Israelite Exodus from Egypt, the Edomites refused the Israelites passage through their land. Edom was a constant threat to Judah's frontier, and both Saul and David conducted warfare with the Edomites.
11. Interesting that Edom's sin is her anger. And her sinful anger is bring down the righteous anger of God upon her.
12. Anger that began when Jacob stole Esau’s birthright and continued on through many generations and even grew. So also can our anger be passed on and outlive us through our descendants.
13. The four sins in this verse, to me, are four sins or chararcteristics of anger itself.
14. 1st - Edom - pursued his brother with a sword. Anger leads us to act in anger toward another. Our sword may not be of iron but of words or other actions. But we want to hurt those with whom we are angry. We want to hurt them for the hurt they have inflicted on us. But we never feel we get even.
15. 2nd - Edom stifled all compassion. Last Sunday evening we saw that a mark of genuine faith was to be compassionate. We are to reflect the compassion of God. His great love and care for us. His willingness to forgive us His paying the price for our own sin by sending His son to die on the cross. He does not excuse our sins but He understands our weaknesses.
16. When two people are angry with each other, they are probably both hurting very much. I know of situations right now where that is the case. Both feel hurt by the other and the pain they feel is great. But they do not see or feel the pain of the other. Anger and our own pain seems to desensitize us from seeing the pain in the other. And not only that, but we will not even admit or want to show the other that they have hurt us. "I won’t give them the pleasure of letting him know that he has caused me pain." Anger removes the compassion of Christ for the other person from us. We become hard and bitter. We don’t see the underlying hurt that leads them to sin against us we only feel the pain of their sin. And when we do that, we hurt Christ. We reject what He did for us and we fail to show that he is in is
17. Phil 2:1-8 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!
18. Is there anyone here for whom you feel or have no compassion? If so, are living for Christ and is He living in you? Or have you set Him aside, so you can focus on your anger?
19. 3rd - Edom’s anger raged continuously. It is always there. It affects all we do. It sits on our hearts and can even make us feel sick. We have no peace. I know for myself that it is like a part of me is ineffective or unusable because these feelings just won’t leave me alone.
20. 4th - Edom’s fury flamed unchecked. The anger controls us and flames unchecked.
Prov 27:4 Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?
Prov 29:11 A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.
Prov 29:22 An angry man stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.
21. Anger makes us do and say things we normally would not. It is so destructive. It is a powerful and evil force. It is a tool of the devil. Eph 4:26-27 "In your anger do not sin" : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold."
22. Friend, we have been giving Satan a foothold. What are we going to do about it? Well, next week I was going to go on to the next deadly sin, but I think I will not. Instead - we are going to deal with our anger. Not for our own sake - but for God’s?
23. And so, this week, think about whom you are angry towards - even write their names down. And come to church next week prepared to deal with your anger.
