How to handle anger
Mark 11:12-19
September 6, 1998
Morning Service
Introduction
I. Mikey Mantle and Billy Martin’s hunting trip
A. Go to Mantle’s friend’s farm: Mantle and Martin go out to the farm, when they arrive Mantle goes to speak with his friend, friend has a dying mule and asks Mantle to shoot it for him, Mantle agrees
B. A bad joke: Mantle decides to play a joke on Martin, He gets into the truck acting angry, “That guy makes me so mad, I’m going to shoot his mule”, Martin objects but Mantle insists and pulls the truck up to the barn, runs in and shoots the mule, on the way out of the barn Mantle hears gunshots, he sees Martin out of the truck with his rifle out, “Martin what are you doing?” Martin yells back - “we’ll show him! I just shot two of his cows”
II. The problem with anger
A. What is anger: Anger is an extremely intnse response to a difficult situation, in christian cirles we avoid the subject of anger, it is the fuel for confrontation, so we don’t really know how to handle proper anger, many things ought to make us angry - social injustice, abortion, drunk driving billboards
B. Negative anger: We often apply anger to things in it’s negative sense, we see our society falling deeper and deeper into violence and destruction, we see how anger disrupts and destroys lives, can anger be positive?
C. Biblical perspective: “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.” Ephesians 4:26-27, there are two sides to anger - negative or sinful and the positive unsinful,
READ TEXT
Body
1. The anger of Jesus was caused:
Verse 11: Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
a. Jesus goes directly to the temple: Jesus has just entered the city, He was hailed by the people and had raised a great deal of enthusiasm with the crowds, Jesus goes straight to the temple, it had been a long day and a difficult journey, now he wanted to take some time to be in prayer in the Father’s house, Jesus arrives at the temple but does not worship, the sight he sees is so troubling to him that he does not stop to pray
b. Jesus sees everything: Jesus looks the temple over and sees everything, He more than likely looked over the outer courts and the inner courts, this is where the true problem existed, the outer court of the temple was for the gentile “God fearers”, this was to be a place for them to come and to pray, it was now filled with money changers and animal merchants, there was no possible way for gentiles to pray in this section of the temple, to make matters worse the merchants and money changers were dishonest with the people, they were making a fast buck off of people coming to worship
c. Jesus knows the time is not right: Jesus was anger at this point, he did not go into the temple to worship, action was needed to correct this problem, it was late in the day - creates two complications 1. Most of the common people were gone from the temple and this took away any chance to teach, 2. Jesus would face greater opposition from the chief priests, the timing was not right, so Jesus leaves Jerusalem for Bethany, no doubt planning a return visit for the next day
What we learn from Jesus: Be angry about things that matter, we often times get angry over petty issues that have no eternal significance, we argue and fuss over trivial things when the crucial is ignored, Jesus was angry because a social injustice was occurring
2. The anger was communicated
Verses 15 & 16: On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.
a. Jesus puts anger into action: Jesus walks into Jerusalem and goes straight to the temple to do what he could not have done the earlier day, he takes care of business, Jesus immediately begins to drive out those in the courts both buying and selling, he faced the problem head on, he stopped it cold, he completely stopped the selling of merchandise, then he overturns the money changers tables, coins and currency went everywhere, the problem seemed to solved for the moment
b. Jesus is specific: In his anger Jesus does not take it out on innocent people, he is specific to those who were causing and perpetuating the problem, we often take our frustrations and anger out on the wrong people, the kick the cat syndrome, Jesus kept his focus on the problem and he did not lose that focus,
c. Jesus patrols the temple courts: Jesus focused on the problem, stops the problem and then keeps it from continuing, Jesus’ message was that the temple was God’s house and the Jews would no longer defile the place with their misdeeds, Jesus proved to the people that God’s house was to be honored and respected, we do not dishonor God by having merchants or money changers in the church, we defile the house of God in different ways, we come to church with bad attitudes or harbor resentment for others in the church, when we withhold our sacrifice of tithe, time and talent from God’s service, when we lay judgment on others, when we ruin others ability to worship with us,
What we learn from Jesus: Communicates anger in appropriate ways, we often fail to communicate anger correctly, we hurt other people in the process, we lose the focus of our anger and direct on the wrong people
3. The anger was clarified
Verse 17 And he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’ But you have made it a ‘den of robbers.’
a. Jesus clarifies his actions: Jesus presents his reasons for his actions, he does not come out like a lunatic, he shows the people that their behavior is wrong, the accepted norm is not the correct way to honor God, in fact it was dishonoring God by refusing the gentiles a place to worship, the status quo was unacceptable, Jesus was fighting religious tradition
b. Jesus clarifies God’s intentions for the temple: Jesus clarifies the role of the temple, it was to be a place of worship for the Jews and gentiles, the inner courts and temple are were for the Jews and their worship, outer courts were for the gentiles as a place of prayer, thus the temple was a house of prayer for the nations, everyone was to be welcomed at the temple, the placing of merchants and moneychangers in the courts added noise and commotion to the outer courts, impossible for gentiles to pray
c. Jesus clarifies Israel’s wrongdoing: Jesus drives the merchants and the money changers out and shows how wrong it was for the Jewish leaders to do this sort of thing, the Jewish wrong doing was on several levels - 1. The people wanting to sacrifice an animal had to have the animal approved by the priests, many of the animals brought were not approved, if they did not approve the animal there were pre approved animals for purchase, 2. The temple had its own money and all purchases had to be made in their currency. 3. They were cheating people with money exchange 4. The animals were sold at three, four and even five times their value, Jesus puts a stop to this practice for this day
What we learn from Jesus: Clear anger can be used to show wrong doing, this is the basis for confrontation, Jesus did not slug anyone or call down fire from heaven, he did show why he was angry and worked to correct the problem
4. The anger was controlled
Verses 18-19 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him
a. Jesus modeled self control: Jesus kept his anger in check, he could have called fire down from heaven and destroyed the place, it was probably tempting to do so, he did not allow his anger to control Him, Jesus’ response to the situation was appropriate because the goal was to teach the people
b. Chief priests were controlled by their anger: The chief priests were so angry that they plotted how to kill Jesus, their anger was so strong and so evil that they were ready to kill Jesus, they had been clouded by their pride and they envy of Jesus, they were ready to trade their spirituality for revenge
What we learn from Jesus: Control your anger don’t let it control you, we often think of anger being an out of control type of act, Jesus shows us that proper anger for right reasons can benefit us, when we lose control of our anger it creates a worst case scenerio because we aren’t in control and neither is God
5. The anger was constructive
because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. When evening came, they went out of the city.
a. Jesus used his actions to teach: Jesus was not getting angry just to get angry, he had a purpose, he wanted to teach the people about what was wrong with the Jews and their conduct, Jesus was modeling for us a basis for handling anger, he shows us how to deal with injustice
b. Jesus was completing his Father’s work: Jesus was doing the Father’s work, he was pointing out the way to establish a proper relationship, Jesus was allowing the people to see the proper relationship with the Father
What we learn from Jesus: Jesus achieved a higher pupose and greater goal, Jesus remained focused on what needed to be done, He taught the people about the true nature of the temple
Conclusion
The next time you get angry ask yourself a few simple questions
1. Is this really worth being angry about?
2. Am I able to communicate this anger in an appropriate manner?
3. Is it clear what my message is?
4. Am I in control of my anger?
5. Am I able to achieve a higher purpose for God out of this?
