Freedom from Anger & Bitterness

Christ Sets us Free from Anger and Bitterness

Pastor David Talley

                   Ahh…now that hits the spot! Pastor David here, just enjoying a small cup of coffee. You can tell from the size of that mug that it’s going to be one of those days. I’ve got a lot going on. Maybe you’re having one of those days. So, why don’t we take a moment and consider our lives and open up God’s word and think about the richness that we have in Christ as we move through this Holy Week.

We are learning what Scripture teaches about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and what he has accomplished for us as a result of the love that he demonstrated for us on the cross. We have been set free, from so many different things, and we want to consider that today, how we have been set free from anger and bitterness. There two passages of Scripture that I would encourage you to read for today, Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3. They are full of riches about our former manner of life and who we are now in Christ.

                  In order to do that, I’m standing in my library at Biola, and I’m surrounded by many books. I’m getting old if you haven’t noticed…the gray hairs continue. Maybe I’m even losing some hairs. I don’t know, but the Lord knows the number of hairs on my head! I’ll leave that to him. But, I’m getting older. You recognize a lot of things as you begin to go up in years. One of the things I’ve recognized is that I have a lot of stuff. I have stuff in closets in my house, I have stuff in my garage, I have stuff in my office, actually, multiple offices! I have stuff in my attic. And I know you have stuff too. We accumulate these things.

I’m getting to a point in my life where I really need to begin to get rid of certain items so that I can keep the items that are really going to be useful for me. For instance, looking through my books right here, A Dictionary of the Ancient Near East. I’m just not certain that I’m going to need that at all in the days ahead. It’s been helpful for me at some point in my life, but I just don’t think it will continue to be helpful for me.

When we think about the life that we live in this world, there are certain things that, before we knew Christ, might have been helpful for us to navigate our way through life. Not beneficial for us or for others, but we might have seen them as helpful. But when we come to know Christ, we are set free from those things because we no longer live in that way. We no longer recognize that they are helpful. We now recognize that they are not beneficial for us, they are not beneficial for others, and, especially, they do not bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we consider our topic for today, anger and bitterness, I’m going to put it into a grocery list of items.  When we go through passages like Ephesian 4 and Colossians 3, it begins to really invite us into our new life in Christ, that we are no longer this way, we are new creatures in Christ. And, to use the language of Ephesians and Colossians, we are to now “lay aside” certain things and “put on” certain things. I get rid of some books, and I keep other books. I get rid of the books that are no longer helpful to me, they are no longer beneficial, they are no longer beneficial in living the Christian life, and I now focus on and retain those things that bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ and actually bring me joy at the same time.

In Ephesians 4, it says, when you get down to verse 31, “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” We are to put these things aside. Now we could go through each one of those items on that list, and we could try to understand what the Greek word is and what it means. Instead, let’s just look at the big picture. Each one of these emotions is destructive, and they come from within and manifest themselves on the outside because we are seeking to preserve ourselves. We are seeking to exalt ourselves. And how do we do that? By destroying others, by putting them down, by putting them in their place. We might have bitterness because we want what we don’t have, that which others might have, and we are trying to exalt ourselves and put us in those places. Or we might have anger, which just destroys and cuts off relationships. Each one of these items in this grocery list of emotions, if we think about it, reflect the life in ministry of Satan…to steal, to kill, and destroy. That’s what the items in this list do. We’ve been set free from them. We are to lay them aside.

Now, let’s think about each one of these. Let’s imagine that these emotions were books in my library. When you are going through your library, you can turn a book over, look at the back, and get a brief synopsis of the book. Imagine that, if I was looking at the back of the book and it was giving an explanation of what this book is about, it would say something like, “which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit”—that’s what is found in this volume. I want to throw that book away. I don’t need that. I don’t need something that is going to destroy me. That’s what the Bible is saying: “These things destroy you; they destroy others. Put those away!” And it is a continuous action, a corruption that continues to take place.

But imagine also, I was looking through my library, and I pulled another book out, and it says on the back of this book, “it’s been created in righteousness and in holiness of truth.” I’m thinking to myself, “That’s what I want!” This is right relationship with others, this is being holy as he is holy. Truth—that’s what I want!

And so, Paul is using these descriptions throughout Ephesians 4 and is telling you, “Go for it, get rid of these items, put these things on, don’t be the one who reflects Satan’s life and his ministry of steal, and kill, and destroy!” Instead, we are to, as we read in verse 32, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” We are to now model ourselves after the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul continues in 5:1-2, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” That’s truth! That’s life giving! It’s actually joy-giving as well. So, when we recognize our new life in Christ, we recognize we have nothing to prove, nothing to lose. We don’t have to destroy those around us in order to exalt ourselves. Our life is hidden (I’m using the language of Colossians 3) in Christ, with God. We have nothing to prove, nothing to lose. Christ has done that for us. We are free from that former manner of life. Perhaps some of you need to bring this before the Lord today and ask the Lord to help you crush those destructive emotions in your life and instead live the life of Christ. That you will commit yourself to no longer reflecting the life and ministry of Satan, but rather the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I trust that each one of you will keep your eyes on the Lord and be growing in him as you think about your life and do inventory…the same way I’m doing inventory for my books. Let’s do inventory of our lives to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray that today is rich and filled with Jesus Christ for you. You are free from anger and bitterness!

For Further Reflection

1) Read Ephesians 4, especially verses 17-32, and Colossians 3.

2) Make two separate lists: a) what we are to put off/lay aside; b) what we are to put on.

3) Ask God to help you see your life clearly: what needs to change.

4) Pray through both lists, asking God to forgive you for sins, to strengthen you to live differently, and to enable you to put on the characteristics of your life in Christ.