"RIGHTEOUS ANGER"
Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
November 13, 2016
Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Glenshaw, Pennsylvania
TEXT:
As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
Exodus 32:19 (ESV)
Is it ever okay for a Christian to get mad? Is there ever a situation in which it would be considered appropriate for a Christian to exhibit anger? Most of us have been taught from day one by our Christian parents that any display of anger is a lack of "self-control," which is, according to the apostle Paul, one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). And James also gives this instruction: "Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God" (James 1:19, 20). From these passages of Scripture and others like them it would appear that no matter what happens or how angry we may be tempted to feel about it, we are to be above getting angry. We are to be calm, collected, and controlled, appealing to the better spirits of our nature to promote peace and harmony and to avoid any appearance of discord and animosity.
But there is such a thing as "righteous indignation" (or "righteous anger," as we might call it today). This righteous anger arises in response to various situations in which anger could be deemed justifiable, as when something happens that is so offensive to God and man that the only fitting response is anger. In Scripture there are a number of examples of God's people becoming angry over various evil things that happen and we can find occasions when even God Himself becomes angry. Jesus' cleansing of the temple readily comes to mind. We find an example of righteous anger also in this morning's sermon text, which relates an incident in which Moses, the servant of the Lord who led the Israelites out of Egypt and to the border of the promised land, displayed this kind of anger. As we look at his experience with the children of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai, let's try to find out two things in particular: (1) Is it ever okay to get mad? and (2) How is righteous anger to be expressed?
Is it ever okay to get mad? Of course it is, but all too often what we think is righteous anger really is not. No matter what we may think, righteous anger is not the anger that we feel when we are offended or even harmed in some way. A lot of people today feel that they are displaying righteous anger when they protest injustices that they have endured or when they demand their rights. This may indeed be a real and vital part of our American culture, with its emphasis on personal freedom and individual rights, but that's not what the Bible is talking about when it speaks of righteous anger. When Moses got angry at the children of Israel in the text before us, he wasn't mad about anything that they had done to him. He had not been personally offended in any way. In the same way, Jesus never raised one word of protest when He was abused at His trial, but patiently endured this unjust treatment out His love for sinners and His commitment to the cause of their redemption.
What Moses got mad about at the foot of Mount Sinai and what Jesus got mad about in the temple was not that they were offended, but that God had been offended. Think for a moment about what transpired here in this passage from Exodus. Moses, the leader of God's people, went up to meet God face to face on Mount Sinai. The purpose of this audience with the Almighty was so that Moses might receive from God Himself His Law--the Ten Commandments--by which His chosen people were to be governed. By the time Moses came down from the mountain, the people of Israel had become impatient while they waited for him to return. Despite the lightning, the fire, and the smoke that surrounded the mountain, they saw no evidence of God's presence among them, so they forsook the God who had done so much for them. They petitioned Aaron, the second-in-command, to make gods for them to worship. The end result was the golden calf. When Moses returned with the Ten Commandments, he walked in on the people of God as they were blatantly violating the very first of these commandments. What's more, Moses had just finished interceding for these people with God Himself. No wonder Moses was mad!
But even if righteous anger is permissible, just what is the appropriate way for a believer to express this righteous anger? Look at what Moses did. He didn't strike out with violence against the people who had made Him angry. That's most likely what you or I would have done. Later on he disciplined them for their offense, but he did not deal with them in rage. Instead, Moses released his anger by throwing down the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. There's an interesting little parallel in this act of Moses as well. God also took out His righteous anger against sin not on sinners, but on His perfect Son. As the perfect Law of God bore the brunt of Moses' righteous anger in the place of those who sinned, so the perfect Son of God bore the brunt of God's righteous anger in the place of sinners. In the cross of Christ we see righteous anger at its fullest, because it is here and here alone that the wrath of God against human sin was poured out and appeased. That having been done, God now accepts repentant sinners as righteous for the sake of His righteous Son. Indeed He does discipline His children, but it is done with love, not with retribution.
Moses became angry not in violence against the people, but in love for them. It was his love for them that motivated him to become angry at them. If you've ever been a parent, you know the feeling, I am sure. What angered Moses more than anything was the spiritual harm that God's people were inflicting on themselves by their idolatry. They were turning their backs on the God who had delivered them from slavery and led them through the wilderness on their way to the promised land. They were discarding their special relationship with the Creator of heaven and earth and everything in them. They were rejecting the God who loved them and cared for them. Worst of all, they were cutting themselves off from their only Source of grace and mercy. Our anger today over the indifference of sinners, some of whom call themselves Christians, ought to flow out of the same motivation of love.
So when is it okay to get mad? Not when you have been offended, but when God has been offended. And how is your righteous anger to be expressed? In a manner that is consistent with God's will for the behavior of His people. Above all, righteous anger is motivated out of a deep love for God and also for the offender. In the cross of Jesus Christ the anger of God has been vented and our offense against Him has been removed, enabling us to put aside our anger and to forgive as we have been forgiven. May God bless us with the wisdom to use our emotions to His glory, following the example of Moses and the Lord Himself not only in respect to anger, but in serving Him with our entire lives, knowing that we are forgiven when we fail and that God will work His good and gracious will among us and through us.
Amen.
May the Lord bless your hearing of His Word, using it to accomplish in you those things for which He gave it. May you be enriched and strengthened in faith that you may leave here today to go out into our world armed with the whole armor of God, prepared to be able ambassadors of your Savior Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it. Amen.