Don't Stoke the Fire

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger (Eph 4:26).

I love a roaring fire on a chilly night.  Crackling.  Popping.  As long as it stays fireplace, I’m cozy and warm.  But once that fire leaves the hearth, I’m in big trouble.  Then it’s out of control.  Then it’s deadly.  And before I head upstairs for the night, I make sure the fire’s almost out.  The last thing I should do is stoke the fire before going to bed.  That’s a recipe for disaster.  Here in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul warns his readers that playing with anger is like playing with fire.  "Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger" (v26).  It’s OK to be angry.  Just don’t stay that way.  And whatever you do, do NOT stoke the fire!

Let’s back up a bit and get a little perspective at what’s going on here.  From his prison cell in a Roman slammer, Paul is describing what it looks like to follow Jesus.  First, God has brought us back from the walking dead (Eph 2:1, 4-5).  He tell us what it looks like to "put on the new self" as a follower of Jesus (Eph 4:24).  That’s a HUGE point.  The apostle spends the first part of this letter describing the truth of who Jesus is and what He’s done.  Paul wants God’s Tsunami of Blessing to absolutely consume us (Eph 1:3-14).  We didn’t do a dad-blamed thing.  This salvation is completely a masterwork of God’s grace by God in our lives.  As a matter of fact, the man from Tarsus makes it perfectly clear that “this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8).  I need to stop puffing out my chest.  As the Puritans would say, the only thing I brought to my salvation is the sin that makes it necessary.  

In other words, Paul carefully sets the table with the truth about Jesus and who we are in Him before he tells us what to do.  Without that truth, the commands that follow are just legalism.  Works righteousness.  A do-it-yourself gospel.  A self-salvation project.  Outward performance without an inward change.  Without the truth of who Jesus is, I could brag and boast about what a great job I’m doing (even though I would be a lying dog!).  The indicative truth must proceed the imperative commands.  And what is that truth?  Glad you asked.  Jesus lived the perfect life that I completely failed to live.  He died the brutal death for my sin that I should have died.  He rose to a glorious new life that I certainly don’t deserve.  I place my trust in what He’s done for me that I could never do.  As a result, He gives me His Spirit to empower me to follow and obey Him.  That includes dealing with my anger in a godly way.  Ah yes, my anger.

So Paul gives us the command to “be angry and do not sin” (v26).  He’s actually quoting a lyric from one of David’s hit songs (Ps 4:4).  Later the king will drop the same idea using different words in another tune: “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!” (Ps 37:8).  The apostle uses the Greek verb orgizomai.  No, he’s not looking for us to fold paper into the shape of a swan (Get it?  Origami?  Yeah, I know.  Pretty weak.)  This word means to be furious, enraged, irritated, lose your temper and to be exasperated to the point of anger.  Is this a command to blow my top?  If so, I’ve got this one nailed!!  Sadly, no.  Robertson describes this as being what he calls the permissive imperative.  That’s a fancy schmancy way of say this is not a command to be angry but a warning about staying angry.  It's OK to be angry.  Just don't stay angry.

So is anger a bad thing?  What’s the deal?  No, anger in and of itself is not a sin.  As a matter of fact, even God gets angry.  The Bible consistently describes Him as “slow to anger” (Ex 34:6; Num 14:18; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15...there’s a LOT more to list, but I think you get the point).  Our holy God has a supernaturally long fuse but He will eventually run out.  A classic example of God’s anger is seen when Jesus cleaned house in the temple courts, not once but twice (Jn 2:13-17; Mk 11:15-17).  God gets angry over sin and its effect on His creation.  Some call it righteous indignation.  That’s a sanitize way of saying God’s furious.  Since we’re made in God’s image, He’s given us His same emotions.  That includes anger.  The problem is that our sin nature corrupts our expression of it.  It’s easy to lose control and begin to sin when I blow my stack.

So when is OK to get mad?  When we see sin.  When we see evil.  When we see injustice.  As a matter of fact, King Sol goes so far as to say, “The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil” (Prov 8:13).  Just like Jesus, these things should get us fired up.  Sadly, I’m not mad enough at the sin I see in the world.  Sometimes I don’t even bat an eye.  More importantly, I’m not mad enough at the sin I see in my own life.  Over in his letter to the folks in Colossae, Paul says we need to hate our sin to the point that we put a hit on it (Col 3:5).  Kill it.  Rub it out.  Assassinate it.  Are you angry about your sin?  I’m pretty sure God is good with THAT kind of anger.

So the apostle tells us that when we do get fired up, we need to be VERY, VERY careful.  “Be angry and do not sin” (v26).  Anger is a slippery slope.  Jesus warned that anyone who gets mad and stays mad at their brother is in danger of taking a really hot swim for a really long time (Mt 5:22).  I think I’ll pass.  And Solomon finds just about every way possible to warn against having a quick temper (Prov 15:1; 15:18; 29:22).  It's alright to lose your cool over things that upset God but don't stoke the fire.

Be careful.  When you get angry, get over it.  Don’t stoke the fire.