Ephesians
4:26a
"Be
ye angry*, to be angry, and sin not...."
*that
is one of the human parts of our nature, and we are going to get
angry occasionally, but we do not have to lose control of our anger.
So the admonition is, be angry and do not sin. Jesus is our example in many places but even more so,
of this during His illegal trial He did not raise His voice or even
speak many times in response to a question. He remained mute because
with the silents the answer was purely spoken and became self
evident.
Do
not let it become something of your nature that is uncontrollable. We
personally do not think that a believer can have uncontrollable
temper tantrums once we become one within the Body with Christ. We can all get
angry, and we certainly can and should control it. So if there is
something that is basically wrong with a person, then we have to
wonder if God has done a work of redemption in that person. What I mean is this, I have a friend who is a staunch believer that the Bible teaches physical healing and health and that he is not to agree with a doctors prognosis or take pharmacia, medicines or drugs. This he does to his own determent, he digs his heels in and will not budge an inch, even when shown the word and its meaning. That being made whole both in and then being part of Christ (in unity with) as in Genesis 2:7.
We have this certain
amount of freedom that we can be upset by a thing, but not to the place
that it becomes sinful or that it has an effect on our family and
loved ones, and co-workers or neighbors. And for goodness sake, if we
want to keep our health then do not take it to bed with you. That is
why James tells us that the tongue has the power to set a forest on
fire, in chapter 3. Mans own bitterness of soul destroys him for it
is nothing short of judgment in wrath (anger and rage in violence
uncontrolled). This is the character which Jacob brought to Israel as seen when he wrestled with God and would not relent. King David acted in just the opposite character, when he recanted with a contrite heart before God for his grievous err and great sin. And this pleased God because David was humbled, which Jacob was not. If anything Jacob expressed wrath, resistance toward God.
Ephesians
4:26b
"...let
not the sun go down upon your wrath:"
There
is nothing that will ruin our health quicker than to have these bugs
literally churn in our stomach with anger. We can get a mean ulcer
for being upset often. So always remember it is okay to be angry,
but do not let it control your life, and do not go to bed angry.
In verse 27, and as we look at this verse we might say, "Well,
there is nothing there." But there is a lot there. The point is that we are to
avoid lying and having uncontrolled anger.
Ephesians
4:27
"Neither
give place to the devil."
In
general terms how much print does Paul give to Satan? Very little.
He will just make a statement about Satan here and there, and we are
going to look at a couple of them here in a bit. Turn with us to 2Corinthians chapter 4, verse 3. Now these are not the only two
instances, but this is the way it usually pops up. The reason we want
to take time to do this is because we see so much lately of where the
so called Christian community is being admonished to wage war against
Satan. We have to fight against Satan, we have to do things against
Satan, but Paul does not teach that. Paul recognizes his power, but
he does not spend long verses at a time telling us how to fight a
war against Satan. Why? Because that is the LORD's field of endeavor.
We
will see this a little bit in Ephesians chapter 6, but all he does is
let’s us know that he is there. Paul’s emphasis is not Satan,
but rather is on Christ and His glory. And when Christ rules our life, when He is in control being Life, Satan can not touch us, and we do
not have to worry all that much about fighting against Satan if we
center on Christ and His work of the cross. And we think for this
reason Paul does not give a lot of ink to Satan.
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