Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak, Slow to Become Angry
First B Jackson
2024-11-03

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Alright. Good good morning, everybody. How are we doing? You look joyful and happy to be here. Am I right

in saying that? I am. I am. And I would love to sing together. Will you stand, and and let's let's join together in song.

From Psalm 103, it says this, bless the Lord, oh my soul, the Psalmist says. All that's within me, bless his holy name. What do you say we do that together? 10,000 reasons for my heart to find.

Bless the Lord.

Amen. You can have a seat for for a minute here, and I think Mike's gonna come on up. He's got a couple of announcements for us.

Hi, friends. So glad that you

are here today. If you don't know me, my

name is Michael Demetrius. I am the youth pastor here, and I'm excited to share some announcements with you. So to start off, Awana, right here in this room tomorrow night, that's gonna be going on at 05:45. Awana is an elementary program that we run here to get scripture into the hearts of students. And our second announcement, I'm gonna bring up Casey McCooey, and she's gonna tell us about Operation Christmas Child.

Okay. We only have a couple weeks left. So you guys have been seeing these boxes out in the foyer. These are boxes to send all over the world for Christmas presents for kids who might not get a Christmas present. There should be a label in every box back there if you haven't already picked up one.

There's gift ideas on the wall out back, but in between services, I'm gonna have some boxes of a whole bunch of extra supplies that we have. So please, if you haven't filled up your box already, I have lots of school supplies. I have matchbox toys, some other stuff. So come by if you wanna grab some things to fill these boxes. It do it does cost $10 a box for shipping.

So please just put a check or $10 in there. There's not gonna be a packing party this year. We're just gonna start collecting the boxes, and we need them all here by November 17. So again, if you have questions, I'll just be right back there. Thanks.

Thanks, Casey. Perfect. Yeah. Thank you, Casey. So let's get those boxes.

They do go all around the world and and change lives. So it's a really good way to show God's love to people that we'll never know or see. Men's Alliance. So Men's Alliance is a men's group that meets for breakfast on typically the first Wednesday of the month, but it will be oh, yeah. Tomorrow is the first Wednesday.

How about that? So it'll be next week. I mean, tomorrow yeah. On Wednesday this week. Early, early in the morning.

If you are a fellow and you wanna come and join for fellowship, please come and join us for that. There's been directories going around. Check your info in that directory or add your info. If you send your picture to the church email, we will get that in there for you. So there's examples of good and bad.

A cool thing that's been going on is there's a lot of unity among churches here in the valley. And coming up this week on Wednesday, you could see it there in military time, eighteen thirty. Don't Google that. That's 06:30 normal time. That's gonna be a worship night at Gateway.

And it's really cool. Something special happens when all God's people come together, and and the churches in this valley come together in worship in unity. It's it's so powerful. And when churches don't compete, they just complete each other. It's not about one church here, one church there.

It's about the kingdom of God and what he's doing. So we're gonna come together, worship our creator, 06:30 at Gateway this coming Wednesday. What else do we have, Blake? We're gonna go back together. So if you guys want to stand up, greet one another around you, Carl is gonna bring us back together in song.

I love the the words to that song. A love that doesn't let us go, that's God's love. A light that follows all my way, that's God's light. A joy that seeks through our pain and the suffering that we feel, that's God's joy cross that lifts up our head. Jesus' sacrifice, life that leads to life.

Thank you, Lord, for this morning, and thank you, God, for the joy that you bring. As we sing to you, God, may we do so with joy in our hearts and sincerity and love for you and for one another. We're not just worshiping individually here. We're we're worshiping corporately together as a church body together in unity. God, thank you for unity in the spirit.

Thank you for unity in Christ. Thank you for the fellowship that we have here together. Would you bind us together tightly in Jesus name. Amen. I

love you lord. I love you, Lord. For your mercy never fails me. All my days, I've been held in your hands. From the moment that I wake up until I lay my hand, I will sing of the goodness of God.

God, as we sing that song, we wanna pause to reflect and look back at our lives and just how faithful you have been through absolutely everything, mountains and valleys, through hard and difficult things. Some some of us are going through very, very hard and difficult things right now, right at this moment. And I trust, Lord, that you would carry us through by your strength and in your power. God, we're relying on you. And just as we've we've sung here, life laid down surrendered now, and that's not an easy thing, God.

That's a day by day choice, a decision to make. But Lord, as we do, your strength is made perfect in our in our weakness. And we recognize that, recognize your power, your love, your strength. And Lord, we're just just grateful to to sing of your faithfulness today. That even when we are faithless, it says in scripture that you are faithful.

Thank you, God. In Jesus name. Amen.

Before the throne of God unborn, I have a strong and perfect lead, whom great high priest whose name is thou. Whoever lives and pleads for me. My name is graven on his head. My name is written on his heart. I know that high, with Christ my Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Praise the one risen son.

You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite our ushers to come on forward. We're gonna sing a song called firm foundation from Matthew seven. This is one of my friends. He's been teaching and teaching and teaching, and then he says, hey, listen.

Everybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice, and that is the keyword, puts them into practice is like the wise person who builds their house on the rock. The rain comes, the streams rose, the winds blow, they beat against the house. Yet, it does not it does not fall because it's from it's front its foundation was built on that rock. And before we sing it, would you pray with me? I just wanna give thanks here.

Lord almighty, the rock on which we stand, we wanna pause to simply say thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Recognizing that every good and perfect gift, it comes from you. May your your generosity, God, compel us to live with open hearts and open hands, and may these gifts be used for the advance of your kingdom. God, this really is about you and the advance of your kingdom.

Would you use these gifts? Would you use what's put in these place and otherwise? It's not just about the the monetary gifts that are put in these plates. It's about the spiritual gifts that you've given each of us to contribute together in unity to build up the body of Christ. And Lord, I just want to say thank you for each and every individual gift that you give us to complement one another.

And that there are those here that have gifts that I didn't even dream of that I don't have, but you're using those gifts to build up the body. Thank you, Jesus, for using us as frail as we are to be representatives. In Jesus' name, would you bless the gift and the giver. Amen. Kids Children's Church, you are invited to head downstairs, and I'm gonna invite Brad up.

And hey. Could we just thank Brad for being willing to step in and and preach and raise a little? God, I love you, and I appreciate you.

Don't thank me yet. They haven't heard it.

Thank you yet. Alright. Take it easy on us, would you? Yeah. I can I pray first?

God, we're grateful for this day and this time of worship. And, again, the body of Christ, Lord, just keeps coming up again and again to me how important it is to be together. Here's the body of Christ. But then, most importantly, to hear from you. And when we hear your word, we hear from you.

That's you speaking to us. So, Lord, would you use your word? Would you use Brad's personality to communicate the word? And Holy Spirit, would you do the good work to change and transform as we yield to you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Carl. Well, grown ups should never wear sweatpants outside the house. Term limits should exist for all elected offices. Country music lost its soul twenty years ago.

What you eat is more important what you don't eat is more important than what you do eat. Instant replay is ruining televised sports. Any steak cooked beyond medium is a waste of the cow and should be illegal. Sweet Cheeks is the best burger in town. Taylor Swift, the NBA, Tropical Vacations and The Godfather are all way overrated.

We need toll booths that charge every car the first time of the year that it drives into Jackson $10 And this should be the last time we ever do daylight savings. Now I have prayed through these convictions. It is my distinct opinion as your head elder that if you don't believe in these, you might not be a Christian. Obviously not, of course. But all of these are what we could be what could call hot sports opinions.

And to agree with them or not, it's a matter of preference and opinion. Some of these things that I just said are wise and would actually improve things. Some of them are silly and just naturally arbitrary. But here's my point, is that we as Christians, we tend to take biblical commands, and we take tend to treat them as if they're hot sports opinions or as if there may be wisdom. And then we also take tend to take our own preferences and convictions and elevate them to the level of biblical command.

And Christian, it shouldn't be. So today, we're going to look at one of the most famous commands in the New Testament epistles. It's James one nineteen through 20. It's one of the first texts I memorized after I became a Christian. This text is so simple and so commonplace that we actually tend to drive right past it, and I did for a while.

Because when we hear it, we tend to treat it like a proverb or like it's wisdom, as if it's your parents saying, don't forget to eat your vegetables. But this isn't eat your vegetables. This is love your neighbor. This is love your love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is us getting clear instruction in how to live in light of the gospel in a dark and fallen world.

Let's look at it now. One more. There we go. You know this, my beloved brothers and sisters, everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. For a man's anger does not bring about the righteousness of God.

Now what I did wrong for a long time was I thought I was satisfying this command if I was like a 10% improvement versus my before Christian self. As if this command were saying, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. But that's not what it says. Is this how someone would describe you in fulfilling this? Is this how your wife or your husband or your children or your coworkers would describe you?

Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry? In short, we're to be like Christ. Or that if we're being described by the people around us, these should be very characteristics that come to mind for them. Now, is also one of those texts that we can be tempted to white knuckle our way into, that we can grit our teeth and achieve it. And I want to warn us against it because we're warned against that all throughout the text.

So we're going to spend a little bit of time talking about the what and the how, but to avoid us really white knuckling it, we're going to talk about the why. Because if you just walk around day after day saying to yourself, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry, you're actually going to make some marginal improvements in this. But if instead, if you allow God to change your heart, then living water is going to pour forth from you naturally. For example, if I have bad water flowing into my house, if I have salt water flowing into my house, no amount of Brita filters is going make that water drinkable. Instead, I need a new source of water flowing into my house.

If I have sewage, if I have the pipes hooked up backwards and sewage is flowing into my house through the taps, I need a different source of water in my house. I need the living water. And I lived in that first paradigm for a while, and I still do sometimes. I have a tendency, personally, to put Brita filters on saltwater and try and make it fresh. That is unless I remind myself of the truth.

Because I have this tendency to feel useful for God more easily than I feel beloved by him. And I suspect some of you do too. But I can remind myself of the truth that Christ died for me, not after I cleaned my life up, not after I became useful for God, but while I was still his enemy, suck stuck in my sin and rebellion. That's when Christ died for me. So I tend personally to want to work towards things, to, you know, work through my checklist instead of addressing the root issue of it.

But instead, if I start with a fresh reminder each day and throughout the day of who I am, who God is, and what he has done for me, then I've got the living water flowing through me, and it pours forth from me naturally. Said another way, my quiet time is not to prove my piety to myself, to anyone else, or to God. My quiet time or any other spiritual discipline is to align my heart and draw me nearer to the one that saved me. And I've made a lot of progress on this since I became a Christian. Versus my before Christ self, I was quicker to listen, slower to speak, slower to become angry.

But God wasn't done with me yet. And my hope and my prayer for you guys is that God's not done with you on this either. That's a lot of what we're talking about today. C. S.

Lewis, requisite C. S. So if you have this on your bingo card for Brad speaking, here we are. CS Lewis has this great quote that's just too helpful not to use. Imagine yourself as a living house.

God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, can understand what he is doing. He's getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on. You knew that those jobs needed doing, and so you were not surprised. But presently, he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense.

What on earth is he up to? The explanation is that God is building quite a different house from the one that you thought of, throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers and making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage, but God is building a palace, and he intends to come and live in it himself. So let's make this real and kind of painful for me. And I'll give you an example from my life that echoes what Lewis is talking about here.

I have a quick tongue by nature. It's gotten me in a lot of trouble over the course of my life. And I have this natural tendency to say things quickly without thinking and without filter. And yet our culture actually tends to kind of celebrate that. But in comparison to God's word, we're looking at James one:nine today or one nineteen today.

But here's also James three, and it's all throughout the text. It's not God honoring. And yet you think about what's what's exalted in our culture. Think about what's in TV and movies. Every successful show is built around at least one character that has quick wit or sarcasm.

It shouldn't be us. But in comparison to this text, we even think about the politicians that we like to support. It's not the one with winsome kindness. We like the one with the quick slam that dunks on his opponent. We even share the clips instead of the one of thoughtful kindness.

In fact, it seems way more important to us to be thought of as cool or clever or smart or funny than it does to be patient and loving and kind. So, yeah, I got in a lot of trouble because of this sharp tongue over the course of my life, but it also helped me get ahead a lot. What I kind of learned through that is that everybody loves a smart aleck, except

you

know where they don't is at home. It is not fun to be married to somebody with a sharp tongue. It's not fun to be parented by one. And so what I realized was that I had not given this part of my life over to God. Because I knew that it was hard to be married to somebody with a sharp wit.

And so I would walk around just all the time, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. And I was making improvement. But every once in a while, especially when I got stressed or tired or busy, I'd be easygoing and and and fine with it one moment, and then something would tick me off. And I just I would have just the sharpest slam. And I hadn't given that part of my life over to over to God.

I was trying to fix it myself. And it's such a weird thing to hold back. Because when we think about giving things over to God, we think about our our time, our talent, our resources, our calendar, how we're using our bank account. All of those are good things. But I had this one aspect in my life that was like this weird talent and temptation and sin, and I hadn't given over to God.

I had a realization that I was struggling with anger and a sharp tongue in my home life because I wasn't trusting God's sovereignty. And it was because I had a subtle and unexamined fear in my life that things would not turn out the way that I wanted them to. I wanted to be in control. Now to be honest with you, I am terrified of being a passive husband and father. Terrified.

I would rather almost anything else be said about me. And that fear was leading me to be the opposite of what James is calling us to in today's text. And so when we like I said, when we get stressed and busy, our sinful tendencies tend to come forward. And I think you guys know this, but as a way of illustration, think about what you're like on vacation. And I'm talking real vacation, like without kids.

Kids in the room, I'm sorry. Mommy and daddy love you, but you need to know that sometimes we need a break. I haven't done this in a few years, which is something to work on, but one can imagine. But so let's imagine I'm on vacation. I'm in La Jolla.

I'm with just Natalie. I wake up when I want. I have a long, nice, uninterrupted quiet time. Spend some time together just talking. And then we do a check-in call with whoever we've tied Jack and Abby up to.

And and in that call, this would never happen. But let's imagine that Jack interrupted the adult and talked over his sister trying to justify something he had done wrong that morning. That was this would never happen. But we can imagine. If I've been on this vacation and I'm rested and I've been in my quiet time and all that sort of thing, my my my firstborn son, let's think closely about how we should respond in these sorts of things.

Let me pray with you. We might even look at the scripture that we're looking at today. Now let's compare that with an average weekday. We're up the night before, maybe it was ministry, maybe it was kids sports, whatever. I wake up hours before I would want to.

I rush through a perfunctory quiet time. I go straight into work. I'm looking at markets. I'm doing analysis. I'm executing trades, whatever it is.

And then I hear it, that same thing from the other room. The kids are up in the kitchen with Natalie, and I hear it. Let's say I hear Jack talking over Natalie and interrupting his sister. Again, not that this would ever happen, sorry. In my flesh, I go, I got to shut this down right now.

Pop up from my desk, open the door and I get the dad voice ready and I go, hey, cut it out. I've quelled the insurgent rebellion. I have restored peace and order to the village. But I haven't valued the relationship with anybody in the household. Natalie feels cut off at the knees.

Jack feels crushed by his father. And Abby is probably enjoying it. But but you you guys get what I mean by this. And so what tends to happen is when we get stressed, when we get busy, when we get tired, it's that it's that part that's not our work that's not our best self that comes through. And this was happening to me time and time again.

And so God in his kindness was showing me my sin through this moment. Because did I in that moment, did I act like Christ would have? Because we didn't see Jesus as a husband or as a father, but we saw him as a leader of flawed and immature disciples. And I've looked through the text, and I never saw him do, hey. Cut it out.

And rely on his physical strength and his bigger voice. And I bet he had a good one or could make it come from the father. Because here was my big breakthrough in the house. I don't have to be the Holy Spirit for my wife and for my children. I can let the Holy Spirit be God.

Now that does not mean that I'm going to be a passive husband or father. I'm still going to be held to account by God for how I lead my family. I will still rebuke. I will still discipline. And on occasion, I'll still have to use the dad voice when somebody's in danger.

But here's the thing, I can do it trusting in God's sovereignty, and I can do it with the long term in view, instead of me reacting to what I perceive as an affront to my ego or my pride or really what it is, my sin. I don't have to try and make things perfect right now. Husbands, fathers, men in particular, does that strike a chord with you? Because the more that I've talked about it with men in my community group, in our Thursday men's lunch study, or with the elders, or just other friends, the more I've heard men go, yeah, me too. And so did God cause me to sin?

No, absolutely not. But can God use my sin and bring it to the surface so that I might be sharpened, so that God might be glorified and you can be encouraged in it? Absolutely. And I'm so thankful for it. And I'm thankful that I had a wife that loves me, loves Jesus, and knew scripture.

And that we had a community of believers around us to walk through this. Because you know what's not fun is having your wife and your mentors and your community group gather around to talk about how flawed you are. It felt like being on the operating table without anesthesia, just being cut open and having my flesh shown to everybody so that we could remove the cancerous tumor growth of my impatience and anger. And I am so thankful that they did. Because of the relational equity they had, we did it tenderly, and we did not ruin relationship.

This is why I'm so passionate about community groups. It's the only context in which this works well. For example, Ray is the most pastorally gifted leader I have ever met. The way that he loves people is such an encouragement and an example to me. But let's say I don't spend a ton of time with Ray.

If I go to Ray's office, and I need him to help me work on this, he's not going to have the time, he's not gonna have the context, and he's not gonna have the relational equity to go through this in-depth in the way that I need in order to become more like Christ. And to borrow from Ephesians six, you have to put on the armor of God before the battle has begun. If you walk out there naked, you're dead right away. No.

You have

to choose right now to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation. And remember the shield that Paul is talking about there, it's not the shield from Braveheart or Gladiator, the the little round thing for blocking a sword. We're talking about the things that are the size of a man. And you take that shield out, and let's say you put on all that armor and you go out by yourself, you're still dead at the first salvo. But if you take all that out and you're with other Christians and you're shield to shield with them, if you put that thing on the ground, half covering the man next to you and half covering you, and the and the man or woman next to you is doing the exact same thing, you've created an impenetrable wall that can be moved forward.

And that's how we gain ground. That's how we survive the battle that Christ has already won for us, but that we're called to fight. And that's a lot of what happened within the context of my community, and I am so thankful for it. Because God used other soldiers to cover my unguarded flank. But we have to come at these things the right way, out of a motivation deeper than willpower, but out of love and gratitude.

Because we are not better people and then accept Christ and then become useful for him. Remember, we are saved when we are still enemies of his, as it says in Romans five. Every day then, we slowly become more like Christ, patiently and sometimes painfully. Here's a radical idea straight from scripture. What if we actually did what the Bible said?

Where it's really clear. Where it says, be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. What if we said, okay, God, you say it, I'm gonna do it. We can say, okay, God, because you say it, because of who you are, and because of what you've done for me, I'm gonna try this. But God, I need your help.

God, would you convict me of this? Would you give me a new heart? Would you surround me with other Christians that want to do this? God, I can't do this alone. Church, pray that prayer.

If you're feeling convicted, you can stop listening to me right now, and you can pray that prayer because prayer is the work. But you also have to be willing to do whatever it is that God brings to you to be done next in that process. Because when you pray for patients, for example, it's not just like a video game where God adds points to your to your patient score. No. God gives you situations where you can either grow in patients or where your sin and shortcoming might be revealed.

Okay. So that's my twenty minute intro. We're going to be fine. It's a simple text. So now we're going to look at the what, the how and the why.

The what is three points. It's really simple. Straight from the text, quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. I'm using the NIV here because that's what I memorized so many years ago. Quick to listen.

Are you actually seeking to understand those around you? Or are you just waiting for your turn to talk? There is a big difference between the two. Listening is others focused. You might say lovingly so, as in loving your neighbor, like Christ called us to.

Is there any easier? Is there any lower hanging fruit in feeling loved than being understood? Here's a good litmus test that Natalie and I were taught way back in premarried counseling. We use it. We teach it.

We love it. It's called the active listening technique. Some of you are familiar with this. The key phrase is what I hear you saying is. So when somebody is saying something to you, and you can start easy, Start on your way to lunch today.

I want to go to the verge. What I hear you saying is you want to go to the verge. I see Laura and David smiling. But then you make a habit out of it. And the next time you're in conflict, while you're sitting there pretending to listen to them and you're putting bullets in the gun, and you're just like, yeah.

Put it down. Listen to them. And when they take a pause, say, what I hear you saying is, when I act this way, you feel this way. It's magic. You will not believe how much it brings down the temperature in the room to say what I hear you saying is, and then follow it with something thoughtful.

And allow them to correct you if you've missed it. It'll be fine. And then, you don't just do it with those closest to you, you do it when you're at work or when you're in conflict with somebody maybe that you don't even know. Said another way, the opposite of that is if you can't articulate what somebody is saying to you, you ain't listening. You're waiting for a turn to talk.

Okay. So that's quick to listen. It's loving your neighbor. It's having humility. And as Ray says, humility looks good on everyone.

Somebody recently told me that beards are just makeup for men. Having worn a beard for about twenty years, I can tell you that it's absolutely true. Without my beard, I look like a turtle without a shell. I'm, like, small and cold and vulnerable and just all the things I don't want to be. But what's better on me than a beard is humility.

And you can groan all you want because it's cheesy, but I'm telling you, Church, it's true. Slow to speak. Ecclesiastes five, which isn't up there. My friend Caleb reminded me of this one when we were prepping the sermon. God is in heaven, and you are on earth, so let your words be few.

It doesn't get much clearer than that. Here's a bunch of other stuff from wisdom literature, from Proverbs, from Ecclesiastes. Just talk less. Right? The what's not not complicated here.

It's just hard. It's just being quiet, and I'm still very much working on this. But what I've found is that I work on being quick to listen and slow to speak. I'm finding myself thinking more highly of everyone around me. Doesn't that sound terrible?

This is one of those commands, what we're looking at today, that we should do it just because the text says to. But the side benefits are deeper relationships and a better life, and who doesn't want that? It's almost like God knew what he was doing. And our third one, slow to become angry. This is the hard one because this is the one, especially for some of us, where we're fighting the most against our flesh.

This is the one where we can't just walk around going, don't get angry. Don't get angry. Don't get angry. It doesn't work. I tried.

Instead, you have to reset the foundation. You have to change the plumbing of the water that flows into the house. So we'll talk more about this in the how. But the what of slow to become angry necessitates a nuanced discussion here because you'll notice it says slow to become angry. It does not say, don't be angry.

This is implying it should be measured or thoughtful in our approach. We need to consider the source or the reason of our anger before we notice it. We can take a pause and go, What was that? And why do we do that? Because human anger, your anger, does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

This was a big deal for me in taking this text more seriously and applying it better in my life. This is how God described himself. Here it is in Exodus 34. Moses has asked God, show me your glory, and God says to him, I can't. If I show you my glory, it'll kill you.

He says, okay. I'm gonna hide you in the rock. I'm gonna pass by you as a cloud, and I'm gonna tell you my very name. This is what how God describes his name. The Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in faithfulness and truth, who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of his law and sin, and yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

That's how God described his name. And it's right in there, slow to anger. Same phrase. So when God is describing himself to Moses to be recorded for all of us, it's slow to anger. When James is telling us how to be, he's saying slow to anger.

This is about transformational change in our lives. This is not a multivitamin. This is not a discipline. This is not a gym membership. This is transformational change.

This is becoming more like Christ. But Jesus did get angry. Matthew two and Matthew 21, Jesus cleansed the temple twice from the tax collectors and the money changers. In fact, it's one of the only stories that is recorded in all four gospels. That's how important the gospel writers thought to tell us about Jesus's anger.

But here's the important thing, Jesus did not get angry for himself. Jesus was zealous for God and for his kingdom. Think back to my discussion earlier about anger. My tendency was to be angry about myself and my desires. Even when it was for what I thought was right, I was still trusting in my own wisdom and discernment.

I wasn't trusting in the Lord. Instead, we look at how Jesus did it. So the only way that I can rightly be angry is actually a direct affront to God or his justice. So when things are not right, we can be angry, but we need to check ourselves. And a great rule of thumb is, am I being angry for myself or for someone else?

And then when we're even doing that right, we still have to be careful that it does not turn into self righteousness. Because Jesus was the most righteous man of all time, the only sinless man, the God man. It's why his sacrifice on the cross could save us all. And yet, Jesus, in his righteousness, could have been angry at the way he was being treated. And this is how Peter described our Lord when he hung on the cross.

While being abusively insulted, he did not insult in return. While suffering, he did not threaten, but kept entrusting himself to him who judges justly. Could that be said of you or of me? And I'm not perfect, and I wasn't on the cross. But that's what was said of our Lord.

Guys, anger is a powerful fuel. God gave us anger for a reason. But just like a gun or a fire used abusively or inappropriately or carelessly, it can be really destructive. Guns, fire, power tools, we all know what those look like when they're misused. But we also know that they can be life giving, that they can be important.

When you think of your anger, I want you to think of a loaded gun with the safety off. We treat it with that level of precision and discipline and care. Let me be very clear for a few of us in the room. If anger is the main thing that you struggle with, get rid of that proverbial gun. It's just safer.

If you consistently struggle with anger, if this is the big thing in your life, if the people around you tell you that you're struggling with anger, do not give in to the temptation to self justify your anger. Instead, be your own harshest critic in it. Evaluate it and go, what was that? Who was I angry for there? Don't give in to the temptation to say, oh, this is just a part of me.

This is the way God has made me. Instead, seek to become more like Christ. Or here is the self assessment question that's caught me offside a bunch. Would Jesus have gotten angry about that? Would Jesus have gotten angry about that thing that I was just angry about?

Now I'm aware of what the date is. The election's this week. I taught back in June out of first Peter two on biblical view of submission to authorities and government. But I wanna add a quick comment here as it relates to today's message. If you are quick to become angry around politics, if you are quick to speak and slow to listen, you're doing it wrong.

If you're self righteous in your politics, you're doing it wrong. I don't care how good your theology is. And you're gonna see so many self proclaimed Christians this week ranting and raving either into echo chambers or into the void. And I'm telling you, church, don't do it. Please don't do it, no matter what the results.

Instead, engage everyone around you with the love and kindness that God has shown you. Tell them the truth of the gospel. Be quick to listen. And frankly, I would recommend not even engaging in political discussions at this point. It's like forty eight hours away.

You aren't changing anybody's mind. And but it is fine to vote. In fact, you should vote. But be in your Bible, be in prayer before you do it. Because the people around you, all of them, are eternal creatures and are made in God's image.

This nation, this state, these beautiful mountains that draw so many of us here, these things are not eternal, and they're not made in God's image. The people around us are. We can act accordingly. Here's a great heart check. Have you been praying for both let's focus on the presidential election since that one gets the most press.

Have you been praying for both candidates by name to come to know Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit? Have you been praying for Donald Trump and for Kamala Harris? If that's not your first inclination, it's a heart check, church. We've got our obedience wrong. We've got our impulses wrong.

In fact, you can set a daily prayer. You can join me. I'm praying every day at 11:06. That's November 6, the day after the election. But I'm praying that everybody that we elect comes to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

That's the only way it works. Let God do the work. You be faithful in it, but pray, pray fervently for our leaders. Because like our text says, while human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires, the contrast is that God's wrath is holy, and it is real, and it is coming for every single person apart from Jesus Christ. Every single one.

So how? How do we do this? How do we do this impossible task? Because it is impossible. You can go to anger management, but that's just tips and tricks.

That doesn't reset the foundation. We have to reset. Because here's the very core of scripture. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve. Only when we know what he did for us and what it cost him can our hearts be reset properly.

Church, you have to be born again, just like Jesus told Nicodemus in John three. I categorize everything. It's no surprise to you guys at this point. Two ways that I think about it. I think about it in gratitude and in purpose.

Gratitude, you have to know what that what you've been saved from and what it cost your savior. And purpose, you have to know. I mean, this is second Timothy two, first Peter two, Romans 12, Romans 14. It's all over the text that rightly applied, your life is no longer your own. And that is terrific news because modern life is so exhausting and seemingly pointless.

But we've been saved into a purpose that brings joy. And as Paul says in first Corinthians 15, if you labor for the Lord, your labor will not be in vain. This is the difference between being exhausted as a Christian and having joy, and we are called to have joy constantly throughout the text. When you open your eyes to it, you will see that the Bible is a book of joy. It's not tasks.

It's purpose. It's joy. You have been saved, you have been set free. But we all need a biblical definition of freedom. Because it's not so that we can just do whatever we want.

We are set free and that our desires are finally aligned with the creator, with the kingdom of God. That's a biblical definition of freedom. Church, we got to be known. Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Why?

For a man's anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. How? By looking at the cross of Christ, our sin that held him there, and the new life that we have been given for the kingdom. Romans 14 says that if you know the right thing to do and you don't do it, it is sin. If you are feeling convicted right now in this moment for a follow-up step, if you need to have a reconciling conversation with somebody, if you need to repent of something, or if there are steps in your life that you need to take in order to grow in this, do not sit on that conviction.

That conviction will go away after lunch. We've all experienced it before. And I'm telling you, have the conversation, pray the prayer. We'll we'll be up here at the front. Have a chat with us.

Take that first step in faithfulness and be willing to go where God leads you in it. Because it's the enemy that lies to you and says, you can't do that. You can't confess your sin. Nobody will understand. They'll think less of you.

But you have to know that's from the enemy. And you call it what it is, and you say that it's a lie. Because, man, testimony and confession with the blood of the lamb, they are so powerful. This is Revelations twelve eleven. This is the two witnesses.

They overcame him. That's Satan. Because of the blood of the lamb and because of the word of their testimony, they did not love their own lives so much as to shrink from death. I'll invite the band back up, I'll close with this. Because when Jesus was in the Garden Of Gethsemane, he begged God if there was any other way than going to the cross.

For all of human history, God has said to his people, obey me and I will bless you. But Jesus said or God the father said to Jesus in the garden, he said, obey me and go to that tree and I will crush you. And Jesus said, okay. Not my will, Father, but yours be done. And God crushed him for me and for you.

Cursed is he who hangs on a tree. But now Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne of God and he does so in victory. Death has been defeated, church. And similarly for us, if we will but take up our cross and follow him and die to ourselves daily, we will become more like him. Our relationships will be deeper and more loving.

And the world, we will not be more materially blessed. We will not be thought of as cool or or smart or any of those things. But we can be loving and patient and faithful. And one day, we will be made to be like him, the twinkling of an eye. There'll be no more pain, no more suffering, no more death, no more disease.

And then one day, I'm gonna get to worship my creator face to face. And I'm not gonna have any pride. Are you kidding? I'm not even gonna have anything to say. I'm just gonna wanna listen.

And that'll be the fulfillment of this text. And I'll be rightly humble in front of my creator. Church, until then, in view of Christ's sacrifice for us, we can be more like him. We can be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry. Don't ignore this conviction.

Take that next step of faith. I've run long, so we're just gonna close with the doxology.

No. We're gonna sing.

We're gonna sing. Let's go. Let's pray together. Let's worship together, and then we go out on those doors, church. We're gonna have a great week of worshiping the king.

Thank you.

Can I leave you this as a benediction? This Jesus speaking to all of us here. He says, as the father's loved me, I have loved you. That self giving, others focused love of of his, now abide in my love. Stay right there.

Stay connected to the vine. If you keep if I'm gonna say we because this is all of us. If we keep his commandments, we abide in his love. Just as Jesus kept his father's commandments, abide in his love, these things he has spoken to us. Why?

So that his joy might be in us and our joy might be complete. God, thank you for giving us these can commands. They're not burdensome. God, they're meant to give us life and freedom that we would love you and love one another more deeply. Would you help us, Lord?

Keep us connected, abiding in you this week, God. And when we when we are tempted to to to stray and get off the vine, Lord, keep us close to your heart. In Jesus' name. Amen.