I'm still learning and unlearning many things when it comes to God's grace. I discovered recently that I had been putting myself under a law I had made especially for myself. In Ephesians 2:6 it says When you are angry do not sin and don't let the sun go down on your wrath. Sounds like a good plan--but I will show you how keeping this law has actually brought sorrow to my life.
I have heard at least a half-dozen sermons or teaching on this subject and they all sound pretty good but NONE of those sermons have ever set me free from behavior that is associated with my anger--my personal sin that came with personal consequences.
I'm really not into comparing sin and I know my anger issue cannot be compared to an others. (some of you might think my anger is sissy stuff compared to your own OR you might be shocked at the unloveliness of sin resulting from my angry feelings). Regardless, I've been negatively affected by the consequences of anger in my life. I have been wondering for several weeks now why God's amazing grace has transformed my life in so many areas, but not in the area of being angry and then followed by sinful behavior.
Over and over this past several weeks I would hear in my spirit "Be angry and then don't allow condemnation...." and I would dissect the scripture in Eph 2:6 and in the original language it was not the word condemnation or really anything to do with condemnation. It was the word SIN but still OVER and OVER I hear: Be angry and then don't allow condemnation..." I know the Holy Spirit was trying to teach me something vital about the anger issue I constantly feel so badly about. So I asked Him to show me where He was going with it. He said, "Allowing condemnation is sin"....again I felt clueless.
I have known the scriptures in the New Testament about anger and unwholesome speech since I was a young child. Eph 2:6 "When you are angry do not sin...." and Eph 4:29 "Do not allow any unwholesome speech proceed from your mouth..." which is usually the result of my being angry. So I'm not ignorant to the scriptures, but I was ignorant to what the actual sin was AFTER the anger was aroused.
Was my behavior continuing because I allowed condemnation to be present after I felt angry? The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ. The death in my case was the condemnation I experienced from guilt and shame about my behavior. The anger was well past but I suffered for hours or days due to my view of myself. The condemnation was the issue NOT the anger.
Psalms 16:11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Be angry and sin not: A law I put myself under Part 2
Part 2
We need a working definition of the word sin because some of us have been taught that sin is immoral behavior. Not really a correct definition although I know it can lead to some very unlovely actions. Sin in the Greek is the word hamartia. This word means to "miss the mark" like in archery where you do not get a bulls-eye with your arrow. Goofy definition, right? But the work hamartia comes from another word that is hamartanÅ which part of that word is meros. This word meros means to have lost sight of your destiny.
So some of you may now see where I'm going with this. If you were born to royalty, you are considered heir to the throne in that kingdom. Even if you are kidnapped and taken to a foreign land such was the case for the character Shasta in the book A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (one of the Narnia series) was taken from his parents and had no idea of his royal destiny. He was still heir to the kingdom but made decisions based on his lack of knowledge which caused him sorrow. So his lack of knowledge led him down a path of doubt and feelings of condemnation. He was not good enough....he was lacking....he was a failure....etc. But he was still an heir to the throne. Nothing Shasta did or didn't do could change that fact.
Sin is forgetting who we really are in Christ. Or one could say that sin is unbelief of what Christ accomplished on our behalf. So when we forget that we are the righteousness of God in Christ we forget our destiny and thus allowing condemnation to be present. We submit to being under the law rather than submitting to God and His way of thinking. Romans 8 tells us that there is NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set us free from the law associated with sin and death. Walking by the Spirit means that we realize or are aware of our destiny of being under grace and not under the law. The law was fulfilled by Jesus and we are in Christ Jesus so we are no longer under the law but under grace. Paul said we are saved by grace through faith in what Christ did for us so we have NOTHING to brag about except the grace of God.
The Holy Spirit showed me two examples in my own life to demonstrate that the angry behavior was not resulting in my sorrow but the condemnation I experienced following the behavior.
First example: I had a passionate reaction to my husband putting pressure on me to do something I had no control over. My response is to yell and become verbally abusive. I was angry. The words coming out of my mouth were unlovely and unwholesome. But the sin was the condemnation that followed. For hours I fret over my behavior...I end up with a nasty tension headache and nothing accomplished for the day. So then I feel more condemnation about not being a good wife or mother etc....do you see where this is going? The sin is the lost destiny. I forgot who I am in Christ. I was not believing grace was in control of my life and I was focusing on the behavior of me losing my cool.
Second example: Someone says some hurtful things to me. They said these things from some unresolved pain many years in the past that involved me. The words said to me make me feel angry but I'm not in a position to be able to defend myself. This occasion I do not say anything in anger to this person but feel hurt and shame as a result. As the day progresses begin to feel I deserve the shame and guilt that this person poured upon me. That day I allowed condemnation to progress so far that I ended up in the Emergency Room needing a medication for the worst headache of my life. My blood pressure was so high that they would not allow me to go home until it was under control. Condemnation could have killed me in this case....I was angry and sinned. I believed I was deserving punishment.
Okay, so how is this going to practically help me? I don't want to continue to be angry and fall into sin which is actually the condemnation I feel when I react in an unbecoming manner. I don't want to continue to hurt myself from this behavior. I want to be free. The Good News is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe.....and I believe that Jesus paid the price so I can be set free. But how?
This is how: I stop making a law for myself. I discontinue being the behavior police to myself. Next time I'm angry and say or do something unlovely, I will apologize to whomever is present during my angry outburst (that's just common courtesy) but then I let it go....I don't dwell for even a minute on any condemnation. I will say, "Blessed am I because my sin is not imputed to me....where there is no law there is no transgression....I am righteous because of what Christ accomplished for me.... I am complete in Christ....There is no condemnation for those in Christ who walk after the Spirit..."
But of course I must be convinced of this before the next opportunity for anger to arise happens. I must know in my heart and mind that "as I think so shall I behave..." I'm perfect in the sight of God because of Christ and so I'm no longer thinking of myself as a woman who has rage issues but I'm a woman who is no longer under a law that results in me needing to not let the sun go down on my wrath. If I don't sin when I'm angry or not allow unbelief and condemnation to result from anger THEN there is no missed destiny.
As I think I shall behave....I think I'm no longer under the law that says: When I'm angry do not sin nor let the sun go down my wrath. Now I'm under grace and walking by the Spirit.
We need a working definition of the word sin because some of us have been taught that sin is immoral behavior. Not really a correct definition although I know it can lead to some very unlovely actions. Sin in the Greek is the word hamartia. This word means to "miss the mark" like in archery where you do not get a bulls-eye with your arrow. Goofy definition, right? But the work hamartia comes from another word that is hamartanÅ which part of that word is meros. This word meros means to have lost sight of your destiny.
So some of you may now see where I'm going with this. If you were born to royalty, you are considered heir to the throne in that kingdom. Even if you are kidnapped and taken to a foreign land such was the case for the character Shasta in the book A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis (one of the Narnia series) was taken from his parents and had no idea of his royal destiny. He was still heir to the kingdom but made decisions based on his lack of knowledge which caused him sorrow. So his lack of knowledge led him down a path of doubt and feelings of condemnation. He was not good enough....he was lacking....he was a failure....etc. But he was still an heir to the throne. Nothing Shasta did or didn't do could change that fact.
Sin is forgetting who we really are in Christ. Or one could say that sin is unbelief of what Christ accomplished on our behalf. So when we forget that we are the righteousness of God in Christ we forget our destiny and thus allowing condemnation to be present. We submit to being under the law rather than submitting to God and His way of thinking. Romans 8 tells us that there is NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ and the law of the Spirit of life in Christ has set us free from the law associated with sin and death. Walking by the Spirit means that we realize or are aware of our destiny of being under grace and not under the law. The law was fulfilled by Jesus and we are in Christ Jesus so we are no longer under the law but under grace. Paul said we are saved by grace through faith in what Christ did for us so we have NOTHING to brag about except the grace of God.
The Holy Spirit showed me two examples in my own life to demonstrate that the angry behavior was not resulting in my sorrow but the condemnation I experienced following the behavior.
First example: I had a passionate reaction to my husband putting pressure on me to do something I had no control over. My response is to yell and become verbally abusive. I was angry. The words coming out of my mouth were unlovely and unwholesome. But the sin was the condemnation that followed. For hours I fret over my behavior...I end up with a nasty tension headache and nothing accomplished for the day. So then I feel more condemnation about not being a good wife or mother etc....do you see where this is going? The sin is the lost destiny. I forgot who I am in Christ. I was not believing grace was in control of my life and I was focusing on the behavior of me losing my cool.
Second example: Someone says some hurtful things to me. They said these things from some unresolved pain many years in the past that involved me. The words said to me make me feel angry but I'm not in a position to be able to defend myself. This occasion I do not say anything in anger to this person but feel hurt and shame as a result. As the day progresses begin to feel I deserve the shame and guilt that this person poured upon me. That day I allowed condemnation to progress so far that I ended up in the Emergency Room needing a medication for the worst headache of my life. My blood pressure was so high that they would not allow me to go home until it was under control. Condemnation could have killed me in this case....I was angry and sinned. I believed I was deserving punishment.
Okay, so how is this going to practically help me? I don't want to continue to be angry and fall into sin which is actually the condemnation I feel when I react in an unbecoming manner. I don't want to continue to hurt myself from this behavior. I want to be free. The Good News is the power of God unto salvation for those who believe.....and I believe that Jesus paid the price so I can be set free. But how?
This is how: I stop making a law for myself. I discontinue being the behavior police to myself. Next time I'm angry and say or do something unlovely, I will apologize to whomever is present during my angry outburst (that's just common courtesy) but then I let it go....I don't dwell for even a minute on any condemnation. I will say, "Blessed am I because my sin is not imputed to me....where there is no law there is no transgression....I am righteous because of what Christ accomplished for me.... I am complete in Christ....There is no condemnation for those in Christ who walk after the Spirit..."
But of course I must be convinced of this before the next opportunity for anger to arise happens. I must know in my heart and mind that "as I think so shall I behave..." I'm perfect in the sight of God because of Christ and so I'm no longer thinking of myself as a woman who has rage issues but I'm a woman who is no longer under a law that results in me needing to not let the sun go down on my wrath. If I don't sin when I'm angry or not allow unbelief and condemnation to result from anger THEN there is no missed destiny.
As I think I shall behave....I think I'm no longer under the law that says: When I'm angry do not sin nor let the sun go down my wrath. Now I'm under grace and walking by the Spirit.
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