Can Christians Get Angry at Sin and Death?

Can Christians get angry at sin and death? My father died unexpectedly earlier this month. Because he had Alzheimer’s I had years to think about him passing away and how I would feel. I expected grief and sorrow, but I didn’t expect to feel angry. We should evaluate our feelings to determine whether they please or displease God. We do this by reading God’s Word to see what it says about the feelings we are experiencing. We also look at our premier example, Jesus Christ Himself, to see if He experienced those same feelings because He was the perfect Person. The difficulty with evaluating anger is it isn’t as straightforward as other feelings. There are some verses that discourage anger and others that encourage it. https://youtu.be/AvXFyOleLek Can Christians get angry at sin and death? My father died unexpectedly. I expected grief, but I didn’t expect to feel angry. Table of ContentsSermon Lessons for Can Christians Get Angry at Sin and Death?Family Worship Guide for Can Christians Get Angry at Sin and Death?Sermon Notes for Can Christians Get Angry at Sin and Death?Lesson one: we should evaluate our feelings.Lesson two: we can be angry at (part one) sin.Lesson two: we can be angry at (part two) Death. Sermon Lessons for Can Christians Get Angry at Sin and Death? Lesson one: we should evaluate ______ ________________ (1 Thessalonians 4:13, Ephesians 2:12, Matthew 5:4, 26:36-38, Proverbs 22:24, Ecclesiastes 7:9, Colossians 3:8). Lesson two: we can be angry at: (part one) ______ (Deuteronomy 9:8, Numbers 11:1, Mark 3:5, James 1:20, 4:1-2, Psalm 97:10, Proverbs 8:13, Amos 5:15, Romans 12:9). (part two) __________ (John 11:31-44, 14:9, Hebrews 1:3, Revelation 20:14). Family Worship Guide for Can Christians Get Angry at Sin and Death? Directions: Read the verses and then answer the following questions: Day one: 1 Thessalonians 4:13, Ephesians 2:12, Matthew 5:4, 26:36-38, Proverbs 22:24, Ecclesiastes 7:9, Colossians 3:8. Would you agree that death is “Normal”? Why doesn’t it feel normal? Why do you think we should evaluate our feelings? What feelings have you experienced when you’ve lost a loved one? Do you believe those feelings are supported by God’s Word? Day two: Deuteronomy 9:8, Numbers 11:1, Mark 3:5, James 1:20, 4:1-2, Psalm 97:10, Proverbs 8:13, Amos 5:15, Romans 12:9. Why is anger a difficult feeling to evaluate? Can you think about godly examples of anger in Scripture? What about ungodly examples? What does it look like to have a godly anger toward sin? What does ungodly anger look like, and why is it often produced in our lives? Day three: John 11:31-44, 14:9, Hebrews 1:3, Revelation 20:14. Why do you think Jesus was angry at Death? Why did Jesus let Lazarus die? Why did Jesus weep, and what does that mean for us with him being our faithful High Priest? Considering Jesus wept, what does that tell us about God himself? What application does the account with Lazarus have for us when we lose believing loved ones? Sermon Notes for Can Christians Get Angry at Sin and Death? The title of this morning’s sermon is, “Can Christians Get Angry at Sin and Death?.” Pastor Nathan preached for me the last two weeks which I really appreciated, so that I could be with my mom and kids, and plan Dad’s Celebration of Life. But even though I didn’t have a sermon to prepare, I worked on this message. I wanted to preach this, versus jump right back into our vision sermons, because of all the people in our church family who have lost loved ones recently. For example: The Raleys lost their son Robby Lehtonen and Mike Houck each lost a brother The Schmitz’s – Allan, Kandie, and Malyna – lost a cousin and nephew Allan Schmitz lost his father Audrey Templin lost a sister, and her children lost an aunt Richard and Betty Pender lost a son Wendy McFarlane lost a brother Kelli Motzkus lost her father Bonnie Ailshie lost a grandfather Edie Cole lost a daughter Pastor Nathan’s uncle is on hospice and wasn’t expected to live through yesterday Four families have experienced miscarriages And even if we haven’t lost people recently, most of us have lost people in the past, and we will lose more people in the future. And this is because death is so…normal. Now my suspicion is when I just said that – that death is normal – you probably cringed a little and disagreed with my use of that word. And why is that? Because death doesn’t feel normal. It feels completely abnormal. But I looked up the definition of the word normal, and it said, “usual, common,” which means if death is something all of us experience then it is actually one of the most normal things in existence. But again, it doesn’t feel that way, does it? Over the last two weeks I was wrestling with my feelings regarding my dad’s passing and I tried to evaluate them biblically. By that, I simply mean I tried to figure out whether my feelings were good or bad, right or wrong…which is what led to this sermon. Let me share something that probably won’t sound like it has that much to do with the sermon, but if you bear with me hopefully my point will become clear… I’ve been pastoring this church for 10 ½ years and: I have always felt like I can be myself. I have always felt like I can be transparent…to a point. Obviously, there are times we shouldn’t be transparent. I have never felt like I had to be someone that I’m not, including when my dad passed away. I have never felt like I had to live up to any standard, except the standard for elders in God’s Word, which is a standard I should be expected to live up to. But with that said, I think most of the time, it’s fairly easy for pastors like me in the United States to look spiritual and mature. What I mean by that is, maybe we will be persecuted in the future, but I don’t think we are being persecuted now. We can stand up and boldly preach God’s Word without having to worry about being beaten or arrested. Again, maybe that will change, but we’re not there yet. So as pastors when do we have a real opportunity – for lack of a better way to say it – to look spiritual and mature? When we suffer. When we go through trials. That’s when we can give glory to God by bearing up well underneath whatever we’re experiencing. Or to put it simply, we have the greatest opportunity to reveal Christ, and what He’s done in our lives, when we are suffering. What pastor – or really any Christian for that matter – can’t look good or praise God when things are going well? But show me the person who just lost a loved one, or who just got the cancer diagnosis and still praises God. Then you get to see a person who has a deep relationship with Christ and is being held up by His grace. So while I have never felt pressure to act a certain way as your pastor, when Dad passed away I did feel like God gave me an opportunity to represent Him well to all of you. And I wanted to do so! So that meant evaluating my feelings and considering whether they were godly or ungodly. And this brings us to lesson one… Lesson one: we should evaluate our feelings. We should evaluate our feelings to determine whether they please or displease God. And how are we going to do this? We look to God’s Word to see what it says about the feelings we are experiencing I would also say we look at our premier example, Jesus Christ Himself, to see if He experienced those same feelings because He was the perfect Person. So regarding my feelings… As you would probably expect, I have experienced grief. And we can grieve when we lose loved ones… 1 Thessalonians 4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. So Paul says to grieve, but just not as those without hope…and why’s that? Who grieves without hope? Unbelievers! Paul used the same language to describe unbelievers elsewhere… Ephesians 2:12 You were separated from Christ…HAVING NO HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD in the world. So when Paul says not to grieve without hope, he’s saying not to grieve like unbelievers. As believers we should approach many things differently than unbelievers do…especially death. This life is all they know. When they lose a loved one they’ll never see them again. There is no hope for them. But as believers, we can grieve with hope. With Dad, we were confident in his salvation and we can look forward to seeing him again. And this gives us hope. A close second to grief I would say I also felt sorrowful. I was – and still am – very sorrowful that I will not see Dad again on this side of heaven. The word that keeps coming to mind is, “Final.” Death feels so final. It is hard to believe that Dad is gone. And it fills me with sorrow. Joy is one of the fruit of the spirit, which might cause us to think we should always be joyful and never sorrowful. So is it okay to be sorrowful? Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn. And Jesus Himself was sorrowful… Matthew 26:36 Jesus went…to a place called Gethsemane…37 And…HE BEGAN TO BE SORROWFUL and troubled. 38 Then he said to [the disciples], “MY SOUL IS VERY SORROWFUL, even to death.” That is sorrowful! Jesus was so sorrowful He said it almost killed Him. Because Dad had Alzheimer’s and we knew it was only going to get worse we had years to think about him passing away and what it would be like. There were many times I thought about how I would feel. I would even ask Katie how she thought I would feel. I expected grief and sorrow. But I also experienced one feeling, which I didn’t expect, and that was anger: I felt angry at Dad dying I felt angry at Death And the difficulty with evaluating anger is it isn’t as straightforward as other feelings, because some verses discourage anger and others encourage it.