The Book Of James Pt. 15 God Teaches Us How To Be Slow To Wrath!

Be slow to wrath!

James 1:19-20  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20)  For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

In our last post, we learned what James meant when he told us to be swift to hear. We are to ask God to open our eyes and give us ears eager, ready and willing to hear from God, with the intent to obey Him.

Today, we want to understand what the phrase "slow to wrath" means. As you might expect, the scriptures have much to say about the wrath of man. 

The word "slow" means dull, slow to react to something. Normally this would be a bad thing, but in the case of managing our emotions, slow to wrath is a good thing for us to pursue. 

God has a good reason for telling Christians to be slow to wrath. "Wrath" is a violent agitation of our soul that can lead to unchecked anger. 

Wrath can lead to speaking hateful words or doing something out of anger. Jesus Christ is our example and He was not an angry man with a violent temper. 

He was meek and lowly, and spoke the truth in love (Matthew 11:28-30).

Jesus did not purge the temple in the heat of anger. 

John 2:13-16  And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14)  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15)  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16)  And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. 

All four gospels record Jesus cleansing the temple, by driving out money changers (bankers) and those who sold sacrificial animals for a profit. 

He rebuked them for making His Father's house a house of merchandise. Matthew, Mark and Luke add that Jesus rebuked them for making His Father's temple into a "den of thieves." 

John tells us that Jesus made a small whip and drove out those who sought to make a profit from the people of God coming to worship. He drove out the animals they were trying to sell, poured out their money and flipped over their tables.

If you read all four gospel accounts you will not find Jesus exploding in anger, yelling or screaming at them. He rebuked them with authority not anger. He cleansed the temple according to the law of Moses. 

Jesus had a zeal for God according to knowledge. 

Saul was filled with wrath and anger as he attacked Christians. 

Acts 8:3  As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

Acts 9:1-2  And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2)  And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. 

Saul was a very religious Jew, well trained by the learned rabbi, Gamaliel. Although Saul knew much of the scriptures, he did not know the Lord. Therefore, he consented to stoning Stephen to death in Acts 7. 

He relentlessly persecuted the church and thought he was doing the work of God. 

1 Timothy 1:12-15  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry; 13)  Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. 14)  And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. 15)  This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. 

We know the dramatic conversion of Saul to Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). Jesus rescued Saul from his wicked, wretched condition that day.

Now, hear Paul the apostle give his perspective on the kind of man he used to be. 

He confessed to persecuting the church, blaspheming Holy God, hurting many Christian families, and saw himself as the worst of all sinners. 

Now, let us understand what James is teaching us. "Slow to wrath" means that we refrain from letting our emotions overtake our thoughts. 

Christians must not get into a heated argument with anyone. Angry speech does not reflect the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Furthermore, angry hearts are hindered from hearing God speak to us through His Word.

Angry hearts are hindered from hearing God's Word. 

2 Kings 5:10-12  And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. 11)  But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12)  Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.  

Elisha was a prominent prophet of Jehovah, who carried on the ministry of Elijah. Naaman was a commander of the Syrian king's army and he was a leper. Naaman came to Elisha to be cured of his awful disease. 

He thought that Elisha himself would come out and do some mighty act to cleanse him, but Elisha sent his servant with instructions to tell Naaman to wash in the Jordan river seven times.

Notice Naaman's reaction. He was "wroth", filled with anger and boiling displeasure. He was ready to ride back home in great anger and would have, except his own servants wisely interceded and persuaded Naaman to reconsider. 

In his wrath, Naaman was not hearing and heeding what God said to him through Elisha. 

What James is teaching us is simple enough to grasp. We need to have our minds renewed and governed by the scriptures, so that we think before we react. 

Let us gather some perspective about anger and wrath from the Old Testament that will help us see that erupting in anger is a grievous sin.

A wise person will stop being angry and avoid wrath. 

Psalm 37:8  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.

Ceasing from anger is the idea of letting go of it, and relaxing, letting our emotion sink down. 

Forsaking wrath means completely abandoning the poisonous heat of rage and wrath that can take over our emotions like a high fever. 

The idea of "fretting not thyself" means do not let your mind fixate on your anger, whether it is justified or not.

A fool quickly erupts in anger. 

Proverbs 14:17  He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.

A foolish person is easily provoked to anger, and soon commits foolish acts or says foolish things. 

Eventually, the fool falls into a pattern of angry dealings with other people. He devises wicked plots and seek revenge because he is angry. 

A wise person is slow to wrath.

Proverbs 14:29  He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.

King Solomon presents the contrast between a wise man and a fool. The wise man is patient, and slow to react even when someone is wrongly provoking him. 

God has taught the wise man about human nature and he knows that responding in kind, as people tend to do these days, is a wrong response. 

Do not be friends with an angry person.

Proverbs  22:24-25  Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: 25)  Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul. 

The idea is that we do not choose to be friend with or to associate with an angry person. The word "friendship" actually is an agricultural term used for animals grazing in the same pasture. 

God gave us two strong imperatives that we are expected to obey. Make no friendship with angry, hateful people. Do not be a companion of a furious, wrathful man.

God also tells us why we must not do these things. If we are friends with an angry or furious person, we will pick up their bad behavior. Their evil traits will drag us away from holiness which God is calling us to.

Angry people cause a lot of problems. 

Proverbs 29:22  An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.

An angry man causes strife between people, between businesses and between churches. They take delight in "stirring the pot" which is an idiom that describes troublemakers. 

Furious men jump into transgressing the holy standard's of God's law. Do not join them. Avoid such people at all costs. 

God's instruction for dealing with anger. 

Ephesians 4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Praise God that He has not left it in our hands to figure these things out. He has given us concrete direction for dealing with feelings of anger or wrath.

He tells us through the apostle Paul "Do not be provoked or goaded into anger. Do not become enraged." 

If we do explode in anger, then we have sinned, and like all sin, we must confess it, forsake it and ask our Father to cleanse with the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7 to 2:2). 

God gave us another practical instruction for daily Christian living. Do not go to bed full of anger or wrath. The idea of wrath is a growing frustration and exasperation over something another person did or said to us.

When we go to bed with that kind of anger, we will stew about it, and may fall into thinking how we could get revenge upon that person. This too, is a sin and we must confess it, forsake it and seek cleansing from Jesus.

The "Put Off" and "Put On" concerning anger. 

Ephesians 4:31-32  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32)  And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. 

It is astonishing that a professing Christian would permit bitterness of spirit. They become censorious and unmerciful to the failings of others.

The Greek word translated "bitterness" refers to a poisonous plant that produces poisonous fruits. Thus, when Paul warns us to put off all bitterness, we must view bitterness as a deadly poison to avoid. 

We must "put off" all bitterness in our speech, our mind, our attitudes and habits. Bitterness feeds wrath and anger like pouring gasoline upon a fire. The idea is that we give our bitter feelings to God and ask Him to purge them from our hearts. 

If we view bitterness as most unholy poison polluting our mind, then putting off bitterness is like isolating it, putting it in an appropriate container and having it disposed of. 

Bitterness leads to anger, wrath and clamor. Christians should not be those who are loudly shouting and getting into arguments with others. 

Bitterness also promotes evil speaking which is slandering someone with words. Saying things that are false in such a way as to hurt or injure that person. 

Bitterness and all the evil acts that it spawns, must be put away, discarded by all believers. Malice is the last item mentioned by Paul. Malice is having depravity to hurt others or to break the law. 

What is the "put on" from God? We know that whenever God tells us to put off something, He does not leave us there. He also tells us what to put on, what to invest ourselves or wrap ourselves in.

First, we are to be kind to others, not malicious or bitter. The word "kind" means being being pleasant instead of hostile, benevolent instead of vindictive, virtuous instead of violent. 

Second, we are to be tenderhearted toward others, even as our Lord Jesus Christ was compassionate to people. 

The word "tenderhearted" means having sensitivity toward the plight of other people, being compassionate at all times, and treating them with tender mercy rather than slanderous hatred. 

Last, God tells us to forgive others, just as Jesus Christ forgave us, when we repented of our sins. How does Jesus forgive us? Fully and unconditionally. 

When we confess our sins to the Father and forsake them to the best of our ability, He no longer remembers our sins. Rather, He removes them from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). 

Isaiah 38:17  Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. 

Isaiah the prophet lamented that as God judged Israel for idolatry, his heart was bitter. He knew his people had strayed from the LORD and it grieved him deeply. He included himself as being a part of their sins.

Yet, Isaiah praised Jehovah because He rescued Isaiah corruption by casting all his sins behind His back.

James has taught us powerful lessons connected with being swift to hear from God, slow to broadcast our opinions and slow to become angered. 

Thoughts to Ponder...

Are we slow to become full of wrath? Whatever we think about, talk about or do, we should refrain from doing so in anger.

An angry countenance has a much harder time hearing truth from God's Word. Paul and Naaman are good examples of this. 

In the Bible, a fool erupts in anger, and directs venomous words and deeds toward others. 

A wise person shuns wrath and avoids anger. A wise person will not make friendships with people who are filled with bitterness and anger.

Let us trust and obey God by following His instructions on dealing with bitterness and anger issues.

Let us not go to bed angry, but confess our anger to God and seek forgiveness. 

If we are angry with our spouse of another person, we ought to seek to make things right, so that anger does not fester in our heart overnight, and cause bitterness of spirit in us.

Ask yourself this question? Does the world need to see more angry, bitter, complaining Christians? The answer is a resounding "No!"

Let us be those who put off all the evil things God warned us about. Let us put on those good things we have from Jesus Christ. 

Let us be kind to others. Let us have compassion for others. Let us fully forgive those who have wronged us. This is God's way that He has marked out for us to walk on.

May the Lord strengthen us so that we might be His faithful witnesses and obedient children.

Bob