Acts 23 Lesson

ANGER

Angry crowds led to the crucifixion of Jesus, the fatal stoning of Stephen, and now in Acts 23, angry crowds are also seeking to kill the Apostle Paul.

What were the crowds so angry about?

The preaching of the Gospel of Christ!

In today’s lesson, we will look at the power anger can have over us, and how Satan uses it to his advantage.

BIBLE VERSES ABOUT ANGER

The three scriptures below provide insight into how God wants us to manage our anger:

1. “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” - Ephesians 4:26,
2. “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” -Proverbs 15:1,
3. “Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” - James 1:19.

CONTROLLING OUR ANGER

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he wrote:

• “Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.” - EPHESIANS 4:26.

There are two parts to this scripture:

1. “Be angry, and yet do not sin,”
2. “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

The first part of the scripture tells us that we can be angry without sinning. The Bible does not say that anger is a sin. It says that “outbursts of anger” are a sin. When we become angry, we need to recognize it and get in control of our emotions before they escalate to the point of sin.

The second part of the scripture tells us to not let our anger fester overnight. As we will see, there are things we can do to help keep our anger under control.

WALKING AWAY

One of the best ways to control our anger is to simply walk away from the situation that is making us angry. Jesus often left crowds to go to an isolated place to pray. Once we have distanced ourselves from the source of our anger, we need to replace the negative thoughts in our head with something positive. With a little effort, we can find “the bright side,” or something positive in almost any situation.

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul wrote the following:

• “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” – Philippians 4:8.

Notice how Paul uses the word “practice” in the above scripture.  

The definition of the word practice is:

“The actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories relating to it.” (Source: Google dictionary)

Through isolation, positive thinking, and prayer, we can manage our anger before it grows into an outburst of anger.

CONTROLLING OUR TONGUES

• “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” - PROVERBS 15:1

Our words are powerful! They can lift others up, but they can also tear them down. If we are not careful, our words can cause others to sin and do things they might not otherwise do.

There is a practical technique that we can apply called, “Stop, challenge, and choose.”

Before we have an outburst of anger, we need to pause long enough to calm down. Then we need to challenge ourselves to understand how the scriptures tell us we should respond to the situation. And finally, we need to choose a response that will glorify God, not add fuel to the fire.

• “Everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.” - JAMES 1:19.

When we recognize that we are becoming angry, it is better to bite our tongues than it is to say something we will regret later.

• “Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.” –Proverbs 17:28.

CONCLUSION

God created us. He understands that things are going to happen that make us angry. That is why He addresses the subject of anger frequently throughout the Bible.

Today’s lesson highlighted three things we can do to control our anger when we feel it starting to build:

1. Not letting the sun go down on our anger. If there is a way to resolve our angry feelings before we go to bed, we should. The longer we let bad feelings fester, the worse off we are going to be.
2. Walking away. Sometimes the best thing we can do is to remove ourselves from a bad situation.
3. Controlling our tongues. As Christians, we need to choose our words carefully. Our goal is to glorify God and to serve others in all that we do. Angry words spoken in haste do neither of those things.

We will end today’s lesson with the following scripture taken from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:

• “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.” - Ephesians 4:29.