Tag: truth

Don’t Let the Sun Go Down

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

Ephesians 4:26 (KJV)

In my last blog post, I began to explore the above verse and what it means. As I said last time, I’ve usually heard this taught as a call not to go to bed on an argument. Good advice this may be, but not necessarily what Paul is getting at.

We considered how the first part – Be angry and sin not – isn’t just an instruction not to let your anger get the better of you, but could also be read as a command to be angry.

You may have read this verse a hundred times in the past, and perhaps each time you read it, your brain said “Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry…” But what does it actually say?

It says – don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. Or to put it another way, don’t let your anger ever go out and grow dull.

I know this may seem like an odd idea, as surely the Bible teaches us to be loving and not to get angry. Can it really be a command to get and stay angry?

As we explored a little last time, anger is sometimes a right response. In the event of injustice or sin, we ought to be angry. Like God, we ought to hate sin and its effects on humanity. And while our sin may result in other people getting hurt, ultimately we are the ones who hurt the most as a result of sinfulness.

To truly love the good, we must also hate the bad. We must stand against sin in all of its forms. To do that, we need a holy anger, and one that does not go out.

Am I taking this verse out of context though? Is it correct to interpret it this way? I believe it is, but understand those who may disagree.

Context is always important when reading the Bible, and we ought never to take a single verse out of its proper context and form a doctrine out of it. Falsehood lies down that path.

Scripture should be interpreted in the light of other Scripture.

For some doctrines, we need to examine the entire Bible in order to see a complete picture. Of course we don’t have time or space to do this here, but lets look at this verse with it surrounding verses to get at least a small idea of context.

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil.

Ephesians 4:25-27 (KJV)

Verse 25 is a clear instruction to put away lying, and to speak truth to each other. This can actually be quite difficult at times. “Do you like my outfit?” or “What do you think of my new hairstyle?” More importantly, when it comes to questions of advice or big decisions, “Should I take this job?” or “Do you think I should marry them?” an honest answer is not always easy to give, and often not the answer the asker really wants to hear.

So often we seek validation from others to agree with what we have already in mind to do. To give an alternative view can be tough.

Similarly, Paul could well be talking about correcting each other in a loving way. Often we leave it to the pastor or minister to address such matters, but indeed there is a role for each of us as part of a church family.

Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not giving you permission to walk up to just anyone in church and give them a lecture about how they ought to live – we must earn that right through a trusting relationship or as a loving member of church leadership.

But we must tackle sin. We must not just get by with it. So in speaking truth to one another, there may be times when we need a little righteous anger to stir us up to confront an issue. Again, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying we should get angry at people; rather we should be angry at sin.

Verse 27 is short and not so sweet. Don’t give the devil a foothold. Could it be that by not following the “command” to be angry, we somehow give the enemy a route into our lives?

It is a narrow path, with ditches on both sides. Err in either direction, and you’ll end up off the road!

What i mean is this. Anger which is uncontrolled or directed at people or things, can certainly give the devil a chance to wreck our lives. How many lives have been destroyed in one single moment of uncontrolled anger? How many men and women find themselves in prison for one slip of judgement allowing their temper to get the better of them?

I’m not giving anyone an excuse to be angry in an ungodly way here.

Equally though, when we reuse to be angry at sin or to have a righteous anger, we give the devil a foothold. If we co-operate with him, the enemy can destroy our lives. If you follow every temptation to do whatever you want, to commit adultery or murder or to steal or rob, your life will come to ruin.

We need to get angry at the devil

Therefore, submit yourselves to God. Resist the Devil, and he will run away from you.

James 4:7 (ISV)

James says that we must resist the devil. Often we ask God to do the resisting, but in reality it must be us who do so. We do that through prayer, our words and our actions. But notice, submission to God must come first. There is no sense in trying to resist the enemy if you are not submitting your life to Jesus.

Likewise, Jesus said:

From the days of John the Baptist until the present, the kingdom from heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people have been attacking it,

Matthew 11:12 (ISV)

The kingdom from heaven is forcefully advancing…

Christians ought not to be passive, weak or downtrodden. We are children of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in us. We should be advancing God’s kingdom with passion and determination. Not in our own strength, and certainly not without persecution but always pressing on.

So, Paul tells us to be angry and to never let the sun go down on our wrath. Are you advancing or just barely holding on? Do you need some righteous anger to take a stand against the enemy and resist his influence in your life?

Ask God to stir you up. Pray that He will help you to have a controlled anger that is pointed at the right things. Renew your mind in God’s Word and learn who you are in Christ. Don’t just put up with the enemy, resist him!

Don’t let the sun go down.

Pearl of Wisdom #7

Love is not just an emotion; it’s a choice.

Hollywood has fooled so many young people (and not so young) into believing that true love is like a bolt from the blue. You gaze at someone from across the room and heart rate quickening, realise this is the “one” you’ve been waiting for…

I’m not unromantic, and very much believe that a loving relationship must have emotional elements. God did not make us to be robots who feel nothing, quite the contrary, we are people with strong emotions and passions.

When it comes to love however, and I mean any kind of love, not just the romantic kind, we cannot just wait until we “feel” it. While love is an emotion, it is primarily a choice.

So many relationships fade after a time, the couples saying they just don’t “feel love” for the other anymore. Emotions can fade away, and when they do, we had better ensure we have something more to rest on.

Perhaps you don’t feel like loving anyone today. Maybe you had a bad night, or worse a bad run in life recently. For whatever reason, you can always find an excuse not to act in a loving way.

Make the choice today to go beyond your feelings and choose love. Choose to be kind. Choose to encourage. Choose to be there for someone, irrespective of what your emotions are doing.

When we make the choice to love, our emotions will follow suit.

Be Angry

Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set while you are still angry,

Ephesians 4:26 (ISV)

I like the ISV Bible, but here’s that same verse from the KJV.

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

Ephesians 4:26 (KJV)

The KJV has a certain grandeur to it which other translations can lack at times. For every day reading however, I prefer a more contemporary version than the KJV with its “thee” and “thou” wording.

In this case, I find that the KJV is one of the closest to the Greek language. Many modern translations render this verse slightly differently, and even stray into interpetting it for us the reader.

Whenever I have heard this verse taught in the past, it goes something like this:

If you get into an argument with someone, try to settle the matter before you go to bed…

This is not bad advice at all, but I’m becoming less convinced that this is really what Paul was saying here.

Some translations actually bring forth the idea that we should deal with our “heated debates” before bedtime, and again, while that may be good advice, i’m not so sure that’s what the Scripture is really all about.

Take the Amplified Bible for instance, which is one I find very helpful at times. It says this:

Be angry [at sin—at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], yet do not sin; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down.

Ephesians 4:26 (Amp)

The first part of the verse is very similar to the KJV – advising us not to sin while angry. It specifies the kind of things we ought to be angry about, such as injustice. The latter part of the verse advises us not to let the sun go down while we are still angry.

In some respects, this is a contradiction. The first part appears to be encouraging us to “be angry” and then tells us not to “be angry” when the sun goes down. So what’s happening here?

I think this verse is going beyond advising us not to be angry during night hours.

Let’s work through this verse logically, and study the text itself rather than our usual interpretation.

Anger is not a sin

The first thing to note is that anger is not a sin. This verse clearly indicates that we can be in a state of anger, but without falling into sin.

Jesus Himself – who was without sin – got angry. He got very angry. In fact, He was so angry that He turned over tables and even had a “weapon”.

 In the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, as well as moneychangers sitting at their tables.  After making a whip out of cords, he drove all of them out of the Temple, including the sheep and the cattle. He scattered the coins of the moneychangers and knocked over their tables.

Then he told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

John 2:14-17 (ISV)

So we see clearly that Jesus was angry, and yet did not sin even once. This tells us that anger alone is not a sin.

The problem comes when our anger is directed at the wrong things, or gets out of control.

As the Amplified Bible expanded this verse, it showed that the target of our anger ought to be things such as injustice or sin. That’s why we were given anger in the first place – to take action when we recognise that someone or something is unjust.

When a child is killed by a drunk driver, or an elderly person is robbed at gunpoint, it is perfectly acceptable to be angry about such things.

The issue is when we direct that anger against the slow checkout attendant or the person who didn’t see us and cut us off in traffic. Frustrating as those things may be, they are not real reasons to get angry.

The way to test is to examine our selfishness. Chances are that if we are angry because of a selfish reason (such as having to wait) then that is not a righteous anger. Righteous anger is directed at ungodliness, sin or the devil. Other unrighteous anger is usually a result of our own selfishness.

Anger is a secondary emotion. No one ever gets angry without reason, there is always something that comes first. It may be offense, humiliation or fear that triggers it.

Perhaps you have children and get angry at them at times. Ask yourself why. It may be because of fear – they did something daft and were in danger of hurting themselves. It may be that they interrupted something you were doing, and “self” didn’t like it. If my anger is kindled against my children, it is often because “I” just want to sit down, or “i’ve” had a tough day. It is rarely anything to do with them.

Be Angry

While the verse is often interpreted as “don’t sin when you get cross,” it goes even further than that. Rather than just don’t sin, it’s a command to be angry.

Actually this is a quote from Psalm 4:4 –

Be angry, yet do not sin. Think about this[b] when upon your beds, and be silent.
Interlude

Psalm 4:4 (ISV, emphasis added)

Psalm 4 is a passionate plea to prayer. David starts off crying out to God, then to man, then to God about man and finally to man about God.

Paul grabs hold of this passion and says, “Be angry, and sin not.” One of the problems in the church today is that it is afraid to stand up and call sin by its name. We compromise our position, accepting the world’s way and either ignoring or dismissing the Bible, and people outside don’t always know what the church stands for.

It’s not enough just to love the good things, we must also hate the bad.

I once heard someone say that love and hate are two separate ends of the same stick. To truly love something, you must also hate the things that come against them. I don’t know if i wholeheartedly agree with this or not, but i certainly do understand that loving good is not the same as hating evil.

When we try to love good without hating evil, we end up accepting everything and standing for nothing. We end up with watered down doctrines and a church that looks like the world instead of the Word.

So Paul’s command to be angry is not by accident. This post has already gone longer than I planned, and I haven’t yet addressed the issue of going to bed while you are still angry! Let’s pick that up next time.

For now though, perhaps you are someone with a temper and you know that you need to bring it in line. Perhaps though, you are on the opposite end, and actually need to stir yourself up and start getting angry at sin and injustice. Perhaps – slightly confusingly – you are both, and need to redirect that temper towards the right things.

Do you need to be more or less angry this week? (At appropriate things of course) Do you need to have a serious think about the things that make you angry, and the things that don’t?

Pearl of Wisdom #6

You can give without loving, but cannot love without giving.

The other day in London, I saw a homeless person asking for spare change in the train station. Many commuters walked by without even looking up, but a few dropped some small change into the person’s hand.

Of those who passed by, and even of those who gave, very few made eye contact and not one stopped to talk to them. Sometimes we can feel that we’ve done our part by putting some coins into a charity box or collection plate, and while i’m in no way suggesting giving isn’t a good thing, it isn’t always loving.

We can give small change like this, or even large sums, without actually loving people. But we cannot love someone – really love them – without giving them something important.

It may not be money of course, and might in fact be something as simple as our attention or time. We cannot love, without giving something of ourselves.

Like anything, giving can be done without love. When we love people as Jesus loved, we always give them something of value or of benefit to them.

Love someone today – give them your attention, encouragement, support, prayers or anything else they may need. You can make a positive impact on their day with something that costs you nothing.

Pearl of Wisdom #5

If you know how to worry, then you also know how to meditate.

The word “meditation” can conjure up a mixture of images in our minds these days. For many, it refers to something like Buddist meditation, or some other form of this “spiritual” or “religious” practice.

For the Christian however, meditation means something quite different. Instead of focussing on ourselves, we focus on God and His Word. Meditation simply means to chew over or mull the meaning of a particular Scripture – the idea being to get every bit of goodness we can from it. It also enables the Word to get rooted deep down inside of us.

If you know how to worry, then you know how to meditate. Worrying is just negative meditation. Rolling a problem around your mind over and over. But instead of focussing on the problem, why not focus on something positive? Take a relevant Scripture and mull it over all day long. Just see what benefits you get from it. If nothing else, your mind will be on something useful.

Don’t worry, meditate!

One Way

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6 (ESV)

We take another little break from the ATBOB series to think about something I feel is important for us to discuss.

The other evening, I caught an episode of a Netflix show called “The Good Place.” It’s set in the afterlife, where after an administrative mix up, a woman named Elenor is mistakenly let into the Good Place (heaven).

The program makes no mention of God, and in fact states that all of the major religions on Earth are only about 2% correct.

How do you get into the Good Place? Well, according to the show, every action you take on Earth is scored and recorded. “Good” actions lead to a higher score, and only those with the highest of scores end up in the Good Place. Everyone else ends up in the Bad Place.

Similarly, when I was younger, I remember a TV show where the main character died and found himself at the pearly gates. He met St Peter, who then evaluated his life. Peter had a set of scales and every good action – represented by a white ball – was placed on one side, and every bad action – represented by a black ball – was put on the other side. If the scales tipped to the good, you were allowed into heaven.

I’m not sure where these sort of myths originated, but there are still many who essentially believe that if you lead a generally good life, then you will get into heaven.

But what is “good”? Or rather, what is good enough?

I can see why such thinking is popular. If there’s no standard of good, then we can just compare ourselves to others and grade on a curve. “I may not be the best, but i’m better than that guy…” Thus we justify being good enough.

Let me say categorically that none of this thinking is biblical.

Imagine this for a moment – you are on one side of a chasm, and heaven is on the other. You must jump across to reach heaven. The problem is that the chasm is a mile wide. It doesn’t matter if you jump ten feet or twenty, you’re still going to fall. It makes no sense to say, “At least I jumped further than them!” Because neither of you will make it.

The standard is not set by how we measure up against each other, but how we measure up against God.

God sets out His perfect standard in His Word. The Israelites lived under the Law of Moses, and that Law was given to show them how they ought to live. They misunderstood. They thought they could follow every command and fulfil every aspect of the Law. Wrong! The Law was intended to show them that they couldn’t fulfil it, and that they needed saving!

Here in the 21st century, we are no better off. Most people don’t even recognise God’s Word as a standard anymore, let alone try to fulfil every aspect of it. Likewise, we too need a Saviour!

While some believe living “good enough” will get them into heaven, others believe that there are many roads to heaven. This is another deception.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)

Being better than other people won’t get you into heaven. Following the teachings of Buddha or other “holy” person won’t get you there. Worshiping a false god won’t work, nor will earning a fortune and giving it all away. You can sit in church every week for your entire lifetime, and that won’t do it either.

Sitting in a church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than sitting in a garage would make you a car (I think Joyce Meyer said that…).

There is only one way to heaven. And that Way is Jesus Christ.

I know this is not a popular view, and many consider it closed minded and not diverse. Some may think me arrogant, saying “What makes him think he’s right over all of the other religions?” The only answer I can give is – it’s true.

Jesus is the only way to get to heaven. If I were to say anything else to you today, I would be deceiving you. I appreciate you must come to that decision on your own, and I completely respect anyone who disagrees or comes to a different decision. But I believe it is my responsibility to tell you the truth. And, on the off chance that I’m right, I want to give you every opportunity to come to Jesus right now.

As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

Galatians 1:9 (NIV)

When you die (not wishing to be morbid), you will stand before God and give an account for your life. It won’t be about what “good” you did or didn’t do, and it won’t be about anyone else. It will be about what you did with Jesus – God’s Only Son.

The Bible teaches that one day, Jesus will return. Irrespective of what you believe about that, none of us will live forever on this Earth, and will one day have to face our mortality. When that time comes, I want you to be prepared. Don’t put it off. Don’t wait. Make a choice for Christ TODAY.

Many may say it’s one way or another to heaven, but it’s not. It’s only One Way. And His name is Jesus.

 

If you are ready to make that choice today, have a read of my blog from Resurrection Sunday or listen to the accompanying talk. In there, I set out the Gospel – or Good News – about Jesus. You can believe in Him right now, and pray that Jesus will come and be the Lord and Saviour of your life. If you do, please contact me as I’d love to celebrate with you.

Pearl of Wisdom #4

If someone is gossiping to you, then there’s a good chance they are gossiping about you also.

We ought not to underestimate the hurt that gossip can cause. Even in Christian circles, gossip can be common and rarely given a second thought. Yet words spoken about another can cause intense pain.

Gossip doesn’t even have to be that damaging in order to be wrong. The truth is, if it has nothing to do with us, then we should not have an opinion about it.

I hear people say sometimes, “Oh, I never repeat gossip.” This is good, of course, but are you listening to it? We need to understand that if a person is gossiping to us about another person, then they are probably telling someone else about you.

Repeating gossip is wrong, but listening to it is not much better.

Do yourself a favour and don’t listen to words of gossip. If it’s not about you, then deliberately choose not to have an opinion about it. Be cautious who you spend time with, and what you discuss over coffee or around the water cooler.

May the Lord set a guard over your mouth, but over your ears also. God bless you.

Pearl of Wisdom #3

Anger is a fire; while it can cook your dinner, it can also burn your house down.

We tend to think of anger as a bad thing, but it is not always so. When we think of anger in our society, it is usually out of control and directed towards the wrong things, but that doesn’t make it bad in itself.

When anger is directed towards injustice or sin, it drives us to action. This is a good thing. When we see someone being bullied, a child being mistreated or people in positions of power abusing their role, it is right for us to be angry and act.

That anger must be in control however, and must be in proportion.

What makes you angry? Is it directed towards the right things? If it is not in control, then you may need to get some help. Talk to God about this and He will guide you forward.

Bless you.

Pearl of Wisdom #1

From time to time, I’m going to put up a short post sharing a pearl or two of wisdom. I hope you find it useful!

If you are spending your time wondering what others think of you, “Do they like me?” “What do they think?” “What will they say?” – the truth is, they aren’t thinking about you at all… They are wondering what you think of them.

We spend a lot of time worried about what others think of us. Many times, the fear of what others think leads to our action or inaction. If only we realised that they are rarely thinking of us at all, but spending their own time and energy worrying about what you and others think of them.

We cannot lead our lives trying to make everyone else happy. If our decisions are driven by what others think, then we will never make a decision for ourselves. We should consider the counsel of others of course, but when we try to please people instead of God, we end up miserable.

What have you agreed to lately that you wished you hadn’t? If it was just to please someone else, then perhaps it’s worth reconsidering.

Be blessed!

The Berean Approach

I don’t want you to just take my word for it…

We take a little break from our current series on Psalm 103 to discuss something important.

It is an immense privilege to share God’s Word with you through this blog, and I take that responsibility very seriously. But you, the reader, have a responsibility also.

If you follow this blog for any length of time, then I can probably promise you two things:

  1. You will not agree with everything I say all of the time, and
  2. There’s a good chance I will get something wrong from time to time.

I think both of these are “OK” within reason. Truth be told, any Bible teacher you follow (and I very much include myself in this) will not get everything right 100% of the time. We are all learning and growing, and not one of us has perfect understanding of the Scripture.

Likewise, there are different views of what the Scripture teaches on particular subjects, and different ways people approach worship. We have many diverse kinds of churches for this reason. There are certain fundamental doctrines – beliefs – that all Christian churches should hold but others where we may disagree – yet still have a Christian perspective and fellowship as brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, I ask two things of you:

  1. Be open minded, and
  2. Don’t take my word for it!
Be Open-minded

As we approach the Bible, we do so from our own experience. Often we read a familiar passage and assume we “know” all about it. God’s Word is so deep however, that new truths can be revealed to us by the Holy Spirit from even the most familiar of passages. Be cautiously and prayerfully open minded. Make sure your beliefs are founded on Scripture, not on tradition or society’s expectations.

Don’t just take my word for it

Perhaps more importantly, please do not just take my word for it. If I teach something through this blog or a sermon, I will do my best to evidence that point from the Bible. If I cannot demonstrate it from the text, then it is only my opinion. Test what you hear and read – not just from me, but from all sources.

The Berean Approach

You, the reader, must take “The Berean Approach.”

Now these people were more noble and open-minded than those in Thessalonica, so they received the message [of salvation through faith in the Christ] with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Acts 17:11 (AMP)

“These people” here refers to the Berean Jews. They heard the message and were keen to understand it, but they searched the Scriptures to make sure that what they were being taught held up.

We must be like them. We must not just accept the newest fad teachings from the most fashionable Bible teacher, without testing it first. Similarly, we should not just swallow the teaching of our favourite teacher just because they are our “favourite”.

I know it may sound like work – checking and praying and testing – but it is worth it. There is great danger in just accepting what someone says. The Bible is so large and complex that one can take a selection of Scriptures out of their proper context and make them say whatever they want.

Context is critical in understanding what any portion of the Bible says

Guarding ourselves against deception is important. Biblical truth is wonderful and freeing, but if we get caught up in false teaching, it can warp our view of not just the Bible, but of God Himself. False teaching can lead us astray.

It is often not the outright lies that catch us, but the subtle falsities mixed with kernels of truth. We must be on our guard, and ever vigilant. We must be life-long students of the Word.

I encourage you to be a Berean!