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Guest (Male): Anger, its types, its root causes, its many justifications, and what it can lead to. That's next, right here on Study the Word with Pastor Tom Keller. You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. But someone has added, first it'll make you mad. And so many are angry. Some blow up in anger, while others seethe in it and can't let it go. Is it because of the truth? We'll find out on today's Study the Word with Pastor Tom Keller. Picking up in Paul's letter to the Colossians, we broach the subject of anger.

And here to help us explore this subject in all its complexities is Pastor Tom once again.

Pastor Thom Keller: We're in Colossians chapter 3 and the title of the message today is is all anger sin? A husband said to his wife, honey, there's something I don't understand. When I get mad at you, you never fight back. How do you control your anger like that? The wife says, well, I rush in and I clean the toilet. He said, how does that help? She said, I use your toothbrush. Well, that woman gave very little evidence of emotion when she said that, but there was a ton of revenge underneath it. So how about you? Does your anger result in a volcanic style eruption?

Or do you just bottle it all up inside? And here's the real question, is one of those worse than the other? Today we're going to see what the Bible has to say about anger. So let's again Colossians 3 verse 5. So put to death the sinful earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still a part of this world.

But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don't lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature with all its wicked deeds. Now here in these verses, Paul makes a transition from the book's earlier doctrinal precepts now to ethical and moral demands. And this is standard fare for Paul. You'll find in almost all of his letters, the first half of his letter is devoted to theological issues. And then about the middle point, he then gets into practical life issues. And this is case in point here.

Again in verse 5. Put to death the sinful earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Now one commentator said this, that the sins Paul lists here are principally sins of impurity and unregulated passion. To which he adds just one more, covetousness. The other great vice to which our old nature is exposed. Sins of lust and greed between the two of them are the occasion for most of the sins of man.

One commentator said this, listen, if you stop these two fountains, the rivers of evil would shrink to very small trickles. Stop these two fountains and the rivers of evil would shrink to very small trickles. And greed literally means to have more. It is the insatiable desire to gain more and more, especially of those things that are forbidden. And Paul notes that we used to be caught up in these things, but no more. Verse 7 says this. You used to do these things when your life was still a part of this world. You used to do these things.

You used to be caught up in sexual sins, fornication, impurity, lust, shameful desires, and greed. The assumption is because we're believers, we no longer partake in this. But now, now that we are believers, what group of sins now do we need to struggle with? Colossians 3:8. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. You know, I find it interesting that when Paul lists the world's sins, he lists sexual sin, impurity, lust, they all make the top of that list. But here Paul says once you're saved, he then moves on to a different group of lists.

He lists anger, rage, malicious behavior. Why? Gill the commentator makes the point that any Christian should know that sexual sin, impurity, lust, and shameful desires, and greed are all wrong. But Paul gives us a list of a group of sins that many believers today get caught up in and simply excuse away as personal weaknesses as opposed to seeing them as grave sins. Again, Amplified Bible says this. But now rid yourselves completely of all these things, anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene, abusive, filthy, vulgar language from your mouth. So let's start by looking at anger and rage.

In Greek, there are actually two words for anger and both words are used here. The first is orge. It means anger with wrath. This is a more lasting anger, frequently with a view to take revenge. It's a simmering, calculating anger. The second word is thumos. Now this is a more agitated, sudden burst out of feelings. The root word means to rush, to breathe hard, to blow. It means smoke. The Greeks likened it, this is good, the Greeks likened it to a fire among straw. Fast flash, but then done quickly. When you think thumos, think thunderstorm.

Thumos comes up quickly with much agitation, a lot of commotion, a lot of internal emotion, but then quickly dissipates. It's passion, angry heat boiling up and then soon subsiding. Strong says this, quote, orge is less sudden in its rise than thumos, but it is more lasting in its nature. And Paul, as I said, uses both of these as sins, both orge and thumos. Now may I ask you to be honest with me? How many of you get angry ever? Show of hands. Okay, and the rest of you just lied. We're getting to that later. So my question is this, is it usually orge or thumos?

Is it usually orge that simmering, long-lasting anger desiring wrath? Or is it more often thumos? That anger that comes up quickly with much agitation and heat but dissipates and fades away quickly. My guess is, my guess is at least for me, it's thumos. And here's the takeaway. Do you put these two different types of anger, orge and thumos in two different categories? You say, well, yeah, I do. Orge, this seething, revenge-seeking anger is ugly and it's just wrong. But thumos, now that's a different animal. Thumos is ultimately a pussycat compared to the roaring, revenge-seeking lion of orge.

God knows that every single Christian knows or should know that the seething, consuming, long-lasting orge anger that seeks revenge is wrong. We all know that. We should all know that. But the times when I get hot, when I get riled up quickly and then it goes away as quickly as it comes, I believe Paul is saying that this anger is not excusable either. It is not normal. It is not just the way I am. It is sin. Paul says you cannot excuse away thumos. Label it what it is. It's sin. You know, this really came home to me this week.

I slapped my violin out of anger and I got arrested for domestic violins. So how does this apply to me? Listen, the last time you were driving and some guy pulled out in front of you Now this has never happened to me. Some guy pulled out in front of you and you went thumos on him. Or when someone cut in the check-in line in front of you at the grocery store. Or when you were at a restaurant and the five tables all around you got their food before you did, even though you ordered long before any of them.

And you went thumos on the waiter or waitress. Here's my question. Did you suddenly break down in tears and contrition for what you did and say, oh, I'm sorry, I can't believe I did that. I can't believe I got angry. Did you promise God I'll never do it again? Or as that thumos quickly subsided, did you just walk away as if nothing just happened? Or are you like me? That's me. The seething, bitter, I want revenge orge. God won't let me off the hook on that one. He'll remind me that in my prayer list. But thumos, thumos, I let myself off the hook because I never let the Holy Spirit put me on the hook.

And as a result, I don't deal with it as sin. How many need some help to begin to see the sin of thumos as a serious sin? Can you put your hands up? Thank you. I do. I do. My wife has seen a thunderstorm form in the car right before her very eyes. And again, I just can dismiss it so quickly. It's a sin that we need to be more aware of, more sensitive to. A sin that really should require confession and repentance every time it swells up. So let's pray that God would make us sensitive to that.

That when that happens, we don't just dismiss it. A second sin we'd like to look at from verse eight is deals with language. New Living Translation says dirty language, New King James says filthy language, ESV, obscene talk. Amplified Bible says obscene, abusive, filthy, vulgar language. In Greek, the word is aischrologia, aischrologia, and it means filthy, foul, obscene speech. In English, our word is profanity, which is from the Latin word profanus, which literally means outside the temple. It has that meaning because it speaks of someone who speaks words outside the temple that they would never speak inside the temple.

So let me bring that home to us. It means using language outside in the workplace that you would never use in the church. It means saying words to your friends you would never say to your grandmother. That's the idea of profanity. A recent poll shows that nearly three quarters of Americans question. Let me say something first. You know, if you're a new Christian, you may still struggle with profanity. Uh some people get saved and they just give it up like that. Other people, it's a process. It takes a little bit of time to give it up.

We understand that. No one ever cleaned me up. I'm not going to clean you up. It's the Holy Spirit that's going to clean you up. And what you're going to find is you're going to let a string of words out and you're going to think, ooh, I guess I shouldn't have said that. Well, you're old, you didn't care. But now you do care because that's the Holy Spirit convicting you. Just respond to that as the Holy Spirit says. And if he's not going to you're not going to feel condemned by him, you're going to feel convicted by him.

And when those words come, just say, well, I guess I shouldn't have said that. And then just work at that. Just be obedient to that. We're not beating you up. It's a process. It's a process. But we should be working on it. A recent poll on profanity shows that nearly three quarters of Americans question, 74% said they encounter profanity frequently or occasionally. Two thirds said that they think people swear more than they did 20 years ago. Who doesn't know that? And as for the gold standard of foul words, 64% said they use the worst word ranging from several times a day to a few times a year, 64% The poll found that people divided by age and gender.

Younger people admit to using bad language more often than older. And younger people also encountered it more and are bothered less by it. That's a shame. An AP poll showed that 62% of 18 to 34 year olds acknowledge swearing in conversations at least a few times a week compared to 39% age 35 and older. 62% versus 35% based on age. And as far as who you will swear in front of, 80% of workers will swear in front of coworkers. 75% my closest colleagues at work. 55% is back down to managers, 39 levels above that, and executives only 30 percent.

So even in those settings, they're different people they will swear in front of. More women were bothered by profanity than men, 74% versus 60 percent. And a study done by Dr. Timothy J. of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts states that research shows that people who swear more score higher on traits such as dominance and hostility. So swearing increases hostility. You may think hostility increases swearing, but actually it's the opposite. Just swearing ramps up hostility. Bob Green of the Field Newspaper Syndicate wrote about swearing in our society. This is good. Listen to what he says.

A secular writer. Obscenity, the open use of words which used to be a mark of lower social strata has somehow become acceptable, and I am offended because foul language used casually in public comes close to the idea of violation of privacy. I know that there are some around who feel assaulted by it. Certain language is an assault on the senses. Now those who disagree are probably saying after all, it's only words. But words are vehicles. They convey messages. And to some people, the use of profanity is a message of ugliness and aggressiveness and a disrespect for civil behavior.

This practice is usually defended under the name of freedom. But whose freedom? If the language of ugliness becomes so much a part of our society that it's impossible to escape, then who is free and who isn't? It's well said. The Bible has much to say about the ability of words to defile you. Matthew 15:11 Jesus said it's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you, not food. You're defiled by the words that come out of your mouth. Romans 3:13 speaking of people of the world, not Christian. Their talk is foul like the stench from an open grave.

Their tongues are filled with lies. Snake venom drips from their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. And then James 3 kind of the Magna Carta of speech. And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire. Who doesn't know that? For it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison.

Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father. Sometimes it curses those who've been made in the image of God. And so blessings and cursing compouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right. So how does this apply to me? How many of you have accessed to Facebook? Can I see hands? Access Facebook? Thanks. Are you surprised by the language you see on Facebook sometimes? Some language from people that you wouldn't think would use that kind of language. You know, I love you guys. I do, but I am saddened when I see Facebook postings from people that I know are Christians using language that should not be used.

People tell me all the time, I don't like fake people. I don't like fake people. I don't like people that are fake. You know, be a person that just has one guide for vocabulary, for choice of words. Okay? Don't don't be somebody that when you get with certain kinds of friends, you use gutter language because that's the language they speak. Don't do that. Don't be that person, please. Because then you become a fake. Uh is that right? You probably say I don't like fake people. Will you become a fake person? Be consistent. Be the same person.

Facebook, be the same person everywhere. Listen, folks, we are to be salt and light in a dark world. We are not to add darkness by way of profanus, by speaking words outside the temple, outside the church, on social media that we would never use inside the church. And girls, let me say something here to you related to that subject. If you are trying to find a good, solid Christian guy, do you know how undesirable you make yourself when you use profanity? It can make an attractive girl or woman look like a filthy barnyard animal. Now that's strong talk, but that's not me saying it.

That's the Bible saying that. Pro- Proverbs 11:22 says a beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig's snout. There it is. Hey, same is true for a man. A handsome man with a filthy mouth lacking discernment, discretion is like a pig with a gold ring. You know, I've been, you've been in settings where you saw a nice-looking woman, a handsome man and you thought, oh, that looks like a nice person. And then they open their mouth and a string of words come out and you go, whoa, man, I got them wrong.

Wow. Wow. Proverbs 9:13 addresses this as well. It says a foolish woman is clamorous. She is simple and knows nothing. The word clamorous means noisy, loud, vocal, so loud as to compel attention. Girls, you might not know this, but listen to what a godly man, what a godly man finds attractive in a woman. 1 Peter 3 says don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourself instead with a beauty that comes from within. Listen, here it is. The unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which is so precious to God.

That is the antithesis of a clamoring, clamorous woman. And while we're on the subject, young men, do you know what makes a man attractive to a woman? Proverbs 19:22 It says that which maketh a man to be desired is his kindness. One translation says kindness makes a man attractive, not profanity. Profanity will not make you attractive to that girl or to a girl that you would like to marry. Profanity will not make you attractive to that godly man that you may want to marry. It will not. I remember the story of a godly young man who was looking to find a girl to marry.

And he saw a girl, knew a girl, and he thought, boy, she seems like a nice girl. And in one setting, he heard her let out a string of vulgarity. And he said, wow, she isn't who I thought she was. And he never pursued her. What could have been never was. What could have been never was because of that moment.

Guest (Male): First impressions may become lasting impressions. Anger and profanity are to become a thing of the past for the one who is made new in Christ. Next time, we'll consider the problem of lies along with its remedy. Join us then here on Study the Word as Pastor Tom Keller continues our study of Colossians. His message today was framed around Colossians chapter 3 entitled is all anger sin. You can hear this message again online at ccleb .com or subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel Lebanon. If you'd rather have a CD copy, call us at 717 273 5633.

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