Early works in the development of school leadership for social justice

Number two: that you're angry at the right thing, at the right thing. Now, Jesus did not get angry with individuals. He got angry with institutions, and forms and sins, but not with individuals. He loved the individual. You see, dear friend, you can be angry with the wrong done, but not with the wrong doer. Most of us get angry at the wrong doer. We get angry at people. Jesus did not. Jesus loved people. And, while Jesus was moved with anger and hard hearts, and while Jesus burned sometime with the zeal of his Father's house, yet the Lord Jesus was kind, and compassionate, and tender and though they were sinners, Jesus was the friend of sinners.

And, I want to say something to you preacher boys here. I hope that all of your ministry you'll preach against liquor. With every ounce, and every inch, and every nerve and every fiber. But, if you can't do it and love the bartender, you better keep your mouth shut. You preach against pornography, but you learn to love the pornographer.

You can preach against homosexuality, but you'd better love the homosexual. Be angry and sin not. Not against persons.

Jesus Christ became angry, but His anger was for the right reasons—at the right things—and then His anger, dear friend, was in the right way. Let His anger make Him a part of the solution, not a greater part of the problem. And, dear friend when you lose your temper, you're not a part of the solution, you're part of the problem—and the “wrath of

man worketh not the righteousness of God” (James 1:20). When it's God anger, when it's a righteous anger, then the righteousness of God is going to be worked. And, you'd better learn that when you raise your voice, you also better lift your hands to do something about the situation. It doesn't take a lot of sides to criticize, anybody can do that.

1. Anger Shows a Foolish Mind

And, so there the Bible doesn't say be never angry, but it says be slow to wrath—be very careful because you see, there are few forms of dissipation that will hurt your testimony, and kill your influence, and reveal your character more than your anger and your quick temper. Do you want me to tell you what the Bible says your temper proves about you? If you're one that has a short fuse. If you're one of these persons always flying off the handle, number one: it shows that you've got a foolish mind. Listen to Ecclesiastes chapter 7 and verse 9. Ecclesiastes 7, verse 9: “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

2. Anger Shows a Poor Character

Now, don't come around here with your vaulted intellectual superiority, for the Bible says that if you're given to anger, you sir, are foolish. But, not only does it show

something about your mind, it also shows something about your character.

Listen to Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 32: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).

Some people think that an anger, a temper—a violent temper—is a sign of strength.

Some of you men are bullies in your house. And, you go throwing things around,

slapping the kids around, driving like a maniac down the highway when somebody does something, and you think that's a sign of your strength. It's a sign of your babyhood.

You're like a little baby, throwing a temper tantrum.

Listen to what the Bible says: “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32). And, I'll tell you something else about anger. When you get angry you lose control, and you open the door to all kinds of other sins that you would not normally commit. You say things that you ought not to say. You do things that you ought not to do.

Listen to Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 22: “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression” (Proverbs 29:22). You just get furious brother and your sins are going to multiply just like that. Things will happen, things will be said that you would give a thousand worlds if you could take back. But, you lose your mind, you lose your control. Listen to that verse again, “An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.” Not only does he transgress, he just abounds in it. Somebody said that anger is a stone thrown into a wasp's nest. That's what it is,

Now, how are you going to deal with this anger? Let me tell you one thing mister, and dear lady. You had better start treating it as it is, a sin. You know, you'd be surprised. Some people are actually proud of their temper. They really are. They say,

“Well, we've got red hair in our family. And, I'm just a redhead. Redheads get angry.” I'm looking at a few of them, is that true? Others say, “You know, well, I just get from my dad. I've got my dad's temper.” Yea, you're of your father—the devil. “Oh,” you say,

“well, it just lasts a little while.” Well, when a man with a hair-trigger blazes away with a shotgun, that just lasts a little while too. But, somebody else has to go in there and pick up the pieces, you see.

We try to explain it away. We try to minimize it. We try to make jokes about it, like it's funny. But, I want to tell you, it is not weakness, it is wickedness. And, until you start treating that temper as what it is, a vile temper—you want me to tell you why those things spew out of you? Because they’re in you. If you want to see what you're made out of, if you want to see what you're full of, you see what spills out of you when you're jostled. And, if you're full of anger, when you're jostled, anger will spill out. If you're full of Jesus, Jesus will spill out. You cannot judge a person by what he is by his actions,

’cause he can plan his actions. You watch his reactions—the things he has not planned—and you'll know what that man is full of. And, the only way, ladies and gentlemen, to control your temper is to have a heart full of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But, along with that James gives—James is so intensely practical. James gives some advice now, and I want you to notice the chain here. First of all: tune it. Secondly:

tone down. Thirdly: sweeten up. You see, when I begin to listen, and when I stop talking so much, then I learn to control my temper because my thoughts and my words have a way of stirring up my spirit. Did you know that you can stir yourself up by your own words? Did you know that if you verbalize things, the right things, that you'll feel right.

And, if you verbalize the wrong things you'll feel wrong. And, many of you, when you tend to get in an argument with your husband and your wife, if you'll just watch your words. You'll be surprised how your words will control your spirit. You say, “I thought my spirit made my words.” Well, many times we talk even before we think, but after we've said certain things then we tend to live by those things. You see, the Bible says,

“Grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15, 1: “…grievous words stir up anger”

(Proverbs 15:1). So, when you listen more, and when you talk less, you're going to find out that your spirit is more controlled.

A careless word may kindle strife.

A cruel word may wreck a life.

A bitter word may hate instill.

A brutal word may smite and kill.

A gracious word may smooth away.

A joyous word may light the day.

A timely word may lessen stress.

A loving word may heal and bless.

And, all of this is possible because we have been born again. It's all possible through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Now, listen folks. Tune in right now and listen to me. Jesus Christ did not come to make us nice people. He came to make us new creatures. And, I'm not just giving you a lecture on manners this morning. These things that James is talking about, these are the fruits of being born again.

Have you been born again? Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and your Savior? You might as well try to control gunpowder in Hell as to try to control your temper without Jesus Christ, or to control your tongue without Jesus Christ, or to control your thoughts without Jesus Christ.

First of all, you need a new nature, you need to be born again. I want to tell you that God loves you today and God has a wonderful plan for your life, and Jesus Christ is knocking at your heart’s door. Jesus Christ wants to come into you and change your life.

Years ago, on the Passaic River in New Jersey, there was a railroad trestle bridge, and that bridge had to be opened to let the ships pass through. There was a man there who had a very important job. He would sit at the control—the giant levers—and he would pull these, and push them, and make the huge gears turn. And, this bridge would swing on its hinges to let the ships go through. And, then he would have to move the bridge back very quickly for the passenger train to come through.

On a particular occasion he had his ten-year-old son there with him. His son had come to see the father—rather it was an eight-year-old son. And, the son had come to watch his daddy work, and the son was standing out there near the river, and near the giant works there in the great gears. And, this father had opened the bridge to let a ship through, and then he had to close it quickly because a passenger train was coming. But, as he was in the business of closing the bridge his son fell into the swift moving waters of that river. And, he cried, “Daddy, daddy, help me, daddy.” And, the daddy knowing that he could not possibly leave those controls—if he did the train would plunge into the abyss, and plunge into the river. The father had to make a decision, and there doing as

he felt God would have him do, he stayed at the controls and closed the bridge while his son disappeared in the murky waters.

Later, of course, he was unable to find the boy—the boy was gone and drowned.

And, when I heard that story, I thought about it, and I thought how many of those people who went by in that train saw the bridge-tender and waved at him, never realized the price that he paid for them.

I hope today you'll not just give God a smile and a wave. I want you to know that He put His darling Son on the cross that you might go to Heaven. I want you to know that

“God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16), and I want you to know that God loves you. Listen to me now—listen. God loves you. God wants to save you. God brought you here this morning to hear it, and God brought me here today to tell it. And, if you will receive Jesus Christ, He will forgive your sins, He will come into your heart and give you a new nature. And, one day He'll take you to Heaven to be with Him.

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