From Wrong Anger to Redeeming Love: Palm Sunday

He's angry because he loves, and yet he does not lash out. What does he do? In John, he moves. He sets his face towards Jerusalem. He he submits to the father. He moves towards the cross. And here's the problem. We're not just victims of what's wrong. We participate in it, which means God's anger is not just out there towards them. It's also directed towards us. Scripture says we were by nature children of wrath. And at the cross, everything changes because the message of Christianity is not God ignores anger or justice. [00:21:52] (48 seconds)  #AngerRootedInLove

All of that anger you feel towards the world right now was placed upon him, and he does not return it. He carries it. He absorbs it. And what that means is all the things you are angry about, redeemer, you can bring to him. All your resentment, all your guilt and shame, and Jesus takes it. And in return, what do you get? Forgiveness, mercy, peace. And when that begins to sink into us, that the place for all of our anger was met at the cross, you do not have to carry your anger in the same way anymore. [00:23:36] (51 seconds)  #HeCarriesOurAnger

So the question this morning isn't, are you angry? Because you are. We are. The question is, what are what is your anger doing to you? What is it shaping in you? What is it doing in your relationships? Where is it taking you? We're gonna look at anger from three vantage points, our wrong anger, our righteous anger, and God's redeeming anger. And here's what you're gonna see. We're gonna see that your anger is not something you can just ignore. It's not something you can just manage. It is something that has to be transformed. And the only place that can really happen is in Jesus. [00:04:23] (42 seconds)  #WhatIsYourAngerDoing

But most of the time, our anger is not like his. Our anger is self protective and self justifying and self centered. We say we're fighting for the truth, but we're just defending ourselves. We say we're pursuing justice, but we're just settling a score. And even when we're right, we are often not loving. Righteous anger is not about winning. It's about loving rightly in the face of what is wrong. It still confronts. It still speaks truth. It still resists evil, but it does so with humility, with patience, with love. [00:18:18] (37 seconds)  #BeyondSelfProtectiveAnger

You do not have to settle every score, and you don't have to make people pay because justice has been dealt with at the cross. Now, also, that self sacrifice that we are intended to learn from the cross is the way we enter into relationships with people. We too, in situations of anger, are called to absorb wrath, to take it in, and give it back to God. So what are you going to do with your anger? Will you keep feeding it, rehearsing it, letting it define you, or will you, Redeemer, bring it to Jesus? Not cleaned up, not figured out, starting places honest because he has already carried it. [00:24:27] (51 seconds)  #JusticeAtTheCross

So when anger feels like a feast and you wanna replay it and savor it and hold on to it, when in the end you're just consuming yourself, come to Jesus, lay it down, and learn to live in a different way. And perhaps that will make us, Redeemer, gentle, angry at the right things, and not angry because of ourselves. [00:25:59] (30 seconds)  #LayDownYourAnger

God is angry. He is angry at injustice and oppression and violence and abuse and death and sin. Not because he's unstable, but because he loves. God's anger is not the opposite of love. It is what love looks like in a broken world. Right? When Jesus stands at the tomb of Lazarus, he weeps. He's deeply moved. In that passage in John, it says in the Greek, his nostrils flare like a war horse ready for battle. He he is grieving, but he is angry at what? At death, at what sin has done. [00:21:04] (48 seconds)  #GodsAngerIsLove

So how do you know? What is your anger producing? Is it producing love or distance? Is it moving you towards people or away from them? Is it making you patient, present, open, or restrictive, closed, and more and more and more certain? Second, who is this anger for? Is it truly for someone else? Is it protective? Is it advocating? Or is it about you? Third, is it rooted in love? Are you actually wanting good for the person that you're angry about, or do you just wanna win? Where is it taking you? [00:19:12] (50 seconds)  #IsYourAngerProducingLove