Jude continues to give us his advice. Perhaps what he says sounds surprising. After all, he has spent the larger part of his letter warning us against the ungodly. Now he says, “Be merciful to those who doubt…” Could it be that he is worried some might confuse doubting with being ungodly?
It is a fair question. If you have spent any time at all reading this blog you know that I have a lot of questions! And if ever there is a quiet moment, I can come up with more questions at the drop of a hat.
Woe to them! …they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.
In this unique passage, Jude does two things at once. He tells us one more thing about the ungodly people who pervert the grace of God. Then, in the same stroke of the pen, he tells us about their fate.
To put this story into context we need to look at a bit of Israel’s history.
Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.
At the beginning of his letter, James encourages his readers to face trials with joy. The goal, he says, is to produce perseverance. Now he says to be patient. I wonder, aren’t perseverance and patience two sides of the same coin?
James’ letter is sometimes disparaged because he ties what we do to what we believe. Martin Luther, in particular, was critical of James’ letter. Luther had broken free of the legalism imposed by the Catholic Church. His means of breaking free was Paul’s assertion that we are saved by faith alone. Paul writes:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
James is rather blunt here. Sometimes when people are blunt, they stray into generalizations that are hurtful because they are not true. Is James’ statement entirely true?
Unfortunately, yes.
Jesus, James’ half-brother, makes the same point over and over again. In one example he says:
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.” (Matthew 5: 21-22a)
That is a very black and white statement. I have to confess I have been angry with a brother once or twice. (That may be a bit of an understatement.) Technically that means I am subject to judgment.
We are faced with the same choice every minute of every day: God or not God. If we choose God, we choose to put him above all else. We love him with all our heart, our soul and our mind. If we are not doing that, then we are choosing what James refers to as “the world.”
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.
I am beginning to see James in a new light. His mind is highly analytical. His entire letter is structured around this pattern repeated over and over again:
Problem – Analysis – Solution
What is the problem here? There are fights and quarrels among believers!
James provides his analysis: Fights and quarrels are outer reflections of the desires that battle inside you!
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.
Thank you for bearing with me as I wandered through this topical detour about anger. I have learned a lot. I hope you have picked up something valuable as well.
To review, we began with “Anger’s Cause” asking the question: Is it right to be angry? We answered that question with an, “It depends.” It depends on why a person is angry. Then we defined anger as a secondary emotion and described its origin this way:
“Anger is the feeling that results from an imbalance between our expectations and the situation we find ourselves in.”
Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
In yesterday’s post, “Three Angry Men,” we looked at three men in scripture who were angry for the same basic reason. They all expect life to happen the way that they wanted it to happen. They wanted to get their way.
The prodigal’s older brother figured his little brother was out of the way. Being the only son he “owned” his dad and everything else would be his. When the prodigal comes home, big brother is put out. This isn’t the way it was supposed to work.
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
In the story of the Parable of the Prodigal Son,* there is a minor character that we don’t get to meet until the end of the story. After the prodigal is welcomed home by his father, his dad throws a party for him. The older brother is out in the field and is incensed that his wayward brother should be honored in this way. Even when his father comes out to him to beg him to come into the party he refuses. I think it is safe to say that the older brother was angry.
Our definition of anger in “Anger’s Cause” goes like this:
“Anger is the feeling that results from an imbalance between our expectations and the situation we find ourselves in.”
The older brother expected that the younger brother would get what is coming to him. After all, he had demanded that his father give him half the estate and then ran off and squandered it. Who knows what he did with all that money! Then he has the nerve to come home and ask for a job from his dad.
Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
How do we tell the difference between anger that has been harbored in someone’s heart and anger that is served up fresh each day?
Rich raised this question in response to yesterday’s post, “Hyperopia.” He posits a person who harbors “anger, revenge, [and/or] bad feelings toward someone in our family or inner circle.”
What does it mean to “harbor” something? A boat in a harbor has a place to stay protected from outside forces. The idea of harboring a feeling suggests that the person wants to keep the angry feeling alive. This kind of person nurtures a grudge and as Rich points out stews their bad feelings with thoughts of revenge.
You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins.
You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger.
This passage from Psalm 85 gives us some clues to resolving anger. In this short series of essays on anger, we defined anger as, “the feeling that results from an imbalance between our expectations and the situation we find ourselves in.”*
God expects that his Creation will recognize Him and honor Him. When this doesn’t happen God becomes angry. God says:
“Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.”
— Jeremiah 25:6
Because of God’s great love for us, he provided a means for us to be redeemed from his anger. In the Old Testament, that meant dumping all the foreign gods in the Kidron Valley and submitting to God’s will. Unfortunately over the centuries, the Israelites turned their back on God so often that they made a mockery of his willingness to forgive. Instead, when the old covenant was in tatters, God formed a new covenant in his son, Jesus Christ.
