Luke 14: 31 – 35

1. Called to be salt

We are called to be salt which is a preserving quality that makes people thirsty

Alright to admit that we have not done a good job of this in our day as society has rejected the salt we have presented.

Salt will never advance the kingdom if we are just trying to preserve ourselves from the dangers out there

Give up everything to advance kingdom

Now we are in Ephesians where we are going to learn how to give up our rights so the kingdom of God can be advanced.

The clash of cultures Paul knows about Ephesus was the place for the temple of Artemus. When Christianity came people burned several million dollars of witchcraft supplies.

2. Two types of anger

Ephesians 4: 25 – 32

Vs 26 be angry and sin not

Vs 31 Get rid of all anger rage and harsh words

Seems like a contradiction.

Anger is a work of the flesh or Gentile mind. Galatians 5: 19 anger and those who live this way will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Matthew 5: 21 If you are angry with someone, you are in danger of judgment. Call someone an idiot you are in danger of the fires of hell.

James 1: 19, 20 slow to get angry because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires

The type of anger that is being talked about is anger that does not produce the righteousness God desires. (TALK ON THIS ONE IN TWO WEEKS)

Talk about the anger that will advance the kingdom of God and bring change to society.

This anger is missing in the church today.

3. Righteous Anger defined.

Want to look at Bible and see what true righteous anger looks like.

  1. God’s anger is in a legal sense not a vigilante justice (shooting an abortion doctor is not right)
  2. God’s anger is not explosive but is only slowly provoked Exodus 34: 6 I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness QUICKLY GET ANGRY OVER SOMETHING MOST LIKELY NOT RIGHTEOUS ANGER
  3. Does not take pleasure in expressing anger in judgment 2 Peter 3: 9 …He does not want any to perish but wants all to repent. NOT CALLED TO JUDGE OTHERS OUTSIDE CHURCH
  4. God’s anger is always under control Psalm 78: 38 Many times he held back his anger and did not unleash His fury RAGE NOT RIGHTEOUS ANGER
  5. Not personal but toward God’s glory. Psalm 69: 9 Zeal of God’s house consumes Him. AGAINST US THEN IT IS NOT RIGHTEOUS ANGER

4. WHAT STIRRED RIGHTEOUS ANGER?

Jesus life

  1. Anger at the Pharisees for their hardness of heart Mark 3: 5
  2. Cleansing of the temple John 2: 13 – 22
  3. Matthew 23 rebuking the pharisees for their blindness to the things of God. THESE TWO SEEM LIKE RAGE, BUT IMMEDIATELY AFTER HEALING INT HE TEMPLE AND CRYING OUT FOR JERUSALEM TO BE SAVED AFTER TALKING TO PHARISEES.
  4. Toward Peter and his rebuke for the crucifixion Matthew 16: 23 TOWARD SATAN WHO WAS TRYING TO DESTROY THE PLAN OF GOD
Ultimately righteous anger is directed toward satan and how he is fighting against the work of God on the planet.

5. WHY SO IMPORTANT?

Acts 17: 6 stirred by all the idols in Athens.

Stirred = deeply troubled aroused to anger, spurred on.

Change is only going to happen as our hearts are stirred up by God’s righteous anger

Satan destroying plans of God for city.

sex trafficking, drug addicts, abortion,

Salt not making an influence

Stories about how people were stirred to bring change to their society.

  1. Telemachus year 404 saw gladiators fighting ran into the arena yelling no. Crowd so incensed with their entertainment being disrupted stoned him. Emperor Honorius so impressed he stopped gladiators from fighting.
  2. Florence Nightingale rejected marriage because it would interfere with desire to follow God through nursing. An article in a newspaper about the horrific conditions of the wounded in the Crimean War. She trained 38 nurses and took off for Crimean Death rate dropped from 42% to 2%.
  3. Harriet Beecher Stowe Fugitive slave law illegal to aid escaping slaves. Every woman or child who can speak a word for freedom is bound to do so….Wrote to a journal “life among the lowly” published in completion as “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
  4. William Wilberforce under the influence of John Newton when it was unpopular to express christianity outside of remembering the sabbath decided. “I must promote christian ethics in public and private life.”
  5. David Brainerd Indian tribes, FELL INTO SNOW AND CRIED OUT WHEN HE WAS DONE YOU COULD NOT TOUCH THE SNOW IN ANY DIRECTION AS IT MELTED UNDER THE FERVENCY OF HIS PRAYER.

Nothing in our own power will do anything or bring about any change.

Our 10,000 cannot do anything against their 20,000.

God we are in need of you

Last time that God was able to stir your heart with righteous anger to cry out for something to happen.