Loved ones are mourning the deceased and Jesus gets angry? What?!

Did Jesus ever get ticked? I mean, was there ever a time when Jesus got so angry that those around Him noticed?

Some would immediately respond "Yes" and say that He was angered when He cleared the Temple of those who had turned it into a marketplace that distracted from worship. Yet, none of the four Gospel accounts tell us that Jesus was angry when He cleared the Temple (see Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; Luke 19:45-46; John 2:13-17). In fact, the only emotion that Jesus was said to have as He cleared the temple was "zeal" (John 2:17).

So, did Jesus ever get angry?

Yes ... and it was at a place and time where we would have least suspected such an emotion.

It's found in John 11. Jesus was at the tomb of His dear friend, Lazarus.

John 11:31-33 (English Standard Version)

31 When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.

Do you see the words "deeply moved" in verse 33? That word can also be translated "indignant." In fact, the New Living Translation says: "When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled."

Why in the world would Jesus get angry when people around him were sick with grief over the death of a dear loved one?

Well, if we go through the possibilities and check off those that aren't viable, we end up with this: Jesus was angry at sin and its consequences. If Adam had not sinned in the Garden of Eden, sin and death would not have spread to mankind. If that had never happened, Mary and Martha would have had no reason to cry. They would have had no reason to experience the unspeakable grief that only those who have lost a loved one can understand. I think Jesus' heart broke (John 11:35) for Mary and Martha as He saw them crying and He was angered at the havoc that sin had brought into the world.

Friend, that's why Jesus came to live, die, and rise again. He came to conquer sin and death (read 1 Corinthians 15). He came so that those who believe in Him will one day get to be with Him in a place where there is no more sin or consequences of that sin.

So, does it bother you that you live in a world that is so sin-sick? Does it break your heart when you see all of the sickness, pain, sorrow and death that has come to be a part of every human experience? Are you looking forward to the day when all things will be made new?

So is Jesus, my friend. So is Jesus.

Sin, forgiveness and consequences

One of the beautiful truths of Scripture is this: No matter how much we've blown it in the past, no matter what sins we have committed, we can be completely forgiven! If only we will humbly come to Jesus, confess what we have done, turn our back on it never to do it again (repent), we can be completely cleansed.

1 John 1:9 (New Living Translation)

"But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness."

Regardless of what we've done or where we've been or how long we were there, God wants to show us how gracious He is. He also wants to show the world that He can take someone who has messed up horribly and make something beautiful out of their lives.

We see this illustrated in the life of Moses. He was hand-picked to lead a massive nation out of Egyptian slavery. Yet, his life wasn't spotless. Not even close. He had a very dark moment in his past! He had killed a man in cold blood! (Exodus 2:11-15).

That horribly sinful act leads us to acknowledge another biblical principle: While we celebrate the fact that God can forgive our sin (and often restore us to serving Him), we also realize that most of the time He allows the consequences of our sin to remain.

For Moses' murderous act, he was consigned to tending sheep in the wilderness for 40 long years (Acts 7:23-30). God forgave him but he wasted 40 years of his life in the process. (Our God is so good that even though Moses 'wasted' those forty years, God used them to prepare Moses for the task ahead. Yet, they were consequences nonetheless.)

For disobeying the Lord's orders in how he was to provide water for the Israelites, he was forbidden to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 20:10-12). He was forgiven but the consequences remained.

Even though Moses begged the Lord to forego the consequences, God refused to budge.

Deuteronomy 3:23-27 (New Living Translation)

"At that time I (Moses) pleaded with the Lord and said, 'O Sovereign Lord, you have only begun to show your greatness and the strength of your hand to me, your servant. Is there any god in heaven or on earth who can perform such great and mighty deeds as you do? Please let me cross the Jordan to see the wonderful land on the other side, the beautiful hill country and the Lebanon mountains.'

"But the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he would not listen to me. 'That's enough!' he declared. 'Speak of it no more. But go up to Pisgah Peak, and look over the land in every direction. Take a good look, but you may not cross the Jordan River.'"

Be very careful when you allow sin into your life. We all have struggles and must aggressively work to kill sin in our minds and hearts. Yet, if we begin to tolerate sin, then the extent of our sin will grow. One day, we may engage in some major sin that wrecks our lives and hurts those around us. We may be forgiven but the consequences may be with us for a very, very long time … maybe our whole life!

Why not surrender right now to the Lord to obey Him wholeheartedly. Doing so is not only what He expects and demands, it is most certainly in your best interest. No consequences of sin will ever be experienced by those who refuse to step off the road to Christlikeness.

Sermon (video): When God Gives a Nation What It Wants (Romans 1:18-32)

Click here to view the sermon.

So what happens when a nation rejects God? Romans 1:18-32 gives us a general model of
how a nation will decline and what the four specific steps are. It almost seems that this chapter was written with America in mind.

On squirrels and holiness

This morning proved to be interesting … and if you have a weak stomach, do not read this post.

Zach and I went through our usual morning routine after Kim took Sean and Joseph to school. We headed out the door, hopped into the car, drove to the bus stop a few blocks down the street and waited.

In a moment of transparency between father and son, I acknowledged that Satan would love for nothing more than to derail us on our road toward Christlikeness. I warned him that the desires and opportunities to satisfy those sinful desires would grow but by God's grace and strength, he must master them. 

I told him that God has called us to be holy. I told him that we are set apart for Christ and that we should not even let our big toe step off the road of holiness.

While I acknowledged that I’ve failed many times and cried out for God’s forgiveness, holiness is a serious matter.

I reached a point in the conversation where quiet settled in. I wondered if I was getting through to him. I wondered if I had been too “preachy.”

Just moments later, as we both watched, a car passed us and made its way down the street. Two squirrels darted out from a yard and ran in front of the car. One didn’t make it. The tire ran over its head.

As the car continued down the road, the squirrel tried to run but its head was dragging on the ground like dead weight (more like a heavy pancake). In a few moments, it dropped to the ground. Its legs continued flaying about but only for a few seconds.

Almost as quickly as it happened, the squirrel stopped moving and was reclassified. It moved from “squirrel” to “roadkill.”

I saw my opportunity to drive home my previous point. I pointed my finger at the dead squirrel and said, “Zach, that’s what Satan wants to do to you. You pursue holiness and it will never happen.”

As he got out of the car to board the bus, he looked at me and said, “Great illustration!” I hope it sunk in.

Is confession really necessary?

There is a wonderful promise found in Proverbs 28:13. "The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy." Speaking from experience, the issue in this verse is not whether or not we will sin. It is a foregone conclusion that we will stray from God’s commands each day. The issue addressed in this verse is whether or not we will acknowledge our shortcomings, confess them and turn from them.


But isn’t it within human nature to try and conceal our sins? Rather than face the immediate consequences of our failures, we would rather deny our shortcomings and hope that we won’t be found out. Yet, God’s Word is clear when it says in Numbers 32:23 - "...you may be sure that your sin will find you out."


One such illustration is found in 2 Samuel 11-12. In chapter 11, we read about how King David lazily stayed home from battle while his army was out fighting. One evening, he went for a walk on the roof of his palace and saw a woman taking a bath. Instead of immediately turning away, he gawked and lusted.


Sin is never satisfied. It is like a cancer that is not content unless it grows and spreads. As he lusted, his heart began to race. His sexual engine began to throttle up. Simultaneously, his logic and his desire for holiness was shut down. His racing passions were begging to find expression and so he abused his power and sent for the woman.


That evening, he took what didn’t belong to him. He grossly abused his position as a leader and violated a woman that was not his to claim. And when he was done with her, with only regard for his own personal passions and desires, he sent her back to her home.


But sin is like a cancer. It grows. It spreads. When he found out that Bathsheba was pregnant with his baby, he realized that he left some tracks that needed to be covered. He called for her husband, Uriah, who was loyally fighting for David on the battlefield. He encouraged Uriah to spend some “time” with his wife. If that happened, David surmised, Uriah would think that the baby was his. The only ones who would know the truth were David … and Bathsheba who may have been plagued with guilt with the secret she withheld from her husband.


But sin is like a cancer. It grows. It spreads. Uriah refused to go home and enjoy his wife. He knew that he had left his comrades on the battle field who did not have such a privilege. It wouldn’t be fair for him to enjoy what his men could not. So David sent Uriah back to the battlefield.


But David did something unimaginable. He sent Uriah with an unopened note that guaranteed his death. David orchestrated a plan in which Uriah would be killed on the battlefield. The plan succeeded and an innocent man died because he did not participate in the cover-up of David’s sin. 


David continued to obstinately sit on the sin and refused to make it right. He had lusted, committed adultery with Bathsheba, tried to cover it up, planned and carried out Uriah’s death … and still he refused to acknowledge it.


All the while, 2 Samuel 11:27 says, “…the Lord considered what David had done to be evil.” (That may not sound too bad. Yet Joshua 7 recounts a story of how God’s anger burned against the whole nation of Israel because of one man’s sin.) We can only imagine who was being hurt by David’s sin and his subsequent refusal to acknowledge, confess and forsake it and then take the consequences.


In 2 Samuel 12, God sent a man to David. David was living a lie and so God moved to expose it. Listen to 2 Samuel 12:1-9:


“So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him: ‘There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one small ewe lamb that he had bought. It lived and grew up with him and his children. It shared his meager food and drank from his cup; it slept in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man could not bring himself to take one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.’ David was infuriated with the man and said to Nathan: ‘As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die! Because he has done this thing and shown no pity, he must pay four lambs for that lamb.’ Nathan replied to David, ‘You are the man! This is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you and your master’s wives into your arms, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah, and if that was not enough, I would have given you even more. Why then have you despised the command of the Lord by doing what I consider evil? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife – you murdered him with the Ammonite’s sword.’”


If you continue to read the chapter, you realize that because of David’s sin and refusal to acknowledge it, God was going to bring dire consequences into David’s life. What David had dreaded came upon him anyway. He learned firsthand the principle found in Numbers 32:23 - "...you may be sure that your sin will find you out."


We all fail. While some offenses are greater than others, we all sin. God’s message is clear. He will not bless us when we fail to acknowledge our sin and refuse to repent. In fact, He will come after us until we make it right (Hebrews 12:5-6).


One final thought: Christians are quite capable of concealing sin – for a period of time. Yet, if we live a lie and take measures to conceal our sin and never acknowledge it, we may be evidencing fruit that testifies to the fact that we were never a Christ-follower after all. In that case, the Lord would say on the day of judgment: "Depart from Me, I never knew you." An unimaginably horrific thought!


The following verse is pretty abrasive but it was no less abrasive when Jesus spoke it. John 8:44 “You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.”


David experienced consequences for his sin but he also enjoyed renewed fellowship with the Lord as he was moved to acknowledge and confess his sins. That renewed fellowship is yours to enjoy. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).


What is your response?

Communication in Marriage

OK. I have to plead ignorant of something. At least, I was ignorant of an issue until a few moments ago. I was reading in the John Maxwell Leadership Bible this morning and read contemplatively through Genesis 1-2. I really didn’t get much new information since I had read these chapters many, many times before. And yet, I was taken aback when Maxwell’s notes said that the problem with Eve’s sin in chapter 3 was due to a lack of communication. My immediate thought was, “Boy, THAT’S a stretch.” But then, as I went back and reread the Scripture, I was convinced. Here’s the order of events:

Genesis 2:7 – God creates Adam out of some of the materials with which He made the earth.

Genesis 2:15 – God formally places Adam in the Garden of Eden and gives him his purpose within this environment.

Genesis 2:16-17 – God makes it clear that Adam is not to eat of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.


THEN....

Genesis 2:18ff – God creates Eve and presents her to Adam.

Genesis 3:2-3 – Eve’s response to the serpent shows her misunderstanding of what God had actually said.

This order of events makes it clear that Eve was created after Adam received the instructions. It appears that he failed to properly communicate with his wife the things that God had shared with him.


It would appear that the issue that causes so much marital discord today is an issue that set up the initial downfall of humanity. However, with 20/20 hindsight, we can learn from Adam's mistake and make appropriate corrective actions, right?