Photos by Ralph Freso / Slideshow / Livestream
Anger is understandable.
“You should be angry about some things,” Tim Birdwell, founding and lead pastor of Phoenix Bible Church, told students on Monday during Chapel at Global Credit Union Arena.
Birdwell cited the injustices in the world, such as child abuse, racism and when the most vulnerable are hurting.
“That should stir up something in you and say, 'This isn’t right,'” Birdwell said.
So how do you respond?
He stressed looking through the Kingdom lens and not the cultural lens.
“If you have the right lenses on, you can see clearly and respond accordingly,” he said. “And Jesus wants that for you.”
There’s a righteous anger, and God does get angry. As proof, Birdwell cites the New Testament, when Jesus overturns tables in the temple.
“He was angry that people were worshiping money instead of Jesus,” Birdwell said. “People were using people instead of serving people. … It makes Him angry, since that can hurt your relationships and corrupt your soul.”
Birdwell related that he grew up attending church on Sunday morning and evening, as well as Wednesday night. But when he attended college, he said he ran in the opposite direction.
“It took people like you, the people of God, empowered by the spirit of God, to take me back to the Word of God”– and look through a Kingdom lens instead of a cultural lens.
“You can see the personal work of Jesus, the grace and mercy of Jesus, the mission and redemptive story of Jesus that I had never seen in my life,” Birdwell said. “And I’ve never been the same since. It changed me. It changed my family. Twenty years later, it’s still changing me today.”
Birdwell described Matthew 5 and the Sermon of the Mount as a “master class” on contrasting and seeing life through a cultural lens or a Kingdom lens.
Anger through the lens of culture involves the following:
Lash out
“You see it today where people don’t destroy topics – they destroy people,” Birdwell said, referring to politics, fantasy football and social media over big and little things.
Birdwell recalled he wanted to see a church in Sedona, only to learn the church turned into a museum after two people got into an argument over a parking space that turned physical inside the church.
Silent sabotage
This could involve a troublemaker within a group and starting a group chat without inviting the person causing the trouble.
Cancel everyone
Trying to avoid people who hurt you in college or church or in a group? Change colleges, churches or friend groups. “But at the end of the day, you’re exhausted and can’t trust anyone,” Birdwell said.
So you sit in your room, read and isolate yourself from every relationship.
“Some of you are in that place today, and that’s anger through a cultural lens,” Birdwell said.
Stop it
Anger through a cultural lens is usually through a church lens, Birdwell said. “‘Hey, can you stop being angry and can you listen to a little bit more positive, encouraging K-Love?’
“You ever been there at church? You got all this anger welled up inside of you. Stop it. Let’s pray. Sometimes it feels like that.”
However, there are ways to navigate anger through the lens of God's Kingdom:
Anger is an indicator, not a dictator
Jesus is after your heart. Furthermore, the Book of James asks, why are you quarreling among yourselves? The psalmist in the Book of Psalms asks, why are you downcast?
“Do you ever ask why your anger is meant to be an indicator, a check engine light, not a dictator over all of your life?” Birdwell asks.
And frequently what that person said to you is not why you’re angry, that often there’s anxiety, embarrassment or a feeling of disrespect.
“You need to do this with the Word of God and the people of God,” Birdwell said. “Some need to take an audit today. If you process it alone, it’s going to be lies from the enemy.”
Deal with anger, don’t dismiss
If someone holds a grudge despite offering a gift of sacrifice, initiate through urgency and write that you forgive them, send them a text or meet face to face if appropriate.
This might be difficult, as time does not heal all wounds, Birdwell said. Jesus emphasizes you have to travel to the temple a long way to get in line to see the priest.
You need to know Jesus loves you. He knows what happened to you. He knows you're angry. Yet, if you hang onto it, it will cost you, kill you. It will corrupt your soul and ruin your relationships.
Tim Birdwell, founding and lead pastor of Phoenix Bible Church
“It was a big ordeal in the day, but He is saying, ‘Get out of line, go travel a long way, talk to that somebody, forgive them and then come all the way back to get in line again and offer your sacrifice.
"Why? Because it’s important, and that’s where healing is found and many of us think, ‘Tim, I can’t do that. It’s too costly.’ “
Count the cost
Lawsuits are costly, and it’s also expensive to wallow in your anger sinfully and not forgive the person, Birdwell said.
“You need to know Jesus loves you.” Birdwell said. “He knows what happened to you. He knows you’re angry. Yet, if you hang onto it, it will cost you, kill you. It will corrupt your soul and ruin your relationships."
We forgive and trust
You forgive the other person and trust God, not the other way around.
And if the other person doesn’t reciprocate your intentions, it’s not your concern, according to Scripture.
“You’re called to trust who? God,” Birdwell said. “Nowhere in Scripture does it ask you to call you to trust the other person, but you’re called to forgive them.”
Next Chapel speaker: Steve Green, Hobby Lobby president and Museum of the Bible co-founder, 11 a.m. Feb. 10, Global Credit Union Arena.
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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