Sermon reflection on Wrath

This Sunday I will be continuing my sermon series on the Tug of War for the Christian Heart and talking about wrath.  Sometimes we struggle with the aspect of not only God’s wrath but our own.  Often I wonder if the struggle is about anger and when is it ok to be angry?  What is the difference between anger and wrath?

As I am preparing, I was reading from the Apocrypha from Sirach.  Rarely do we as Protestants preach or read those inter-testaments that were written between the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Scriptures.  Yet, the Roman Catholic bibles include many of these scriptures in their Old Testament.  Be that as it may, I came across these sayings which I wanted to share.  I will also later this week update the study on Revelation.

Sirach 5:1-6:4

Don’t be preoccupied with your money, and don’t say “I am self-sufficient.”  Don’t follow your inclination or your strength, in order to walk in the desires of your heart.  And don’t say, “Who’ll have power over me?”  The Lord is patient indeed.  Don’t be too confident of being forgiven, adding sin upon sin.  Don’t say, “His compassion is great; he for forgive the whole heap of my sins.”  Mercy and wrath are with him, and his anger will rest on sinners.  Don’t wait to turn back to the Lord.  Don’t put it off day after day, because the Lord’s wrath will come forth suddenly; when the time for punishment comes, you will be destroyed.  Don’t be preoccupied with ill-gotten gains; it will be of no benefit when you are in trouble. 

Don’t be blown about by every wind, and don’t take every shortcut.  This is how a devious sinner acts.  Be firmly grounded in your understanding, and let your speech be consistent.  Listen carefully, and utter a patient reply.  If you have understanding, answer your neighbor, but if you don’t, clap your hand over your mouth.  Speaking brings glory or dishonor.  Indeed, the tongue can be a person’s downfall.  Don’t get a reputation for being a slanderer, and don’t set traps for people with your speech, because shame comes to the thief, and terrible blame comes upon the deceitful.  Don’t be ignorant in matters large or small.  Don’t become an enemy instead of a friend.  In you get a bad name, you will also inherit shame and reproach, as is the care with the deceitful sinner.

Don’t be enamored of your own intelligence lest your strength be taken captive like a bull.  You will devour your leaves, destroy your fruit, and leave yourself like a withered tree.  If you have a bod soul, it will destroy you; it will make you a joke to your enemies. CEB

This is but an example.  Certainly there is much to reflect on.  Sirach was written about 132 BCE or about 130 years before the birth of Jesus.  As I reflect on this, I do so with the understanding that even if judgment is coming, we can always turn ourselves back to God.  Because of the atonement of Christ, we are given another opportunity to live as disciples.  This does not mean as Paul says that we can continue to sin in order to receive more grace.  There is a time of accountability.  When that time is, only God knows.  So the time to turn around is now.  To confess and ask for forgiveness now.