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Logos Ministries Incorporated
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Volume 9 Number 3 - November 2001 Things We Don't Seem to Take Seriously The apostle Paul wrote,
Anger is very prevalent in the world among non-Christians. By the same token, anger is just as prevalent in the Church. Anyone who is intimately aware of congregational life has seen the pain and division that anger has brought within the body of Christ. We must keep in mind, however, that Paul's words, in Ephesians 4:31 are in the form of a command. How can we deal with this if we take the commands of Scripture seriously? Why is it that people within the body of Christ treat this command differently than they do the command not to steal or to bear false witness? For one thing, there is a great deal of confusion concerning the presence of anger in the Christian life. We know that Jesus was angry on more than one occasion.
This statement clearly indicates that Jesus was angry on this particular occasion. Further it indicates that in His anger, He did things that He knew would infuriate the Pharisees who seriously opposed His ministry. This verse also suggests that one can be angry and not be guilty of sin. It does not, however, go so far as to say that one can always be angry and not be guilty of sin. The Greek word that both Paul and Mark used describes angry actions rather than just inward fuming or emotions. At the same time, Paul just five verses earlier, in Ephesians, instructed the Ephesian believers in these words.
This is a command that Paul expected the Ephesian Christians to obey. Again, in Colossians chapter three, Paul said,
Here again Paul used the imperative form. It is a command that these believers are to follow. From a logical point of view, Paul's words in Ephesians 4:26 and 4:31 seem to contradict each other. It is not surprising that there is confusion in the church when these apparently contradictory instructions both appear in the Scriptures for our benefit. It appears that there is another reason for this confusion within the church.
Christians often tend to think in general terms rather than specific ones. For
instance, we tend to think in terms of the intensity of anger rather than the
motive behind it. In some instances, they would think it acceptable and in
keeping with Scripture to be disturbed, but not acceptable to be furious. The
text does not make that distinction, though many Christians do. Again, Jesus was angry, but look at the places that report His anger. His anger was with what the Pharisees did, rather than anger at the Pharisees themselves. In the Old Testament, God was angry with what Israel did on many occasions, but the anger was directed toward the actions of His people, rather than the people themselves. Our problem is often that we are angry with the people rather than with their unrighteous, disobedient actions even when we must love our enemies. We must ask why we tend to be angry with persons rather than with their actions. There are several possibilities. We are sometimes angry with the people rather than with their actions because of our fear. We may fear that their disobedience will succeed and the righteous cause will be defeated. This has two sources - first, love casts out fear. Second, we will not fear, and as a result be angry, if we have a substantial trust in the power of God to win out over evil. If we follow the example of Jesus, there will be times when we will be very angry over the evil actions of those who are not in the family of God. Again, if we love God, we will obey carefully His command and the teachings of Scripture, including putting away from us every form of angry retort. O God, teach us how to love the unlovely and disobedient. Teach us how to be angry at their sin, but also refuse to retain an angry spirit, and to love the unlovely. Thus may people see a reflection of your character in our actions. Bill Cooper SEPTEMBER IN HAITI The first week in September, we went to Haiti for a week of administrative meetings with OMS mission leaders and the department heads of the seminary. There was an excellent spirit during these meetings and we accomplished a lot. It was announced to the faculty that I would be the interim director of the seminary for a period of three years. We had a special meeting with the students to make the same announcement. There were some concerns because they had been told that there would be some important changes and that is true. This school had been more a vocational school than a seminary. As of September 2002, a new curriculum will be instituted in which only courses specifically related to ministry and missionary work will be taught. Though these announcements created some tensions, both the faculty and student body accepted them in a good spirit. Pray that God would give them a calm spirit. On November 6, I left to return to Haiti to continue the planning for the curriculum and do some work with the plans to renovate two of the buildings that are in very poor condition and will fall down if not repaired very soon. While I am there, I will also teach a course in the book of Acts and the epistles. I will return home on December 6. SURPRISE IN DONETSK When the September 11 attack took place, I was in Donetsk, Ukraine teaching a course in the Gospel of Luke to the second year students. This was a time when both e-mail and the Internet were out in the whole region of Ukraine where we were. We eventually heard about the attack, but some of the reports we received from Ukrainian radio were misleading and false. One report was that there were eleven planes that did the kind of thing that happened at the twin towers. There was a real sense of security to just be home and to learn what really happened. OCTOBER IN GREENWOOD, INDIANA During the second week in October, I was at OMS headquarters, in Greenwood, Indiana. I must say that travel was different. I left home at 4:00 A.M. and arrived in Indianapolis, Indiana at 10:30 P.M., just six hours late. The return trip was seven hours later than scheduled. This trip was to prepare a legal foundation for the seminary in Haiti. This had never been done before. This work is not complete, but the work is progressing and should be complete by the end of December. OMS tries to keep the church in each country under the control of the church in that land. When I finish my term as interim director, I will turn the work over to a native of Haiti. These responsibilities have taken almost all of my time recently. This is about finished and I can return to editing the books on Colossians and Philemon as well as the book on Intimacy with God. WILL YOU PRAY WITH US? We need wisdom - There are few well trained Haitian professors. The political situation is unstable. At any time we could be asked to leave the country. We need to send some promising scholars to the United States to get the additional training they need to do the teaching when we are forced to leave. We need great wisdom in making these choices. We need more wisdom - In three years, my term as interim director will be over and I will turn the direction of the seminary over to a Haitian professor. One of my tasks is to make a recommendation of the next director. One problem is that I have only spent six weeks at this seminary and do not know the leaders that well. Pray that God will give great wisdom in making this very important decision. We need funds - For many years nothing has been done to maintain the buildings of the seminary. Last year, the ceiling of my classroom came crashing to the floor. Fortunately, no one was in the room when it happened. I invited an engineer to look over our facilities. He informed me that two of the buildings are in very bad need of repair. They cook the meals for the students on charcoal fires. The girls' dorm has no bathrooms, just an outhouse. Cement blocks in Haiti usually do not have enough cement in them and thus they crumble eventually. This is happening to the dining facility at this time. I am not asking you for money. I am asking you to pray. PRAY FOR EFFECTIVE MESSAGES I have been asked to give a series of six chapel talks during the month I am there concerning the spiritual growth of church leadership. Pray that I will be able to speak to these issues in a way that will help these future church leaders to sense the call of God to be leaders in godliness to the people under their care. Thank you for praying with us for these important ministries. It is a great encouragement. NEXT ISSUE The January newsletter will have more information on Bill's teaching assignments for the first six months of 2002. We wouldn't want you to think that Bill is retiring :-) Ye Olde Editors |
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