From Sampler to Sower

This Lenten season has me thinking about the ways in which the attitudes long recognized as the seven capital vices can poison and sabotage our ministries.  We’re looking at each of the vices in a series we’re calling The Seven Deadly Sins of Youth Ministry.  By way of review, the traditional list of seven capital vices includes:

• superbia (pride)
• avaritia (greed)
• luxuria (lust)
• invidia (envy)
• gula (gluttony)
• ira (wrath)
• acedia (sloth?)

Today I’d like to consider the vice of ira known in English as wrath, rage or anger.

The Sin of Wrath

Somehow I wonder if it is really necessary to even attempt to define wrath and anger. It is such a universal emotion and one you no doubt will be familiar with.  Yet its ubiquitousness should not be mistaken for harmlessness or acceptability. Quite the contrary, scripture warns clearly of the destruction that so easily wrought by wrath.

• The Wisdom literature of the Old Testament warns that wrath leads to folly, quarrels and evil.
• Paul acknowledges that it is possible to be angry without sinning, but if we choose allow anger to smolder rather than letting it burn itself out, our bitterness becomes a weakness which the devil can exploit.
• Jesus goes as far as to warn that wrath can be as destructive as murder and to give voice to anger is to risk hell.

But what exactly is wrath, and what distinguishes it from the kind of anger in which we do not sin?

In Galatians 5, Paul warns that fits of rage are the natural outflow of a life centered on self. When that is contrasted with the righteous anger of Jesus at the way profiteers had commandeered the Court of the Gentiles for their own commercial enterprises.

“Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers (Mark 11:17, NIV).’”

Note that Jesus’ anger was not inspired by any insult or injury done to him.  Quite the contrary, “When they hurled their insults at him,” Peter notes, “he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats (1 Peter 2:23, NIV).” Righteous anger is our response to the injustice done to others, not our reaction to the hurts inflicted on us.

Unrighteous anger, however…

Frequently anger is a self-defense mechanism.  Some have suggested that anger is to the emotions what pain is to the body, a natural reaction which alerts us that something is wrong and motivates us to do something about it.  It’s often a reaction to perceived injustice or an infringement of our rights.  Like a dog raising its hackles when a stranger encroaches on its territory, anger causes us to bristle and push back when others trespass against that to which we feel entitled.

Righteous anger is the moral outrage we feel when we witness injustice perpetrated against others.

Sinful wrath is our urge to fight back when others wrong us.

So how does wrath compromise our ministries?

Ministry in the Age of Entitlement

It’s not uncommon for youth ministers to complain about the challenges created by our consumer culture. Altruism is a tough sell in a society that teaches careful consumers always ask “What’s in it for me?”

But that’s not the kind of entitlement I’m talking about.  It’s not just our students who operate with a view to their rights and privileges nor is it only from their parents that they inherit this trait.

My question isn’t how often do you find yourself struggling to minister to an attitude of entitlement, but how often do you find yourself struggling to minister from an attitude of entitlement? For as much as our students’ consumer mentality complicates ministry, our own whats-in-it-for-me mentality complicates things far more.

But that’s just other youth workers, right?  You don’t have any problems with wrath do you?

• How often do you respond to criticism by becoming defensive?
• How often do you complain (to others or to yourself) about the injustice of unreasonable expectations?
• How often does unfair criticism drive you to depression?
• How long do you harbor grudges when asked to do something that’s not in your job description?

Kenosis as the Antidote to Wrath

Ministry in the Way of Jesus is far different. As important as clear job descriptions are to helping lay out the organizational structure of your leadership team, they should not be used as a bill of rights for the minister. Certainly responsibilities outlined therein are indicative not exclusive.  Our people regularly serve the church in ways that go beyond their paying job, so should we.

That’s not to suggest that we (or they) shouldn’t also be willing to set reasonable, responsible and healthy limits on what we agree to do.  But to respond, even to oneself, to any need with “that’s not in my job description,” and you’ve already fallen short of the example of Christ.

Ministry in the Way of Jesus isn’t best described as “adequately fulfilling expectations.”  Paul never said “I am striving to ensure all obligations entailed in my employment are being satisfied.”  However he did say (more than once, in fact) “I am being poured out like a drink offering.”  Ministry isn’t about protecting one’s rights, it’s about laying them down in order to serve others.  Even when he was carefully outlining the rights of an apostle, Paul did so not to insist on them, but to surrender them.  Likewise Paul reminds us that it was in an emptying of himself (which Paul called a kenosis) and becoming servant that Jesus accomplished our salvation.

And he suggests that every follower of Christ is called to have the same mindset.

What does that mean for ministry?

• Your job description is not exclusive. Yes, there are things that you can’t do in order to faithfully fulfill your duties to family and church, but there shouldn’t be things you won’t do because “they’re not paying me for this.”
• Your rights are not what’s at stake. Anytime you find yourself thinking “How dare they do that to me; I deserve better than that” beware. You’re venturing into wrath.
• Your honor is not what must be defended. It’s easy to take student’s misbehavior as an insult to your honor.  But it’s not your honor that matters, it’s His.

So what about you? Have you been emptied?

Is your idea of “servant leadership” doing nice things for other people so they will let you have your way?  (Just so you know, that’s not servant leadership, it’s manipulation.)

Or are you striving to lay down your rights so that you might be free to serve like Jesus served?

One way leads to wrath, the other can change the world.