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“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”
-James 1:20
Webster’s 1828 dictionary describes wrath as
violent anger; vehement exasperation; indignation. When I think of wrath images of a raging sea
or a fierce hurricane come to mind.
While nature is certainly capable of mass destruction; man can certainly
do the same. From Cain who slew his
brother Abel because his works were righteous all the way to the shocking
violence of war, the wrath of man will not work the righteousness of God.
There are characteristics of God that we inherit
through the Holy Spirit. Paul details
some of these in Galatians calling the fruits of the Spirit. Fruits such as love, joy, peace,
long suffering, gentleness, and goodness.
These are good things that serve to further the righteousness of God. When these virtues are lived out in your day
to day life, they draw attention to the righteousness of God. Like ripe fruit on the tree or vine, they
attracted people who are hungry and want to “taste and see that the Lord is
good.” In this we are ambassadors
for Christ. However, God has coveted
wrath as something to himself. He has
not left matters of vengeance or wrath to the Christian. Perhaps because we are unable to see the
whole picture. If a man offends me, I
don’t need the whole story to forgive him.
If you are robbed, cheated or slandered; you don’t need a court of law
to suffer wrong. We can live out the
righteousness of God without understanding the providence of God. But if we try to dispense the wrath or
vengeance of God, we circumvent his authority.
What if the early church had killed Saul before he became Paul? What may seem the most just cause to revenge
in your eyes, may be the greatest redemption story in God’s eyes. So, what then? Are we not to defend our homes? Or you
family? Or liberty? Or country? War we must, but not with wrath, malice, or
murder. “The weapons of our warfare
are not carnal.” We are not called
to fight like the world. That is, to
meet violence with violence, or wrath with wrath, because it worketh not the
righteousness of God. Our end is not God’s
end, and his ways are not our ways. The
working of God’s righteousness is more important than the furthering of our own
agenda; not matter how just it may seem.
The ultimate war to the sanctified is not without, but within. It is sacrifice and obedience that God calls
for. The early church knew this and
lived this in a way that I marvel at.
They dragged Stephen to his death for preaching Jesus, and what was his
response? Lay not this sin to their
charge. Peter was locked in jail
awaiting execution, did the church stage a jail break with sword and spear? No, they prayed, and God intervened. Meanwhile, Peter was sleeping like a baby,
ready for his fate (because he had long since died already). Paul was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked; did he
arm a militia and seek vengeance? Their
response to being stripped of everything was not wrath, it was peace. They had fought and won (with the help of the
Holy Ghost) the most important battle, the internal struggle of sacrifice. They “counted all things loss” that they
might win Christ.
It comes down to a simple question, are you
willing to give God everything? If you
are, then there is nothing anyone can take from you. We cannot meet the challenges of world with
the means of the world. Christians
should not be thinking let’s “lock and load,” because the wrath of man worketh
not the righteousness of God. Remember,
there is no weapon formed against thee that will prosper. If your troubled about your community, city,
and country; pray. We have prayer, we don’t
need automatic weapons.
