Join us this Lenten season for a transformative journey as we delve into the depths of human nature with our sermon series titled "Glittering Vices." In this series, we will courageously confront the timeless struggles that plague our souls – the seven deadly sins.
As we explore each vice, from vainglory to greed, envy to wrath, we will uncover the deceptive allure that they hold, captivating us with their glittering promises of fulfillment and always leading us instead to spiritual, emotional, and physical ruin. Through reflection we will learn how so many of our regular behaviors can easily stem from these seven vices, and how learning to repent and return to God in the midst of them can lead us to the sort of eternal life Jesus came to bring us. Join us as we journey through the shadows of our souls, seeking redemption and embracing the light of God's love.
Listen as Pastor Clint explores the sin of wrath this week through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. We'll see wrath's primary symptoms, the way they are prevalent in our hearts and culture, and the prescription Jesus gives for them.
Sermon Resources:
1. Mark 3:1-6
2. Mark 10:13-16
3. Ephesians 4:26
4. “Think how we feel when we see someone we love ravaged by unwise actions or relationships. Do we respond with benign tolerance as we might towards strangers? Far from it. We get angry. Anger isn’t the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference. The more a father loves his son, the more he’s angry at the drunkard, the liar, the traitor in him.” -Becky Pippert, "Hope Has Its Reasons"
5. “He who is not angry when there is cause sins, for unreasonable patience is the hotbed of many vices; it fosters negligence, and incites not only the wicked but the good to do wrong.” -John Chrysostom
6. Colossians 3:8
7. James 1:9
8. Proverbs 14:29
9. Proverbs 19:11
10. “He is a fool who cannot be angry; but he is wise who will not remain so.” -English Proverb
11. “The most important thing in your life is not what you do. It is who you become.” -Dallas Willard
12. Road rage studies: https://www.thezebra.com/resources/research/road-rage-statistics/
13. Yale study on social media: https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/430608-trending-science-social-media-making-us-angrier-study-reveals
14. “Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back–in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.” -Frederick Buechner, "Wishful Thinking"
15. “My anger has too often seemed out of proportion–that is, too great or too little, more often too great–for the occasion that gave rise to it. My anger has more often distressed those I love than it has afflicted those at whom I was angry. My anger has not carried me far enough toward changing what legitimately enrages me.” -Garret Keizer, "The Enigma of Anger: Essays on a Sometimes Deadly Sin"
16. “Every time you decide to let your anger smolder on inside you, you are becoming a little less than fully human. You are deciding to belittle yourself. And if you are the sort of person who sneers at everybody and calls them names, the fire inside you may eventually become all that’s left of you, as Gehenna–the smoldering garbage dump of ancient Jerusalem–may take you over completely.” -N.T. Wright, "Matthew For Everyone"
17. "Love Your Enemy," sermon by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
