IS BITTERNESS CONTROLING YOUR LIFE?
Are you familiar with the phrase, his nose is out of joint? What does it take to put your nose out of joint to get you miffed? What are the feelings you experience when you get miffed? Are they positive, uplifting joyful emotional vibrations? Lets come at this from a different direction. Are you familiar with the word sulk. The dictionary says that sulking is, "keeping aloof from others in moody silence." I've been describing to you emotional expressions of our hearts. Emotions that all of us are intimately familiar with. Emotions that can betray bitterness.
My last message concluded with a spiritual guru in India who desperately wanted the power of God in his life so that he could be a popular miracle worker. In blunt words I told Simon the guru that he could not have the power of God in his life because he harboured a root of bitterness.
Let's refresh our memories of the details by reading Acts 8:14-24. God's power cannot be manifest in and through a life that harbours a root of bitterness. Today I will invite you to choose between bitterness and the indwelling presence of the holy Spirit.
I. Bitterness Is a Condition That Brings Devastation Into Our Lives.
Someone said, "Bitterness is a devastating attitude sin. It triggers a wide range of other sins, such as: hatred, cruelty, antagonism, self-pity, unteachableness (implacability), vindictiveness and desires for revenge and prideful ambition (arrogance). Bitterness is characterized by an unforgiving spirit and negative, critical attitudes.
Bitterness motivates habitual complaining. (Job 7:11, 10:1) Bitter people find great delight in gossip. (Psalm 64:3 KJV) Bitterness fragments other peoples lives. "See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by it many be defiled." (Hebrews 12:15)
Bitterness is self induced misery, and it produces chain sinning A chronically bitter person is his own worst enemy and difficult to maintain a relationship with."
Doctors call high blood pressure the silent killer. That's because you can't see nor feel the presence of high blood pressure until it has already done it's damage. Bitterness is to our spiritual and emotional being what high blood pressure is to our physical bodies.
Every time I visit my medical doctor he always says, "Roll up your shirt sleeve." Why? He wants to check for the silent killer. When I discovered how deadly high blood pressure can be, I invested $50.00 in a digital blood pressure instrument. This week I was thinking, "It's important to regularly give you a checkup for roots of bitterness. Perhaps its the real silent killer, the cause of sleepless nights, ulcers, agitation irritability, angry words, lost friendships, ruined marital relationships, separated families and a host of other expensive consequences.
If you are like me, you have plans and dreams for your life and for the lives of your children, friends, families and your community. If they are big, beautiful, Godly dreams, they can only be realized through the power of the Spirit filled life. Bitterness robs us of the power to achieve those dreams.
Peter told Simon that the Holy Spirit and bitterness cannot co-exist in the same life. One or the other has to go. For example, if we harbour a root of bitterness, we infect and damage our children, spouse and workplace. A root of bitterness will impact the bottom line of your business. It throws a wet blanket over the worship and sense of community in a church. It's important that we identify and deal with our bitterness.
I can't afford to nurse bitterness in my life. The consequences are too costly. I have two clear choices, I can choose bitterness and risk loosing everything I hold near and dear. Or, I can choose the Holy Spirit and His positive power which I need for the fulfillment of my dreams. The choice is mine.
II. Understanding the Words Bitter and Bitterness. In our language the concept of mental bitterness comes from the idea of something that has a sharp or unpleasant taste. We speak of something being bitter if it causes grief or is hard to bear; "a bitter defeat", "bitter failure". We speak of a "bitter loss" when someone's death has caused deep grief.
The Greek words for "bitter" and "bitterness" originally meant "sharp", or "pointed". Then it was used more generally for anything that had a pervasive smell or a "shrill" noise. The word was used for the bitter taste of some plants. Finally it was used of personal experience when something was unpleasant and undesirable.
Here are instances of the New Testament use of the word bitterness. "Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: "Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly." (Matt. 26:75 NIV) "For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin." (Acts 8:23) "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." ( Romans. 3:14 NIV) "Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice." ( Eugene Paul Harder. 4:31 NIV)
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In the Bible, except when it is obvious that the actual taste of something is meant, bitterness refers to intensity of suffering of mind and body, an event that is difficult to bear or that causes animosity or antagonism.
I have two clear choices, I can choose bitterness and risk loosing everything I hold near and dear. Or, I can choose the Holy Spirit and His positive power which I need for the fulfillment of my dreams. The choice is mine.
III. The Experiences of life Can Cause Us To Be Bitter. Women are bitter because they cannot have children, 1 Sam 1:10. The rebellion and foolishness of our children can cause bitterness. Proverbs 17:25. A negative response to divine discipline (chastisement) has caused bitterness in many people.
Each of us have an inner sense of what is right, or fair, or just. When that is violated a natural result is to react, to right wrongs and correct injustices or to become bitter.
When Job complained, "Why does God let this happen to me", that was a statement of bitterness. (Job. 9:17-18)
Most of the time, bitterness is caused by people we cannot escape, or people we love, or people we cannot confront, or people we trust. God's love gives us the ability to see people as God sees them. It gives us the ability to let them live their lives as unto the Lord.
When we let people make mistakes without judging them, it enables us to accept criticism without hurt or bitterness. It helps us to "esteem other better than ourself", to "do nothing through strife or vainglory." Today I can choose bitterness and loss, or, I can choose the Holy Spirit and His positive power. The choice is mine.
IV. God Hates Bitterness Because It Opens The Door to Idolatry. Bitterness devastates our soul and spirit because it is rooted in idolatry. When Peter told Simon of Samaria that he was "In the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity," that represented a deep problem. Iniquity in the New Testament means lawlessness.
The Bible looks upon a lawless person as an idolater because they insist on worshipping something other than God. Please remember, iniquity is the equivalent of lawlessness and Peter associated lawlessness with bitterness.
Bitterness is a giant emotional step toward lawlessness. Lawlessness is an expression of idolatry. This was a startling revelation to me. Bitterness in not a stupid, private little game we play in our hearts. It is a risky challenge to God's right to rule.
I believe that is why Moses linked bitterness to idolatry when he gave the people the following charge; "Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the LORD our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison." (Deuteronomy 29:18 NIV) I have two clear choices, I can choose bitterness which is lawlessness and idolatry and risk loosing everything
I hold near and dear. Or, I can choose the Holy Spirit and His positive power which I need for daily deliverance and the fulfillment of my dreams. The message today is about the choice I have to make.
V. Deliverance From The Destructive Root of Bitterness. The promise of God was custom made for bitter people. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9 NIV)
1. We must identify the source of our bitterness. On a sheet of paper write your answers to the following questions. List the event and the surrounding circumstances that provoked bitterness. List the name of the person or the group that hurt you. List the consequences of the bitterness in your life. List how it has affected your health and your relationships. Write out in detail how it has impacted your personality and outlook on life. Describe how your bitter spirit has a negative influence on family, people at work and in your church.
2. Pray in the following manner:
Father, I acknowledge that I've held resentment and bitterness against _______________. I confess this sin and ask you to forgive me. I forgive __________________. Remind me, Lord, to not hold any more resentments, but rather to love this person. Father, I ask you to also forgive ______________________. Please fill me with your Holy Spirit. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Conclusion: Go forth in the hope and joy of the following lament.
"So I say, "My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD." I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him." (Lam 3:18-25 NIV)
Greg Christensen/Evaniglist
Bible Guide Ministries
Minnsapolis, Minnesota USA
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