I'm Feeling a Little Anxious

Hello again, welcome to Kingdom Offerings. This is the podcast environment of a handful of ministries. You poke the button and here you are. My name is Dave Scherrerrer and I am the president and founder of A Hundredfold Ministries. And I want to say that today it makes me kind of nervous, but I want to talk a little bit about our anxiety that we seem to be feeling these days. Social media, it just makes me anxious. The TV, there's a community fear, there's relational discord. I think fear and its partner anxiety has a lot to do with all of this trouble we seem to be finding ourselves in. But I also think that the gospel of the kingdom has answers to this fearful societal condition that's just paralyzing us. So I want to give it a try. In the last three years, healthcare officials tell us that perhaps 40% of the United States has had this pandemic of COVID. And yet here's my guess, that 100% of us have been stricken by some level of anxiety and its life deadening symptoms. So I want to say that that's really a pandemic. And this anxiety, it's a killer. The consequences are for real. It clutches at the chest, it steals our breath, it dims our vision, it crushes our hope. This anxiety causes our heart to race, our sleep to be fitful, and it threatens the relationships that we treasure most. And our once robust cognitive, our thinking abilities that we trusted to rescue us from trouble, these skills now betray us. Our minds slip into a mist of poor decisions, or worse yet, non-decisions. There's a creeping paralysis that's driven by fear and anxiousness that keeps us from being able to choose right or left, or yes or no. If these conditions are left unaddressed and uninterrupted, we could find ourselves in a dark room at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, clutching at our pillow as if that would somehow give us life. And we say to ourselves, you know what, it's not supposed to be like this. Anxiety has got a lot of names, panic, dread, fear, woe, and it has various symptoms as well, hopelessness, anger, remorse, resentment, even death. But you know what, we shouldn't be fooled. This is not brand new. It's not a four-year-old pandemic. This has been going on since the beginning of humanity. It's infected our population since we were evicted from the Garden of Eden. That was our safe base, and now it's lost. We find ourselves living in a troubled and broken world, and we're seemingly fending for ourself against harsh forces of nature, and even more dangerously evil, a supernatural adversary. So we find ourselves looking down at the ground and saying aloud to no one in particular, why doesn't somebody do something? And here's the deal, somebody has. We are told that Jesus Christ has freed us from fear and anxiety. And all the component parts of this insidious mental and emotional condition, including death itself, we've been free. So how is it that we're still infected? If God sees our condition, he has mercy on us and he heals us, but we still seem to walk under the weight of worry. Where did it all break down? So I want to kind of get after this. First of all, here's my suspicion is that three quarters of our anxiety comes from the lies of false expectations, bad expectations. We imagine that the regular state of my world is one that should offer me ease and convenience and the things of this world that I want when I want them. These expectations, C.S. Lewis put it this way, if you're shown a hotel room and you've been told it is the honeymoon suite, your expectation is going to be high. If there's no plush carpet or a spa or champagne, you'll be disappointed. On the other hand, if you've been told before the door opens that it's a jail cell, well, you'll be delighted to find even modest comforts. It's all about our expectations, isn't it? As Christians, it feels like too often that we are taught to expect the honeymoon suite when it comes to life. And upon conversion to Christ, many of us expect the problem should go away or at least get easier and that blessings should abound. And life can get easier and there are blessings, but not usually the way we expect them. So as we step through this doorway of life, we discover in one way or another that the journey of faith does not exempt us from heartbreak and hardship. And having these false expectations actually makes things worse. Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, writes, The fact is a lot of Christians are cast down all the time because they don't expect the attacks on their peace and joy that are inevitable. At least half of being upset is the frustration that says it's not supposed to be like this because we don't have the proper expectations. And frankly, Jesus was straight up with us. He says this in Matthew in the Gospel of John, In the last days, the love of most will grow cold. There will be wars and rumors of wars. The world is filled with trouble. You will be handed over and persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. You will find trials and tribulations follow you if you love me, and the world will hate you. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you'll have trouble, but take heart. Jesus says, I have overcome the world. So that feels pretty honest to me. The solution to our anxiety isn't to make our world perfectly safe and to surround ourselves with all the protection that money can buy. See that's a fool's game. There's not enough bubble wrap for that. No, we have to get to the root of the problem. And maybe you remember this story. This, I think, unpacks it for us. In Matthew chapter 8, this little account, when he, Jesus, got into the boat, his disciples followed him, and behold, a violent storm developed on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves. But Jesus himself was asleep. And they came to him and woke him, saying, Save us, Lord. We are perishing. And he said to them, Why are you so afraid, you men of little faith? Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the sea, and it became perfectly calm. The men were amazed and said, What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? So we realize, of course, that it's not just one thing that stumbles us, but it's almost always that anxiety has a similar source, at least from a kingdom perspective. And Jesus would say, It's our faithlessness. Oh, you men of little faith. Faithlessness, now that is a really harsh accusation. But it is almost always the root cause of fear and anxiety. Paul writes to the Jesus followers in Philippi with some very specific practices that will help them respond to the anxiety of being under persecution, because this anxiety has been here forever. He writes this. He says in Philippians chapter 4, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And then he says, In the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, your emotions and your thoughts. He invites the Philippians to reframe their perspective through praise, to cultivate gentleness through an awareness of God's presence, and to bring their anxieties before the authority of the sovereign God, the God of all things, all things. So let's wrap up. Here are some things that might be helpful. These are the therefores. Therefore stand firm, stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. It will help you hold firm in the oh-so-solid truths that nothing in this world can separate us from the love and the purpose of God who cares for us. And therefore set your eyes on things above, that in doing so we will remember that most of the eternal things happening around us are unseen. We just can't see them and that the things of this world are passing away. So our minds and hearts need to be on what's happening in the kingdom of God. And finally, of course, therefore trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your own understanding. That's a tough one, right? In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. By having faith in this God who never, never breaks his promises, it's going to give us more restful sleep. So this is our kingdom offering for today. And I pray that you will have a peaceable time reflecting on these things, that your anxiety may ease just a little bit by knowing how firmly God is in control and that your faith is the protector of your mind and your heart. So take care. We'll see you back here again in a couple of weeks for another podcast. This is Dave Scherrerrer and these are the ministries of a hundredfold. Take care.