The Nature Of This Beast

I had mentioned some weeks earlier that when it was my turn to preach, we would be covering the whole issue of anxiety. You say, well, come on. You're going to preach about anxiety from the pulpit? What's that all about? Well, because the Bible talks about it. The Bible clearly talks about it.

As we heard already in the scripture reading today, Psalm 56 and from Luke 12, the Bible clearly addresses these things. And so, knowing that there are a number of you in this congregation who struggle with this, I don't think it's a waste of time. I think we need to understand what the Bible says about anxiety. We started last time and we looked at how you know what concern is and what anxiety is.

Today we're going to look at the nature of anxiety as the Bible defines it. You see, we live in a challenging time when the world is defining all of these things and we lose the Bible's understanding of these issues. And so I think it's important for us to do that. So I want you to turn with me. We're going to begin in Philippians chapter 4. Now again, this is a topical sermon.

We're going to be going all over the Bible and hopefully do the job of putting these things together to make a coherent whole, help you have an understanding of this. So Philippians chapter 4, begin reading in verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. the Lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus finally brothers whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence, if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. Let's pray. Father, now we ask that you give us insight into this whole issue of anxiety. We pray, Lord, that we would walk away today with an understanding of what this is. Help us, we pray, not so that we conquer our anxieties, but so that we will serve Christ even more faithfully, because you have given us the Spirit and your Word to conquer these things that would keep us from honoring you.

So help us today as we consider this in Jesus' name. Amen. Roger couldn't keep his boss, Frank, happy about anything. Frank seemed to avoid him, seemed irritated at everything he did, complained about the fact that his projects were late, and kept piling on more work. But Roger couldn't afford to lose his job. He thought, what happens if I do lose this job?

We won't be able to make the mortgage payments. How would Julie handle that? Would our marriage even survive? He had to keep his job. He began reviewing all his work. At lunch, in any bit of free time he had, he would think about it.

He re-read every mail Frank had sent him this last month. What were the tone of them? Was that a veiled threat? Is he hinting that my work is subpar? He went over the latest project with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that everything met the specifications He began to wonder if he could pull off the next project and whether he would get it done by the required deadline.

He spent the rest of the day trying to work and worrying about everything that might go wrong. What if my boss isn't happy with the reports I prepared for the big meeting last week? What if I made a calculation error? What if I end up costing the company thousands of dollars because of my mistake? What if that mistake gets me fired? When he got home that night, he was exhausted.

His head was killing him. His muscles were tight. He could barely focus at supper with his family. Julie asked him what was wrong. But all he said was that he had a hard day at work. But his mind kept spinning with thoughts of Frank, his work, his firing, and all that might happen.

Madeline swallowed the lump in her throat and braced herself because she knew what was coming next. She could handle this at home, but now she was in the middle of a grocery store. Her heart was beginning to race and she was having difficulty breathing. Her mind was racing. Her vision began to blur. She wanted to get through the checkout but she wasn't going to make it.

She headed to the back of the store where the restrooms were but it was getting worse. Everything was closing in on her. She was afraid and didn't know why. She was getting light-headed and her toes and fingers were tingling. Was she dying? Was she having a heart attack?

She made it to the restroom and started throwing up. Then she just sat down on the floor and started crying. She said to herself, what's wrong with me? Why am I such a mess? What am I so worked up about? After a bit, she dragged herself to the car, drove home, climbed into bed, and slept for the next three hours.

Does this describe anything you've experienced? Maybe you never had a panic attack but your mind has gone wild thinking about the what You been so anxious that you totally distracted and finding it hard to do anything but obsess about what might happen Some of you right now are so trapped in anxiety that you're having a hard time listening to the words of this sermon. your mind is running a thousand miles an hour over this and over that so that you can't even hear what's being said right now today i want us to arrive at an understanding of what anxiety or worry is you may ask well why are we spending time on this well let me give you some let me give you some reasons anxiety keeps you from glorifying god anxiety paralyzes you so that you don't do what God's put in front of you for the day. And so you don't glorify God.

You're just a mess. You don't do anything. It is a clear signal that you do not trust your Father in heaven. And it says that Jesus is not enough. That you desire something more than just Jesus. You desire entirely different circumstances in your life.

So let's come to an understanding of what anxiety is. We need to understand what anxiety is. The idea of anxiety can get pretty jumbled in our minds, right? Is it an emotion? Is it a thought? Is it physical?

Maybe it's a brain defect. It's hard to untangle all that, but we can because Jesus tells us that everything we experience and everything we do starts in the heart. Now, we're going to be turning to a lot of passages today. If you can get there fast enough, then go. All right? First place we want to go is Mark chapter 7.

Mark chapter 7, verse 21. And here's what Jesus says. for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts sexual immorality theft murder adultery coveting wickedness deceit sensuality envy slander pride foolishness all these evil things come from within and they defile a person it's hard to untangle all this all that's going on around us or that's going on within us, but we can because Jesus tells us that everything that you wrestle with, everything that you struggle with, including anxiety, starts in the heart. It starts in the heart.

Now, what is the heart? When the Bible talks about heart, it's not using it in our modern Western way, which says, my heart beats for you, right? It's all about love. Now, in the Bible, the heart is the control center of your life. It's the control center of your life. It deals with your thoughts, your allegiances, what you love, what you hate, what you think, what your desires are.

And so, if what Jesus says is right, you cannot blame your anxiety on your circumstances. It starts in your heart. The most circumstances do is to reveal your heart. So when you come up against these circumstances and you start worrying, all right, it's all those circumstances are doing are revealing what's already in your heart. It's already telling you, your anxiety is telling you, you desire something.

There's something going on. There's an allegiance that's at work there, a love, a hate. Something's going on in your heart that then leads to your anxiety. It is not the circumstances. Those are the only things that reveal what's going on in your heart. Well, how do we define it?

Let's begin with vigilance. This is a God-given ability for the purpose of guarding, protecting, keeping safe, watching over. That's what vigilance is. Vigilance urges you to act quickly in response to a threat. Right? so it is a proper concern for the well-being of others and for the advancement of god's kingdom so vigilance is a proper concern for the well-being of others and for the advancement of god's kingdom one biblical counselor writes it motivates us to tend and befriend behaviors it motivates us to tend and befriend behaviors tend what's 10 behaviors the things for which the kingdom stands those things for which god gives you responsibility so vigilant says i'm going to be vigilant i'm going to see what's important for god's kingdom and that's what i need to do i need to be act responsibly for those things and then befriend helping others looking after the well-being of others essentially loving god and loving your neighbor right that's what it that's what vigilance does it's it's saying if there's a threat to somebody i need to act if there's a threat to my responsibilities in the kingdom of god i need to act but sin corrupts vigilance into anxiety sin corrupts vigilance into anxiety vigilance makes you God's warriors.

Vigilance makes you God's warriors. Anxiety takes God's warriors and makes them into worriers. Alright? Anxiety scans the horizon, continually looking for threats, anticipating threats, concerned about the what might happens. again same counsel writes we scan the horizon constantly fearfully but without ever taking action or responsibility and without clinging to God So anxiety is constantly scanning the horizon, looking for threats, but never doing anything, right?

Listen, anxiety is vigilance minus faith in God. Let me say that again. Anxiety is vigilance minus faith in God. Have you noticed that our worries tend to imagine a future without God in it? Have you noticed that? In my view, worry or anxiety is a mild case of atheism.

Oftentimes we're infected with a mild case of atheism. We're looking at whatever we're worried about. We're looking to the future, but God's not in it. Life gets smaller, and our mission to trust Jesus and love other people gets lost. Gets lost amid all our preparations for the future. Ed Welch writes, Worries focus our attention on things over which we are relatively powerless. and they take our attention away from the mission that is right in front of us.

Okay? Now, I'm talking to you as a veteran of the worry wars. And most of you know this story. But in my first years here, I was an absolute slave to anxiety. And I could tell you that I would spend hours in my office thinking about what was going to happen in five days from there. And so I didn't see what God had given me for that day.

I got lost in the future, so I wasn't on mission during that day. You see? In worry, we take protection into our own hands. Anxiety is the attempt to control something we're powerless to control. Look at Matthew 6, 27. It says that very clearly.

Matthew chapter 6, verse 27. Matthew 6, of course, is the classic passage on anxiety. And in Matthew chapter 6, verse 27, you read, And which of you, being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? see what he's saying there you can be anxious all you want it's not going to do anything it's not going to help anything you can't even add an hour to your life with your anxiety right so you sit there and you say oh man i hope i don't die is this stomach ache is this the start of stomach cancer oh no what's going on oh okay what if this happens and then are you is it going to make any difference all that worry absolutely not you're not going to add a single day to your life by worrying.

Alright? So anxiety is the attempt to control something we're powerless to control. It's vigilance out of control. It's vigilance minus faith in God. Now, we need to understand the heart of anxiety. You know, we talked about the fact that this starts in the heart.

It starts in the control center of your life. What then, in your heart, leads you to anxiety? Okay? Let's look at James 1. James 1 12 through 15 this is a key passage if you're going to understand anything about not just anxiety but sin in general this is really important to see James 1 beginning in verse 12 blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him let no one say when he is tempted I am tempted by God For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. You see what he says? That any sin that shows up has started with a desire in your heart. It starts there. Now, what does he mean?

So anxiety begins with desires in your heart. All sin starts with a desire. We might even call it, as Ezekiel does in Ezekiel chapter 14, an idol of the heart. It's a desire. I always look at it this way. Desire and idol.

This is the New Testament concept. This is the Old Testament one. They're saying the same thing. I have an idol in my heart. and I'm going to serve that idol. I'm going to do whatever I can to serve that idol so it'll deliver, it'll give me what I want. Of course, what's true about idols?

They can't deliver. What's true about desires? They never deliver what they promise. Ephesians 4.22 says, Put off the old man which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. So there's a deceitful desire at work. When I worried, I had worshipped the idol of peace and control or safety.

Now what about Roger? Remember Roger? We talked about him. He believes if he worries enough, he'll keep his job. If he can figure out those emails, he'll get a clue on his boss's attitude and thus save his job. If he can figure out what to do if he gets fired and on and on it goes.

The desire promises something. even anxiety and worry is rooted in a desire that's in your heart you want something the desire for control and peace said to me in those days if you worry about that meeting next week you probably stumble onto a solution or a strategy that will protect you, that will give you control. My attempt was control the future. If I would think enough about it, I'd figure out every possible scenario that I was going to face in meeting with that person.

Okay? Anxiety says to you, if you let your mind run incessantly, you'll stumble on a solution. Of course, what happens? Do you know what happens? Someone has said, worriers should be stoned as false prophets. You know why?

Because I would think of a thousand things that might happen in that meeting, in that difficult confrontation. And you know what happened? A thousand and one showed up. The one I hadn't thought about. Right? You're trying to control something you can't control.

And as you worry incessantly about it, and thinking it'll help, it doesn't. Because nothing turns out the way you thought. So the question you have to say to yourself is, what does your anxiety tell you? What does your anxiety tell you? When you're starting to get anxious, start asking the question, what do I want? What am I treasuring right now?

What is it that's compelling me to do this? Now, could there be other desires at the root of anxiety? I know for me, it was peace, it was safety, it was comfort, it was control. Those are what drove me. Could there be other roots? Sure.

Pride can drive your anxiety. Look at 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 6 and 7. And remember, 1 Peter is written to people who are suffering persecution. And in 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 6 and 7, we read this. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.

In the midst of suffering, Peter tells us to humble ourselves and to cast our anxieties on God. Now, what's the connection? I can see the part about anxiety in the midst of suffering. I can see that part. But what does humility have to do with it? Why does he call us to humility in the midst of suffering?

He says, you're under the mighty hand of God, and he's going to exalt you. So humble yourselves now and cast your anxieties on him. What's the connection between pride and anxiety? It's simply this. In the midst of suffering, we typically have the attitude of, I don't deserve this. I don't like this reality.

I want something different. Right? And not to mention the fact that when you're dealing with suffering, you're saying, I am the one. I am the one who has to deal with this. I am the one who has to find a way of escape. I am the one who has to get me out.

And so you see there's pride. Pride can be at the root of your anxiety. He says, no, humble yourself under the hand of God who bring deliverance at the appointed time. So cast your anxieties on him. He will exalt you at the proper time. All right, don't be proud.

God's going to exalt you eventually. You know what else can drive your anxiety? Here's one, ingratitude. In gratitude. Look at Philippians 4. And in future, we're going to take this text apart from Philippians 4, 6 through 9, because in my view, it's the dragon slayer.

It's the thing that really helped me. But it's fascinating to read verse 6. Alright? Philippians 4, verse 6. Now watch what he says here. do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication that's the general word for asking god notice do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to god if you're going to escape worry if you're going to have the peace of God.

You've got to pray right. And praying right means you've got to pray not just, okay, Lord, here's what's happening. I need help. But with thanksgiving. Now, why is that there? Can I tell you why?

Worriers are ungrateful people. They are ungrateful people. You know why? So you're worried about something. This is going to happen. What am I going to do?

And so forth. what you want you know why you're ungrateful you want another reality you want a reality that says if only that wasn't there I'd be happy right you're saying I don't like the reality that God in his sovereignty has given me I want another one I can remember times I'd be driving down the road and looking around and saying what a beautiful day oh God this is so gorgeous but I I really can't enjoy it because I've got this other thing I've got to think about. So what's happening there? I'm saying, God, I can't be thankful to you right now because I've got this.

I would be thankful if only this was gone. Then I would really enjoy everything. You see? Listen, it is impossible for a worrier to be grateful. You cannot worry and be grateful at the same time. keep that in mind and so we pray with thanksgiving another route may be perfectionism legalism that can drive your anxiety in Romans chapter 5 verses Through two, we read this, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. You're anxious whether you've done enough to appease the anger of God. That's how we typically start out. But this says that since we're justified by faith, we have entered into the realm of grace. We have entered into a relationship of grace with God.

Everything God does to us, for us, with us, is all motivated by grace. It's all grace. You see? Nothing happens to me outside the grace of God. And that bleeds out into life. Has Roger done enough to please his boss?

Is there more to please his boss? Is there more to be done? Right? If he hasn't, and he gets fired, he's thinking to himself, I failed, and God is now punishing me for that, because I failed to do everything I could do. No. God loves him because of his grace in Jesus, not because Roger has done everything he needed to do.

Right? Everything that comes to us is through the grace of God. Even if he gets fired, he doesn't have to worry about that. Why? Because God is operating by grace, and God is for him. Right?

Here's one, another root. Choosing the lesser over the greater can drive anxiety. What do I mean by that? Mark chapter 4 verse 19. This is the parable of the sower or the parable of the soils. And Jesus says at one point, They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word.

The care and anxieties of the world choke out the better life of the kingdom. anxiety grows when you fix your heart on temporal rewards as opposed to eternal rewards. Let me say that again. Anxiety grows when you fix your heart on temporal rewards as opposed to eternal rewards. For example, you fix your heart on your reputation. You're living for your reputation.

You've got to have a good reputation. And you live for that as opposed to the glory of God. if you live for this you can inevitably have anxiety if you set your heart on peaceful circumstances I want peace I want people to leave me alone so I can just read my books right if you live for peace you're not seeing the marvelous work of God in trial if you fix your heart on this on peace, a comfortable life, right? If you fix your heart on that, you're inevitably going to be anxious.

But if you fix your mind and your heart on seeing God at work in the trial, it's an entirely different story. If I fix my heart on control I have to control this thing Anxiety As opposed to I can trust the providence of God All right? Here's another route. Unbelief certainly drives anxiety. Again, Matthew chapter 6. You want to turn there.

Matthew chapter 6 verse 30. Again, this is all about anxiety. And Jesus says, but if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith. Remember, anxiety imagines a future without God in it. And anxiety exposes unbelief.

Listen, you may believe that God is good. You may believe that he is faithful. You may believe that he is sovereign. But anxiety functionally dismisses all of it. Okay? Mild case of atheism.

You're looking at something. you're anxious, you say you've learned, you've embraced the wonderful confessions of our reformed faith, that God is good, that he is faithful, and that he is sovereign, right? But you eventually dismiss all that when anxiety is in the picture. You're not believing it in your heart. So there can be many other routes to your anxiety.

So here's what you need to do. Always ask the question, what is my anxiety telling me? All right. Lastly, understand what anxiety does. First of all, anxiety distracts you. Luke chapter 10, very familiar story luke chapter 10 verses 38 through 42 now as they went on their way jesus entered a village and a woman named martha welcomed him into her house and she had a sister called mary who sat at the lord's feet and listened to his teaching but martha was distracted with much serving and she went up to him and said lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone tell her then to help me but the lord answered her martha martha you are anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary mary has chosen the good portion which will not be taken away from her anxiety distracts you jesus tells martha your anxiety has distracted you from the better thing.

How many of you have had the privilege of sitting at Jesus' feet here in this place Sunday after Sunday after Sunday only to miss what He has said to you because your mind is turning about what's going to happen on Tuesday and what's going to happen on Wednesday and what's going to happen this afternoon and your mind is turning and racing and you miss what God tells you in the hour that you have here. You see it can distract you from the better things Remember anxiety gets us lost in the future so that we forget God mission for us today Anxiety consumes you. It consumes you.

You can't sleep at night. You think about the what-ifs all day. And if you do sleep, you wake up, and that's the first thing on your mind. And the moments when you're not worried, you realize it and start worrying about the fact that you're not worrying. Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about right now. You know exactly what I'm saying.

So, you see, anxiety can consume you. Here's one last thing that anxiety can do, and I'll stop with this. Anxiety can drive you to despair. Proverbs chapter 12, verse 25. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down.

Do you know what I have seen in the counseling ministry that God has given me? Here's what I've seen. Okay? I would say 90% of the people I counsel who are depressed, you know what the entry door to depression is? It's anxiety. I've seen that more and more and more and more.

When I start digging down into this depression, here's what I find. That the entry door to depression was anxiety. Life is overwhelming. Now, I can attest to that. In my worry days, I would wake up in the morning and I would not want to get out of bed. I would not want to get out of bed.

I don't want to face what's out there. I just don't want to do it. and I'm thinking about all these things that might happen. It's just like, I don't even want to get up and face it. By God's grace, I got up. I knew I couldn't stay in bed. And eventually I learned some things from his word.

But it can drive you to despair. Anxiety makes one lose hope because anxiety is telling you, it's too much. It's overwhelming. And you end up despairing. well now i don't want to end the sermon here is there any hope in all this yeah we'll talk more about that but i want you to turn right now to second corinthians chapter one i want you to see something here as we close this morning second corinthians chapter one by the way second corinthians is the most autobiographical book of paul in the bible you get into paul you get into his head most in this book he tells you more about himself in this book and here's what he says in chapter one verses eight and nine for we do not want you to be ignorant brothers of the affliction we experienced in Asia for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.

Do you see that there? But what does he go on to say? But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. Paul and his colleagues faced some affliction that was so deep and so difficult that he even despaired of life the mental pressure was so extreme that he and his co-laborers were utterly burdened beyond their strength that they despaired of life so what good can come from that? can any good come from that? absolutely what does he say? it reminds him of God this reminds us that God graciously orchestrates our circumstances in order to strip us of self reliance but this was but this was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead you see there's hope God will use circumstances in our life to strip us of our self-reliance Always remember this, anxiety is the child of self-reliance.

Anxiety is the child of self-reliance. And God brings things into our lives to strip us of that, so that we will set our hope on God alone, not on improving our situation. Setting our hope in God alone is the answer for anxiety. You set your hope on God alone. and it directs us to discipline ourselves to look to Jesus, because only he can deliver you from the crippling effects of anxiety, because it's anchored in a biblical truth.

God, for his children, God is always for you and never against you. Father, thank you for your word. Father, I hope that we have gained some kind of an understanding of anxiety and how offensive it is. But Lord, we also need to remember that Jesus is the one who has paid the price for our anxiety. He's paid the price for our mild case of atheism. So that, Father, we can say to anxiety, you are awful, you are sinful, you're detestable.

But we can have hope because Jesus has paid the penalty for that so that we can turn away from it and turn to the living God who has promised to take care of his children. And so, Father, we pray that in succeeding times we would understand more about how we can defeat this beast that will keep us from glorifying God. So we anticipate that. But Father, I pray that your people have hope today, knowing that Jesus, that Jesus' death has dealt with the guilt of our anxiety as well as its power.

And so we look to you now, in Jesus' name, amen.