The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E97 - Anxiety

Episode Date: October 13, 2020

Hey, church family, if you got your Bible, we're in Philippians chapter 2. We're going to pick it up in verse 4. And we're going to talk about how do you handle situations when they seem like they are out of control. You ever get nervous? You ever get anxious? You ever get worried? As you know, the Bible commands us to not be worried. Paul here is going to command us to not be anxious.

And again, if you listen to yesterday, you'll know that if you read this in context, this comes on the heels of relational conflict. And I don't know about you, but nothing gives me any more anxiety than relational conflict. And on the very heels of, hey, you two women in the church, can you all figure out how to be reconciled? And if you can't figure it out on your own, the church can help you be reconciled. and right on the heels of that kind of conflict, verse 4. Paul says, from prison, rejoice in the Lord always.

And again, I will say rejoice. So when are we to rejoice? Always. So if the situation that you find yourself in falls into the always category, then Paul says that we are to rejoice in that situation. Oh, and in case you forgot it the first time or missed it the first time, I'm going to say it again, rejoice. By the way, remember where Paul writes this from?

Prison. What's he going to do in prison? Rejoice. Hey, two ladies at the church, you two can't figure out how to get along. Well, guess what you need to do in that circumstance? You need to rejoice. You just lost your job, rejoice. Found out you're pregnant, rejoice. Whether you're planning it or it's really scary news, rejoice.

You just got to raise, rejoice. Lost your job, rejoice. How in the world can you rejoice, no matter what? But the reason that you can rejoice no matter what is because God is always in control. The Lord is at hand. That God loves you, he's got a purpose and a plan for his people. And so we know he's a good dad. We know he gives good gifts to his kids.

We know that even if we walk through suffering or when we walk through suffering, that this present suffering in this age cannot compare to the future glory that God has in store for you. and he is using the pain in this world to prepare us to be with him forever. So rejoice. Verse 5, he says, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. Some translations say, let your gentleness be known to everyone. Why? Because the Lord is at hand.

In other words, don't freak out by your circumstances. Be gentle. Be reasonable. Relax. Your father's got this. He's not surprised. He didn't fall off his throne. He hasn't fallen asleep.

He didn't take his eye off of you. He knows exactly what you're going through. And in fact, I don't know about your experience with the Lord, but my experience with him is that often in my most stressful times, often in the times where I don't love what my circumstances are, that's when I feel the nearness and the presence of the Lord. And so let your gentleness or let your reasonableness or don't freak out. How in the world can you say this? Here's how. Because the Lord is in. Verse six, here's the command. And don't be anxious about anything.

If you think I'm a bad counselor, which I am, you should never come to me for counseling. Paul is the worst. And the reason I say this is think about this. Do you ever get anxious? you know what Paul's command to you is? Don't do that. Have you ever tried to not worry about a thing that you're worried about? How do you do that? It makes it worse. I mean, I think this is why people turn to the bottle or turn to some pill or turn to some sort of self-medication because on their own, they don't know how to turn off the anxious button. They don't know how to flip off the worry switch. And Paul says, well, if you're anxious, yeah, don't do that. In fact, I'm telling you, you've heard me say this before, I think it makes it worse. It feels like it does. It's like when you can't sleep and you know you've got a big nay the next day and you just watching the clock tick, tick until you try to go to sleep.

And it seems like the harder you try, the more awake you find yourself. Oftentimes it seems like the more we try not to be anxious, we focus on the things that are making us anxious and our anxiety goes up and up and up. Some of you are anxious just listening to the Devo, right? right now. It's supposed to have the opposite effect. He says, don't be anxious about anything. All right, Paul, well, you tell me how am I going to be anxious about nothing? And again, Paul doesn't leave a lot of like wiggle room here. There's not a lot of out clauses, not a lot of loopholes. In other words, the Bible is saying, if the thing that you're anxious about is in the

anything category, yeah, then don't be anxious about it. All right, Paul. I hear your advice, how? And he gives us some very practical advice. He says, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. What is the answer for anxiety? Prayer. And I know, you're like, no, no, no, no, no, I prayed about it yesterday. Well, are you still anxious about it today? Uh-huh, I am. Okay, well, then that's an alert for you to pray about it again today. You see, what if God actually uses our anxiety as an alarm clock going off on the inside of us to remind us about our dependence on God and the way that we utterly express our dependence on God towards God is through prayer to God? You see, he says,

but in everything by prayer. You know, I've met some people here at our church and they'll have a worry, they'll have some anxiety. And when they tell me about it, this is the key verse I go back to. I say, well, have you prayed about it? And they're like, well, it doesn't seem like that big of a deal. Except the Bible says that in everything by prayer. So apparently, God is saying, no matter how insignificant the circumstances seem to you, even though I am running all of the cosmos right now and have the whole world in my hand, come on and bring it to me because I'm not too busy. And it is not too small. And if it's important to you, it's important to me,

because you are important to me. That in everything, by prayer and Thanksgiving, with supplication, let your request be made known to God. Now, I understand that there are things, very legit realities like clinical depression and clinical anxiety. And I believe that God heals through people, like see your counselor, see your doctor, absolutely. Praise God for doctors. I think he heals through pills. There's no doubt about it. Every good and perfect gift is from above. God is the great physician.

And in God's common grace, he made scientists to invent medicines that can help us. Praise God for that. And he heals through prayer. So as I talk about prayer here, I'm not discounting those other two things whatsoever. See your doctor, take medicine, if that's what you need. but don't think that you can do those two things and neglect prayer and think that your anxiety is going to go away. You see, if you ever find yourself in a time of prayer and you were led to that time of prayer because of your worry and your anxiety and you leave that time of prayer and you're still holding on to the anxiety, then you're not finished praying. You see, because I think what Paul is insinuating here is that prayer is not just informing God on our

circumstances. I mean, think about that. Sometimes that is how we pray. We try to fill God in on the details of, dear God, we're going on a trip, and I just pray that you watch over us, and I just pray to give us traveling mercies. Okay. But prayer is not just informing God of what's going on. He already knows. But real prayer is when you transfer the weight of this situation off of you and on to your sovereign Lord. That's what prayer is. So if you still have the weight of anxiety, then you're not finished praying.

And how do you pray with supplication? That means you ask. Think about this. Jesus says the reason you don't have is because you don't ask. Jesus tells multiple parables where the implication is, come on, ask and ask and keep on asking. That when you pray, I want you to ask me again and ask me again and ask me again.

I've told you before in my house, if I say the words ask me again, it is not an invitation to actually keep asking. But when Jesus has asked me again, it is instruction on how we are to pray, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving. One of the things that causes us to worry, one of the things that causes anxiety, it has to do with where we put our focus.

and if you focus on your circumstances, I'm telling you your worry and anxiety will rise. If you focus on your Savior, then peace will flow like a river. If you focus on what you don't have, I promise you, anxiety and worry will come along with it. But if you focus on what God has blessed you with and given you, let me tell you something very practical. I think I've shared this with you before. On my phone, I have a list of 47 things. that I am thankful to God for. And it's just called my list of blessings.

Last month, and when it was my birthday, I added one more. I went from 46 to 47. And when I find myself in times of despair or times of worry, then one of the things I do based on this verse, to not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication. And with Thanksgiving, I go to my Thanksgiving list,

and I just remind myself of 47 blessings that God has done. given me. So when we're praying, we're not just complaining and whining, we are transferring the weightiness of our circumstances off of us and onto our Savior. And we're asking, that's what supplication means, and with Thanksgiving, not entitlement, but Thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. And then look at the promise. This is the promise of God. And the peace of God that surpasses, all understanding will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus. Have you ever experienced that?

Have you ever had a thing that had you freaking out? And then you brought it to the Lord and then you began to experience a peace that transcends understanding. And maybe if you can't think of a time right now, have you ever, I hope and pray, this is why you need biblical fellowship. Have you ever been around another Christian? And when you look at the circumstances of their life,

you think, I don't know how you're making it. And when you lean in and maybe they lost a loved one, maybe they got divorced, maybe they're going through something, and you think if I were to go through that, I don't think I would make it. And you look at that person and you say, how are you doing it? And you know the answer is Jesus, but they say,

I don't know. Well, you see what's happening in that very moment is that they have made their request on to God. And the peace of God, which doesn't make sense. transcends understanding that God is literally guarding their hearts and guarding their minds. Maybe this is why Jesus said, you see, here's one of the things with worry. Sometimes when we worry and when we're full of anxiety,

we begin to project out into the future all of these potential scenarios and we let the fear of those potential scenarios freeze us today. And then we begin to think, if that thing happened to me, I don't think I could handle it. Well, of course you couldn't handle it because you hadn't been through that thing yet. Maybe this is why Jesus says, don't worry about tomorrow.

Don't worry about tomorrow. And if you've been around Bible study for a while, let me ask you this question. When do new mercies come? The Bible says new mercies come every morning. So if you're going through a trial, if you were anxious, if you were worried, then let me tell you what to do.

Rejoice. Don't rejoice. in your circumstances, that's not what it says, but rejoice in the Lord. Always, even today, rejoice. Choose the joy of Jesus because Jesus never changes. Your happiness will be based on your happenings, but choose the joy of Jesus because Jesus never changes. Rejoice in the Lord, always. Calm down, be reasonable. Why? Because the Lord is at hand. He's got this. And if he did not spare his son on the cross to demonstrate his love for you, do you think he's going to let you go? He's got you.

And there's no thing that can separate you from him. There's nothing, especially these circumstances. And in the meantime, when that anxiety goes off, why don't you use that anxiety against the enemy? Let that anxiety be an alarm clock for you to say, you know what, it must be time to pray. And then, by prayer. and supplication with Thanksgiving, make your request known to God, and then trust him that it'll do what it says.

Trust him that his promises are always yes in Jesus. And trust him that the peace of God, that doesn't even make sense, which transcends understanding, will guard your heart and guard your mind in Christ Jesus. And if you don't experience that peace yet, then keep praying. And keep praying.

because that peace may be just one more prayer away in the name of Jesus. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I know with the amount of people that are tuning in really all over the place with these divos, Lord, I know that there are many right now and their circumstances seem out of control, but God, I thank you that you are not out of control, that you still have the whole world in your hands. God, that we would be gentle and reasonable. Even though our emotions feel out of control, God, we would trust you

because you are at hand. And God, I thank you that you're the giver of peace. And I thank you that you are beyond our understanding. And God, I thank you that you love us. And Lord, I pray, I pray for folks going through it right now that you would guard their hearts and minds in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you.