Anxious Much?

 What is anxiety? This past Wednesday we took a closer look at what anxiety is, what it does to us, and what causes it. Then we dove into the Word of God to find out how we, as believers in Jesus Christ, should handle anxiety. Spiritual leaders often tell us to look at the Bible for answers to life's questions, and yet usually that's not our gut reaction. Why look to some old book when my friends are right here? But, when it comes to the difficulties of life, who should we trust more - the God who created this world or our friends who have about as much life experience as we do? The obvious answer to that question is that we should trust God more. But do we? Do we trust that God knows our problems and how to deal with them the right way?

Hopefully, if you are reading this, you are at least curious to know what the Bible has to say about handling anxiety in life. So, let's take a look at what we discussed at the Summit last Wednesday.

Anxiety defined: "Anxiety is a feeling of fear, dread, and uneasiness." Notice that it doesn't say "or" there. Anxiety is all of these things mixed together.

What does it do?

Some of the effects of anxiety: sweating, feeling restless and tense, rapid heartbeat, trembling, breathing rapidly (hyperventilation), weakness or feeling tired, difficulty concentrating, trouble sleeping, a tendency to avoid the triggers (avoiding thinking about what you're anxious about), etc. Feel free to add in some of your own experiences of when you get anxious. Usually, anxiety causes different effects for different people. When I get anxious, for example, I get sweaty, tense, I feel weak and I have trouble sleeping. In an attempt to "avoid the triggers" I will try to distract myself by watching a show or playing an immersive game. What does anxiety do to you?

Now, sometimes anxiety can be a good thing - it can force us to prepare for things to come (like when we are anxious about a big test so we go overboard on the studying) or it can light a fire under our butts to start working on a paper before the deadline. Unfortunately, anxiety is usually a bad thing. It paralyzes us from doing anything other than worrying. We call this crippling anxiety. The feelings of fear, dread, and uneasiness are so strong that we get physically sick or just feel trapped and unable to do anything.

Does anxiety ever solve our problems, though? No. Worrying, by itself, doesn't solve anything. Like, I can worry about my test all I want, but unless I actually study for it, that worrying isn't going to help me get a better grade. Or, I can worry all I want about the church van breaking down on its way to HCBC, but worrying isn't going to stop it from happening. <= I proved this on our second attempt last year as I worried about the van breaking down, and it still broke down...

What causes anxiety?

The short answer: stress. Anxiety (and worry) is a natural response to stressful situations like a problem at work, a test at school, relationship drama in your friend group, or an upcoming important decision. Sometimes anxiety can be caused by a medical issue (although this is rare). As I said earlier, anxiety is a form of fear. It shows up when we are worried about something, something that we feel like we can't control. Its that feeling we get when we don't know what's going to happen.

How do we deal with it?

Here is where we start looking to God's Word. Before we do, though, I want you to do something. I want you to think about a situation that gives you anxiety. What are you dealing with right now that is making you anxious? Is your friend group going through a fight? Are you having trust issues with a boyfriend/girlfriend? Is it something at home, either with your parents or siblings? Maybe you're just worried about what your future is going to look like. Whatever it is, I want you to have a specific situation in mind as we look at what God has to say about dealing with our anxiety. Do you have it? Good.

The passage we are about to read together is a familiar one to many Christians, and honestly, I think it gets taken out of context too much in the church. The book of Philippians is a letter written by the apostle Paul to a church in the city of Philippi. He talks about a lot of good stuff like the mindset of a Christian, how Christians should interact with each other and with the world, and what our priorities should be. And here, as he is getting to the conclusion of his letter, he gives this advice to Christians as they experience trouble in this world.

Philippians 4:4-7 - "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Let's walk through this advice together, step by step. First, he says to rejoice. This is so important that he feels the needs to repeat himself! REJOICE! What do we have to rejoice about? Well, think about your life right now: what are some good things you have to be thankful for? Some things that bring you joy? We have life, that is cause for celebration in and of itself (why else do we celebrate birthdays, after all?). We continue to have breath in our lungs. Through Jesus Christ we have a restored relationship with God, life everlasting, and the promise of an unending future with God. We have a family (who may be troubling at times, but they are usually there for us in one way or another). We have friends (some better than others). We have access to education, food, clean water, a roof over our heads. As we get more specific, we find many more things to rejoice over than we probably thought at first. Paul says that the first step to dealing with anxiety is to rejoice - to think about the joy in our lives.

We can also rejoice because of what Paul says next: "the Lord is near". We can rejoice because God is near us. And we can choose not to be anxious about anything because the Lord is near. Even as you are reading this, God is there with you. He is on your side. And if God is for us, then who can be against us?

This next part is the "famous" part, and gets quoted a lot: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation..." pray. Paul's advice here is not to just "stop worrying". That's not exactly what he means when he says "do not be anxious about anything". Instead, its more of a "rather than be anxious about this or that situation, pray about it". Remember, anxiety is a form of fear. Being anxious about something means that we are afraid of what is going to happen. So, instead of being afraid, pray about it, ask God to step in, and trust that God is in control.

Then what happens? "And the peace of God...will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." When we follow this process, we will find peace. The situation may or may not be resolved, yet we can have peace of mind because we know and trust that God is in control, so we don't need to be afraid anymore. We don't need to worry anymore (especially since worrying won't actually change anything).

So, in dealing with anxiety, we need to move along this path:

1. Rejoice - find what's good in your life and rejoice in it.

2. Remember (remind yourself) that the Lord is near. God has not abandoned you. He is right there with you, even now. He is there even when you can't feel Him there. Let that comfort you.

3. Identify what you are anxious about and pray to God that He would handle the situation. Entrust it to Him. Stop worrying about the situation and trust that it is in God's hands.

4. Embrace God's peace. Peace is like the opposite of worry. I often picture it as the calmness of the sea after Jesus calmed the storm in Matthew 8:23-27 (go read it if you want).

Now, let's read the next few verses in Philippians 4: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

You ever notice how when someone tells you not to think about something, it becomes the only thing you can think about? Anxiety is just like that. If I said, "Just don't worry about it", or as the New Yorkers say "Forget about it", would you just stop worrying about it? Would you forget about it? NO! Of course not! Paul doesn't just say, "Hey, forget about it." He says to stop thinking about this, and start thinking about that, instead! He says to stop thinking about the situation you're anxious about, and instead start thinking about the things of God. Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy - think about those things.

All of this comes down to a mentality shift. When we are suffering from anxiety, it means we are solely focused on what could happen - usually what we are afraid is going to happen. Then, we become paralyzed because we feel like we can't do anything about it! The Bible tells us to stop. Stop focusing on what might happen, and what you cannot control, and start thinking about what God promises will happen, and what He can control. As Christians, we have already trusted God with our souls and our eternal future. We know that God wins in the end, and we are on the winning side. So, why can't we trust Him with everything else?

Do you still have that specific situation in mind? You know, the one I asked you to think about before we looked at Philippians? Okay, what I want you to do is to walk through these steps with that situation.

1. Rejoice - make a list of things in your life that you are thankful for (and don't settle for just what I listed above, try to be more specific to what you have).

2. Remind yourself that God is near. We are forgetful, and often forget that God is always with us. As anxiety creeps in, remember that God is next to you and you can talk to Him about it.

3. Identify what you are anxious about (name it and be specific about the situation). What are you worried is going to happen? Once you have named it (this works best by either writing it out, or speaking it out loud), talk to God about your fears. Talk to Him about the situation, what you fear might happen, and your feeling powerless to do anything. Turn it over to Him as you talk, saying something like "God, I can't do anything about this, but I know You can. I know You know what is going to happen. I trust that You are in control and that no matter what happens, You have my back."

4. Embrace the peace of God. As you are talking to God about your situation, you are allowed to ask for peace. But, even if you don't specifically ask for it, when you entrust your situation to God, His peace will come to you. For me, it usually feels like a huge weight has been taken off my shoulders. What's weird is that most of the time, nothing about the situation has actually changed. The situation is still the same, its my mindset that is different. I am no longer looking at it from a "what if" perspective, but rather from a "God's got this" perspective. 

5. "Think about such things" and "put it into practice". Move on. Don't linger in the worry and anxiety. Look to what God is doing in the world, or perhaps even in the situation you were anxious about, and go join Him.

I hope this has been helpful to you. I hope that you are able to let go of your anxiety and turn it over to God. And I hope you are able to move on with your life, to move forward. In the comment below I have shared some additional verses from the Bible that touch on this topic of anxiety. I hope they are helpful to you as well. I have found that talking about our anxieties with other believers can also help, so if you need to talk, just reach out.

Love > Fear

 Hey gang, so last night we were able to meet in person again and it was nice to see everyone's faces! Even saw a few of you connect through Zoom, which was awesome! For those of you who missed it, we got a special treat for the message time - we went to the Sanctuary. I think the last time we had our message in there was March of 2020.

Before you go any further into this post, I'd like you to check out this 3 minute video clip on YouTube. It is a short clip from the animated show "Avatar: The Last Airbender" - if you've never seen it, sorry, but spoiler alert. For the record, this is my all-time favorite animated show so you should definitely check it out in its entirety the next time you get the chance! Click here to view the clip.

There is one line in there I particularly hope you paid attention to: "You miscalculated. I love Zuko more than I fear you." You see, there are two motivational forces at work in this clip - fear and love. Azula (the angry girl) strictly uses fear when trying to motivate others to do what she wants. She uses fear to control people - including her "friends" Mai and Ty Lee. However, as we saw in the clip, fear wasn't strong enough to stop them from protecting the people they loved (Mai protecting Zuko and Ty Lee protecting Mai). This demonstrates a really important fact for us, that love is more powerful than fear.

Last week I focused on Proverbs 1:7 - "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." This verse was written in the Old Testament, before Jesus came to the earth and died on the cross. So at this point in history, the only way to get close to God and find atonement (forgiveness) for sin was through regular animal sacrifices. The people lived in fear of judgment from God whenever they strayed from His Law (which, if you read through Israel's history in the OT, they did quite often).

When we look forward to the New Testament, after Jesus came and died and rose again, Paul reminds us in Romans that literally everyone strays from God's Law. Everybody sins, which means everybody is in danger of judgment, and the judgment for sin is death (not just dying here on earth, but being forever separated from God and Heaven).

Now, while Jesus was around, He had a bunch of disciples - a group of guys who followed Him and learned from Him. These guys grew up the same way the Old Testament people did, in a deep fear of the Lord. To find atonement they had to make animal sacrifices, too. However, when Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for sin, these disciples also got to experience the love and grace and forgiveness of God through Jesus. Their fear of the Lord led them to Jesus, and so their fear led them to the love of the Lord. You may recall, I ended last week's message with a quote, which concluded: "Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but love from the Lord is its completion." Fear of God leads us to the love of God.

This week's verse is 1 John 4:18-19 - "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because He first loved us." God's love, demonstrated through Jesus coming to the earth and dying on the cross for our sins, means that we do not have to live in fear of judgment. Jesus paid it all, and took our judgment on Himself. So, in Jesus, we become children of God and no longer need to be afraid of God and His power. But just as a child should respect and obey their father, so Christians should respect and obey God.

Fear compels us to do a lot - follow speed limits on the road (lest we get pulled over and ticketed), do our homework, obey our parents, etc. Fear is what Azula used to compel people to do what she wanted. God, however, chooses to use love as His motivational force. He first showed His love to us through Creation and later through Jesus Christ, setting an example of the kind of love He wants us to have - sacrificial love. This kind of love is what John was talking about in the verse above, because sacrificial love drives out fear. Mai's love for Zuko drove out her fear of Azula, and so she acted to save him even though she knew she could die for it (Azula is kind of mean like that). Ty Lee's love and care for her friend Mai drove out her fear of Azula, so that she acted to protect Mai, also knowing that there would be a cost. They sacrificed their own well-being for the sake of someone else - out of love. Sacrificial love means putting our needs and wants aside for the sake of others and for God.

The truth is, most of us come to faith in Jesus because we are afraid of judgment. We recognize that we have sinned before God and that the consequence for our sin is death, and we are afraid of that death. Our faith starts with a recognition of who God is, thus it is the beginning of knowledge - of knowing God. So, we come to Jesus. Fear of God's judgment brings us to the one person who can offer us salvation, Jesus Christ. And the reason Jesus can offer us salvation is because He chose to demonstrate His love for us by taking our place and paying the penalty for us. He put aside His life for the sake of our lives. So while fear is often where we start, we end up with love.

What is our response to this? Our proper response should be to praise God and love Him in return! Jesus told His disciples "If you love me, obey my commands". If we love God, and I mean truly love God, then that love should motivate us to do what He says is right. Jesus also said that all of God's commands can be summed up in two: Love God and love others. If we love God, then we will love what He loves, and He loves all of us. Every. Single. Person. Which means that we should love every single person. Summed up, this means being kind to others, forgiving others (even if they're not sorry), providing for the needy, standing up for the oppressed or bullied, and ultimately sharing God's love with everyone around us. I know sharing God's love (the message about Jesus) can be scary, and we often fear what people will say or how they will react. But remember, the love of God drives out fear. When we fully embrace the love He has for us, we will not be able to stop ourselves from sharing it with others.

So, if you have embraced the love of God, how are you loving others right now?

If you haven't yet embraced God's love and come to Jesus but are living in fear, you don't need to live that way anymore. You can look to Jesus for forgiveness and be free from fear.

Wherever you are at, find the next step in getting closer to God and take it.

Peace.

1-800-FEAR GOD

 So as some of you know, we had to switch Summit to Zoom last night because The Favorite's roommate caught the 'Rona (so she had to quarantine) and I caught a cold (yes, common diseases still exist during a pandemic). Not wanting to take any chances, and especially since people look at you funny every time you even cough or sniff, we decided it was best not to meet in person. So we didn't! Funny how that works.

On Zoom, we learned that some of yall really struggle with drawing. Then again, can I blame you for not being good at it with a mouse? These things are so hard to draw with... Anyway, for those that know, there was a blue circle. =) Good times.

Moving on to our topic for today, I'd like you to think about what it means to be afraid. What even is fear, anyway? Before we get to that, let me share with you a few times when I have had fear grip me:

When I was about 3 years old (shortly after I started actually remembering things), I had a nightmare about dinosaurs. Now, these weren't just any dinos, they were life-size version of the plastic ones I liked to play with. I was trapped outside my house at night, and they were everywhere - the streets, on the house, in the fields, everywhere. I pounded on the door, but no one answered. I tried to run away, but ran into more of them. Then, just before I woke up in a sweat, I heard the distant roar of a T-Rex. Dinosaurs can be scary even now, but for a toddler? They were absolutely terrifying!

Growing up, my older brother was known as the pest in the family. However, I also liked to mess with my siblings from time to time, and especially my brother. The problem was, he was bigger than me. And stronger. And just a little bit meaner. So when I would annoy him for too long or do too much, he would jump up and chase me down and try to hit me. And let me tell you, as soon as he jumped up I was GONE. I was running for my life! Because I knew that if he managed to catch me there was going to be pain. You may ask, "Well, why did you mess with him then?" And the answer is, well, because I wasn't thinking about how he would react, only about the fact that I wanted to mess with him.

When I was much older, after my first year of college, I was driving back home with my dad. It was super late at night and I was a very inexperienced driver. What I did know was that my parents almost always drove in the left lane of the highway. Left lane = fast lane. That's what I knew. So that's what I did. I wanted to go fast, and even though there were no other cars on the road I was in cruising in that left lane. Queue me reaching for my Coffee Coolatta from Dunkin, queue me looking down for a second to find the holder to put it back, and queue the van swerving off the road sideways, sliding across the grassy median between the Northbound and Southbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway, skidding backwards across the opposing lane, smashing the driver side window on a reflector sign, demolishing the driver side wheel on a concrete ditch, and coming to stop in the trees on the far side of the highway from where I started. Through all of that I was frozen. I couldn't move, I couldn't think, I couldn't even touch the brakes - all I could do was grip the wheel and hope this wasn't the end. Everything was a blur of grass, glass, and road.

Fast forward a little more to another year in college. My friend Leroy Jenkins and I would sometimes take midnight walks through the campus' extensive woods. On one of these walks, we heard a splashing noise through the trees. Didn't think too much of it and kept walking. But, then, we heard it again. And this time, it was closer than before. We kept walking, trying to move away from the lake where the splashing was coming from, but whatever it was kept following us. Now, you need to be aware that this is during the peak of my irrational fear of zombies, and in my mind this splashing wasn't just anything, it was a zombie coming up out of the water and shambling after us. I was freaking out. I was pushing Leroy to walk faster so we could get away, and the THING KEPT FOLLOWING. When we finally reached the edge of the woods and came across a road, I chose to walk all the way around the woods on the well-lit road rather than trek back through the forest. To this day I have no idea what was following us, but I was certain at the time that our lives were at stake that night.

So what is common in all of these situations? Well, in each case the thing (or person) I was afraid of was something I thought could hurt me or something that would have power over me. I recognized that he or it was stronger than me and I could get hurt.

Think now about some healthy fears that we have: heights, spiders, fire, bees, the dark... We fear these things because we recognize they can hurt us. We could fall from heights and get seriously hurt. If a spider is venomous and bites us and we could get sick or die. Fire can be really destructive if it gets out of control, and could burn us (remember what happened in California not so long ago?). Especially for someone who is allergic, bee stings can be dangerous, and at the very least they hurt a lot. And who knows what could be lurking in the dark, or what we could stumble across.

See, these fears actually help to protect us - they cause us to respect things and people who are stronger than we are, or at the very least, are dangerous. Well, fear should cause us to respect these things, though we sometimes forget that they're dangerous anyway (like my big bro). When I go rock climbing, I recognize that falling from a great height could hurt or kill me, so I always use a belay system. When we had our bonfires at the church for Summit back in the Fall, I would always bring out a bucket of water to make sure the fire didn't get out of control, because I recognized that would be dangerous. Our fear of the dark causes us to bring flashlights (or some kind of light) instead of just stumbling around, because we know we could get hurt walking blindly.

Proverbs 1:7 is a fairly popular verse which says "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." So let me ask, what is the fear of the Lord?

"Fear" is the belief that something or someone is dangerous and it is the anticipation of danger. It means recognizing something or someone as dangerous and responding as though you are expecting danger. So then, the fear of the Lord is the belief that God is dangerous. But, why should we think that God is dangerous?

1. He spoke the earth (as well as the rest of the universe) into being. Read through Genesis 1. You'll notice that everything God made, He made by just uttering words. He said "Let there be light", and it was so. Light appeared because He said so. Now THAT is power.

2. Since God created everything, He can also destroy everything. Matthew 10:28 has a warning from Jesus to His disciples: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." Jesus is pointing out that anything we face in this world can only hurt us so much. At best (or worst?), they can end our lives. But this world has no power over our souls, our spirits. Only God has power over that. And Jesus is warning His disciples to make sure they recognize that God is way more dangerous and powerful than anything else they could possibly be afraid of.

So God really is dangerous. He could hurt us, far more than anything else. But remember what the verse in Proverbs said. It didn't say "The fear of the Lord is debilitating," or "God is super scary so be afraid, be very afraid". No, it said "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge..." Unlike my fear on the road, this fear leads to something more. When we have a true fear of God, it puts everything else into perspective, so that we can better understand the world in which we live - the world God created. In order to truly understand our world, ourselves, and God, we first have to recognize how great and powerful and mighty our God is. We have to start there. We have to recognize that God is not some far away, mystical force, but an active and powerful God who stands in judgment over the whole world.

When we do this, when we see God's power and fear Him (because He is dangerous), it puts everything else into perspective for us. Our everyday fears don't seem as big or scary - not compared to God. It also causes us to respect Him way more, because it forces us to see that He is not some vending machine in the sky (we put our prayers in and He gives us what we want), but a holy and powerful God, one who created all things simply by speaking. This then gives us more respect for the Bible, which we often call the "Word of God". It isn't just some book, but a collection of God's power written out on paper for us to read and be transformed by. When you approach the Bible this way, it can really impact you in a new and profound way.

So, here is what I want you to do. As you go through this next week (and hopefully the rest of your lives), I want you to start thinking about what or who you fear. Make a list. Is God on that list? If He is, good, you're on the right path. If He is not - if you are not afraid of God - then that means you do not have an accurate picture of who God is or what He can do. My mom used to say "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out." Well, God created all things, and He can take it all out - with a word. That's scary.

Now, not wanting to leave you curled up on the floor in the fetal position in fear, let me add that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, not the end. Fear of God means we have recognized His power and now show Him the respect He deserves. It gets us started. But the Bible also reveals that this same God and loves and cares about us. We fear Him, because He is powerful. Yet we can also have a relationship with Him, because He is loving. In closing, let me share this quote:

"Unfortunately, many of us presume that the world is the ultimate threat and that God's function is to offset it. How different this is from the biblical position that God is far scarier than the world... When we assume that the world is the ultimate threat, we give it unwarranted power, for in truth, the world's threats are temporary. When we expect God to balance the stress of the world, we reduce him to the world's equal... As I walk with the Lord, I discover that God poses an ominous threat to my ego, but not to me. He rescues me from my delusions, so he may reveal the truth that sets me free. He casts me down, only to lift me up again. He sits in judgment of my sin, but forgives me nonetheless. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but love from the Lord is its completion."

May the love of the Lord wash over you today and tomorrow and all future days as you walk with Him, in full recognition of His almighty power and in complete acceptance of His forgiveness and grace.