Philippians 4:4-8
“Antidote for Anxiety”
By: Ken Sauer, Pastor of Grace United Methodist Church, Soddy Daisy, TN www.graceumcsd.org
Currently I am reading a fantastic novel entitled “The Shack.”
It’s a Christian book which is currently on the New York Times Best-Seller list.
The main Character in the Book, Mack, is in the midst of a great tragedy in his life; a Great Sadness when he receives a note inviting him to spend a weekend with God.
And I mean literally with God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
It’s an awesome tale.
Reminds me a lot of some of C.S. Lewis’ works.
Anyhow, at one point in the book, Jesus and Mack are about to take a short-cut by walking across the water of a lake.
Mack isn’t so sure about this idea.
Would you be?
Anyhow, Jesus asks Mack: “Tell me what you are afraid of…”
“Well, let me see. What am I afraid of?” began Mack.
“Well, I am afraid of looking like an idiot.”
“I am afraid that you are making fun of me and that I will sink like a rock. I imagine that--”
“Exactly,” Jesus interrupted.
“You imagine. Such a powerful ability, the imagination! That power alone makes you so like us. But without wisdom, imagination is a cruel task-master. If I may prove my case, do you think humans were designed to live in the present or the past or the future?”
“Well,” said Mack, hesitating, “I think the most obvious answer is that we were designed to live in the present. Is that wrong?”
Jesus chuckled. “Relax, Mack; this is not a test, it’s a conversation. You are exactly correct, by the way. But now tell me, where do you spend most of your time in your mind, in your imagination, in the present, in the past, or in the future?”
Mack thought for a moment before answering.
“I suppose I would have to say that I spend very little time in the present. For me, I spend a big piece in the past, but most of the rest of the time, I am trying to figure out the future.”
Jesus replied:
“Not unlike most people. When I dwell with you, I do so in the present—I live in the present. Not the past, although much can be remembered and learned by looking back, but only for a visit, not an extended stay. And for sure, I do not dwell in the future you visualize or imagine. Mack, do you realize that your imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures me there with you?”
“Again Mack stopped and thought. It was true. He spent a lot of time fretting and worrying about the future, and in his imaginations it was usually pretty gloomy and depressing, if not outright horrible.”
“And Jesus was also correct in saying that in Mack’s imaginations of the future, God was always absent.”
“Why do I do that?” asked Mack.
“It is your desperate attempt to get some control over something you can’t. It is impossible for you to take power over the future because it isn’t even real, nor will it ever be real. You try and play God, imagining the evil that you fear becoming reality, and then you try and make plans and contingencies to avoid what you fear…”
“So, why do I have so much fear in my life?” Mack asked.
“Because you don’t believe. You don’t know that we love you. The person who lives by their fears will not find freedom in my love. I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it; you talk about it, but you don’t know it.”
“Mack looked down once more at the water and breathed a huge sigh of the soul.”
“I have so far to go.”
And don’t we all?
In our Scripture Lesson for this morning, the Apostle Paul writes: “Don’t be anxious about anything…”
How many of us can attest that we are never anxious about anything?
I want to see a raise of hands.
Folks, the stock market is plummeting, the financial situation in this country and around the world is teetering on the brink of disaster.
Home foreclosures are skyrocketing.
We are in a credit crunch…
…and we have the 24 hour news cycle to remind us about this at every turn…
Is anybody anxious about this stuff?
Does it cause some fear to well up?
But Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything…”
How does that work?
How can it work?
In Matthew Chapter 6 Jesus told those first disciples: “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds of the air…
See how the lilies of the field grow…
Are you not much more valuable than they?”
It is about believing is it not?
It is about believing that God loves us.
It is about believing that God is in control, that God knows what God is doing…
…and that God has our best interests in mind!
God is love.
That is Who God IS!
That is What God IS!
And God loves you and I more than we could ever imagine…
But for some reason, as Jesus says to Mack in the Book The Shack we have a hard time believing that God really loves us.
Remember what the writer of the book has Jesus saying to Mack?
“To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it; you talk about it, but you don’t know it.”
Do you know it?
It took John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Movement 36 years before he “knew it.”
It took his mother much longer.
Do you trust in Christ and Christ alone for salvation?
Have you received an assurance that Christ did take away your sins, even yours, and saved you from the law of sin and death?
The morning following John Wesley’s conversion he wrote in his journal: “The moment I awaked, ‘Jesus, Master,’ was in my heart and in my mouth, and I found all my strength lay in keeping my eye fixed on him, and my soul waiting on him continually…this I know, I have ‘now peace with God.’”
From there Wesley was able to move forward free from paralyzing fear.
And God used him to mount one of the biggest Christian awakenings the world has ever seen…and it continues done through today.
You and I are products of it.
But what was the key?
It was trust was it not?
And it was also about keeping one’s eyes fixed on Jesus and waiting upon Jesus continually.
In the book The Shack Jesus tells Mack that his imagination of the future, which is almost always dictated by fear of some kind, rarely, if ever, pictures [Jesus] there with [him].
God was always absent in Mack’s imaginations of the future.
Is that the way it is with you as well?
Let’s re-read what Paul wrote in our Scripture passage for this morning: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”…there’s not much room for fear and anxiety when you are rejoicing in the Lord at all times, is there?
Gotta have your mind pretty well fixed on Jesus to do that.
In her book The Hiding Place Corrie Ten Boom tells about her experience in a Nazi Prison Camp with her sister Betsy.
Corrie and Betsy were spending their first night in a woman’s dorm at the camp and the dorm was infested with flees.
Saying their prayers that night, Betsy reminded Corrie to thank God for the flees.
Corrie thought her sister was mad!
But Betsy believed in thanking God in all circumstances, so she thanked God for the flees.
Later it turned out that those pesky flees were a blessing in disguise.
Betsy and Corrie were able to have a Bible study—which changed the entire atmosphere of that horrible place—due only to the fact that the flees were so bad that the Nazi guards wouldn’t come into their dorm.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Can we rejoice during this economic down-turn?
Perhaps we can rejoice in the fact that silver and gold is not what our faith is about.
Perhaps we can rejoice that our treasure is in heaven!
Perhaps people will be more open to accepting that treasure for themselves as they watch and see what an illusion it is to put one’s faith in material wealth.
“I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all.
The Lord is near.”
Do we believe that?
Do we really believe the Lord is near us at all times?
And if so, why do we fear?
Paul continues: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
In other words, believe!!!
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Have you ever experienced the “peace of God”?
There’s nothing like it, is there?
It’s a peace which is present no matter what the circumstances are on the outside…
…and it arises from a faith which keeps one’s eyes fixed on Jesus and one’s soul waiting upon the Lord…
…trusting, believing…
Paul continues, “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.”
Don’t dwell in the doom and gloom of the past, and don’t dwell in the future that you imagine or visualize unless God is in that future!
Otherwise we will find ourselves to be spending way too much time…wasting way too much time worrying and fretting…
…which takes us to the places which are gloomy and depressing, if not outright horrible!
Instead, stay in the present, with God!
Trust in God for the future, and trust in God to forgive whatever lies in the past.
As Jesus instructs in Matthew Chapter 6: “do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?... your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow…”
Like Mack, in the book The Shack, I got a long way to go…
…how about you?
But each day that I do keep my eyes fixed on Jesus and wait upon Him…
…each day I do that…
…my faith increases…
…and my anxiety and fear become less and less…
There is no better antidote than that!!!
