SPEAKER_00: Good morning everyone.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that you're well and uh survived another week of uh of lockdown.
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to you if you're uh just checking us out, if this has just appeared on your your newsfeed and uh you've decided to watch for a little while.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: Uh over the next uh two weeks, we're going to be thinking about anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I think it's a a timely and important uh and common issue for us to to address.
SPEAKER_00: And we've been doing this sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's uh it's encouraging, isn't it, that Jesus addresses uh this issue of uh of worry, of anxiety and of fear uh for uh for the future.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's good to hear what he has to say, uh, to take the comfort that he offers.
SPEAKER_00: And so why don't I pray as we uh as we come to uh to this uh to this uh issue, this topic.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Our father, I do uh ask for your help now, the help of your spirit to work amongst us all, every person viewing this uh this stream now, that as we think about the uh the anxieties that we face, either from things in the in the past, things that are going on now, or things in the future, that your spirit would meet us where we are and that he would work to bring us peace.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that Jesus promises to give us peace, and we pray that we would know that uh in increasing measure.
SPEAKER_00: We ask these things in his name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I think I've only had one panic attack.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's just happened once uh in my life, and I'm very grateful uh that it hasn't happened more than that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh it happened uh about uh five years ago.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Phil was uh pregnant with Isla, and we had uh nearly lost her at the start of the pregnancy.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's a lot of kind of anxiety and trepidation anyway, uh, through the through the rest of uh that time uh that Phil was pregnant.
SPEAKER_00: But I remember one night suddenly being overwhelmed by it all.
SPEAKER_00: I remember quite vividly uh sitting on the edge of our bed, uh shaking, uh, crying, uh not able to think straight.
SPEAKER_00: I felt my heart pounding, my breathing uh was irregular and erratic.
SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't, I felt like I was uh grasping, do you know when you're trying to kind of climb up a sand dune and you're uh and you're you're trying to hold onto the grass and it keeps on keeps on breaking.
SPEAKER_00: I felt like that's what was happening to me emotionally.
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't get something solid in order to kind of calm myself down, to kind of get myself under under control.
SPEAKER_00: It was a deeply, deeply unpleasant experience.
SPEAKER_00: I felt like all of the uh fears about uh about the future uh were coming in on me all at once.
SPEAKER_00: And thought about that for a long time until I came to uh prepare the sermon this week.
SPEAKER_00: And the thing that struck me uh is was both God's gracious provision as I as I look back over the last five years, but also the thought that people experience that on a regular basis, or have a low-level type of that fairly constantly.
SPEAKER_00: Panic attacks are a particular and a potent manifestation of of anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: It's like when like when the dam breaks.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we can almost we can almost cope with the with the drip, drip, drip that comes through the dam.
SPEAKER_00: But when the whole thing begins to kind of crack and crumble, you feel like you feel like you're drowning.
SPEAKER_00: But even if that's never happened uh to you, anxiety is more common amongst us than we think.
SPEAKER_00: And it's important to recognize that.
SPEAKER_00: Because one of the things that one of the lies that we can tell ourselves is that we are alone in our anxiety and that nobody understands it.
SPEAKER_00: That is simply not true.
SPEAKER_00: Every one of us has worries and anxieties, they're part of what it means to be human, they're part of the human condition of living in this fallen world.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because we all have regrets about the past, we all have fears in the present, and uncertainties about the future.
SPEAKER_00: We can feel just a generalized anxiety about what's going to happen next, or there can be anxieties that that have arisen from past trauma, past guilt and shame.
SPEAKER_00: Moreover, our anxieties multiply as we get older.
SPEAKER_00: I never thought about dying until I had children.
SPEAKER_00: Our anxieties multiply when we get into a relationship with somebody that we love.
SPEAKER_00: They multiply even more when you have children.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because you have more people to worry about.
SPEAKER_00: Over these two weeks, we're going to think about these things, we're going to talk about these things.
SPEAKER_00: I know for some of you watching this, it's very hard even to hear that introduction.
SPEAKER_00: It's very hard to talk about things that perhaps you've never talked about before.
SPEAKER_00: But the Bible addresses them head on, Jesus addresses them head on, and so with courage, so must we.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to help guide us through that if I can.
SPEAKER_00: But let me stop right here and just offer you a word of hope.
SPEAKER_00: If it is that actually, even just talking about it now arouses your anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: And the word of hope is this.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because we need to have it repeated.
SPEAKER_00: Is the incident of the disciples on uh they're on the boat in the storm, and Jesus comes walking on the waves, and they're terrified because they think that they're seeing a ghost.
SPEAKER_00: And what's the first words out of Jesus' mouth?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' mouth says, Don't be afraid when they see him resurrected for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: What does Jesus say to the women?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: He offers sweet, sweet comfort to those who are fearful.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing that I want us to do, we're going to do a lot of we're going to do a lot of kind of laying the groundwork, a lot of kind of investigation this week.
SPEAKER_00: And there will be some uh kind of practical application in the in the latter half of the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: And then next week will be, I think, probably all kind of uh practical application on how we move through and make progress when it comes to our anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: But let's just do a little bit of investigating because the first thing that we want to do is that we want to find our fears, we want to try and diagnose what it is that makes us uh feel anxious.
SPEAKER_00: If anxiety is a common struggle, what arouses uh your fears?
SPEAKER_00: Just give me a moment, folks.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I haven't turned my volume down on my phone enough, so I hear my voice in my head.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and so I'm just going to turn that down.
SPEAKER_00: Um thankfully, that's the only voice that I hear in my head.
SPEAKER_00: If anxiety is a common struggle, what arouses those fears?
SPEAKER_00: Because when we find those fears, we're actually able to get the measure of them.
SPEAKER_00: It's like going uh going dragon hunting.
SPEAKER_00: You kind of want to see the size of the dragon uh so that you're aware of how big your foe is.
SPEAKER_00: But then you can bring those fears out into the light and remember what they uh what John says in his letter.
SPEAKER_00: He says that perfect love drives out fear.
SPEAKER_00: And so let's let's try and find those fears.
SPEAKER_00: Anxiety is often uh you making a prediction.
SPEAKER_00: When you're anxious, you are making a prediction that something will end badly.
SPEAKER_00: For example, that you will fail.
SPEAKER_00: And so maybe your anxiety comes from a fear of failure, or a fear of being seen as a failure, as someone who has let others down.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe for you, secondly, that fear comes from a place of rejection.
SPEAKER_00: You're fearful of getting into a relationship because you don't want to be rejected.
SPEAKER_00: You think that what for whatever reason, if somebody really got to know you, that they would walk away.
SPEAKER_00: And so you close yourself down.
SPEAKER_00: Or when you're in a relationship, you sabotage it so that you're not the one who's being rejected, you bring it down uh before that can happen.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the anxieties that Christians feel actually comes from false expectations, false expectations about how a Christian should be.
SPEAKER_00: You think, well, a Christian should be never sad, a Christian should be never anxious, a Christian should be uh never depressed or never feel pain.
SPEAKER_00: We need to be giving thanks in all circumstances, and so we feel fearful and anxious that because we feel those things, maybe we're not a Christian at all.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe God doesn't love us at all.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we don't belong to Jesus in the first place.
SPEAKER_00: If that is you, I'm gonna park that until next week, and we're going to explore that in great detail because I don't just want to kind of give a uh give a quick answer that that's it, that's something that needs to be unpacked.
SPEAKER_00: If that is you, stay with me, listen to what the rest of the sermon has to say, but we're gonna unpack that more next week, I promise, okay.
SPEAKER_00: Another thing that fuels our fears and our anxieties is social media.
SPEAKER_00: Social media fuels your anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: I know you're watching on Facebook, don't keep scrolling.
SPEAKER_00: Social media fuels your anxiety, and you know this.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever felt inadequate about your appearance because of someone that you have seen on Instagram, on TikTok, on Snapchat, on Facebook?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever felt less intelligent?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever felt stupid because of something that you have read that somebody else has posted and you've thought, gosh, why couldn't I put that like that?
SPEAKER_00: Has social media ever exacerbated your FOMO, your fear of missing out?
SPEAKER_00: What you you look as you're scrolling, you're seeing that other people are doing things.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's doing anything, but in general, you look and you see that other people are doing things, other people are having experiences that you're not sharing in.
SPEAKER_00: And actually, what it does is it makes you feel even more isolated.
SPEAKER_00: All of that passive scrolling, it makes you feel isolated.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things at the minute that is exacerbating our anxieties and our fears is COVID, right?
SPEAKER_00: I think I feel like we've maybe this is just me, but we've all been we've been on kind of a roller coaster.
SPEAKER_00: So we start we started off uh uh back in kind of late March, early April, uh for about six or eight weeks there in a place of heightened anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: Like I remember, I remember watching the watching the news some of those nights uh on the BBC or RTV and just think I can't like I can't watch this, I can't watch all of all of these these bodies piling up in Italy.
SPEAKER_00: Like what like what is going to happen?
SPEAKER_00: This is terrible.
SPEAKER_00: And then and then as things kind of came down a little bit, I feel like our anxieties came down and uh and we became more uh I don't know uh blasé about it or um or suppressed how we were feeling, but it ebbs and flows, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It ebbs and flows, and maybe you're you look at uh COVID and you think about your own health and uh any underlying conditions, and you think, gosh, what would happen?
SPEAKER_00: And it makes you feel anxious.
SPEAKER_00: We think about our futures, our our livelihoods, our loved ones, and it makes us feel fearful and anxious.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just mentioned the news.
SPEAKER_00: The news in general, covet or not, can make us feel anxious, can't it?
SPEAKER_00: You look at the world.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what's what what's one of the governing principles of the of the news media?
SPEAKER_00: It's if it bleeds, it leads.
SPEAKER_00: If it bleeds, it leads.
SPEAKER_00: That is, if it's if it's really tragic, if it's really, if it's really horrible, uh, if it's if it's real acute suffering, that's that's kind of you know our top stories tonight.
SPEAKER_00: You know, rockets fired into into Eritrea, children torn from their parents, and we take in all of this news.
SPEAKER_00: Human beings that are alive today, you and I, are more aware of the stuff that is going on in the world than any other generation to have ever lived.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever thought about that?
SPEAKER_00: That the information that you are taking in is more than anybody else has ever taken in in the history of the world ever.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have, in a sense, we've almost become all-knowing.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the problem.
SPEAKER_00: While we have become all-knowing, we are not all-powerful, we don't have God's power.
SPEAKER_00: We have a glimpse into the kind of knowledge that he has, but we don't have the power to fix it that he has.
SPEAKER_00: And what does that lead us to?
SPEAKER_00: It lead us leads us to anxiety, to feelings of helplessness.
SPEAKER_00: Omniscience without omnipotence leads to anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: All-knowing without all power leads to fear and helplessness.
SPEAKER_00: Where do your fears rely?
SPEAKER_00: Reside?
SPEAKER_00: Is it in relationship?
SPEAKER_00: Success, rejection, doubting your assurance.
SPEAKER_00: Find your fears.
SPEAKER_00: What are some common coping mechanisms?
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you three.
SPEAKER_00: The first is venting.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing.
SPEAKER_00: Some people watching this might think, well, I'm not really an anxious person because they think that all anxiety is just kind of sitting quivering in a corner, you know, not able to, not able to do anything, not able to move.
SPEAKER_00: This is something that really helped help me as I've been kind of studying this over the last couple of weeks, that actually our anger comes from a place of fear and anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're the type of person who doesn't quiver in the corner, but they get frustrated really easily, or they get angry and they lash out.
SPEAKER_00: Often that is because you feel like your world isn't under control, and you feel frustrated, that things aren't going the way that you desire, that you want, the people aren't uh, the people around you aren't living in the way that you would like, and you last you vent.
SPEAKER_00: I think that'll be common for all of us, but I think it's particularly common for for the men watching that if you're somebody that gets angry a lot, maybe that's coming from a place of fear, actually, a place of anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: We vent as a way to kind of deal with the pressure.
SPEAKER_00: Another way that we cope with the anxieties that we feel is that we try to suppress them.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what the opposite of anxiety is?
SPEAKER_00: The opposite of anxiety is peace.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the uh the the Greek word for uh for worry or anxious, and it actually literally means uh to be in pieces, um, although it's spelled differently, but the opposite is peace, right?
SPEAKER_00: It's peace.
SPEAKER_00: God desires to give you peace.
SPEAKER_00: God is the only one who can give you true peace that will quell your anxieties and soothe uh that uh that burning heart that you that you have, that heart that is full of fear.
SPEAKER_00: Many people don't have that peace that God provides.
SPEAKER_00: And so what do they do?
SPEAKER_00: They make a counterfeit, they pretend like they're at peace.
SPEAKER_00: That's what suppressing is.
SPEAKER_00: They pretend that they have peace even though they don't.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what counterfeit peace is?
SPEAKER_00: Counterfeit peace is cynicism and apathy.
SPEAKER_00: Do you look at the world through a consistently cynical lens?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that is because you actually deep down don't feel at peace.
SPEAKER_00: And so you're suppressing, you're you're making the counterfeit in order to fool yourself into feeling at peace or apathy.
SPEAKER_00: Some people cope with their anxieties by by moving through the rest of life and going meh effort, they become apathetic, become unmoved by anything.
SPEAKER_00: Willing to do anything, to be moved by the plight of somebody else, to uh to consider somebody else, utter apathy and effort.
SPEAKER_00: That's counterfeiting peace.
SPEAKER_00: They're pretending like they don't have anxieties, but actually, those anxieties are going unaddressed.
SPEAKER_00: They're all there below the surface.
SPEAKER_00: And that person perhaps is unwilling to face those fears.
SPEAKER_00: The other way that we cope is through escape.
SPEAKER_00: Why do people drink too much?
SPEAKER_00: Why do people become dependent on alcohol?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because it takes the pressure off.
SPEAKER_00: Why do people abuse substances?
SPEAKER_00: Because it takes the pressure off.
SPEAKER_00: Why do people uh get obsessed with sex?
SPEAKER_00: Because it takes the pressure off.
SPEAKER_00: It allows you to lose yourself uh just for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Some of the reasons why people abuse substances is because they they hate who they are when they're sober, they hate where their brain goes, they hate how they feel when they're sober.
SPEAKER_00: Because they feel anxious, fearful, and depressed.
SPEAKER_00: Where do you go?
SPEAKER_00: I go to anger, I go to venting, I go to frustration.
SPEAKER_00: Where do you go?
SPEAKER_00: Do you go to cynicism and apathy?
SPEAKER_00: Are you abusing substances or sex as a way of turning down the volume on your anxieties?
SPEAKER_00: What are they?
SPEAKER_00: And where do you go?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Let's hear what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Let's hear what Jesus says to the anxious heart.
SPEAKER_00: Because he offers a better way.
SPEAKER_00: He offers a better way than anxiety and fear, he offers a better way than suppression and apathy.
SPEAKER_00: He offers a better way than anger.
SPEAKER_00: He offers a better way than escape.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what he says.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you six things.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm in my third point, and it is the final point, and there are six subpoints.
SPEAKER_00: And here's where we get to our text.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus begins in Matthew 6, verse 25.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, or what you will put on, is life, is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus begins with these words, do not be anxious.
SPEAKER_00: I remember um uh one of my best friends growing up.
SPEAKER_00: I used to, you know, if I ever expressed uh worry, if I ever expressed any trepidation about uh something that was going to happen in the future, uh he would uh he would say in a well-meaning way, but not in an altogether helpful way, you know, Matthew, Matthew, Matthew 6, 25, you know, don't be anxious.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, do not be anxious.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're anxious this morning, you can look at verse 25 and think, great, thanks.
SPEAKER_00: Uh first step to dealing with your anxiety, don't be anxious.
SPEAKER_00: Uh is are we going to get more than that?
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, you are, because it's easy to it's easy to look at this and think that Jesus is saying, stop it, stop it, stop being anxious.
SPEAKER_00: That is not what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: It's not so much that Jesus is saying, stop it, as he's saying, I'm here.
SPEAKER_00: The reason why you don't need to be anxious is because I'm here.
SPEAKER_00: The reason why you don't need to be fearful why the women, when they came to the tomb, didn't need to be fearful is because he was there.
SPEAKER_00: He's not saying stop it, he's saying, Here I am.
SPEAKER_00: I'm here for you.
SPEAKER_00: The anxious person often feels alone in their anxieties.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, I'm with you, saying, You've no need to be anxious, I'm right here.
SPEAKER_00: If you if you don't believe me, let me uh just mention something that Paul says in the book of Philippians, what we're doing our our Friday devotions in right towards the end of the letter, he says, Do not be anxious.
SPEAKER_00: Uh uh, no, he says, Rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I will say, rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the Lord is at hand, do not be anxious.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is at hand is not Paul saying Jesus is coming back soon.
SPEAKER_00: It's Paul saying, Jesus is just within arm's reach.
SPEAKER_00: He's there.
SPEAKER_00: You can cling on to him, you can grab his shoulder when you feel your feet slipping.
SPEAKER_00: Grab that divine arm and cling on.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, I'm here.
SPEAKER_00: Don't be anxious.
SPEAKER_00: Take courage because he is near.
SPEAKER_00: You are not alone in your anxieties.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is with you.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on, secondly, uh, it's still in the same verse.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Jesus starts with the basics, basically, doesn't he?
SPEAKER_00: He starts with the basis, basics, those things that are that are fundamental about what you eat or drink and what you wear, food and clothes, the absolute bare minimum.
SPEAKER_00: Now you could add to those things the things that feel fundamental to you, you know, relationships, you know, the anxiety around that that friend who isn't speaking to you, that job that you want, that promotion that you're striving for, that decision about your future that you need to take, but you've been putting off, that that you know, last night's family row, yeah, whatever it is that feels fundamental to you.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is bringing you the basics, and he's saying two things that help us to get perspective on our anxieties.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing that he's reminding you here in verse 25 is that the value of life doesn't rest in material things, meaning your value in life is not derived from what you have.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus uh elsewhere, when he's being tempted uh by by Satan, you know, that temptation to turn the rocks into bread.
SPEAKER_00: How does he respond?
SPEAKER_00: Uh he responds by quoting the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: He says that uh the man cannot live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
SPEAKER_00: Here he's not saying if you don't read your Bible, you're going to physically starve and die.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that true life, meaningful life, isn't find simply in physical material needs being met.
SPEAKER_00: It's not find in material circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: We know this to be true, don't we?
SPEAKER_00: Some of the poorest people in the world have the most enriched and meaningful lives.
SPEAKER_00: While some of the richest among us are the most empty.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is helping you kind of, he's getting helping you get perspective and seeing what is truly meaningful.
SPEAKER_00: When we become unduly anxious over physical things, we begin to lose this perspective.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus would have us uh step back and to see those things, those basic things, in their proper context.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just say this, he goes further.
SPEAKER_00: He goes on in verse 26 to show you just how valuable you are.
SPEAKER_00: So you hear what he's saying?
SPEAKER_00: He's saying too wonderful things, he's not just saying those things don't matter because they clearly do, like you need food and clothes, right?
SPEAKER_00: He's not just saying those things don't matter, he's saying those things aren't where meaning is found in your life.
SPEAKER_00: And what he goes on to say is God sees you and loves you and will provide for what you need.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 26, it's in essence, he's saying to us as readers, he's saying, Look around you, look at the world, look at the birds.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the birds who are they neither sow nor rape, they don't work, they don't gather into barns, and yet their heavenly father cares for them.
SPEAKER_00: The birds are are mute, yes, they sing sweetly, but they're mute in the sense that they they cannot cry out to their heavenly father, but but we can.
SPEAKER_00: And so of God who cares for the mute birds who cannot cry out to him, how much more will he care for us who can address him as Father and ask for our daily bread?
SPEAKER_00: How much more these tiny birds that do not bear his image than us who are made as the apex of creation, who reflect his glory.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is maybe saying, why don't you go for a walk?
SPEAKER_00: Like seriously.
SPEAKER_00: If you're feeling anxious, why don't you go for a walk?
SPEAKER_00: And look, really look at how God cares for creation.
SPEAKER_00: How God has so ordered things that as autumn passes and winter comes in, he is providing for his world.
SPEAKER_00: And then stop and think about how much more you are loved, how much more value you are.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what it means to have peace?
SPEAKER_00: To have peace is to have confidence and trust in God's good, wise control of your life.
SPEAKER_00: It is saying, do you believe that God loves you, that he is loving, that his control of your life is a good and loving control?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him with your present?
SPEAKER_00: Do you trust him with your future?
SPEAKER_00: Anxiety comes when we say God doesn't see, he doesn't know, he can't care, he isn't powerful.
SPEAKER_00: Our issue, then, is not simply psychological or emotional, it is spiritual.
SPEAKER_00: We have a gospel deficit.
SPEAKER_00: We need more of Jesus in the gospel to remind us of who we are in Him, of who God is, of how he has worked in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that God loves you?
SPEAKER_00: Warts and all.
SPEAKER_00: The Gospel says that he does.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that he sees you?
SPEAKER_00: Faults and all.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel says that he does.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know that he sent his son to die for you so that you could be called a child of God and cry out to him as a good, good father?
SPEAKER_00: That is the promise of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The third thing that Jesus does is that he reminds us again who's in control.
SPEAKER_00: He reminds us, to put it a different way, who's got your back?
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse 27, he says, and which of you, by being anxious, can add a single span to your life?
SPEAKER_00: Can you worry yourself an extra hour of life?
SPEAKER_00: Is that possible?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is saying, You might feel or have felt very small and unsure on your first day of school.
SPEAKER_00: You might have started your first day of school with great fear and anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: That is, until your big brother or your big sister took your hand and walked in with you.
SPEAKER_00: And then you were given confidence.
SPEAKER_00: In this verse, in verse 27, is not just talking about the futility of anxiety, though he is making that point, but he's reminding you who's in control.
SPEAKER_00: The universe is not spinning out of control.
SPEAKER_00: Your life is not spinning out of God's control.
SPEAKER_00: You can trust him with the big things and the small things.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the irony of the Christian life, folks.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a follower of Jesus, you trust God to forgive your sins, to preserve you through however long your life is and bring you safely to eternity.
SPEAKER_00: You trust him with the biggest and most precious thing there is.
SPEAKER_00: You trust him with your soul.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, how often we struggle to trust him with the things that are smaller than that.
SPEAKER_00: If we can see his goodness in the big things.
SPEAKER_00: If that is you, and you are tempted to hear those words and to think how small my faith is, how fragile my faith must be that I am anxious over these smaller things.
SPEAKER_00: Take heart, take courage.
SPEAKER_00: It is not the size or the strength of your faith that matters.
SPEAKER_00: It is the strength and power and might of the object of your faith that matters.
SPEAKER_00: Your faith, as you look at it, might be like a mustard seed.
SPEAKER_00: But remember what Jesus says about mustard seeds.
SPEAKER_00: They become the largest trees that even the birds of the air that God provides for rest in its branches.
SPEAKER_00: Don't despise your mustard seed faith.
SPEAKER_00: Care for it, nurture it by entrusting it to the strong and mighty object of your faith.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus invites you to see God's care for the world in all of the things that we take for granted.
SPEAKER_00: The birds, the flowers in their array and splendor.
SPEAKER_00: They are fed and clothed by a God who is both in control of creation and loving of creation.
SPEAKER_00: And once you have glimpsed that, once you have glimpsed and marveled at his majestic care, remember that you are more loved than any of them.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that battling anxiety has evangelistic force?
SPEAKER_00: Look at what Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Cast your eye down to verse 31.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?
SPEAKER_00: For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all.
SPEAKER_00: The Gentiles are it's Jesus' language here for those who are outside of God's family.
SPEAKER_00: What we would uh call today non-Christians, people who aren't followers of Jesus yet, who wouldn't describe themselves that way.
SPEAKER_00: What Jesus is saying here is that the world the world of non-Christians is full of uh anxiety, it's full of of anxiousness.
SPEAKER_00: What's more, they have good reason to be anxious because they do not know God as a friend but as an enemy.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus called us earlier in the Sermon on the Mount to be a city on a hill.
SPEAKER_00: What does being a counterculture for the common good look like in the realm of our anxieties?
SPEAKER_00: How can our anxieties be repurposed so that they commend the gospel, so that they have evangelistic force to those around us?
SPEAKER_00: It's in how you deal with your worries.
SPEAKER_00: It's in how you deal with your anxieties.
SPEAKER_00: We, this side of heaven, will always be beset with worry.
SPEAKER_00: The Christian is not someone who is freed from temporal uncertainty.
SPEAKER_00: The Gentiles, non-Christians, they live their whole life in this uncertainty.
SPEAKER_00: Their eternal future is uncertain in a ways that are in a way that ours is not.
SPEAKER_00: So many of our friends, or even our family members, are crippled by anxiety because they are without hope and without peace in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus here is saying that you have an opportunity to show people by how you deal with your anxieties that there is hope, that there is the possibility of peace in the world, that there is a father in heaven who knows all of your needs.
SPEAKER_00: You might go like this that you somebody would say to you, Aren't you worried?
SPEAKER_00: Why aren't you worried about this thing?
SPEAKER_00: And you reply and say, Part of me wishes that I knew the future, part of me wishes I knew how this would play out.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not that I'm immune to be worried, it's not that I'm immune to anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: And if I didn't know that that God loved me, I'd be worried out of my wits.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that worry overtakes me.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that anxiety makes me feel like I'm drowning too.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm human.
SPEAKER_00: But then Jesus comes alongside me and he reminds me that he's here.
SPEAKER_00: He reminds me that he loves me.
SPEAKER_00: He reminds me that not only is he in control, but that he's good.
SPEAKER_00: I trust him with my soul.
SPEAKER_00: So I can trust him with this.
SPEAKER_00: You don't say it glibly, right?
SPEAKER_00: You say it with tears in your eyes.
SPEAKER_00: And so none of this is platitudes, none of this is simple quick fixes.
SPEAKER_00: It's how you navigate a broken world.
SPEAKER_00: Fifth.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus points out that our anxiety absorbs us, it consumes us, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It becomes all encompassing, it becomes here in terms of your vision, you cannot see anything else.
SPEAKER_00: What we are worrying about, we cannot see beyond our difficulties, we cannot see beyond our needs.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says this verse 33, he says, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And all of these things will be added to you.
SPEAKER_00: I remember in my life desperately wanting a relationship, really hating my singleness.
SPEAKER_00: Desperately wanting to make progress in holiness.
SPEAKER_00: And thinking that by being a quote unquote better Christian, that that I would somehow earn the right to be in a relationship.
SPEAKER_00: It took me years to recognize that all I was doing was swapping out one idol for another.
SPEAKER_00: And it was this verse.
SPEAKER_00: It was God coming to me and saying, Look, seek first the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Seek first my righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: I'll work out the other stuff.
SPEAKER_00: That really helped me.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus encourages us all here to look beyond the material, beyond relational concerns, the relational concerns that we all carry.
SPEAKER_00: These things are good, but they can consume our attention, make us unhealthily introspective.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' encouragement is to look outside of those things, outside of ourselves, to look to love others.
SPEAKER_00: One of the ways that you make progress in your anxiety is by taking concern for others.
SPEAKER_00: It's by looking to love and to serve others, to look outside of yourself, to seek the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of me.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of me is always filled with anxiety.
SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's what what the wall, the walls of your kingdom are made from anxiety, right?
SPEAKER_00: They're they crumble easily.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to keep on building them up, you've got to keep on looking out to make sure that nobody's gonna come and attack those walls.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're looking at the kingdom of God, there are strong walls around that kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus here is not offering you a trade, he's not saying do this and you'll get what you want.
SPEAKER_00: But he said he is saying if the kingdom of God consumes your priorities, you will always have what you most greatly need.
SPEAKER_00: Joy, joy in the gospel, hope for the future, eternal security.
SPEAKER_00: How can you look outside yourself today?
SPEAKER_00: How can you seek the kingdom of God in your little square of that of that kingdom, that little patch?
SPEAKER_00: That can sound very daunting, but start small, start simple.
SPEAKER_00: Who could you message today or talk to today and ask how they're doing?
SPEAKER_00: Ask how you could be praying for them, ask how you could serve them.
SPEAKER_00: Or what's one small habit that you could change or you could uh introduce into your life that would make your home life less anxious, that would bring more peace to the people around you in the house where you live, so that you were being more of a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: And if multiple people in multiple households are watching this, then you kind of consider, well, if I if I moved a little bit, and if I thought, well, how could I be a blessing to that to the person I'm living with?
SPEAKER_00: And if they thought that too, then wouldn't more peace reign?
SPEAKER_00: And then at least I could bring my anxieties out into a place where I felt safe, where there was where there was at least a desire towards peace.
SPEAKER_00: How can you seek first the kingdom amongst those who are closest to you?
SPEAKER_00: Finally, it's midday.
SPEAKER_00: Uh sixthly and finally, verse 34.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious about itself.
SPEAKER_00: Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing about anxiety anxiety steals from the future.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is being a realist here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not being uh he's not offering you platitudes, he's not being uh an idealist or idealized, he isn't uh idealizing the uh your quick and simple silver bullet solutions.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to actually help you live and move forward in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what he says: he says, There are worries for today, and there are worries for tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: Keep the tomorrow worries in tomorrow.
SPEAKER_00: I, and this is well documented in the life of City Church.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I don't watch much sport.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you now are kind of slapping your forehead because you think, where is he going with this?
SPEAKER_00: I don't watch much sport, I don't watch much many uh sporting tournaments, I think that's what they're called.
SPEAKER_00: But I do from time to time, and I do quite enjoy watching tennis uh because Philippa likes it and I like hanging out with her, I quite like her.
SPEAKER_00: Uh as it seems that uh uh most of you do, judging by uh the get to know you video.
SPEAKER_00: I like watching tennis and I like watching rugby.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that's striking is that when the inter when the interviewer um interviews the winner or the team captain of the of the winning side, they're often asked, have you got the championship in your sights now?
SPEAKER_00: You know, are you are you almost tasting that uh that trophy?
SPEAKER_00: And what's the response of the person?
SPEAKER_00: The response of the person or the team captain is we're looking to the next game, we're looking to the next match.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, we're we're not thinking three or four steps on down the line.
SPEAKER_00: We're not we're not thinking yet about what it's like to lift that to lift that trophy.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Uh well because uh all of that anxiety of the the road that it would take to get there would kind of crowd in and put you off your game.
SPEAKER_00: You joke, and so you look at the next step that's in front of you, you look at the next match that's in front of you, and you deal with that.
SPEAKER_00: You don't look three matches down the line, and that's kind of what Jesus is saying deal with the battle that's right in front of you, deal with the battle that's there, meet that head up, meet that with the gospel, address your fears, win that battle, and we'll work and we'll worry about the war.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, that's how the that's how the war's won, the war's won by lots of little incremental battles.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you get to the end goal.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: We can think big things about the future, we can have big hopes and dreams that lead to big anxieties about the future.
SPEAKER_00: Will I find someone?
SPEAKER_00: Will I fall in love?
SPEAKER_00: How will my kids turn out?
SPEAKER_00: Am I ruining them?
SPEAKER_00: Will my parents be okay?
SPEAKER_00: Will I succeed?
SPEAKER_00: Will I have the kind of life that I have dreamed for myself?
SPEAKER_00: And those are big things, those are big future championship trophy lifting anxieties, those are natural questions.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is not saying, don't ever think about them, but he's saying don't let the force of them paralyze you such that you can't do anything today.
SPEAKER_00: You answered those big questions by answering all of the little concerns, all of the little questions of today.
SPEAKER_00: Bringing them to your heavenly father, those little battles in the context of the great war.
SPEAKER_00: You bring those little battles, those little anxieties to God.
SPEAKER_00: You say, You are my heavenly father, you value me more than the birds, you value me more than the flowers of the field, you know my needs, and I know you love me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm entrusting my soul to you, and so I'm bringing this small battle to you.
SPEAKER_00: And do you know what that does?
SPEAKER_00: That trains that trains your faith muscle, that trains your your trust in God muscle with those little things, and so you're able to come to him with things that are a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger.
SPEAKER_00: Fight today's battle.
SPEAKER_00: And you get to the point where you can say to God, you say to God, you know my heart, you know what I want, you know what my desires are.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna seek first the kingdom and your righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And however you answer those questions, however, you answer those big questions, I trust you that you will give me the grace and the peace that I need, whatever the answer is.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of place that you want to get to.
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean that you never have anxiety, it doesn't mean that you never worry, but it means that you are stronger, more spiritually strengthened to meet them.
SPEAKER_00: Next week, I'm gonna stop here.
SPEAKER_00: Next week we'll think more about practical next steps to address our anxious hearts.
SPEAKER_00: I am sure that in the course of watching this sermon, that you have maybe thought, well, what about this?
SPEAKER_00: And and what about that thing?
SPEAKER_00: And do you really understand this?
SPEAKER_00: If you have questions or particular issues that you wanted to raise, why don't you message me or send me an email, marketcitychurchdublin.ie.
SPEAKER_00: That would help my sermon prep for this coming week.
SPEAKER_00: I might be able to think about it particularly, see how it fits in.
SPEAKER_00: But for now, remember, brothers and sisters, that you are not alone.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus doesn't say stop it, he says I'm here.
SPEAKER_00: He went to the cross to show his love for you, he rose from the grave to give you hope for the future.
SPEAKER_00: He reigns on a throne in heaven and assures you that there is a human being who knows what it is to feel the way you feel in control of the universe.
SPEAKER_00: And he has sent you his spirit, that spirit who reminds you of these things and will help you to make progress, however small, however incremental, to combat your anxieties and to grow your faith.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, give us peace, true peace, not counterfeit peace, not apathy, not cynicism, but real peace, peace that endures, the peace that Jesus promised that he would leave his disciples, the peace that does not come as the world gives it, but endures eternally, that peace that asks nothing in return, that peace that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And would his perfect love drive out of fear?
SPEAKER_00: Pray for my brothers and sisters, and all of our anxious hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Would the Spirit come and be a balm to us?
SPEAKER_00: Would he apply the gospel, the soothing, comforting ointment of the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: Or would he bring repentance where we have been wrestling control from God and how that has been leading us to anxiety?
SPEAKER_00: Would he bring about the repentance that enables us to relinquish control and to trust again, however small, in you, the God who loves us?
SPEAKER_00: Help us today, we pray in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: I wish I was with you.
SPEAKER_00: I love you all very, very much, and I deeply desire you all to make progress in the gospel and to love Jesus more.
SPEAKER_00: God bless.
SPEAKER_00: I'll see you soon.