-
Okay, well, I want to revisit;
-
we looked at it two weeks ago.
-
We began to think about
-
this topic of anxiety.
-
So, Luke 12.
-
And this is just somewhat of a parallel
-
to what we looked at 2 weeks ago
-
just to start;
-
just to kind of prime the pump.
-
My Bible - now this isn't inspired -
-
it is not inspired, but at Luke 12:22,
-
I have a heading that says:
-
"Do not be anxious."
-
We're talking about anxiety.
-
And we talked about anxiety attacks.
-
Some, like between 20
and 30 million people
-
have supposedly been diagnosed
-
with some form of anxiety attacks,
-
panic attacks.
-
Like I said last time,
-
perhaps that's the same thing
-
as a nervous breakdown.
-
Maybe that's just a bit of
an older description of this.
-
Anxiety.
-
The Bible has something
to say about anxiety.
-
It's not just the psychologists
-
that say something about it.
-
And verse 22, listen to what Jesus says.
-
"Therefore, I tell you,
-
do not be anxious about your life."
-
Do not be anxious.
-
That's what we're told in Scripture.
-
No anxiety.
-
Don't be anxious.
-
And we can look down through here.
-
Verse 25, "Which of you by being anxious
-
can add a single hour
to his span of life?"
-
You can't.
-
In other words, your anxiety
-
doesn't fix things,
-
it doesn't help things,
-
it doesn't improve the situation.
-
It doesn't do any good
is basically the thing.
-
Verse 26, "If then, you are not able
-
to do as small a thing as that,
-
why are you anxious about the rest?"
-
In other words, you should not be.
-
No anxiety.
-
Verse 29, "Do not seek
-
what you are to eat,
what you are to drink,
-
nor be worried."
-
So you have it.
-
Don't be anxious.
-
Don't be worried.
-
You keep reading a little further.
-
Verse 32, "Fear not, little flock."
-
So, don't fear.
-
Don't be worried.
-
Don't be anxious.
-
Here's one of the things
that we have to recognize.
-
The Gospel deals with anxiety.
-
And so we should have that expectation.
-
We should have the expectation
-
that we know, we recognize,
-
if you're not saved
-
and you don't know the Lord,
-
and you're in your sin
-
and death is coming
-
and you've got to face
God on judgment day,
-
there's all manner of
things to be afraid of,
-
to be worried about,
-
to be anxious about.
-
You have every reason to be fearful
-
and anxious
-
if you're approaching judgment day
-
and you do not have your sins forgiven.
-
You're in trouble.
-
You're in trouble. You should be worried.
-
But the Christian,
-
what Jesus is saying is look,
-
My people don't have a reason
-
to be anxious, to be worried,
-
or to be fearful.
-
They don't.
-
The Gospel deals with that.
-
And Jesus isn't just saying
-
that well, if you've got anxiety attacks
-
and you become a Christian,
-
I will help you manage your anxiety.
-
That's not it.
-
Jesus comes along and He says,
-
"don't be anxious.
-
Don't be worried. Don't fear.
-
Fear not, little flock."
-
Why?
-
I mean, you know the image
that came to my mind today?
-
Have you ever seen a parent
-
when a child is traumatized?
-
A child gets scared by something?
-
I have this image in my mind.
-
I remember when we
were planting the church
-
down in Stockdale, Texas.
-
Caleb Mussulman was about that tall.
-
He's already graduated from college
-
and got himself a job as an engineer.
-
But he was just this little guy.
-
We came out of the building
-
and there was a house back behind there
-
and they had a pit bull.
-
And this pit bull reared up.
-
We came out the door
-
and he was there
-
and I think his parents
were over by their van.
-
So there was a good distance between them.
-
That pit bull raised up over there
-
and it began to bark
-
and it came running full speed.
-
And it hit the end of its chain
-
and it stopped it dead in its tracks.
-
But Caleb was terrified.
-
And I went, but it's like,
he didn't want me.
-
He wanted his dad.
-
His dad was the place of safety.
-
And have you ever seen a father?
-
They pick up a child like that
-
and they say,
-
"It's okay. It's okay."
-
Well, isn't that the way a parent
-
oftentimes tries to comfort the child?
-
You know, they fall and they're crying,
-
or they get scared or something.
-
The parent puts their arms around them
-
and says, "It's going to be okay."
-
But you know the thing about that,
-
they don't really know
if it's going to be okay.
-
Parents can't protect their
children from everything.
-
What they say is going to be okay,
-
it may not be okay.
-
But you know when God lays His arms
-
around His children
-
and says it's going to be okay,
-
it is going to be okay.
-
And that's what we have.
-
That's what the Gospel answers.
-
It's going to be okay.
-
If He tells you not to fear, why?
-
It's because you don't have to fear.
-
Listen, if He's forgiven your sins,
-
what do you have to fear?
-
If you have God on your side,
-
and He's stronger than everything else -
-
in fact, He's not just stronger,
-
He is minutely in control.
-
You don't have to fear.
-
In fact, if Jesus says fear not,
-
if He says do not be anxious
and we are anxious,
-
it's sin.
-
And as we looked at last time,
-
the real issue is
-
we are questioning the character of God.
-
That's really the issue.
-
We're doubting God.
-
When God wraps His arms around us
-
and says, "you're Mine,
-
and you're going to be okay,
-
and you don't have to worry,"
-
if we go on worrying,
-
what we're really doing,
-
the big deal is that we're saying,
-
"we don't trust You."
-
"We don't believe You."
-
And see, we have to walk by faith.
-
Because you know, the thing is,
-
you know how God puts His arms around us?
-
Through words written in a book.
-
Not by actual arms
-
that we physically feel wrap around us.
-
What's my point?
-
My point is when a child is laid hold of
-
by a parent,
-
there are physical arms,
they feel the warmth,
-
they feel the security,
they feel the strength.
-
You know where our
strength, where our security
-
has to be felt?
-
Through words in a book.
-
That's it.
-
We walk by faith, not by sight.
-
But you know what?
-
Just because it's words
and not physical arms,
-
doesn't make it any less.
-
In fact, it's all the more,
-
because those everlasting arms,
-
if God is with us, who can be against us?
-
And when He says He's with us by word,
-
it would be more like the parent
-
yelling from far away to their little boy
-
in words, "Don't worry.
It's going to be okay."
-
God is speaking to us from Heaven.
-
He's speaking to us
through an inspired book.
-
Now, what happened last time is -
-
and I don't know if
everybody really recognized
-
or understood maybe
-
what our sister Claudia had brought up.
-
She asked a question -
-
sister, how did you ask the question?
-
(unintelligible)
-
Tim: Say that again.
-
James: When does
concern turn into anxiety?
-
Tim: Okay, when does
concern turn into anxiety?
-
How do you test it?
-
And you know, I gave a little,
-
perhaps a minute answer to that,
-
which I think the things that were said
-
were right, but as time went on,
-
I thought more and more about that.
-
And I thought, you know what,
-
looking at good anxiety versus bad anxiety
-
would be a worthwhile
little study for tonight.
-
So, let's open our Bibles.
-
Look at Philippians.
-
We're just going to look at some of these.
-
Philippians 4:6
-
Somebody want to read
that if they find it?
-
"Do not be anxious about anything,
-
but in everything by
prayer and supplication
-
with thanksgiving,
-
let your requests be made known to God."
-
Tim: Okay. Don't be anxious for anything.
-
So, let me ask this question.
-
Is there a place for any anxiety?
-
If you're going to be honest to that text
-
what's the answer?
-
What's the obvious answer?
-
No.
-
But here's the thing,
-
Scripture will often make
-
dogmatic statements about something
-
when the truth is that the word
-
that's being used, like here "anxiety,"
-
don't be anxious about anything.
-
There are words in Scripture
-
that sometimes can be used
-
in a negative connotation,
-
and sometimes in either a neutral
-
or a positive connotation.
-
And what we have to do is recognize
-
how the word is being used.
-
There are places in our Bibles
-
where anxiety is actually a good thing.
-
But we have to understand it.
-
We have to understand it in context.
-
Because it's the same word.
-
It's the exact same word.
-
The exact same word can be used
-
in a good way;
-
it can be used in a negative way.
-
Can anybody think about any other word
-
that's used in Scripture
-
that can either be used in a bad way
-
and a neutral way,
-
or a bad way and a good way?
-
Same word.
-
World.
-
Following the course of the world.
-
Right there at the
beginning of Ephesians 2.
-
Obviously, dead in trespasses and sins,
-
following the course of this world,
-
following the prince
of the power of the air.
-
"World" there is bad.
-
Love not the world.
-
But, the world can be
that which God created.
-
What's another word?
-
Fear. Absolutely.
-
There is a bad fear.
-
Give me an example of a bad fear.
-
Well, we could say, Luke 12.
We just saw it.
-
"Fear not, little flock."
-
But then, I'm thinking of 2 Corinthians 7
-
where we're basically working out
-
this self-cleansing;
-
cleansing ourselves of every defilement
-
of body and mind.
-
Anybody know how?
-
Yes, bringing holiness to completion
-
in the fear of the Lord.
-
That is a good one.
-
Anybody think of any
other words like that?
-
Lust. That's another one.
-
Typically, when it gets translated "lust"
-
it has a negative connotation,
-
but the word is "passion" or "desire"
-
and it often can be a good one.
-
Any other words?
-
Hate?
-
Hate can be good and hate can be bad.
-
But that's got more to do
with the object of the hatred,
-
but yes, that could be in that category.
-
Law?
-
(unintelligible)
-
Yeah, there can be
different meanings to law.
-
That's for sure.
-
There are places like
where Scripture would say
-
that we're dead to the law.
-
Well, what that means is
-
whatever the law is there,
-
it's good that we die to it.
-
But then we're also living to another law,
-
so yes, depending on
how that word is used.
-
Maybe flesh has various
connotations to it.
-
Flesh can definitely be an evil thing
-
or a negative thing.
-
Works. Yes, works.
-
But anyway, you get the idea.
-
Anxiety falls into that camp.
-
I want to give you four of what I think
-
are the clearest New Testament examples -
-
when I say New Testament,
-
you have to remember
-
there is an Old Testament Greek.
-
It's the Septuagint.
-
And we can find the
word back there as well,
-
but in the New Testament,
-
the four most obvious uses.
-
And it's the exact same
word in the original.
-
Exact same.
-
One example would be found
-
in 1 Corinthians 12:25.
-
Let's look at that.
-
Somebody read that when you get there.
-
1 Corinthians 12:25.
-
"That there may be
no division in the body,
-
but that the members may have
the same care for one another."
-
Tim: That word "care,"
-
that is exactly the word
-
from Philippians 4:6 for anxiety.
-
Now the thing is,
-
you do have to recgonize this,
-
it's the same word,
-
but sometimes it's found
in the noun forms;
-
sometimes it's found in the adjective form
-
as we look at these different examples.
-
You have anxieties - that's the noun form.
-
Or being anxious - that's the adjective.
-
So, what we have here,
-
read that again about care.
-
Listen to this.
-
This has to do with being
in the same church together.
-
"That there may be no
divisions in the body,
-
but that the members
may have the same care
-
for one another."
-
Tim: See, the members of
this body have care.
-
This body is not this universal body.
-
You can't care for people
that you don't know
-
out in the middle of nowhere in China.
-
I mean, you might be able to support
a missionary that's going over there.
-
But the obvious implication here
-
of being a member of a body
-
is it's the local body.
-
You're living for each other.
-
And the actual word is:
-
you're being anxious for each other.
-
That's the word.
-
You're being anxious for each other.
-
I'll show you another similar usage
-
in 2 Corinthians 11:28.
-
Somebody can read that
when they get there.
-
2 Corinthians 11:28.
-
"And apart from other things,
-
there is the daily pressure on me
-
of my anxiety for all the churches."
-
Tim: Right, there it is again.
-
So you have members in the same body,
-
or members in this body
-
that are supposed to be
anxious for each other.
-
You have Paul who is admitting
-
that above all the trials
that he's dealing with,
-
one of the greatest ones
-
above and beyond them all
-
is the fact that he carries around anxiety
-
for the churches.
-
What churches?
-
Well, all the churches.
-
He even would write to churches
that he had never visited,
-
never seen them face to face.
-
And he would say to them
-
he's praying for them all the time.
-
He carried about a burden.
-
Let's see something similar.
-
Go back to Philippians 2:20.
-
I love this.
-
This is one of the great descriptions -
-
we often think about
qualifications for ministry
-
coming from the pastoral epistles.
-
Well, there are qualifications
-
that we can find in other places.
-
The book of Acts chapter 20 is tremendous.
-
1 Peter has some great
things to say about elders.
-
But this, what words are
spoken about Timothy!
-
You want to talk about
qualifications for the ministry.
-
Somebody read Philippians 2:20.
-
"For I have no one like-minded
-
who will sincerely care for your welfare."
-
Tim: That word "care" -
-
again, same word that we have
-
in Philippian 4:6
-
that says be anxious for nothing.
-
Isn't this interesting?
-
If you were listening to Paul speak
-
in the original Greek,
-
you know what he says?
-
He says to the church
-
I don't have any man like him.
-
He's anxious for you.
-
And then he turns around and says to them
-
be anxious for nothing.
-
And he uses exactly the same word.
-
Look, they're not going
to misunderstand him.
-
They recognize in one case
-
it's used in a very positive way.
-
In the other case,
-
it's used in a negative way.
-
Now keep reading. Who was reading that?
-
Keep reading.
-
"For all seek their own,
-
not the things which are of Christ Jesus."
-
Tim: Aye aye aye...
-
You talk about convicting!
-
When I read that,
-
every time I read that,
-
that is convicting.
-
I'm blown away by that statement.
-
Think about it.
-
How many men did Paul work with
-
over the years?
-
You just think through the epistles.
-
Who are the men that he names?
-
Who are the men that he's
sending in different directions?
-
He worked for a time with Demas.
-
We know Demas defected.
-
But he worked with Tychicus.
-
he worked with Onesimus.
-
He worked with Epaphras.
-
He worked with Apollos.
-
He worked with Timothy.
-
He worked with Silas.
-
He worked with Barnabas.
-
At least those guys.
-
He worked with Luke.
-
He worked with Mark.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
How about Epaphroditus?
-
He worked with all these different guys.
-
And yet, he's able to say,
-
nobody has the anxiety for your soul.
-
He doesn't mind his own things;
-
he minds the things of Christ
-
What a statement!
-
(from the room)
-
I think of Mary and Martha.
-
Martha actually told the Lord,
-
"do You not care that my sister
-
has left me to serve alone?"
-
But then Christ says,
-
"You're anxious and troubled
about many things."
-
(unintelligible)
-
Tim: Exactly, that's a bad anxiety.
-
So right there,
-
you care about the wrong things.
-
That.
-
That's at the heart of this.
-
See, this is really where we
want to make the distinction.
-
How do we know?
-
What are the tests?
-
When can you look at yourself and say,
-
wow, the anxiety that I'm feeling -
-
because look, if you
have the kind of anxiety
-
that Jesus says you should not have
-
and Paul says you should not have,
-
you know those are imperatives.
-
There are imperatives that are given
-
that say - it's a commandment -
-
don't be anxious.
-
Which means if you are, it's sin.
-
When you blatantly contradict
-
something in your life
-
that Scripture tells you not to do,
-
that's sin.
-
What is sin?
-
Sin is transgression of the law.
-
It's transgression of the commandments.
-
It's transgression of the will of God.
-
The will of God is what God
sets forth in His Word.
-
It's sin.
-
So how do we distinguish between the two?
-
Before we move on,
-
I want to give you one more example
-
of the positive use of this
-
and it's found in 1 Corinthians 7.
-
1 Corinthians 7:32-34,
-
we have an interesting usage
-
of the word anxiety several times.
-
Somebody that gets there,
-
you can go ahead and read
-
1 Corinthians 7:32-34.
-
"I want you to be free from anxieties.
-
The unmarried man is anxious
-
about the things of the Lord,
-
how to please the Lord.
-
But the married man is anxious
-
about worldly things,
-
how to please his wife."
-
Tim: Keep going.
-
"And the unmarried or betrothed woman
-
is anxious about the things of the Lord."
-
Tim: Okay, stop.
-
Now, look, isn't that
convoluted in itself?
-
Listen to what he says in v. 32.
-
He doesn't want them anxious.
-
And yet in v. 34, what does he say?
-
That the unmarried woman
-
is anxious about what?
-
The things of the Lord.
-
So when he says he doesn't
want them anxious,
-
is that what he's talking about?
-
Well, no, if you look at the flow,
-
it's obvious what he's talking about.
-
He comes along and he says
-
I don't want you anxious.
-
But there's a context there.
-
He's saying if you get married,
-
you're going to be anxious
-
about things of the world.
-
If you don't get married,
-
then you'll stay focused
-
and be anxious only about
-
the things of the Lord.
-
But that's a positive use right there.
-
Be anxious about the things of the Lord.
-
That's a good thing.
-
In fact, that's why he doesn't want
-
people to marry.
-
So any of you guys thinking
about getting married...
-
I still recommend marriage.
-
But okay, we don't need to sidestep.
-
But here's the thing.
-
There's good use. There's bad use.
-
You obviously see that from Scripture.
-
We looked at examples of both.
-
But the question that is on the table
-
is how do we know the difference?
-
Obviously, Jesus tells His disciples
-
don't be anxious.
-
We saw that in Matthew 6.
-
We looked at it today in Luke 12.
-
We heard from it our brother Tony
-
mentioned Martha.
-
Jesus said,
-
"Martha, you're anxious about
-
all sorts of things."
-
Good or bad? Obviously bad.
-
Why? What's the comparison?
-
Her sister.
-
Her sister who is not
full of these anxieties.
-
She's seated at the feet of Christ.
-
She's chosen the good part.
-
It wouldn't be taken away from her.
-
So how can we distinguish?
-
Because here's the thing.
-
I'll tell you this.
-
I have four children.
-
Somebody has said,
-
as a parent, you can only be as happy
-
as your saddest child.
-
There's something to that.
-
Do you know with every child that you have
-
a new set of anxieties?
-
(incomplete thought)
-
I went bike riding this afternoon,
-
which I typically do right
before this study with Craig.
-
And I told Craig that we had
-
a number of visiting families
-
and we had some people that were
-
looking at moving here.
-
We rode for a little while,
-
and Craig said something like,
-
I don't know if that's a good thing.
-
And I said, well, it's true.
-
It's kind of like a parent
having another child,
-
adopting another child.
-
With each family that comes to the church,
-
typically it brings responsibilities.
-
It brings anxieties.
-
Often, it brings problems.
-
And you know, if you think about it,
-
okay, Paul comes along and he says,
-
hey, I want you free from anxieties.
-
I just want you to be
anxious about the Lord.
-
So don't get married,
because if you get married,
-
you know what?
-
Then you've got concerns about a wife.
-
And if you've got a wife,
-
then you might have kids
-
and you've got concerns
about all those things.
-
And you know what?
-
You know what we could say?
-
I just want to withdraw.
-
I don't want to have a family.
-
I want to keep my distance.
-
You know, if you get too close to people,
-
then all of a sudden, you care,
-
and if you care,
-
it hurts.
-
And there's burden.
-
There's troubles.
-
Can you imagine?
-
There's that family that has 18 kids.
-
I thought about that.
-
Oh, 18 children...
-
it's like 18 children just multiplies.
-
I have four.
-
It multiplies by over four-fold
-
the things that you feel;
-
the potentials for them
to be in car accidents,
-
or get leukemia,
-
or to marry a lost spouse,
-
and the person divorces them,
-
or have your grandchildren be stillborn.
-
You could think that way.
-
And you know what?
-
You know what the truth is?
-
If I really don't want to have anxieties,
-
the best thing is don't be married,
-
don't have children,
-
certainly, don't be a pastor.
-
Don't be like Timothy.
-
Don't be like Paul who's got
-
all these anxieties over the churches.
-
Don't be like Timothy
-
who's got anxieties over
the people at Philippi.
-
Don't get close to anybody.
-
In fact, withdraw.
-
Go build a cabin out somewhere far away.
-
Listen, I'm serious.
-
If you do that,
-
many of the anxieties -
-
now, I know, you could all of a sudden
-
have anxieties that a grizzly
bear's going to come
-
carry you off at night.
-
But, what we don't want to do clearly
-
is fall into that thinking.
-
Let me tell you,
-
a lot of people that struggle
-
with anxiety attacks,
-
you know what they end up doing
-
in the midst of their anxieties?
-
They end up withdrawing.
-
They don't want to be around people.
-
Why? It's too much.
-
It's just too much.
-
It's overwhelming anxiety.
-
But here's the thing,
-
we need to recognize
-
that there's good anxiety
-
and there's bad anxiety.
-
The reality is to love more people,
-
it's like the body in 1 Corinthians 12.
-
You be a member of this body.
-
You know what it says there?
-
We weep with those who weep.
-
You know if you weep with those who weep,
-
like if it's really true,
-
you can only be as happy
as your saddest child,
-
the truth is if that's what
God wants from us -
-
we're to weep with those who weep,
-
then you know what,
-
loving people brings certain sorrows.
-
You know what the problem
is if you love people?
-
It opens you up to pain.
-
And it opens you up to worry
-
very possibly.
-
Because if you love somebody,
-
you're concerned about them.
-
And what we certainly don't want to do
-
as we try to steer people away
-
from the negative anxieties,
-
we want to at the same time
-
encourage that they embrace
-
the good anxieties.
-
So how can you tell the difference?
-
How can you tell Paul
-
who says, look, above all the things -
-
somebody look at that
text in 2 Corinthians.
-
That text was found in 2 Corinthians 11.
-
And the text specifically was in v. 28.
-
Maybe I'll read that one.
-
2 Corinthians 11.
-
Listen to this.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
What Paul's doing here
-
is he's comparing himself
-
to these false apostles.
-
V. 22, "Are they Hebrews? So am I.
-
Are they Israelites? So am I.
-
Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I.
-
Are they servants of Christ?
-
I'm a better one."
-
Now he's not speaking pridefully here.
-
He was a true apostle.
-
They were false apostles.
-
And he says it right away.
-
I'm talking like a madman.
-
He knew this sounds arrogant,
-
and he says I'm talking
like a madman here.
-
But I've been in far greater labors.
-
I've suffered much more
for Christ than any of them
-
because I'm preaching a
message that gets persecuted.
-
Unlike those guys.
-
They're ear ticklers.
-
They're man pleasers.
-
Anyway, look what he says.
-
"Far greater labors,
-
far more imprisonments."
-
Some of us have perhaps been in jail.
-
He was in jail for Christ's sake.
-
But not just that.
-
Countless beatings.
-
If we had one person in our midst
-
who had been beaten just once
-
for the name of Christ,
-
we would so highly esteem that person.
-
Any of you... (incomplete thought).
-
Kevin - he got punched right?
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Suffering for Christ's sake.
-
I mean, people that
are willing to do that.
-
I love that.
-
But he was beaten - he
didn't even know the number
-
of times he was beaten.
-
He was often near death.
-
Like he says at times,
-
they feared for their lives.
-
"Five times I received at
the hands of the Jews
-
40 lashes less one."
-
The most you could give
under Mosaic Law: 40.
-
So they always did 39
-
lest they should accidentally go over.
-
Can you imagine?
-
I've got a rod right there behind Wendy.
-
Can somebody imagine if I took that rod
-
and I beat you with it 39 times?
-
As hard as I could?
-
This is what he went through.
-
"Once I was stoned and left for dead."
-
We know about that account.
-
"Three times I was shipwrecked.
-
A night and a day I was adrift at sea.
-
Frequent journeys and dangers from rivers,
-
danger from robbers,
-
danger from my own people,
-
danger from the Gentiles,
-
danger in the city,
danger in the wilderness,
-
danger at sea,
danger from false brothers,
-
in toil, hardship,
many sleepless nights,
-
hunger and thirst,
often without food,
-
in cold and exposure
-
and apart from other things,
-
there is the daily pressure on me
-
of my anxieties for all the churches."
-
It's like he's gets done,
-
and it's like you want to know
-
what really is a burden to me?
-
Not all those things.
-
Daily I carry around this burden
-
for the churches.
-
We want that.
-
We want that kind of love.
-
That is a good anxiety.
-
We should pursue that.
-
But okay, how do we know the difference?
-
How do we know when we feel panicked,
-
or we feel cares, we feel burdens,
-
we feel anxiety, we feel cares?
-
What's a good mark
-
that the thing is good or bad?
-
Here's some things.
-
You guys can be thinking
-
if I don't hit on one that you think of,
-
I'll give you the opportunity
-
after I throw these out.
-
Number one,
-
here's a question that you need to ask.
-
What are you concerned about?
-
See, that's a good thing to ask.
-
Because I can tell you this,
-
every time in Scripture
-
that it's a good anxiety,
-
it's being anxious for people
-
or the 1 Corinthians 7,
-
it's being anxious for the Lord.
-
Versus the bad anxieties
-
which would be being anxious for money
-
or for clothing or for food
-
or for drink
-
or for the physical things.
-
You know what Paul said
-
when it came to financial things?
-
When it came to wealth?
-
When it came to provision in this world?
-
He said God has taught me
-
both how to be abased
-
and how to abound.
-
In other words, I don't
freak out either way.
-
He's taught me how to go through both
-
resting on Him
-
and trusting in Him.
-
He says this to the Philippians.
-
He's going to supply our every need
-
according to His riches
in glory through Christ.
-
It's going to happen.
-
He's taught us.
-
But think about what you're anxious about.
-
It doesn't mean that a bad anxiety
-
can't be attached to people.
-
But it's just a point well worth making
-
that when Paul was
anxious for the churches,
-
it was people.
-
When Timothy was anxious
for the Philippians,
-
it was people.
-
When you think about these examples
-
and then the 1 Corinthians 7,
-
where the person that marries,
-
he's anxious for the things of his wife
-
versus the girl that stays single -
-
she's anxious for the things of the Lord.
-
That's the first thing to think about.
-
What are we anxious about?
-
Is it people and is it the Lord
-
who are driving our concerns?
-
Or is it stuff?
-
Is it the fear of whether God's going to
-
provide for us?
-
Is it the fear of whether we're going to
-
get something that we think we want?
-
Even if that's a spouse.
-
Just panicking because you're not sure
-
about tomorrow.
-
You're just worried all the time.
-
How am I going to make it?
-
How am I going to take care of my family?
-
How is this going to happen?
-
So that's the first thing.
-
The second thing is this.
-
Look at Matthew 13:22.
-
This is the well known parable
-
of the four soils.
-
The third soil type
-
is found in Matthew 13:22.
-
The explanation, the interpretation.
-
Somebody want to read that?
-
"As for what was sown among the thorns,
-
this is the one who hears the Word
-
and the cares of the world..."
-
Tim: Right there.
-
The cares of the world?
-
That's the anxieties of the world.
-
Keep going.
-
"...and the deceitfulness of riches
-
choke the Word and proves unfruitful."
-
Tim: It chokes the Word
-
and it proves unfruitful.
-
Cares of the world
-
lead to no fruitfulness.
-
In fact, if you compare this
-
to the other Gospels,
-
what happens is it chokes,
-
it keeps the fruit from
coming to fruition.
-
Or, look at this text.
-
Luke 21:34.
-
Somebody read that when you get there.
-
"But watch yourselves,
-
lest your hearts be weighed down
-
with dissipation and drunkenness
-
and cares of this life
-
and that day come upon you suddenly
-
like a trap."
-
Tim: There it is.
-
Cares of this life.
-
Cares of this life.
-
You get weighed down by them.
-
And what does it say there in Matthew 13?
-
It said that there's a choking.
-
These cares choke.
-
And what happens?
-
There's not fruit.
-
And so the thing that
we need to ask is this:
-
Does your anxiety produce fruit
-
or does it choke it?
-
Because think about this.
-
If a person is having anxiety attacks,
-
and they can't even get themselves
-
to get out of their bed
or out of their home
-
on a Sunday to come to the service,
-
to use their spiritual gifts
to strengthen other people,
-
to encourage other people,
-
to get there to stir up one another
-
to love and good works
-
and not forsake the assembling together,
-
to get there and hear about
-
what's happening in other people's lives,
-
to bear one another's burdens,
-
to rejoice with those who rejoice,
-
to weep with those who weep -
-
if you're not able,
-
do you know what that anxiety is doing?
-
It's choking fruit.
-
Whereas Paul, thinking about
the churches all the time,
-
his care for the churches,
-
that didn't produce a choking.
-
That didn't produce a fruitlessness.
-
That didn't produce in Paul
-
a desire to fly away
-
and build a cabin out in the woods.
-
You know what it did?
-
Listen to him speak
to every single church.
-
He says I am constantly remembering you
-
in prayer.
-
That's fruit.
-
His anxiety caused him
-
to take those churches
-
before the throne of grace
-
over and over and over again.
-
It caused him to go to those churches,
-
to risk his life.
-
Do you remember what he said
-
to the church at Rome?
-
He says, oh, I have longed to come to you
-
that I might have some fruit among you.
-
He wanted to come and preach the Gospel.
-
He wanted his faith and their faith
-
to mutually edify each other.
-
Listen to how he talked
to the church at Corinth.
-
He talked about coming,
-
and what did he want to do?
-
He didn't want to come
and have to use the rod.
-
But he would if he had to.
-
Why? Because he would come
-
to set things in order.
-
What did Paul send Titus
-
to the churches in Crete to do?
-
Good things. Fruitful things.
-
When Paul and Barnabas
-
went through the churches in Acts 14,
-
do you know what they were doing?
-
They were encouraging the brethren
-
and appointing elders.
-
But good things.
-
They were risking their life.
-
They were risking imprisonment.
-
They were risking beatings.
-
Why?
-
Listen, when Paul said
-
that he could just as well die as live,
-
what did he say?
-
What did he say?
-
I desire to depart and be with Christ,
-
but what?
-
James: To remain in the
flesh is far more necessary...
-
Tim: For their sakes.
-
See, kill me. Chop my head off, Nero.
-
And I get to go to glory.
-
But you know what?
You know what's more needful?
-
Not that I fly away, build a cabin
-
outside of Frisco, Colorado.
-
He says it's more necessary that I stay.
-
Why? Because the people of God needed him.
-
See, this is what I would ask you.
-
Whatever anxieties you have in your life,
-
is it leading to fruit?
-
Because what we see
-
is that the anxieties of this world
-
choke the Word and there's no good fruit.
-
It doesn't come to fruition.
-
Versus the kind of care that Timothy had.
-
Listen, the kind of care that was there
-
in 1 Corinthians 12.
-
You've got this body -
-
this body full of these members.
-
And these members,
-
they have anxiety for each other.
-
And so what do they do?
-
They weep with each other.
-
They rejoice with each other.
-
And of course, that chapter
-
is speaking about spiritual gifts.
-
They're using their spiritual gifts
-
to build up one another.
-
You see, that's what you have to think.
-
Is your anxiety causing you
-
to pray for those people?
-
Is it for people?
-
Is it for the Lord?
-
And is it causing you to pursue fruit?
-
Are you anxious for the Lord?
-
If you cross reference what it says
-
about the young man who doesn't marry,
-
and the young lady who doesn't marry,
-
the young man, it talks about
-
being freed up so he can pursue
-
righteousness and holiness.
-
With the young lady, so she can
-
be anxious about the things of the Lord.
-
That's an interesting parallel.
-
What does it mean to be anxious
for the things of the Lord?
-
It means you're set
on a course of holiness.
-
You're set on a course of righteousness.
-
(from the room)
-
Early on, you were talking about
-
being anxious for people and for the Lord.
-
That text of Mary and Martha,
-
it seems to attach bad anxiety
-
with being distracted.
-
So Martha was distracted with much serving
-
whereas Mary, it says the Lord says,
-
one thing was necessary,
-
and so she chose it, right?
-
And she wasn't distracted
-
be the cares of this world.
-
They didn't choke out the Word.
-
She was focused on the Lord specifically.
-
Tim: I want you to think here.
-
You have one sister
-
sitting at the feet of
Christ as He teaches.
-
You have another sister in the kitchen
-
making food for Jesus.
-
Now I want you to really think about that.
-
We can fool ourselves.
-
And I think Martha did.
-
Martha believed:
-
what I'm doing, I'm serving the Lord,
-
and my sister is lazy.
-
And I need help.
-
And I think when she appealed to the Lord,
-
she fully expected the Lord to say,
-
Mary, get up off your rear
and go help your sister.
-
Because think if you're Martha.
-
Wasn't it Mary who brought out
-
the alabaster box
-
and she poured it on Christ?
-
Think about serving the Lord.
-
Serving the Lord.
-
It sounds good.
-
That's a biblical thing.
-
Here's the amazing thing.
-
You can get to where you're even anxious
-
about serving the Lord,
-
and it's a bad anxiety.
-
Because it's an anxiety that is the fruit
-
of not choosing the better part.
-
It's an anxiety that isn't focused
-
on the right things.
-
You see, Mary was focused on Christ.
-
And she sat there at His feet
-
and heard Him teach.
-
And this is subtle.
-
Because if you asked,
-
well, wait, isn't there good fruit
-
in making a meal for Jesus?
-
Yeah, perhaps, but here's the thing.
-
When we think about what
we're being anxious about,
-
I didn't put that in here,
-
but that is a good thing to ask yourself.
-
Is my anxiety -
-
even though it may seem good,
-
it may seem biblical,
-
it may seem right and righteous,
-
but is my anxiety causing me
-
to miss the best parts of Christianity?
-
Christ Himself.
-
Are my anxieties distracting me?
-
Because that's what she was.
-
You're distracted.
-
You're anxious and you're distracted
-
about many things.
-
Distracted from what?
-
She's chosen the good part.
-
That's a good question to ask.
-
Is my anxiety in any way
-
drawing me away from Christ,
-
even if it's serving Him?
-
Because I find this,
-
if I have a healthy anxiety for you
-
as a pastor,
-
it takes me to Christ.
-
It takes me to Him.
-
It takes me to Him to plead
-
for you to Him.
-
It makes me think,
-
honestly, I recognize,
-
what I'm preaching on
right now in the church,
-
that you really focusing
on the love of Christ
-
is the most healthy thing.
-
I recognize you beholding
the glory of the Lord
-
is at the heart.
-
So we need to ask ourselves that.
-
Do our anxieties cause us
-
to choose Christ and focus on Christ?
-
That's a good sign
-
that that's a healthy anxiety.
-
Or does it, even if it's serving Him
-
in a certain respect,
-
does it causes us to
be distracted from Him?
-
Good thought there.
-
Number 3 and closely associated to this,
-
how do my anxieties
affect my prayer life?
-
Because remember -
-
James probably can quote it -
-
Philippians 4:6,
-
"Do not be anxious about anything,
-
but in everything with
prayer and supplication
-
with thanksgiving..."
-
Tim: Did you hear that?
-
Prayer and supplication.
-
You are supposed to make your requests
-
known to God.
-
Here's the thing.
-
Be not anxious, but...
-
rather...
-
what are you supposed to be doing?
-
It's like Paul sets these things
-
against each other.
-
Anxiety over against
-
taking these things to the Lord.
-
I would ask you this.
-
A good indication as
to whether your cares,
-
your concerns,
-
your anxieties,
-
whether they're good or bad
-
is do they tend to take you to the Lord
-
in prayer?
-
Or do they traumatize you?
-
Do they cause you to neglect the Lord?
-
Do they cause you to ignore the Lord?
-
Do they cause you to be
distracted from the Lord?
-
What does it do for your prayer life?
-
Because you know what?
-
That parent who says
-
I have all these children
-
and I'm anxious for them,
-
well, when you say
you're anxious for them,
-
does that mean, like Paul
being anxious for the churches,
-
that you're taking your children
-
before the throne of grace all the time
-
and pleading, pleading on their behalf?
-
Like Job did.
-
Bringing that sacrifice.
-
Bringing that offering to God,
-
in case your children sin.
-
You're pleading for their souls.
-
Does it bring you there?
-
Or is it the kind of thing where
-
no, it doesn't.
-
You just worry, worry, worry, worry
-
and going to God doesn't help,
-
and so you don't go there.
-
You tend to neglect that.
-
Now that's a big indicator
-
that your anxieties are basically
-
coming from idolatry.
-
You've made too much of a god
-
out of the thing that
you're anxious about,
-
whether that be
your children or whatever.
-
But examine the prayer life.
-
I put here "good anxiety suffers."
-
We already kind of talked about that.
-
But obviously, if being
anxious for one another
-
means that we weep for one another,
-
it means if our brothers
or sisters are hurting,
-
we seek to enter in.
-
We don't seek to be distant.
-
And I guess that's one of the things
-
that we need to ask ourselves.
-
Are we pursuing those kinds of anxieties?
-
Are we seeking to feel
-
for what other people feel?
-
Are we seeking to enter in to bear
-
one another's burdens in that sense?
-
Because true anxiety -
-
the good anxiety -
-
is willing to feel pain,
-
obviously, from that
1 Corinthians 12 passage.
-
It's willing to feel pain.
-
It's willing to hurt with others.
-
(from the room)
-
Proverbs 12:25 says,
-
"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down,
-
but a good word makes him glad."
-
(unintelligible)
-
Tim: Well, let's talk about that.
-
I'll just shoot right to that one.
-
Read that proverb again.
-
"Anxiety in a man's heart
weighs him down..."
-
Tim: What proverb was that?
-
Proverbs 12:25
-
Tim: But listen to that.
-
Here's one of the questions I want to ask.
-
What did Peter say about anxieties?
-
Cast them on the Lord.
-
Can anybody quote it? I Peter 5:7.
-
(unintelligible)
-
"Casting all your cares upon Him,
-
for He careth for you." (KJV)
-
But think about that - casting.
-
You know, that comes from a psalm.
-
It comes from - somebody find this,
-
Psalm 54:23.
-
Somebody look that up.
-
Tony, throw me a water.
-
(unintelligible)
-
Psalm 54:23.
-
(unintelligible)
-
James: It's Psalm 55:22
-
Tim: Is it? Both my
numbers were off by one?
-
Okay, go ahead and read it.
-
James: Cast your burden on the Lord?
-
Tim: How was I off that much?
-
That's really bizarre.
-
Anyway, but listen,
-
I want you to get this,
-
because this is a big one.
-
And this is helpful.
-
Peter basically says
"cast all your cares."
-
Cast your anxieties.
-
In the Septuagint,
-
the word anxiety is
used right here as well.
-
And this is really where
Peter gets this from.
-
If you look at the word in the English
-
in our ESV and probably in
most of the translations,
-
it's "burden."
-
Cast your burden.
-
Okay, think about the proverb.
-
Anxiety does what?
-
It weighs us down.
-
Cast your burden.
-
A burden is heavy.
-
Let me give you another one.
-
Somebody look at 2 Corinthians 11:28
-
and read it.
-
This is of course Paul
talking about the churches.
-
Can somebody read that one?
-
"And apart from other things,
-
there is the daily pressure on me
-
of my anxieties..."
-
Tim: Right there.
-
The daily pressure of the anxiety.
-
Let me give you one more.
-
Somebody read Luke 21:34 again.
-
Because there is a recurring theme.
-
There is a pressure.
-
Proverbs says anxiety weighs.
-
2 Corinthians 11:28,
-
there's a pressure.
-
Psalm 55, there is a burden.
-
Now listen to what Luke 21:34 says.
-
Somebody read it.
-
"But watch yourselves,
-
lest your hearts be weighed down..."
-
Tim: Your hearts what?
-
Weighed down.
-
This is a big one.
-
What I would ask you is this.
-
When you take your anxieties to the Lord,
-
are you lightened?
-
See, I think you have a good feel,
-
and look, this isn't make-believe.
-
When a true Christian goes out
-
before the Lord and prays
-
and their heart is full of all manner
-
of cares and burdens and anxieties,
-
and you take those
-
and you cast them on the Lord,
-
if I have a burden on my back;
-
if I'm carrying a couple
-
40 pound bags or 80 pound bags
-
of concrete,
-
and I cast those on somebody else,
-
I feel it.
-
I'm lightened.
-
The thing that all these verses said
-
is a recurring theme.
-
I kept looking at this Greek word
-
in the adjective form
and in the noun form
-
and I just kept going
through them all today
-
and just looking at them
and looking at them.
-
And it jumped out at me -
-
this idea of pressure,
-
this idea of weight,
-
this idea of these things being a burden.
-
They weigh the heart down.
-
I know this,
-
if you're told to cast all your anxieties
-
upon the Lord
-
because He cares for you -
-
I know this,
-
that if you actually cast a burden on Him,
-
it's no longer on you.
-
And I know this.
-
I know the reality
-
of having such heavy cares.
-
Throughout my life,
-
there have been times
-
I have such cares about my children
-
or such cares about the church -
-
individuals in the church -
-
and you go and pray,
-
and it's just like,
-
yes, I can go forward now
-
because I've unloaded that.
-
I still feel the anxiety;
-
I still have a concern,
-
but the Lord had promised.
-
He's promised to help.
-
He's promised to be
One Who answers prayer.
-
He's promised to do all manner of things.
-
And I know He cares.
-
And I know He's working everything
for good for His people.
-
And I know that He loves this
church far more than I do.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
And this is one of the
things you want to ask.
-
Because I'll guarantee you this,
-
if you try to pray, you attempt to pray,
-
you're full of these anxieties,
-
you're having panic attacks
-
and whatever other thing,
-
and you seek to go to the Lord,
-
and it doesn't help
-
and it doesn't do anything,
-
you don't feel light;
-
you don't feel helped;
-
you don't feel that weight,
-
that pressure lifted,
-
then I would say there's something wrong.
-
Because casting those burdens on Him
-
should be a reality.
-
And if we're carrying anxieties,
-
we should be able to unload them there.
-
And if that's not happening;
-
if you're not feeling that freedom
-
and that lightening
-
and that weight and that pressure
-
being relieved,
-
then you're not really
casting your cares on Him.
-
So that's key.
-
I think that's so key
-
to examining your prayer life there.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
It's because the Septuagint
-
doesn't use the same Greek word there.
-
That's why I didn't find that proverb,
-
but that's very helpful
-
because it's basically
saying the same thing.
-
(unintelligible)
-
Tim: Lifting up your heart.
-
That's what happens when you feel
-
the weight come off.
-
And I can tell you, see,
-
I like to pray out in
these fields over here,
-
but I can tell you, there's been times
-
I've gone out that door heavy,
-
and I've come back in that door
-
a lighter man.
-
Now sometimes may not as light
-
as I would like to have been lightened,
-
but definitely many times much lighter.
-
(unintelligible)
-
Tim: I would not put a weight to it.
-
How about this?
-
I put this one:
-
Can we rejoice, sleep, play?
-
What I was thinking about here
-
is again, this weighed down thing,
-
but think about it.
-
Here's Paul with all these anxieties.
-
And yet, when he was in Philippi
-
and he got thrown in jail,
-
what did he and Silas do?
-
They sang.
-
What did Paul say to the Philippian church
-
when he told them they need
-
to be not anxious?
-
Take everything to God in prayer -
-
what did he say to them?
-
Just right in those verses?
-
In Philippians 4.
-
Rejoice in the Lord.
-
And again, I say, rejoice.
-
Sleep.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Think about it.
-
Herod just puts James to death.
-
And then he sees it pleases the Jews,
-
so what does he do?
-
He goes out and captures Peter.
-
Have you ever thought about Peter
-
when he was there in jail
-
and the angel came?
-
Do you know what the angel did?
-
Did he find Peter wide awake,
-
fretting that he was
going to die tomorrow,
-
wringing his hands?
-
Anybody remember what he did?
-
He kicked him.
-
He kicked him. He was sound asleep.
-
You ever think about that?
-
Here's Peter in prison.
-
He knows full well his close friend,
-
used to be partner in business -
-
in the fishing business
-
back there on the Sea of Galilee -
-
is dead.
-
One of the close comrades!
-
One of the Twelve!
-
He's the first one and he's dead.
-
They're just barely into the book of Acts!
-
And now he's been caught.
-
He's been caught. He's in prison.
-
Well, Herod did it to James.
-
And Peter's sound asleep.
-
So I would ask you this,
-
can you take your anxieties to the Lord
-
and put those on Him?
-
What was the guy's name?
-
Maybe it will come to
me as I'm telling the story.
-
Anybody remember the evangelist
-
who was evangelizing people
-
after the Titanic went down?
-
I can't think of it right off.
-
Yeah, there was one that drowned.
-
But there was another guy.
-
There was a guy who was in the water
-
in the North Atlantic.
-
It's in the dark.
-
And he found a board,
-
and he was holding on to it.
-
And he was able to get his
body on top of the board.
-
And he said,
-
"Lord, there's no sense
both of us staying awake.
-
So I think I'm going to go to sleep."
-
And he slept on that board.
-
And this guy was rescued.
-
There was a guy that was the last convert
-
of... maybe his name was Brown.
-
But he went to sleep.
-
I remember one of these last times
-
that maybe two or three years back,
-
Ryan Fullerton was at the
Denton conference with us,
-
and we were talking just about trials
-
that we'd gone through in the church.
-
And Ryan said -
-
I think I was telling him about
-
the number of things
that we were dealing with
-
at a certain time.
-
And he said, yeah, he said,
-
isn't it amazing?
-
He said I was saying this to our elders
-
the other day.
-
He was telling his elders,
-
we can be dealing
-
with five major problems in the church.
-
He said, any one of which
-
when we were young pastors
-
would have just traumatized us.
-
He says now we can experience five
-
problems of that magnitude
-
and still go home and
play with our children.
-
This is what I'm talking about
-
when I'm talking about:
-
can we rejoice?
-
Can we sleep?
-
Can we play?
-
You see, can you take your anxieties -
-
people that are suffering panic attacks
-
and they just want to
curl up in a fetal position,
-
that's not what we're talking about here.
-
We're talking about taking your fears,
-
taking your cares,
-
and being able to cast them on the Lord
-
to the place where you can actually
-
play with your children,
-
and you can actually sleep soundly,
-
and you can actually rejoice in the Lord.
-
You can go to church
-
and you can sing the songs
-
and you can be lifted up to glory.
-
Yes, there's still burdens there.
-
But you're able to unload them.
-
This is critical.
-
Maybe one more.
-
Did you notice
-
in the parable of the soils,
-
it actually says - yes, the fruit
-
doesn't mature,
-
but did you see what's actually choked?
-
It chokes the Word.
-
So here's the thing that I would ask you.
-
If you have anxieties,
-
if you have cares,
-
you want to know if they're good or bad?
-
Do those anxieties choke the Word?
-
What does that mean?
-
This is the Word.
-
You know what, you're living
-
with healthy anxieties
-
if you really care, you're concerned
-
about your holiness.
-
You hate the sin in your life.
-
You hate falls.
-
You hate coming short of Christlikeness.
-
You've got concerns.
You think about it.
-
There's anxieties.
-
You have anxieties about people
-
because you love people.
-
You care about people.
-
You want to see people make it.
-
You don't want to see people perish.
-
You have people in your life
-
that you've invested in.
-
You want to see them succeed.
-
You want to see them please the Lord.
-
You're invested in that.
-
Here's the thing,
-
do your cares choke what's in here?
-
Or do they fuel what's in here?
-
You see, the bad cares
-
choke the Word.
-
If your big concern all the time
-
is, "oh no, I need a better car."
-
"Oh no, what about the TV?"
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Yes, my air conditioning
was out last week,
-
but if that's all your living about -
the cares of the world.
-
Where you're so caught up
with the air conditioning,
-
and the car,
-
and you're caught up with money,
-
and you're caught up with retirement,
-
and you're caught up with your shoes,
-
and you're caught up with
what the Smith's have next door,
-
and you're caught up with your lawn,
-
and you're caught up with the garden,
-
and you're caught up with the trees,
-
and you're caught up with your stuff
-
and your hobbies,
-
and you're just so consumed.
-
Or even if you're caught up with people,
-
you're caught up with your kids,
-
you're caught up with
what you're going to eat
-
for the next meal.
-
You're just so caught up with these things
-
that you know what?
-
You don't really live for other people.
-
Think about the Word.
-
I was hungry and you fed Me.
-
But you're so concerned about
-
your own bank account
-
and your own shirts that you wear
-
and your own belt
-
and your own purse
-
and your own everything.
-
The cares of this world.
-
Oh no, what am I going to do for college?
-
What am I going to do for a job?
-
And you're so caught up in your stuff
-
that you never have time
to love somebody else.
-
You don't have time to
invest in other people.
-
You know, if you're really
anxious about somebody -
-
James was just telling me
-
about somebody he and his wife
-
have chosen to care for in another place.
-
If you choose to invest in people's lives,
-
you're thinking about their needs.
-
You're thinking about how to give to them.
-
You're thinking about how I can help.
-
You see, that's what judgment day -
-
Jesus says as much as you did it
unto one of the least of these.
-
What did they do?
-
You don't visit people in prison
-
unless you're thinking about those.
-
I mean, I don't know, how many of you
-
think about Johannes on a regular basis?
-
I know he's not there
because he's preaching Christ,
-
but he professes to be a Christian.
-
You know, if you think,
-
you feel sighs...
-
if you feel warm, fuzzy feelings,
-
but you never meet people's needs,
-
that's no different than you can
-
watch a movie that's a sad story,
-
and weep tears.
-
You know what that is?
-
That's just sentimentality.
-
There's no love in that.
-
That isn't the kind of anxiety.
-
Look, bad anxieties choke the Word.
-
Good anxieties do the Word.
-
In fact, good anxieties fuel
-
the commandments of Scripture.
-
When you care about people
-
and it produces anxieties,
-
like Timothy cared about the Philippians,
-
Paul cared about the churches.
-
You know what that does?
-
That fuels the Scriptures.
-
It causes us to all the more embrace them
-
and not be hearers only,
-
deceiving your own selves,
-
but to be doers.
-
Oh, I guarantee, true
and undefiled religion
-
before the Lord
-
is to visit the widow and the orphan
-
in their afflictions.
-
We have people - their Christian life
-
is just trying not to sin.
-
They're just trying to survive,
-
not falling into drugs,
-
not falling into alcohol,
-
not falling back into prostitution,
-
not falling into pornography.
-
They're just trying to survive.
-
Look, if your anxieties stop there,
-
that's not good.
-
The good anxieties in Scripture
-
is when you care about people
-
and it produces fruit
-
and it doesn't choke the Word.
-
It's consistent with keeping the Word.
-
You care.
-
You care and you invest your life.
-
You care and you share the Gospel.
-
You care and you give.
-
Good anxiety is an outflow of love
-
and love gives.
-
And people who give,
-
people who are anxious -
-
why would somebody be anxious?
-
When Paul says he's got this anxiety
-
for the churches, you know what it means?
-
He's thinking about them all the time.
-
You know, we're thinking about new elders.
-
I'll tell you, that's what you want.
-
You want men who are going to be
-
anxious about you.
-
That's a good thing.
-
I mean, if you find out,
-
wow, don't you want somebody like Timothy?
-
He doesn't mind his own things;
-
He minds the things of Christ,
-
and I have no one else like him,
-
and he's anxious.
-
Wouldn't you like to be able to say that
-
about all the elders at our church?
-
That we're anxious
-
for every single one of you?
-
God give us more of that anxiety.
-
There is a good anxiety in Scripture.
-
Something desperately to be sought.
-
We want that anxiety.
-
As parents, we want it.
-
As elders, we want it.
-
As Christians, we want it.
-
Anybody want to add anything to that?
-
(from the room)
-
Could it be said
-
that bad anxiety tends to be more selfish
-
and good anxiety tends
to be more selfless?
-
Tim: Yes, definitely.
-
The good anxiety is definitely
-
a love-motivated thing
-
where it seems like the bad anxieties
-
turn away from Christ,
-
they turn away from the Lord,
-
they turn away from others
-
and they bring the focus to us,
-
even if it's idolatry.
-
There's lots of people
that get really anxious
-
over family members.
-
They're just afraid.
-
They can't trust the Lord.
-
They're afraid something's going
to happen to my family member.
-
Somebody's going to kill my child.
Somebody's going to rape my child.
-
There are people that just can't
-
trust the Lord with those things.
-
There, the thing has stopped being love
-
because it doesn't trust the Lord.
-
Anything that doesn't
trust the Lord is not good
-
no matter what kind of
spin you're putting on it
-
because if you're not trusting the Lord,
-
and you're just freaking out
-
in a frenzy over -
-
oh, I just can't trust the Lord with this
-
and so I'm worried all the time.
-
Well, that's bad
-
because you're not trusting the Lord.
-
You're not seeing the Lord for Who He is.
-
You're not casting your care on Him.
-
It may seem like it's love,
-
but what it really is is idolatry.
-
You've made a god out of those children.
-
And you're not willing
to trust the true God
-
to take care of them.