I was going to title this sermon “Overcoming our Fears and Anxiety,” but as I study and prepared, I realized that was too optimistic of a title. So I chose, How Christians handle Fear.
The language of “overcoming” makes it sound as if one can arrive at a place where one never experiences fear again. Where you are in “control” and never experience fear. Yet the very language of “overcoming”, especially in relationship to our fears, only reveals how misguided and often detached from real life and issues, Christians can become.
The Psalmist writes “When I am afraid, I will trust in You” (56:3). Not “if” but “when.” The Christ of the gospel doesn’t promise us that if we follow Him we can escape all the negative sides of this life. Instead, He offers something better! That is participation in a dignifying adventure, in which there is risk, fear, and many troubles, but that ultimately ends in the restoration of all things. He doesn’t promise a “fear free” journey but that if we follow Him we will experience joy and significance in God’s kingdom coming and will being done.
David Benner writes in his book: Surrendering to Love: “One of the things that block us from gaining freedom from fear is that most fearful people don’t think of themselves as afraid. Unless their fears are focused on something external most people in bondage to fear fail to recognize the true nature of their inner distress. Fear that has not found a way to attach to external sources is very hard to identify. It has many faces, all of which mask its essential nature. Some people fear intimacy while others fear solitude. Some fear loss of control while others fear a loss of image. Some fear the strength of their feelings while others fear the loss of some comforting feeling. Some fear attention while others fear neglect. Some fear life while others fear death. Some fear pleasure while others fear pain. Some fear loss of love, while others fear love itself.
But fear can be even more elusive than this. Sometimes it can have no face at all. If it is successfully avoided, it leaves almost no trace of its presence. And so those of us who are good at avoiding our sources of fear may come to conclude that fear has no part in our story. But we are mistaken. Fear—though not experienced—is still present and a source of bondage.”
It’s in moments like these where our fears begin to find an external focus that the dark presence of fear beneath the surface of our lives begins to raise its ugly head.
I. The first thing we must say is Fear is a fundamental part of the Human Experience.
You do not have to teach a child to be afraid. They have that built right in. It is Biological to some degree. You can visit the nursery and watch the babies and see some are relaxed, calm, and easy going and others are future lawyers. ;)
Fear was meant as gift from God to help us act in the face of danger. We are designed by God to flight, fight, or freeze.
Some may say, that’s part of being human in a “fallen” world but a “fallen” world is the only world humans are born into. Thus, we all experience fear. Some times fear has a healthy function. Fear becomes a problem when it begins to be the interpreter of our lives. Fear was never meant to be an ongoing motivator for human beings, but a necessary response to extreme circumstances. Thus, when fear or anxiety begin to take up more place in our soul’s than they were created too, it is unhealthy and unholy. Fear has a way of tethering us to something and pulling are attention away from the Father.
- Fear effects our vision. 1 Kings 19:3 (KJV) states, “When he (Elijah) saw it, he rose and ran for his life.”
- Fear ultimately effects and redirects our worship. Judges 6:10, “God told Israel not to fear the god of the Amorites, but they did not obey.” Few verses later calls it idolatry.
That’s why I do not think the right question today is “Should Christians experience Fear?” We are human aren’t we? That questions distracts us from the reality that we all do experience fear, Christian or Not. So a better question, in my view, is “How do Christians handle our fears?” That questions brings us to reality.
The reality that we, Christians, are human and yet, have resources available to us in Jesus Christ, His word, and by His Spirit that others do not have. Thus, what is it we do with our fear that is different than what the world does with theirs, is a fundamental questions of discipleship.
II. Dissecting fear
What is it that lies underneath fear? Of course, fear has within it the anticipation of harm, loss, pain, sickness or lack. But that “anticipation” has within it something else more closer to the heart of fear: loss of control. Central to fear is the loss of the ability to manage the outcomes of the future. Ultimately, underneath fear is the ugly truth that we as humans are frail, limited creatures.
There’s a story, Once after a recent breakthroughs in astronomy, a scientist having peered farther into space than any man had before, a scientist published an article that read, “Now man knows how small he really is.” To which the Journalist and Christian apologist, GK Chesterton replied in his article, “This only proves how arrogant the sciences have become, for man didn’t need to peer into the universe to know he was small. The humble man knew he was small compared to the nearest tree.”
The truth is we fill our lives with ways to live in denial, mere distraction from the reality of how “out-of-control” we really are. But denial is not faith, but fantasy. And the result of denial is not peace, but amusement, simple distraction.
We buy and spend money, stock pile resources, build bigger barns and ask God to bless, just to make sure. I am not saying we shouldn’t practice wisdom or what the bible would call the virtues of prudence and frugality. But these virtues, biblically were motivated by stewardship and responsibility, not fear and attempts to control the outcomes.
Let’s be honest, we are experiencing how fragile the “peace” the world offers really is. So fragile that toilet paper becomes an object worth fighting over. Fear often expresses itself in the need to find some mechanism for control, and that will eventually lead to attempts at controlling others. And it is impossible to love people when you are trying to control them. Thus, fear and love, though they may mutually exist in a person, cannot mutually exist as motivators. One or the other will be are ultimate motive. Often times, a sweet, loving demeanor is just the first way we go about controlling others to get what we want.
And here is starting place between the Christian way of handling fear and the worlds way. Christians can be honest about their own limits, frailty, and inability to manage the out comes. In fact, Christians are learning to be “ok” with things being “out-of-their control” because they believe the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was and is in control. Now Jesus Christ, the human, the Son of God, now sits on the throne of heaven and earth. “Jesus is LORD” was not just a marketing slogan of the early church, they believed that one controlling history was not Caesar, or any other kings, or other “god” but a man from Galilee, the One who was crucified on cross, resurrected, and ascended next to the right hand of God: Jesus Christ.
III. Look at the text. This is where our text for today starts, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
Paul before addresses our fears and anxiety calls to see, rejoice, literally, take delight, in the Lord. Take delight in the fact that you are not in charge of the world, but that doesn’t mean that the whole world is out-of-control, it means Christ is Lord of the all. It means that the one who refused to abandon us, when we were his enemy, because of His great love for us, the One humbled himself, and became a man, dying on a cross, for us is now ruling Heaven and earth!! He is Lord of all! Rejoice! And being Lord of all means he is Lord over my health, my finances, my children, my emotions, my community, or school, or state, etc.
This where are theology becomes embodied. “Jesus is Lord” is not a bumper sticker but a way of living and being in the world. It comes with all kinds of implications regarding how we handle issues of this life. We must constantly fight against the deception that we can have a theology we believe without a life that practices. To say we trust that Jesus is Lord, but then to act like the world, is to be in denial or mistaken about what we believe. It’s a time to “rejoice in the Lord” because that is good news. It’s good news that I am not in control nor you, nor the president nor a virus, nor china, etc. But a loving and powerful Jesus Christ.
Like Isaiah in temple in Isaiah 6, in a time of civil unrest and uncertainty had a vision of the God seated on the throne. He saw also the Lord. We as christians can look honestly at the world and see the uncertainty, see the danger, see our limitations but thence look up and see also the Lord.
Pauls next point, is that the reality of Jesus being Lord and are delighting in that produces a “gentleness” or “reasonableness”.
“Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.” (vs 5)
Definition of this greek word: it expresses that considerateness that looks "humanely and reasonably at the facts of a case; fair, equitably.” Delighting in Jesus’ Lordship produces a gentleness born from the liberty that I do not have to fend for myself. The care-free life (not problem free) that Jesus lived and modeled for us, is produced by believing, rejoicing, delighting, enjoying that Jesus is Lord. (we magnify what we enjoy!)
One of the reasons Christians practice generosity in moments like this is preciously because we do not trust in our riches but in Jesus. We believe what we possess came from God and He will continue to provide for us. So I encourage to you, as Pastor mentioned at the start of our service, to continue to practice generosity for it is and expression of our faith in Christ. Gentleness, is what faith looks like in the face of fear.
Paul further intensifies His point by the realization, “The Lord is at hand.” (vs 5). It is the goodness and greatness of Jesus and His Lordship that produces a calming disposition of gentleness. But He continues with the good news. This Lord is close. The Lord draws near to his people. The Lord is not off busy running the world, but knows the pain of your situation, the grief of your loss, the fears and insecurities of your heart.. This Lord is not only good and powerful, but caring and intimate!
This is the Christian’s hope. Not a petty “mechanism of control” like money, nor power but the personal attentiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ! Our hope as Christians is that the Lord of the Earth is personally attentive to our lives and situation.
*Fear, all fear, has underneath it a concern for how we are going to manage the future and Christians have had the same answer for 2,000 years. We don’t need to manage the future, we trust that to Jesus, who loves us and claims as His own.
When the world fears, it obsesses over locating mechanisms of control. Whether that be power economically or through violence. Resources, wether that be water, toilet paper, oil or gold. When afraid the world reaches out to find some means of control. But not so with Christians, for Paul writes,
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God” (vs 6,7).
The world when afraid reaches out for control. The christian when afraid reaches out to God.
Christians when afraid, reach out to God the Father, through Jesus Christ! Just at Paul reminds in Phil. 2:6,7 that thought Jesus was equal with God, He “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant.” Jesus did not reached for power or position, but emptied Himself for the purposes of His Father.
How do we reach out to God? (the practice)
1. “BY prayer”: prayer is the mechanism by which we process and release our fears. This word here for prayer, implies conversation, dialogue, a back and forth of communication between two people.
In other words, what are we to do with our fears? Bring them into our conversations with God. Name your fears and discuss them with God. “God, I am afraid I am going to lose my job.” Or “I’m afraid that having lost my job I want find a new one in time to meet all the demands of life.” “God, I’m afraid the world is going crazy.” God, I am afraid I may hurt my children if I am home with them for 4 weeks.” God, I’m afraid I’m not worthy of love. “God, I’m afraid You won’t come through for me in my time of need.” “God, I’m afraid if I trust you, you will let me down.”
Bringing your fears into conversations with God, first, helps you to name your fears, find the language for them. You cannot release, surrender, or yield or even rebuke something you cannot name. Naming our fears is one of the first steps of “defanging” our fears; that is means to decrease their power over our lives.
Ask Him questions about your fears like: what am I really afraid of in this? What is it I am anticipating will come? What about this issue is impacting me so deeply? God, what do you have to say about this fear? What are you wanting to be for me that I cannot be for myself? Then listen. It’s a conversation!
In conversation with God about your fears, you will be discussing your fears and even examining them at times, we are also in the presence of and tethered to Jesus! In conversation with God about my fears, God becomes an anchor for me.
2. supplication: desire, want, need.. almost a begging or deep cry.
Dallas Willard once said, “Our prayer life will languish when we separate it from our hearts desire.” Your desires may not be godly or God’s best for you, but one of the ways He goes about changing our desires is by calling us to supplication. When I am honest about what I think I need, desire, etc. my soul is laid bare before the God who loves me unconditionally. Then God can either answer my prayer or create in me a new heart with more godly desires.
Our need is usually different from the what we think will satisfy it. A teenager tells his dad, he “needs” a new truck. What he might be saying is I need to feel validated among my peers and i think a new truck will get me that. OR I need to know I am significant and may be if everyone noticed me and my new truck I’ll get that. But the new truck has little to do with the hearts deepest need. And we are usually no different.
What do your fears say about what it is you need? Do you need to feel secure and think money or control will do that? Do you think toilet paper and a two year supply of can goods is going to give you that? Do you need peace and think more knowledge and understanding of all the data and the latest information is going to provide that for you? By prayer we name our fears, by supplication we discover our needs.
Paul then reminds us of the attitude in which we are to do this: Not as beggars but as children of the living God:
3. with Thanksgiving: gratitude or appreciation.
Paul is not clear here if we are thanking God for His future provision that follows our supplication or thanking God because of his past provision, but either way gratitude produces humility; and humility produces trust and trust in God is the Christian alternative to fear-driven attempts at controlling our world.
Thanksgiving draws our attention to God’s faithfulness and it is precisely God’s character of faithfulness that we are putting our trust in. Why would a person- knowing the limitations of their abilities- only trust themselves when the God of all creation, who has been faithful to us in Jesus Christ, offers you peace?
4. Present your request to God
Request is the dynamic of a loving relationship. Christians, live by faith which means we live by request, which is another name for prayer. “You have not because you ask not” which is not an encouragement of materialism, in which we use God to get more stuff. It is the invitation to make ourselves vulnerable to the God who has made himself vulnerable to us, first.
God has called us to pray, to ask, to make a request of him. How amazing is that! Imagining you lost your job, and one your home totaled your car? Scared, afraid. Now imagine those same things happened, but your Dad is Bill Gates? Still afraid? Probably not. How much more shall we the children of God worry about our provision (clothes, food) when God is our Father?! Who told us “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matt. 7:9-11)
It is impossible to live trusting God and not live by request or prayer. To request something of God is to live in trust of His love, His power, His promise, and His timing.
God’s Response to our Request:
“And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and mind in Christ Jesus.” (vs 7)
When Christians are afraid they reach out to God through conversation, supplication, in gratitude, make a vulnerable request, the result is not always immediate breakthrough, but something of greater value; the peace of God. Not the fragile “peace” of this world that is here today and gone tomorrow; the worlds peace that takes the form of control and mistrust. But rather the peace that belongs to or derives from God, Himself.
Pause for moment and think about how peaceful it must be to be God? It is that very peace, the peace that comes from the community of perfect love called Trinity, that God shares with us as we bring our anxieties and fears to Him. Again, we see the gospel and the beauty of God. We bring the worse parts of us, our fears, insecurities, anxieties and God gives of Himself. He shares with us His own peace.
God’s wisdom allows what His power could prevent so that our fears will come to the surface, so that He can exchange our fears for His perfect peace.
This peace of God guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
The fragile “peace” of the world is completely dependent on humanities ability to mange the outcomes of the future. At the heart of the world’s peace is fear and mistrust which requires constant vigilance, protection, and calculating possible future events. Which we are currently seeing how unpredictable the future can be. And this kind of peace is always pseudo peace, because it produces a heart motivated by fear and a mind that is constantly at work to gain more data and understanding to secure outcomes.
The Peace for Christians is the very peace of God. A peace that rest in the reality that our good Creator God, the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, is managing not only the world but my life. Therefore, through God’s peace my heart is guarded from fear and idolatry. The peace of God guards my mind from the exhausting, never ending drivenness to understand everything, so that I can extrapolate that into the future and better manage the outcomes. My mind can be fixed on Him, because I trust in him.
“IN CHRIST JESUS” means in the reality of all that God has revealed about Himself in the coming of Jesus, the crucifixion of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus and the seating of Jesus at His right hand. God’s love for us and whether or not He is worthy of our trust is never to be determined our present circumstances or crisis but by the historical fact that God stepped into the world and suffered Himself for us and as us, in the person Jesus Christ. God’s heart for you and His trustworthiness is forever settled because of what He has done in Jesus! God’s love for you is never on trial!
This brings us to Pauls conclusion to our text today:
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 What you have learned[e] and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
When the world, in fear, is seeking mechanisms to control the outcomes of life; focused almost entirely on the future and how to predict and prepare, Paul urges Christians to focus their attention and minds on the good things God has done and is doing. Christians, after bringing our fears into conversation with God, discovering and communicating our needs (supplication) in gratitude make our request to God, and receive His peace, then focus our attention not on what God hasn’t done, but on the good God had done and is doing. Then we join Him in it. Why the fearful world is driven to secure their provision and protection, Christians a free to love, serve, give, and contribute to the good things God is doing around us.
The peace of God frees us from the burden of self-sufficiency so that we can be ambassadors of peace in a terrified world. It’s hard to be a peacemaker when your preoccupied by your own provision and protection, relying on your own self-sufficiency.
That is where Paul concludes: “practice these things....” Paul has brought together contemplation and mission, the inner-life and outer-life, the spiritual and the practical, God’s love for us and God’s love for the world. Story of pastor “I’ve heard this kind of thing 3 or 4 times in my 30 years.”
And we do all these things in the quiet confidence that the “God of peace will be with us.” We can act in bold love in times of uncertainty because we know that God acts with us. We are not alone so let’s not act like.
Conclusion:
What if all our’s and the world’s desperate attempts at controlling the outcomes of the future, which give rise to some of the most base and unspeakable evils, were all trying to obtain the some peace?
What if all the hoarding, stealing, fighting, greed, selfishness, violence that marks a world away from God, were simply humanities attempt to grasp with their own hands that peace which God gladly gives for free to those who will come, ask and trust?
What if the only way the world can come to see that these desperate attempts at grasping for control are futile, that the Lord of All, Jesus Christ, holds out peace, is through a church who embodies that peace in uncertainty?
How the church responds in moments like these will either betray the message we are called to share with the world, or embody it leading to a deeper and more convincing witness. That’s what Paul states in Phil. 2:27-28, “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ... standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything...this is a clear sign to them..of your salvation.”
WE BRING GP2RL ACTION POINT: Have a deep conversation with God about your fears this week! Journal your prayers and how you sense He responds.
Discussion Questions:
What fears do you need to bring into your conversations with God?
What do you avoid in order to keep from experiencing fear?
What are some common “mechanisms of control” you reach for when you feel afraid?