Everyday Anxiety: Finding Freedom Through the Gospel

Allow the Holy Spirit to show you, through the hurts in your life, the idols and unbelief in your heart and path to repentance.

Matthew 6:24-34 - ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. 

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

³⁴ “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I wonder if sometimes we feel that the stuff that we read in the Bible feels disconnected from our everyday life:

• Does the Bible sometimes seem too abstract or too theoretical? Or maybe it feels like it's all about the distant past or distance future.

• Does the Bible apply to the problems that we're having right now - everyday?

Today, I want to try to make the Bible, the Gospel real to you. As an example, I'm going to talk about anxiety and Matthew 6:24-34.

An American Psychiatric Association survey in May this year found that 

• 62% of Americans worry about their family's safety

• 61% worry about bills or expenses; 

• 59% about their health; and 

• 40% about job security

So if you are worried or have anxiety - you're certainly not alone!

But let me first explain what is not in scope for today’s message:

• If you are having panic attacks, I’m not directly addressing that today but this may help you find the root cause of it.

• Some of you might ruminate, repeated thoughts, or video running through your head about something in the future that you dread or that you fear might happen, that ends in utter catastrophe., When that video in your head starts, it’s almost impossible to make it stop. Instead, you have to replace it with other thoughts and activity. I won’t address that today but I would suggest that you look at Philippians 4:4-9. Again, the majority of what I will talk about here will help with finding the root cause of your rumination. 

• Disclaimer: If you’re taking medications for anxiety or mental health issues, do NOT stop taking them without talking to your doctor or prescriber

What do I mean by anxiety or worry?

• It’s always about something in the future

• It might be that knot in your stomach or that pressure you feel in your chest as you anticipate something pleasant or unpleasant in the future or maybe it's a gnawing feeling of dread in the back of your mind.

• Maybe you have trouble sleeping or there’s tension in your body or your feel nausea.

• Worry and anxiety wastes our time and saps our energy from the things that God calls us to do

• Some of you might feel ashamed to have anxiety. Maybe you feel that you're an unworthy Christian because you worry. 

• We all experience seasons of anxiety or worry, but that does not make us better or worse than other people at church. We should not be ashamed about, suppress, or hide our anxiety and pain because God gave us those feelings, and we see them expressed in the Bible by King David and the apostle Paul. Even Jesus experienced anxiety in the Garden of Gethsemane, but without sinning. 

In order for us to “be a Christ centered diverse community caring for every generation in every situation," as our vision statement says, we need to set a new normal for us here. Pastor Alfonse has set the example when he talked about seeing a therapist for his anxiety a few weeks ago.

Let’s make this a safe environment where it is ok to talk about our feelings, hurts, brokenness, and anxiety, in church. It’s ok to say that I’m seeing a counselor. It’s ok to say that I need you to pray for what I’m going through right now – the emotional, spiritual stuff – not just physical ailments

In our anxiety, the Gospel leads us to seek out the idolatry, unbelief, and Kingdom of God in our heart and the Gospel brings restoration.

To make it more real when reflecting on your own anxiety as you apply Scripture, I will give my own example of anxiety and how the Spirit of God led me through it. You can apply a similar pathway for anger, depression, and lust.

I am currently getting a master’s degree in pastoral counseling. In May and June, I was experiencing some anxiety about starting a counseling internship several months in the future. It was just constantly gnawing at me in the recesses of my mind. I have read many books about counseling and written many papers about it, but it was a little scary to me that I would be counseling real-life clients, with real pain, real problems, who really expect me to help them.

That thought was on my mind and getting to me. There was this constant sense of the unknown or weight in the back of my mind. I have the ability to compartmentalize my feelings but this feeling of anxiety was in every compartment! And it went on for several weeks before I even realized it was there.  But when I did, I was able to name it as anxiety.

Now some of you might respond to that and say, "Well, Joe you need to trust God more." That’s correct advice, but how does that work practically? Is there is a slider somewhere in my mind where I push it to trust God 60%, 80%, 100%? 

Some of you might say that “Philippians 4 says to pray and make your requests known to God. Joe, you should pray more." But how does that work practically? Do I spend an extra 15 minutes in prayer? What do I pray about exactly?

In my anxiety, what actionable advice do I get from the Bible, the Gospel? It turns out that the Bible has much to say about anxiety and worry, in both the Old and New Testaments. We could do a sermon series on anxiety, but for today, we're only going look at one passage.

Some of you may be thinking that you cannot change who you are. You might think "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." I’ve got some news for you— you're not a dog.

But more importantly we're made in the image of an amazing God. The science about the brain, neuroscience, tells us that our brains can change. The Apostle Paul taught that almost 2000 years ago in Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Paul was no neuroscientist, but he followed the great God, Yahweh, who created each cell of our body and counted each hair on our head. 

You can change! The Gospel is all about change. The Bible says that we are new creations in Christ!

So, what did I do about my anxiety?

I acknowledged the anxiety and resolved to deal with it. The first thing I did was to find out a little more about the counseling and internship process and I found relief when I did so. Sometimes our worries are not based on facts or are irrational. A practical step is to get more information like I did in the case of the internship.

That took care of the feeling of anxiety. Some of you might stop there, but I think it is important to dig into the issue of why I felt anxious because that reveals the condition of my heart. Anxiety is like a “check engine” light that makes us look under the hood to find the real problem – the heart of the problem.

Let's dig into Matthew 6:24-34 a little and let the Gospel guide us.

In our anxiety, the Gospel leads us to seek out the idolatry in our heart. (Matthew 6:24-25)

I’m going to start with Matthew 6:25 because that directly addresses anxiety, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?"

This is the first of three times that Jesus says, "do not be anxious", so this must be important. But, verse 25 starts out with the word, "therefore", which means we have to go back to a previous passage and see what that was about.

Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” So, we can't serve both God and money. What is it called when we worship money, or something else, or someone else – instead of God?

Idolatry!

Now, some of you may think that idolatry means to worship other gods or statues of gods but we're generalizing it to mean the worship, reverence, or obsession of something or someone other than God.

So the word "therefore" in Matthew 6:25 points us to the idolatry in our hearts.

In our anxiety, the Gospel leads us to seek out the idolatry in our heart.

Some Christians would be quick to point out that anxiety is a sin. One reason is that our response to anxiety distracts us from Jesus. 

So what was the idolatry in my heart?  It is that I have a need to be in control. The internship seemed like a situation where I didn't know how it was going to work out. I was concerned about the results. I wanted it to go well. I wanted to be in control it.

Control is one possible idol that grips us. Some other common idols are the idols of comfort, approval, or power. Your idols may be any one of those or even a combination of them. 

You can see these idols when Satan tempts Jesus Christ three times in Matthew 4:3-11.

Jesus had been fasting, so when Satan said in verse 3, "And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”” He was tempting Jesus with the idol of comfort.

Verses 5-6 reads, “⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶ and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down or it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

Satan takes Jesus to the top of the temple and told him to jump. If Jesus jumped off the temple, the Father rescued him. Don’t do this, but imagine going to the top of the Empire State Building, jumping off, and surviving – not only surviving but being completely unscathed. What would the media say about you? You would become an instant celebrity! Satan was tempting Jesus with the idol of approval or recognition.

The third temptation is in verses 8-9, “⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.””

Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Christ would worship him. That was the idol of power.

In all three temptations, you can also see an element of gaining instant control in the situation, rather than letting it play out in God's timing. That is the idol of control.

My idol in this anxious situation was control. I want to control a situation when I don't have control and when I should really leave it to God. And more importantly it means that I don't trust that God is in control Of course, I had to repent of my idol of control.

Application 

Pray about your idol and repent. Philippians 4 says to pray and make your requests known to God. Some may pray to remove the source of the anxiety or fix the problem. But I would say to pray to ask God to reveal the idols in our heart instead. If God removes the source of the anxiety, there will just be another thing that makes us worry again. Instead, Pray for God to reveal your idol. Understanding your idol leads to freedom from it.

In our anxiety, the Gospel leads us to seek out the unbelief in our heart. (Matthew 6:26-30)

Matthew 6:26-30 continues, "²⁶ Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? ²⁸ And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

Here, Jesus gives us two examples and compares us to birds or flowers in a field telling us that God will provide for the birds and plants, so why wouldn’t he provide for us, we who are made in his image – we’re certainly more important the birds

This passage tells us a truth about God. He knows what we need and will provide for them. Note: needs and not wants.

Intellectually, we get this idea, It's silly for us to worry when we are known by and under the care of the Creator of the universe. Knowing this, I’m sure some of you still worry about whether you will have enough money or work to make money.

So why do we still worry? Verse 30 says, at the end of God’s promise, "O you of little faith." It's a faith thing— intellectually, we know that God promises to provide for our needs but we don't, in the core our hearts, believe that. Intellectually I know that God is in control, but in my heart, I didn’t believe it.

In our anxiety, the Gospel leads us to seek out the unbelief in our heart.

Why did I lack faith in God’s sovereignty and dominion over my life?

To answer that question, I had to look at my past, how my Family of Origin contributed to it.

For some of you with trauma or abuse, this may be very difficult, it may be triggering, to reflect on the hurts caused by your Family of Origin, in which case do it with a Christian friend, mentor, pastor or counselor. 

We are all fallen people and there is some element of brokenness in all families so by pointing out some issues with my family I’m not blaming or criticizing them. In fact, I had unforgiveness and anger about it, but through the course of lot of time God enabled me to leave my hurts, anger, and unforgiveness about my family at the foot of the Cross and find forgiveness and healing instead. That's the Gospel! That's the Gospel at work in my life! God empowers us to forgive because He first forgave us!

I explored the brokenness of my family to better understand myself. In my Family of Origin, there was coldness and distance; feelings were rarely ever discussed or expressed, except for anger. There was no empathy or affection, but there was much yelling and anger.

Now, that doesn't mean that my family didn't love me, they just expressed it in a different way, which I didn’t fully understand until many years later.

Consequently, early in life I found that had to take control of my feelings, because my family hid their feelings. I could not talk about my problems at home because I found that I got yelled at for doing that so I learned to solve my own problems. Consequently, I learned to take control of my life and my feelings. 

Now, some of you may think that is good, but what does this have to do with my idol of control? The same thing that I experienced with my family, I felt about God, our heavenly Father, I thought that He was cold, distant, and silent. Consequently, it was difficult for me to give control to a cold distant silent God. That’s not good!

Of course, I know intellectually what the Bible says Hebrews 13:5c, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And intellectually, the Bible screams of a triune God, the first family, that created us for relationship and gave His only son just to restore that relationship with us… So, clearly God is all about relationships but in my heart of hearts, I didn't truly believe that.

Application 

Pray about your unbelief. What truth about God does this show that you disbelieve. You may need a trusted Christian partner to help you with this one. Mark 1:15c says, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” How can I repent? Do I turn away from my unbelief and believe God’s promise? 

In our anxiety, the Gospel leads us to seek out the Kingdom of God in our heart. (Matthew 6:31-34)

Our passage for today, Matthew 6:24-34, ends with verses 31-34, “³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

For the second and third time Jesus commands us to not be anxious. 

Verse 33 tells us to seek the Kingdom of God first. What is the Kingdom of God and how do we seek it? Jesus taught many things about the Kingdom of God. One way to understand the Kingdom of God is that it is about the present and future rule of God over His Kingdom and in the lives of his subjects.

Jesus is telling us to “seek first,” that is, prioritize His Kingdom over any other kingdoms including our own little kingdom. As the followers of the King, we are to also seek first, meaning prioritize, His righteousness. This doesn’t mean that we need to be righteous to earn salvation but because we are subjects of the King of Kings, we need to pursue becoming more like the King in character and behavior. We’re to prioritize knowing Christ in our lives and becoming more like Him.

In our anxiety, the Gospel leads us to seek out the Kingdom of God in our heart.

How did I apply this to my particular anxiety problem?

After much prayer and meditation on scripture, I realized that it's not God who is distant, but I'm the one who is distant from God.

Instead, I needed to pay attention more to what God is doing around me, as well as what he saying to me. Then I can see that he's not silent at all and truly he will never leave me or forsake me.

To be more cognizant of what God is doing around me, I still journal everyday about it— my God sightings. This is making use of a spiritual discipline to develop an awareness of the presence of God.

My way of seeking the Kingdom of God is to prioritize looking for His presence in my life and to pay attention to what He is doing around me. Jeremiah 29:13 says, You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

And lastly, in Matthew 6:34, Jesus tells us to not be anxious for the third and final time, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.” There's also some practical wisdom here: Stay focused on today, don't worry about tomorrow, take one day at a time. 

I have to consciously do that to avoid anxiety: just focus on today. Sometimes our imagination can run wild with tomorrow, next week, and next month.  Just focus on today. 

Application 

Pray about how to overcome your unbelief by focusing on the Kingdom of God. This has to be done through the spiritual disciplines to replace our unbelief with a new and correct beliefs informed by the word of God. Let me give two other examples, other than my own, to help you pray and reflect on this.

For example, if we find that we really do have trouble trusting that God will provide for our needs, we might want to meditate on the passage we just studied in Matthew 6, and passages about how God has provided for His people throughout the Bible. We may also want to recall how He has provided for us in the past or how He has answered our prayers in the past?

As 2nd example, if we find that we are trying to do works to earn your salvation or to keep God from being angry at your sins. That means that we don’t really believe that when Jesus said, “It is finished” on the Cross, that it really is finished, that His death on the Cross was really all that was needed for the atonement of our sins. 

We will have to confess and repent our sins. Then, as a way to use spiritual disciplines to help seek the Kingdom of God, we might want to meditate on passages that teach the Gospel such as Ephesians 1-3 and develop a practice of preaching the Gospel to ourselves.

The Gospel brings restoration.

As I close, some of you are wondering how does my story end?

I don’t experience this particular anxiety in this particular situation anymore. And more importantly, I do experience God’s peace in it instead.

Moreover, I continue to be sensitive to God because continually repent of idols and believe in His promises.  It's part of the process to grow continually closer to Jesus.

The story really isn't over yet because you're never done growing closer to Christ. Mark 1:15 says to repent and believe. That’s not a one-time event because I continue in repenting and believing.

As you reflect on your life, the Gospel-centered pathway is similar for other struggles you may be going through such as anger, depression, or lust. 

• The Gospel is the Holy Spirit convicting us to repent of sins.

• The Gospel restores our relationship with God.

• forgave us through the blood of Christ.

• The Gospel is the ability to change because we are new creations in Christ.

  
  

• The Gospel rescues us from the ultimate anxiety - spiritual death. We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. But Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we might not perish but have eternal life. If the Gospel makes a difference in our life right now, in the stuff that happens everyday, we can also be confident that it will affect our eternal salvation too!

Action Step

The pathway is three action steps:

• Determine the idol in your heart, 

• Determine the unbelief in your heart, which is exposed by that idol. 

• And seek out a way to replace the specific unbelief through a deeper relationship with God using spiritual disciplines.

I know these are not simple steps to follow, so I do have a warning you. Our world conditions us to getting instantaneous answers from the internet, from google, from ChatGPT. God's economy is not like that. It takes time but it's worth it because it brings long-term healing in relationships, long-lasting freedom, it yields spiritual fruit, and most importantly, it restores our relationship with our Creator.

Do you see how the Gospel is not just a ticket to heaven but can be instrumental in healing even now?

Appeal 

Allow the Gospel to Transform you! Allow the Holy Spirit to show you, through the hurts in your life, the idols and unbelief in your heart and path to repentance. Allow The Gospel of Jesus Christ to brings life-changing healing and freedom from those hurts. And allow it to restore your relationship with our Creator, the only one that can truly make all things new. One day all of creation will be renewed, we will be with God forever, and we will have new bodies where we won’t have anxiety or pain or sorrow anymore, never again. The Gospel frees us from anxiety now and in eternity. That is the good news of the Gospel! 

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