Anxious for Nothing Session 2

[Music] [Applause] [Music] it had been a whirlwind crazy day for Elliot he'd flown into town earlier that morning for a series of critical meetings with his team and right from the start it had been a race to stay on schedule his flight was delayed his ride to the city went to the wrong terminal and as a final irritating anxious into the mess someone had pushed every floor button in the elevator when he finally got off it took all his strength to regain his composure and try to stay calm during the meeting that didn't last long about a half hour in one of the new members on his team made what he thought was a huge misstep Elliot spent the next two minutes in an angry outburst pointing out all the flaws in her plan it almost brought her to tears Elliot felt bad when he saw her reaction but he told himself the outburst was no big deal she'd get over it besides the new member needed to be set straight on what was expected of her the day finished with handshakes from everyone on the team now Elliot just needed to navigate through the hassles he knew would plagued him on his trip back home he flagged a taxi got in and took off for the airport the driver was making good time when suddenly a car jumped out of a parking place right in front of them Elliot saw the driver of the other car whip his head around and start swearing at them the taxi driver just smiled and waved back and apologized Elliot was livid why are you apologizing he said it was his fault he almost hit us the taxi driver looked back at Elliot through the rearview mirror there was a time when I would have let that driver have it he said I deal with drivers like him every day day after day it's all a matter of how you choose to react with that thought he turned his eyes away from Elliot and without another word delivered him to the airport with plenty of time to spare [Music] each of us has been through days like Elliot had these are the days when it feels like the world is against us piling one stress on top of another these are the days when it's tough to give a gentle response to anyone but if we were really to examine our situation I think few of us would argue that the Apostle Paul had it much worse in his second letter to the Corinthians he gives a brief rundown of just some of the trials he had endured in his ministry he says five times I received from the Jews two forty lashes minus one three times I was beaten with rods once I was pelted with stones three times I was shipwrecked I spent a night and a day in the open sea I have been constantly on the move I have been in danger from rivers in danger from bandits in danger from my fellow Jews in danger from Gentiles in danger from the city in danger in the country in danger at seas and in danger from false believers I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep I have known hunger and thirst and often gone without food I have been cold and naked besides everything else I face the daily pressure for all the churches that's quite a list and any one of these events could have brought down a torrent of worry and anxiety in his life any one of these could have caused him to react in a less than gentle manner toward God or his fellow believers the same is true with you while you may never be shipwrecked in prison for your faith beaten or put in danger from bandits you have your own trials to face you may spend a semester carrying a heavy class load you may fight the headwinds of a recession you may spend night after night at the bedside of an afflicted child or aging parent or like Elliot your trials could just be a series of unexpected events things that didn't go the way you expect it but no matter whether those trials are big or small justified or not you have a choice as to how you perceived them you also have a choice as to how you will react to them the truth is that when these stressful times come you'll be tempted to release angry outbursts a rash of accusations or fiery retaliation of hurtful words unchecked anxiety can unleash an Enola Gay of destruction that levels everything in its way just think about how many people have been wounded as a result of unbridled stress but also think about how many disasters have been averted because one person like the Apostle Paul refused to buckle under the strain it is this composure that he is summoning in the first triad of directives that he gives in Philippians 4 4 through 8 let your gentleness be evident to all the Lord is at hand do not be anxious about anything the Greek word translated here is gentleness describes a temperament that is seasoned in mature it envisions an attitude that is fitting to the occasion level-headed and tempered the gentle reaction is one of steadiness even-handedness and fairness it looks humanely and reasonably at the facts of a case its opposite would be a sense of panic or over reaction that this gentleness Paul says is evident to all family members take note friends since a difference co-workers benefit from it when the storms of life are raging and the ship is breaking apart the others on the boat may freak out but the gentle person is sober minded and clear thinking like Paul they look to God for the solution and they remain contagiously calm the contagiously calm person is the one who reminds the others that God is in control this is the executive who tells the company let's just all do our part we'll be okay this is the leader who sees the challenge acknowledges it and observes now these are tough times but we'll get through them this is the one who stands up in the midst of chaos and says let's take a moment to put this in perspective God is in charge and he will see us through now where do we quarry this gem called gentleness how can you and I keep our hand away from the trigger how can we keep our heads when everyone else is losing theirs we plumb the depths of the second phrase let your gentleness be evident to all the Lord is near the Lord is near you're not alone you may feel alone you may think you're alone but there is never a moment in which you face life without help God is near a friend of mine some years ago told me the story of how his six year old daughter in her hurry to dress for school tied her shoelaces in a knot so she plopped down at the base of the stairs in their house and focused her thoughts on the tangled mess the school bus was coming the minutes were ticking the stress was mounting but she gave no thought to the fact that her father was standing nearby willing to help my friend related that his daughter's hands began to shake and tears began to drop finally in an expression of total frustration she dropped her forehead to her knees and solved now that's a child-sized portrait of destructive worry a not fixation to the point of anger and exasperation oblivious to the presence of the father who stands nearby my friend took it on himself to come to his daughter say but why didn't she request her father's help to start with but we can ask the same question in our own lives when the stress rises and we find ourselves in situations over our head why don't we call out to God why don't we realize that God is right there with us we have to avoid the quicksand that bears the marker God has left you if we indulge this lie our knotted problem will only be amplified by a sense of our loneliness it's one thing to face a challenge but to face it all alone isolation creates a downward spiral of fret we have to choose instead to be the person who clutches the presence of God with both hands it's interesting to note that Paul intended the words of verses 5 & 6 to be read in one fell swoop the Lord is near consequently be anxious for nothing early commentators saw this john chrysostom like to phrase the verse this way the Lord is at hand have no anxiety Theodore Etta Cyrus translated the words the Lord is near have no worries we can calmly take our concerns to God because he is as near as our next breath this was the reassuring takeaway from the miracle of the bread and fish like the little girl with the knotted shoelaces the disciples found themselves in a situation they couldn't fix and just like the little girl they were only one request away from the solution Jesus had taken them on a retreat his heart was heavy by the new the murder of John the Baptist so he told his disciples come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while but then came the hungry crowd droves of people followed them a multitude of misery and sickness who brought nothing but needs John's Gospel tells us that Jesus lifted up his eyes and seeing a great multitude coming toward him he said to Philip where shall we buy bread that these may eat but this he said to test him for he himself knew what he would do when John described the gathering as a great multitude he was serious there were five thousand men plus women and children imagine a capacity crowd at a sports arena and you got the picture Jesus treated the people with gentleness he wanted to feed the entire crowd the disciples on the other hand they wanted to get rid of everyone and Matthew says that that evening the disciples came to him and said this is a remote place it's already late send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves I detect some anxiety in their words I sense a tone of aggravation and frustration they are a bit testy the followers typically prefaced their comments with the respectful Lord not this time instead they marched as a group to Christ and tell him what to do the disciples see a valley full of hungry people growling stomachs will soon become scowling faces and the disciples will have a riot on their hands now they had every reason to feel unsettled did Jesus think they had the keys to Fort Knox they didn't have resources for such a mob then again did the disciples not have equal reason to feel at peace you see by this point in their experience with Jesus they had seen him heal the sick calm a violent sea drive out evil spirits even bring the dead back to life did any of them paused long enough to consider that since Jesus had done all these things perhaps he could handle this pressing need that it occurred to anyone that Jesus was near and they could simply ask him for help the stunning answer is no they acted as if Jesus wasn't even present rather than count on Christ they had the audacity to tell the creator of the world that nothing could be done because there wasn't enough money the disciples disrespect didn't perturb Jesus or make him lose his composure he didn't look at them in the eye and say have you forgotten who I am rather Jesus just issued them an assignment they don't need to go away he said you give them something to eat well I am imagining a few shoulder shrugs and rolled eyes at this point the disciples huddle up and tally their supplies which consist of a lunch basket a boy has offered to Andrew Peter likely led the discussion with a bark let's count the bread one two three four five count five loaves Andrew you check me on this Peter then set aside the bread and inquired about the fish same routine lower number fish let me see one two three change that I counted one fish twice looks like the grand total of fish is to the aggregate was declared we have here only five loaves and two fish the descriptor only stands out as if to say our resources are hopelessly puny there is nothing left but this wimpy lunch Phillip added a personal audit eight months wages would not be enough bread for each one to have a bite the exclamation point was in exasperation point Jesus your assignment is too great now how do you suppose Jesus felt about the basket inventory any chance he might have wanted them to include the rest of the possibilities do you think he was hoping someone might count to eight well let's see we have five loaves to fish and Jesus the solution to the disciples problem was standing right next to them but they didn't go to him they stopped their count at seven and gave in to anxiety John tells us what happened next Jesus then took the loaves and gave thanks and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted and he did the same with the fish and when they all had enough to eat he said to his disciples gathered the pieces that are left over and let nothing be wasted so they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten not one coin was spent they had started the day with 200 coins they ended the day with 200 coins in addition they filled twelve baskets with food a souvenir for each disciple perhaps the people were fed the bank account was untouched and the disciples learned an important lesson anxiety was needless because Jesus was near that is the same lesson for you and me today now Jesus said in this world you will have trouble it's a promise on one hand you will have a problem on the other you'll have limited quantity of energy patience or time and what you have is nowhere near what you need you have a thimbleful and you need bucketloads perhaps in these situations your typical way of coping is to get anxious you tell God to send the problem packing you've given me too much this time Jesus but what if instead of starting with what you had you start with what Jesus has before you open the ledger open your heart before you count coins or count heads you count the number of times Jesus has helped you face the impossible and before you lash out in fear look up and faith take a moment turn to your father for help isn't this what Jesus meant when after promising we would have troubles he said but take heart I have overcome the world [Music] the world had certainly seemed to be against Elliott on that trying day even though he made it to the airport on time sure enough there was a weather delay on his flight home as he sat in a seat waiting for the hours to pass he thought about what the taxi driver had said he had been stressed frustrated and angry that entire day in what had had gotten him he had gained nothing through his anxiety in fact his angry outburst probably harmed any chance of shared trust with the newest member of his team Elliott thought back to the days when he was just starting out his boss at the time had been so supportive of him and had guided him back on course whenever he made a misstep he felt a weight of guilt descend over him why had he been so hard on her he looked around but all they could see were other anxious angry faces as they waited for a plane that was late in that moment he realized the taxi driver was right I think you will find that this business of anxiety management is like pulling stumps out of the ground some of your worries have deep root systems as some of your patterns of reacting to those worries are well engrained extracting them will be hard hard work in fact it may be the toughest challenge of all but you don't have to do it alone present the challenge to your father and ask for help well he solved this issue yes he will well he solve it immediately maybe or maybe part of the test is an advanced course in patience this much is sure contagious calm will happen to the degree that we turn to him [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Evan Asselstine

Views: 7,552

Rating: 4.8532109 out of 5

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Id: Q9q1n7EP0-0

Length: 20min 13sec (1213 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 30 2020