The Sinfulness of Worry | Doug Wilson

the text this morning is from philippians chapter 4 verses 4 through 7. these are the words of god rejoice in the lord always and again i say rejoice let your moderation be known unto all men the lord is at hand be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto god and the peace of god which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through christ jesus our father and gracious god we thank you for the kindness that you've shown to us we thank you for gathering us together like this we thank you for your word we thank you for your spirit that illuminates your word and i pray that all of us would be working together this morning so that we would understand what you were saying to us and what you would have us do we pray in the name of jesus and amen i'd like to speak to you today on the sinfulness of worry and that began that brings to mind the um immediately brings to mind the old preacher's joke of um personers going out of the sanctuary after the service and and somebody says that was a fine you were preaching really well there for a bit but then you got to meddling in and so the the the course before us this morning is is to meddle a little bit in times like ours there is a lot to worry about right if we are not worried about the corona virus killing us all dead we are worried about panicked overreactions to the coronavirus killing our businesses dead and if that and that's just the latest layer that's just the most recent layer before all this we had before the year 2020 happened to us we had our hands full with 2019 and we had our hands full of 2018 there's always been something to worry about everybody in this room has at least three worries right minimum right and so we like to think that our in under the press of worry under the as worries crowd around us we like to think and this is this is the situation of everybody who's being pressed to capitulate to a temptation we like to think that no temptation is like mine other people don't know what it's like you don't understand what it's like you you don't if somebody if somebody comes to you to try to encourage you you the the very natural carnal fleshly reaction is you don't know what it's like and god himself can come to you and he knows every aspect of what it's like and we want to say to him but you don't know what it's like and he sent his son incarnate to live a life just like ours so he knows exactly what the the press of responsibilities he knows exactly how the press of responsibilities feels he knows that perfectly and we we want to say to him that you don't know what it's like we like to think that our situation is unique thereby proving that it's not unique at all everybody thinks that all sinners in the middle of a temptation like like to think that there's something special about this one there's some reason why the promises of god don't apply to this one there's some there's some reason why the resources that are available in the word of god don't apply here so we like to think as we're children of modernity we like to think that our situation is somehow unique we this is the modern world this is the fast lane world this is the world in which there is an awful lot to worry about we live in the modern age and so our worry or anxiety is somehow justified but it isn't it's not at all it never has been never it never is justified but it particularly in our case across many historical studies before the modern era about a quarter of all children didn't make it to their first birthday about 25 percent of all children didn't make it to their first birthday before the modern era another quarter of them didn't make it past puberty so half of all children died before they reached adulthood before the modern era and be and from 1500 to 1800 general life expectancy was somewhere between 30 and 40 years old now tell me how people in the modern era have a lot more to worry about so tell us some more about your great troubles methuselah you you might not make it to a thousand a lot of our problem is ingratitude so we we have some we have worries we have challenges we have weight to carry we have burdens that god has assigned to us all of that is very true and everything hinges on the response that we have to the weight that god gives us to carry so let's consider the teaching of this text when it comes to our base coat demeanor when it comes to the baseline paul gives us our foundational marching orders he tells us to rejoice always that's in verse 4 and then he repeats himself for emphasis rejoice always he says and then he says it again again i say rejoice the kjv translates the next word as moderation which we would call gentleness verse 5 let your gentleness be evident to all we are to do this because the lord is at hand verse 5. and in the next phrase he says that we're to be anxious about nothing verse 6. kjv says careful about nothing that is referring to anxiety or worry be anxious for nothing and you see how the rejoicing that's commanded in verse 4 and the anxiety that is prohibited in verse 6 are two things that do not go together you can't be rejoicing always you can't be rejoicing in the lord and all tied up in knots if you're tied up in worry knots you're not rejoicing and if you're rejoicing you're not tied up in worry knots now instead of being anxious about whatever it is that you're that's on your mind he says that we are to present our request to god in our prayers and supplications verse 6. present your request to god make your requests known unto god verse 6. we are to make them known to god but not because god doesn't know them this this is how paul expresses it make your request known to god but you're making your request known to the god who knows them all you're making your request known to the god who already knows them so why are you doing this the reason we make our request known to the god who already knows them is so that we might know that he already knows them we take them to god so that we can understand there's a connection between this burden that i've got and the god who answers prayer if we don't take our requests to to the god who knows them then we won't know that he cares we won't know that he relates to these things we won't know that he is the god who undertakes on behalf of his people so we are to make them known to god so that we can know that god already knows them moreover and this is crucial we are told to present these prayers and supplications to him with thanksgiving this is i think the key to the whole passage and i'm going to circle back around to that later this is key as we're going to see shortly when we do as paul instructs here we find that the anxiety is dealt with when we do what paul says to do we un we come to the point where we can do what he says in the first breath rejoice always when we follow his instructions present your prayers and supplications to god with thanksgiving we find that that banishes anxiety and we find that it makes room for joy it makes room for rejoicing and it banishes anxiety so when we do what paul instructs us we find the anxiety is dealt with well how's that the peace of god which transcends all understanding will keep or protect our hearts and minds in christ jesus when your heart and mind is protected by the peace of god it is then and only then it is then possible to rejoice it is then possible to be free of anxiety if the peace of god is surrounding you if the peace of god is your fortress if the peace of god is protecting you it is possible as the great hymn says uh glorious things of the are spoken from the city walls of god city you can smile at all your foes if you're standing on the city wall looking down on your foes you can smile at all your foes but only if you're in that fortress only if the peace of god is surrounding you so the peace of god which transcends all understanding will keep or protect our hearts and minds in christ jesus then it's possible to sing for joy then it is possible to be free from anxiety and not otherwise now we want to th this is a common text a lot of people are familiar with this passage and it's very easy for christians to say yeah worry is a problem yeah worries a difficulty i shouldn't worry yes worry is even a sin but you know you just struggle against it as best you can and you don't expect anything to happen well that's not what paul wants us to do because we don't have great experience or full experience with the peace of god we tend to assume that it's a very frail little thing we tend to assume that it is a delicate flower we think that the peace of god is a delicate flower and we must protect it and we're not very good at protecting things that are that delicate we think that the peace of god is at this at the center of our our house our our life is a drafty old house and in the middle of that drafty old house is a little tiny candle called the piece of god candle and it's a guttering candle and the flame is constantly flickering and it's drafty and if somebody opens the door and you panic and you know because at any moment the peace of god might go out because my drafty house can't protect the peace of god now the problem with this well the problem with this is that it's utterly and entirely wrong other than that okay but it's wrong we know we know that we ought to enjoy the peace of god and so we resolve to do better we set our hearts and minds to higher and nobler deeds saying to ourselves that we will protect that poor little piece of god by means of our own resolutions i'm not at peace so i'm going to pedal harder i'm not a p this is a long sloping hill and i can't see the top of it and so i'm going to i'm just going to gut it out well i can guarantee you that gutting it out trying to get to the top of the hill you that you can't see the top of is not the way to peace that's not the way of that's not the way to serenity the fundamental thing about this whole approach is that it's completely upside down and backwards it's it's the photo negative of what paul tells us to do here it's the photo negative of what paul's describing for us our hearts and minds are not to protect the peace of god god does not want you to protect the peace of god with your heart and with your mind it says that the peace of god which passes understanding note or the peace of god is a shield and the peace of god is an invisible shield it people don't that people don't get what's going on the people at work the people uh in your neighborhood that you have some affliction you have some challenge you have some trial and things are bouncing off of you and and they know that you're a human being they know that you're flesh and blood they know that you've got this weight that you're carrying and they don't see what it's bouncing off of they don't see what's protecting you so our hearts and minds are not to protect the peace of god it says that the peace of god is the thing that's going to guard your hearts and minds in christ jesus trying to protect your peace trying to protect your peace with good resolutions is like trying to protect your helmet with your head it's that backwards it's that wrong-headed you're trying you're going into battle carrying your helmet under your arm and whenever someone takes a swing at your helmet for some mysterious reason it's not the football they're not trying to knock it loose you're carrying your helmet and what you do is you put it behind you stick your head in front of it to protect your helmet got to protect the helmet the helmet's very important i've read in all the books i remember from boot camp they told me how important the helmet was it's like trying to protect your breastplate with your stomach carrying your breastplate behind you charging them with your stomach maybe this this is the kind of insanity that maybe we're hoping to unsettle the enemy these people are crazy it's like trying to protect your shield with your neck and maketh no sense man no sense now there's a difference between the peace of god which passes understanding which transcends understanding and those things that we do that violate understanding there's a difference between something that goes beyond what we can comprehend and something that simply insults what we comprehend you don't protect you don't protect your helmet with your head you don't protect your breastplate with your stomach you don't protect your shield with your neck the peace of god is the armor the peace of god is that which that which does the protecting the peace of god is your shield it's your buckler it's your fortress it's your city wall the peace of god protects you you don't protect the peace of god now okay this is different so i'm not supposed i'm not responsible to maintain the peace of god no you're not responsible to maintain the peace of god you're responsible to let the peace of god maintain you it it is the fortress your job is to get in the fortress it's the shield your job is to get behind the shield it's the helmet your job is to put the helmet on you don't but you don't do the work of the helmet you don't do the work of the shield you don't do the work of the fortress you don't do that that's not your task paul says explicitly and the peace of god which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in christ jesus god protects you you you you must not go into your christian life saying i'm going to be my own savior and i'm going to summon jesus jesus in from time to time to be my junior assistant savior jesus is not here to be your junior assistant savior to help you out as you save yourself as you preserve yourself he is your only deliverer he's your only savior he is your god he is the one who delivers you he is the one who protects you so how how do you get behind the shield how do you put on this armor we miss this i think for several reasons that i can think of the first is that paul says that this peace shield is an invisible shield we can see it we can others around us can't see it but the the problem is that we can't see it either it passes our neighbor's understanding it passes our co-workers understanding it also passes our understanding if we think about it when peter's walking on the water he should have been able to think i would just was walking on the water but it was easy to get distracted all right it was easy to forget what was holding him up all right so he forgot what was holding him up and he began to sink so what happens is we're going along for a time let's say for a week or two and you're marvelous you're being marvelously preserved and the people who know you say what's going on i don't i don't see this there's this serenity i don't get it what's happening and then after a while you look around and say yeah i don't get it either and all of a sudden you get clocked all of a sudden you you take a hit this thing passes understanding because you can't see it with your eyes when there's two mil and when there's tumult all around you and you remain unruffled the people who know the circumstances cannot see what is protecting you they cannot see what's protecting you but they can see that you are in fact being protected they don't know what's protecting you but they can see that you are in fact being protected from the thing that they're not being protected from and you're being protected by something that passes understanding and then in the press of battle we sometimes forget that it passes understanding and we adopt we step out of the zone and adopt their befuddlement and when we adopt their befuddlement all of a sudden we shift back into the old mode of us trying to protect the peace of god and let instead of letting the peace of god protect us so that's one reason there's an optical illusion this is a piece that passes understanding this is a piece that you can't see and you have to see it in the word of god you have to see it in the word of god and you have to see it in the experience as you're recounting to you and your as you and your wife are talking about how god's delivered you in the past you're talking to your children about things that god has done for your family you have to remind yourself of what god has done in the past the second reason that we often forget the second reason we get this passage upside down and backwards is that we often forget a key word in the exhortation paul tells us rejoice always be anxious for nothing let your prayers and petitions make make known your prayers and petitions to god with uh prayers and and supplications and then he says with thanksgiving with thanksgiving now here's a problem we fi i need to here there are some sins that are pleasant there are other sins that are distasteful other sins are are no fun some sins are fun that's why people do them other sins are no fun why do people do those because there's fun elsewhere the fun comes later some for so with some sins like lust the the gratification is immediate the remorse is later other sins the remorse is first and the gratifications later and we don't notice the gratification because we don't realize that every sin why why do people sin why do you sin why do you sin well because you like it because you like it you if you didn't like it and he didn't like it from top to bottom if you didn't like it all the way down you wouldn't do it the reason we do anything sinful is because somewhere somehow somewhere in the budget there's something in it for us there's some sort of payoff some itch gets scratched and you might say well i can understand that if someone drinks too much or if someone gives way to lust i can see there's instant you know immediate gratification and i understand why the remorse would come later but when i when i start to worry that's no fun at all i i don't see what the payoff is for me i don't see what gratification i get from worrying well how about this how about the gratification of feeling like you're in control how about the gratification of feeling like you're you're steering paul tells us the way out paul tells tells you how to get out of this if you're if you're worried if you're having trouble rejoicing all the time if you're having trouble uh with peter says cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you paul says here be anxious for nothing but present your prayers and supplications to god and he says a particular way with thanksgiving and if you do that if you present your prayers and supplications to god with thanksgiving what will the peace of god do the peace of god will protect you and then we get down to the point where you say but i'm not sure i want to be protected i'm not sure i want to let go i'm not sure i want to give up that appearance of control i'm in i've got to i have control of the steering when i'm worrying i have the steering wheel well this is anticipating another point but no you don't you're not you're not in the driver's seat you're not driving the car of your life you don't have the steering wheel you're in the back seat and that's somebody's headrest i don't want to let go of the headrest because i don't want to lose control i hate to break it to you but that headrest is not connected to any any of the car any of the driving mechanisms of the car it's not not connected wheels is not connected anything you're just back there entertaining yourself and annoying the person in front of you next time you fly across country fly the plane that way see how long it takes before a flight attendant comes and talks to you about your theology what happens is god paul says this present your don't rejoice all the time don't be anxious present the worry present the concern the substance of the concern to god present it in your prayer and supplication with and the peace of god will protect you and this is where we get to us catches in our throat let me tell you so you need to take that concern that worry and it can be it could be all the coveted craziness it could be your ordinary financial problems it could be a loved one who's wandered away from the faith it could be the biopsy is going to come in next tuesday you know whatever it is all right we all have the substance of our concerns and god says i want you to present those to me and i don't want you to get on your knees and worry for 45 minutes prefacing the worry with father in heaven and concluding the worry with in jesus name amen that's just worrying on your knees and the peace of god is not protecting you there are a lot of pious christians who worry in prayer they sin in prayer and so what they do is they say i don't want to go off to some dark corner and worry myself sick i want to go into the throne room of god and do it there i want to i want to go into the presence of god and sin right in front of him he tells you not to worry you say well okay what do i do how can i avoid worrying for half an hour on my knees with thanksgiving don't just take your bible don't just take your prayer journal take your kantus take a hymnal take a salter present your petitions to god lay them all out before him and then sing a song of thanksgiving sing a song sing it out loud all the way through all the verses it ought not to be along the river of babylon we sat and wept choose the song choose the psalm wisely it should be a harvest home psalm it should be a thanksgiving psalm it should be a a song and you say but i don't want to feel i don't if i sing in the state i'm in if i go in there and sing i'd feel like i'd feel like a hypocrite well why not you are a hypocrite why not feel like one i'm a christian and i'm not doing what jesus said to do i'm a christian and i'm not doing what the apostle paul said to do so why shouldn't you feel like a hypocrite well yeah and here's the other this is the catch if you sang if you sang a song of thanksgiving to god you're gonna find that it's if you're in a certain demeanor in a certain state of rebellion and you let's say you kicked a little bit when i said that when you're worried there's something in it for you when you're sitting in that way there's some sort of emotional payback there's some sort of control that you're wanting to exercise and you bridled it a little bit when i said that then tell me why it sticks in your throat to sing a song of thanksgiving i don't want to because if you do if you say god jesus lord take this away guard guard me liberate me and i want to present here's my petition and i'm gonna i'm gonna lay it out before you once and then i'm gonna sing the psalm and then i'm gonna leave i'm gonna go and then if it comes back if i'm tempted later which i'm gonna be i'm gonna sing another song and you say well i'm not sure i want that i'm not sure i want to relinquish control i'm not sure i want to be protected i want to be the champion protector of myself so i can go into god's presence and say look what i did no we should want to go into the heavenly places at the last day and have jesus point to us and say look what i did it's all christ it's all jesus he saves us so we should be done with our worries we should be done with anxiety here's a small checklist for you to consult from time to time why should we not give way to anxiety number one we are christians and jesus said not to we're christians and jesus said not to do that that should be enough right i shouldn't need any more reasons there are other reasons but that's sufficient if we call him lord we should do what he says if we call him lord we should do what he says we should do what he tells us to do matthew 6 34 says therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things do not worry this is jesus talking do not worry about tomorrow the mortgage is due the biopsy is coming in the results of the exam that you took for professional advancement they're coming back the loan application is coming all the things that worry us all of them jesus says do not worry do not worry and don't it's not like you're running a deficit and you have to borrow from tomorrow no i don't i don't have enough things to deal with today so i'm going to borrow troubles from next week i'm going to import troubles from next week to make it harder jesus says one day at a time sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof do not worry about tomorrow you're a christian jesus says don't do that not only does he say don't do that he has an apostle tell you how to avoid falling into that trap so number one we're christians jesus said not to live that way number two we're calvinists and a worried calvinist is the theological oxymoron now i know that calvinists have their own besetting temptations and sins right calvin calvinists are the are the ones who say there's one thing a sovereign god can't do and that's changed in arminian's mind and so that's why i have to go on the internet and do it for him god god can't do that so i'm going to do i'm going to do it i've got all my arguments and so yes calvinists calvinist can be obnoxious in argument calvinists have their areas where they're tempted but one of the areas where calvinists should shine and in history frequently have shined is when it comes to affliction tribulation and turmoil either god is in complete control of all things or he is not if he is not then you my friend need to go hide and good luck because it's not going to do any good if god is not in control then we live in a messed up world where people like you and me get caught in the machinery and there's nothing you can do about it because nobody's driving this thing if that's the case then eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die but if god is if god is in control then we can trust him we remember the god who is in absolute control is your loving father he is your loving father he's not the absolute impersonal force that runs everything and doesn't care about you he is your loving father remember from peter cast all your anxieties on him why because he cares for you god loves you and if you say well no he doesn't then i think we've located the problem right god loves you he proved how much he loves you he sent his son to die bleeding on a cross so that you could be forgiven he loves you and if you say no he doesn't i he's left me alone with these worries he's left me alone with these issues i've got all this baggage okay fine repent of it let it go but it might come back if i let it go let it repent of it again you are if you're a christian then you follow jesus if you're a christian you do what his apostles tell you to do and what does apostles tell you to do first thessalonians 5 18 in everything give thanks in everything give thanks for this is the will of god in christ jesus concerning you in ephesians he says for everything giving thanks giving thanks for all things not just in everything giving thanks but for all things giving thanks the kid who melts down at exactly the wrong time give thanks the flat tire give thanks the computer that crashes at do they ever crash at the right time crash at the right time thanks to god for this this is from your hand you love me you want you want me to do this again for some reason thank you thank you thank you in everything give thanks for this is the will of god in christ jesus the thing that he's asking you to give thanks for is the thing that he brought into your life he's the one who oversees all of this he brought this into your life miss deadlines customers who complain uh children who are unruly what you name it this the circumstances that we're dealing with are not are not greater than the circumstances of the first century philippians they had all kinds of problems too and they don't have many of the many of the advantages that you and i have so whatever god deals whatever god deals give thanks whatever he deals give thanks thank him for this god thank you for the program that crashed thank you for the tire that went flat thank you for the thank you for these things that went wrong from my perspective they went wrong and i trust that you have a higher better deeper purpose next worry and anxiety are a waste of time worry and anxiety are a waste of time it doesn't do any good anyway oh you back there with the head rest matthew 6 27 which of you by taking thought can add one cubit undues under unto his stature how many of you what what do 45 minutes of worry do for you what what does it actually accomplish the only thing it accomplishes is it gives you that secret payoff the sense or the sensation or the optical illusion of being in control when you are not in other words you're saying i'll tell you what worry does for me it tells me a comforting lie that's what it does it's my precious i don't want to give it up i don't want i don't want to stop telling myself lies i don't want to stop that so worry and anxiety are a waste of time and then fourth you start living your life completely out of order worry is like thinking there's going to be a famine next year and you start eating double portions of every meal now it doesn't work that way sufficient for the day is its own trouble matthew 6 34. think of it this way god wants you to rely on the on his grace in a hand-to-mouth way you cannot store up you cannot build yourself a reservoir of god's grace so that later on you've got so much of god's grace stored up that when the the big tribulation hits five years ten years from now that you won't have to trust him then because you've got this reservoir of grace no grace grace is a day-to-day thing each god dispenses the grace we need in the moment we need it grace is intended for us intended by god for us to use in a hand-to-mouth way you face the situation you look at god gives you the burden you receive the burden you want to respond worry is when you respond to the burden the wrong way when you respond to the burden the right way you receive the burden you thank god for it you thank god for it beforehand right that's what paul says to do you when you're presenting your petitions and requests to god you you present them with thanksgiving this is what jesus did remember how jesus when he broke the when he broke the bread at the miracle of the loaves and fishes what he did what did he do he took the bread and he broke it and he thanked god before the miracle right he has thousands thousands of people there and he's going to feed them he takes the bread and he breaks it he thanks god and he breaks the bread the thanksgiving came first and it's not just because he was going to do a happy thing he did the same thing before he was crucified he said this is my body he took the bread and he said this is my body which is broken for you giving thanks and he broke it this is my body and he thanked god and he broke it he intended to have his body broken the way his father had required and he gave thanks and he is our model he is our exemplar he is our leader we follow him jesus said to every christian come follow me so some objections might be crowding into your mind freedom from worry is not recklessness freedom for worry is not recklessness remember that our text presupposes that you actually know the content of your prayers and supplications paul says that you're to lay them before god in everything you you know what's going on all right you know the biopsy is coming you know that the bill is due you know that the project has a deadline you you know those things and paul's not asking you to forget those things he says in everything the thing that you're carrying in everything you lay it before god you know what your burdens are you feel the weight of them but when you're free of anxiety you do not know the inordinate weight of them you know what's you know what it's like to carry a weight for a certain time and then all of a sudden one day it's too much and you collapse and you collapse under the weight of something that you've carried before how did that how does that happen well you looked away you started you started thinking that it was up to you to do instead of god doing through you work out your salvation with fear and trembling for god is at work in you to willing to do for his good pleasure you work out what god works in and what god works in if god gives you a burden god is working in the strength to carry the burden and if you work out carrying the burden on that basis then you can do it but if you're ignoring what he's working in all of a sudden you can't do it so when you're free of anxiety you do not know the inordinate weight of your burdens this is paul's not telling you to forget your responsibilities he's not telling you to forget your deadlines forget your obligations he's not telling you that he wants you to not feel the inordinate weight of them now rejoice always is not the same thing as a happy happy joy joy approach this is not a float through life god is not wanting you to go live in a condition of weightlessness you're supposed to live a regular life you're supposed to fulfill your responsibilities and it's not inconsistent with the normal range of normal human emotions what paul says in 2nd corinthians 6 is pertinent as sorrowful yet always rejoicing as poor yet making many rich as having nothing yet possessing all things notice he says as sorrowful yet always rejoicing joy is to be the bedrock it's the basalt underneath all the soil all the all the soil where your ordinary life grows you want joy at the bedrock bedrock joy sorrowful yet always rejoicing there's no inconsistency paul can sorrow he can go through grief he can have the ups and normal ups and downs sorrowful but he's doing what he's telling the philippians to do and a prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished proverbs 22 3 prudence is like money prudence is like money it's a good thing money's a good thing it's not wrong for god's people to have money but it is wrong for money to have his people it is wrong for money to possess you not wrong for you to possess money it's wrong for money to possess you you know that you've gone astray when your heart is located where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal it's the same with prudence are you being prudent are you being prudent or are you being a worrier are you being prudent or are you being a worrier whenever you are being what you call prudent do the little thieves of worry creep in if the little thieves of worry creep in then that's not prudence that's not the prudent man looking ahead god wants his people to have prudence he does not want prudence to have his people he does not want conservatism emotional conservatism to be your middle name he wants you to walk by faith not by sight and so worry is like a little greased piglet and you are not going to be able to catch it and even if you did catch it what would you do with it then worry is not an adversary to be wrestled to the ground worry is not an adversary you can just hit on the head with a chemical rock better living through chemistry worry is a sin to be repented worry is a sin to be repented just as you would repent of lying or adultery or theft you name it as a sin and you offer it to christ and what does he do first john 1 9 what does christ do when when you bring any sin to him you named it you called it what it actually is you brought it to him what does he do he forgives it he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness god can forgive worriers just the same way he forgives adulterers justice just the same way that he forgives thieves and worry requires that kind of forgiveness remember it's not you i'm not asking you to repent of being aware of your responsibilities i'm asking you to repent of you trying to be your own little god being your own little god is a much bigger sin than having responsibility having responsibility is not a sin at all so you turn to christ you come to christ you give it all to christ and he forgives it but you can't receive that liberation you can't be forgiven that way if you insist on calling it something else if you insist on renaming it calling something else then you're wanting to keep something to yourself that god wants you to let go of so let go of it drop it repent of it name it call it what it is and you say but but i might have to repent of it next week too well good you need the practice so start now start now if it's going to be a besetting temptation then get to work now nothing is ever improved if you have to do something nothing has ever improved by putting it off deal with it if you today if you hear his voice do not harden your heart as you did in the wilderness worry is something that god does not want he does not want his people to be in bondage to that he wants his peace to surround you he wants his peace to protect you he wants his peace to guard you he wants his peace to sustain you that's what he offers it's offered free grace for you our father we thank you for your kindness to us i pray that as we meditate on these truths from your word that you would give us a real insight real clarity of insight into what we do how how we tend to try to evade these things i pray that you would open our eyes so that we could see where we actually are i pray that you do wonderful things not not so that we would experience those wonderful things in the first instance but so that you would be glorified and that we would experience those wonderful things as part of glorifying you father we thank you for all these things that we lift up the words that jesus taught us to pray saying one of the lost christian virtues in our world is the fear of god there are numerous reasons for this and our loss of understanding how joy and fear actually go together is a significant part of it we know there's a slavish carnal fear a guilty condemning fear of punishment that christians are to have nothing to do with but we've almost completely lost the sense of christian fear godly fear noble fear the fear of the lord that is the beginning of wisdom the fear of the lord that is clean enduring forever we see this in lack of reverence and much christian worship but perhaps we see this most obviously in the rampant and high-handed sin in our land our shameless flaunting of behaviors that the living god hates and has promised to judge perhaps some of this is also an overreaction or an over correction to a misplaced austerity or sensoriousness on the part of christians perhaps even an overly morbid and introspective celebration of this table but again the false dichotomy is that you must either be serious or light fearful or joyful but that isn't the dichotomy found in scripture that's not the image found in the bible in psalm 2 david calls on the nations to submit to king jesus and he says to them to rejoice with trembling or in psalm 5 david himself comes into god's house and the multitude of his mercy and worships in the fear of god godly fear actually trembles at the mercy and goodness and lovingkindness of god in hosea god promises that israel will fear the lord and his goodness and in jeremiah it says they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and prosperity he procures and the gospel is at the heart of all of this in christ god rescues sinners and like the moment after you might have died maybe you might have fallen from a very great height a moment where you look back and you say i should have died there and you're shaken and relieved all at the same time that's what's laid before us here at this table here is christ's death for sinners proclaimed you deserved wrath you deserved punishment but christ stood in your place that's relief with trembling so come and rejoice with trembling come and welcome to jesus christ in the night in which he was betrayed he took bread and gave thanks so let's give thanks together our god and father we praise you and we thank you that you have rescued us from death you've rescued us from the fear of torment for our sin thank you father i ask that as we celebrate your goodness to us you would teach us more and more how to rejoice with trembling how to fear you in a godly way and to stand in christ in christ's name amen i know at least a few of you are thinking that was a very nice message pastor wilson is really encouraging about worry and although i'm going to do that but um i'm not so sure about that sing a song bit like take a contuse with you when you're praying and actually sing i mean you know maybe some people no actually do it you do you have to sing that's that's that's the charge and and i've got a bible verse for you it's colossians 3 and let the peace of god rule in your hearts to which you also are called in one body and be thankful and how do we do that let the word of christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing with grace in your hearts to the lord and whatsoever you do in word or deed do it all in the name of the lord jesus giving thanks to god and the father through him so that's the charge the charges fight worry with singing singing psalms of praise the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord and the blessings of god almighty the father the son and the spirit remain in your hearts now and be with you forever amen

Channel: Canon Press

Views: 23,136

Rating: 4.9402299 out of 5

Keywords: doug wilson, christ church, douglas wilson, canon press, moscow idaho, theology, pastor, sermon, bible, preacher, pastor doug wilson, sin, sinfulness, sin of worry, worry, is worry sinful, sermon on worry, wory, sinfulness of worry, anxiety, The Sinfulness of Worry | Doug Wilson

Id: SS_Ta5DWOTc

Length: 48min 21sec (2901 seconds)

Published: Mon May 25 2020