Anxiety

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Anxiety: Diagnosis & Defense 5/3/20 The Roman Empire was probably the greatest empire the world has ever known. It lasted hundreds and hundreds of years and at its peak stretched all the way around the Mediterranean Sea. The Emperor ruled over lands as diverse and distant as Egypt, Syria, modern day Turkey, France, England, and Spain. The empire dominated the known western world for so long that it’s hard to believe it ever dissolved. And that has been a question that has fascinated historians and scholars for hundreds of years. How could a political entity so big, with such wealth and such a powerful and well-trained army, collapse? No other kingdom or state could possibly match the Roman Empire’s military might. No army was big enough and strong enough to invade and defeat Rome. But, over hundreds of years there were small incursions into Roman territory and over time these small invasions took their toll on the Empire and at least contributed to its demise. Rome had to defend thousands and thousands of miles of border on the frontier and its enemies were constantly checking for weak points. If they found one, they would make a raid into Roman territory and even try to move entire populations into the empire to start farming and living. The defense of the borders was a key goal for any emperor and it required an intentional strategy and constant watchfulness to ensure the protection of the frontier lands. For many Christians who struggle with anxiety and worry the fight feels a little something like the way I have just described the defense of the borders of the Roman Empire. It feels like there is constant pressure on you to give into anxiety and if you relax your guard at all, you will be invaded and overwhelmed by anxious thoughts. I can’t promise you this morning that I can help you win a once for all victory over anxiety where it will never come back again. But I can offer some intentional defense strategies this morning to help us guard and fight against these subtle and dangerous enemies who are constantly trying to steal our joy and enjoyment of life. Last week we tried to diagnose anxiety. I told you that biblically speaking anxiety is an emotion that has been twisted and bent out of shape because of the fall into sin. Our emotions don’t work properly now. Anxiety is the negative counterpart to

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vigilance. We are designed by God to perceive a threat and respond with faith in God. Anxiety perceives a threat and responds with faith in self. It turns inward and constantly tries to manage the perceived threat without trust in God. Hopefully now we understand a bit better what is happening when anxiety or worry strike and today I want to offer you 3 defenses against anxiety and worry. Before we get to these 3 let me just remind you that you will have to take these three and apply them specifically to your life and circumstances. Each person has a unique struggle with anxiety and worry and I can’t offer a tailor-made strategy for each person listening. But I can offer you 3 biblical strategies that you can then take and adapt to your own defense and I would strongly encourage you to spend the time to do that adaptation this week. 1. Understand It We tend to just experience anxiety as any other emotion, and we let it run away with us. God designed emotions to be understood. They are like notifications on your phone. They tell you that something is happening in your heart. They point deeper into your values and affections. Emotions are not blind or dumb. They come from a perception of the world even if that perception is not always clearly understood or articulated. Picture two 10year-old kids sitting in class waiting to take a test. The teacher announces that the test has been postponed till tomorrow. One child feels immediate joy and relief and the other feels sadness. The first child spent the previous night playing with his friends and did not study for the test. He knows he is not ready for the test and his perception creates an emotional response of relief to the test being canceled. The other child spent 4 hours studying and knows the material backwards and forwards and so he feels disappointed or sad that the test has been postponed. His perception of his readiness has fostered his emotional response. Two children responding to the same announcement but feeling incredibly different emotions. Now, along with emotions being perceptive, emotions only pop up when our perceptions are involving something we care about. Imagine there is a third boy hearing that announcement who feels no emotion at all when he finds out the test is postponed because he doesn't care in the slightest what his grade on the test will be. So, emotions are concern based perceptions of the world. Emotions

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tell us that we are perceiving the world in a particular way and that there is something out there we value. Let me give you a quick biblical example of this to drive this home. Listen to Acts 5:41. You can see that the disciples feel joy as a response to this circumstance. But they had just been arrested and beaten. How is joy an appropriate response? Because they had a particular perception of the situation and that perception involved something they cared about, the kingdom of God. So, what does this understanding of emotions mean for our anxiety and worry? It means that our anxiety is cueing us in to something our hearts value and to a particular perception of the world. Let me give you a personal example. I tend to get anxious when I experience any sort of physical pain that I can’t clearly explain. I worry that the pain will be something serious or that it will be chronic. Why do I worry about this? Because I value physical comfort and that comfort is being threatened so I get anxious. So, the first defense strategy to employ is to work back from your anxiety and worry to the way you are seeing the world and the affections and loves of your heart. But we can’t just stop there, we need to move to our second defense strategy against anxiety. 2. Doubt It Keep in mind that I told you your emotions are based on your perceptions of the world. Our perceptions can be based on a true way of seeing the world or a false way of seeing the world. If I believe a full moon will cause my neighbor to turn into a wolf like creature, then I will be fearful every month when it is time for a full moon. My experience of anxiety is real, but the perception of the world that my anxiety comes from is false. But here's why this strategy of doubt it is so important. I am telling you this morning that your anxiety is always built on a wrong perception of the facts and on misplaced values. This is one of the differences between the faith filled gift of vigilance that we talked about last week and the sinful response of anxiety. Anxiety always lies to us. It’s built off a faulty perception of the self, the world, and of God. Anxiety wants you to believe you are a fortune teller. Think about what happens when you are in a panic or dealing with a lot of anxiety. You are

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worried about the future, you never worry about the past. And you are constantly asking “what if” questions. What if I get embarrassed? What if I fail? What if I get hurt? What if I lose my job? What if I get sick? Anxiety is always future focused, and it always deals with hypothetical situations. It wants you to believe you can predict the future. Even if you are fixated on a real situation, like the situation at work, your anxiety makes you worry that it will turn out badly. Matthew 6:34 speaks to this future focus of anxiety. But anxiety never focuses on the fact that the future in front of you is known only to God. Your anxiety is incredibly confident that it knows the answer to all the “what if” questions you are asking. In reality, God is the only one who knows the future because He is the one who has planned the future. And, here’s the truth that we need to fight anxiety with, God not only knows the future, but He is good and filled with grace. His desire is to do you good and see you conformed to the image of Christ. When you find your mind traveling down the pathway with “what if” signs along it, doubt your ability to be a fortune-teller. Anxiety also wants you to believe you are the sovereign King. One of the reasons that you mentally ask all the “what if” questions is that you are trying to figure out exhaustively what to do and trying to gain control of the situation. Each one of us has a particular vision for life and how we want things to turn out. We have anxiety when we imagine that life won’t turn out the way we want it to. So, we try to figure it out and try to gain control by stress and worry. Of course, it’s a delusion lie to believe that we have any control at all over the events of the future. “Many times when fear turns into anxiety we have concluded that God is either not good enough or not powerful enough to stop something from happening that will ultimately harm us. In many cases when we are anxious it is because we have decided that we are the only person we can trust to keep ourselves safe.” – Jocelyn Wallace Anxiety is a form of faith. It’s faith in self rather than God. Who can keep me safe? ME! So, begin to take every thought captive by doubting your perception of the

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world when it comes to anxiety. Doubt your anxiety. We almost always just believe our anxious thoughts. Start to expose them for the liars they are. When you understand what your anxiety is telling you about your heart and you begin to doubt your anxiety, you also need to employ the third strategy. 3. Transform It If anxiety is a perversion of the God-given emotion of concern and vigilance, then let's transform anxiety into the proper emotion of care, concern, and vigilance. Now, I don’t want to hurt any feelings this morning, but I’m going to be very straightforward here for a second. I am speaking this to my own heart as much as to anyone else. By definition sinful anxiety, the perversion of this good emotion of vigilance, is self-centered. Anxiety and worry turn my gaze to self rather than to concern for others and love and trust in God. I get wrapped up in my own thoughts and am deeply self-centeredness. A friend of mine showed me this week how the cure for anxiety is humility, which indicates that often my anxiety is driven by self-centered pride. You see this in 1 Peter 5:6-7. Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It’s not being down on yourself. Godly humility is thinking of yourself less. The humble person is turned out and concerned with the good of others and trust in God. Here is what CS Lewis said about true humility: Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call “humble” nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all. – C.S. Lewis This is exactly why we need to be reminded of the godly emotional counterpart to sinful anxiety, vigilance, care and concern for others. Listen again to 1 Cor. 12:2425 and Phil. 2:20.

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So, instead of sitting around fretting about the future, turn your attention to others and show some godly concern for other people. This is an incredibly practical way to start to address anxiety. Think about it. If anxiety and worry are fundamentally self-centered and self-focused, then one of the things we can do to fight it is to turn our attention to others. Scripture is clear that we are to both put off and put on. Go ahead and begin practicing the virtue of love for others by doing good to others and anxiety and worry will dissipate quickly. Pray for others. Do something kind for another person. Write someone an encouraging note. Take someone a meal. Volunteer to serve a community organization with the goal of building relationships in order to share Christ. Anxiety breeds on self-centeredness and others focused love is its kryptonite. Paired with concern for others is to transform my anxiety into faith filled trust by filling my mind with God’s love. Listen again to 1 Peter 5:6-7. He cares for you. Live here. This is the truth that anxiety causes us to doubt doesn’t it? It’s hard to be anxious when you know deep down, and really believe, that the sovereign king of the universe cares for you. So, here are three practical strategies to set up your defense against anxiety and worry. I think the best way to come up with a specific strategy for you is to talk with someone about these things. Spend some time discussing this with a spouse, a friend, or a pastor.

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Sermon Reflection Questions 5/3/20 • What do you remember about last week’s sermon concern the diagnosis of anxiety?

• What is the positive emotional counterpart to anxiety? In other words, what emotion has God designed us to experience rather than anxiety and worry?

• Explain the idea that emotions flow from a particular perception of the world.

• How does Acts 5:41 demonstrate the way one’s perception of circumstances influences emotions?

• Explain the idea in the second strategy, to doubt your anxiety. Why would we need to learn to doubt anxiety?

• What are some examples of the lies anxiety commonly leads us to believe?

• In what sense do we transform anxiety?

• What does 1 Peter 5:6-7 tell us is the cure for anxiety? Why would this be?

• What are some steps that you can take personally that would help you to apply these 3 strategies?

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• What is one area where your thoughts or actions need to change as a result of hearing God’s Word today?