back to indexSession 3: Deeper Discipleship: Counseling the Anxious
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All right, so we're going to get into the topic of anxiety, something that obviously 00:00:24.200 |
I'm sure that you've been taught a lot of things in your life, but today we're going 00:00:28.880 |
to actually look at what the Bible says about anxiety. 00:00:33.520 |
It's important to have a biblical view on this because the world has a way of shaping 00:00:41.640 |
our thinking, and I want the Word of God to shape your thinking. 00:00:46.720 |
Just to begin with a little definition, defining, we'll just kind of get right into it because 00:00:54.120 |
I hope that you can endure with me, but the first thing that we should note is that in 00:01:01.120 |
the Bible, the word worry is actually often translated as anxiety or concern. 00:01:08.240 |
So in our vernacular, we typically say worry, but what we mean by that, or at least how 00:01:14.960 |
the Bible speaks to that, is anxiety or concern. 00:01:18.600 |
Jay Adams points out, Jay Adams is one of our biblical counseling mentors, you know, 00:01:28.800 |
He points out that really the Greek word for anxiety ought to be translated worry because 00:01:35.200 |
it's something that we understand better in our contemporary language. 00:01:42.840 |
According to Jesus, the definition for anxiety just simply means to care for or be concerned 00:01:50.800 |
It's really small up there, but at least you've got it on your outline. 00:01:54.240 |
So again, to care for or to be concerned about some future event. 00:02:00.480 |
He tells us in Matthew 6, 25, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, 00:02:06.600 |
what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. 00:02:11.240 |
It's not life more than food and the body more than clothing." 00:02:15.920 |
So it's just interesting to note that there really are two types of anxiety in the Bible. 00:02:20.600 |
You have a godly concern, people can have godly concern. 00:02:29.480 |
But let's just kind of take a look at godly concern. 00:02:33.040 |
Paul talks about godly concern, especially in one particular verse in 1 Corinthians 12, 00:02:41.440 |
He's talking to the church there and he's saying, you know, he hopes that there may 00:02:45.480 |
be no division in the body there, but that the members may have the same care for one 00:02:52.920 |
And that verse is really speaking to Christians and what he's saying there is that we as a 00:02:57.440 |
body of believers should have care, the same care for one another. 00:03:02.480 |
So the Apostle Paul was genuinely concerned, or you could say had godly concern or godly 00:03:08.720 |
anxiety, because he was eager to maintain unity in the body in Corinth. 00:03:15.160 |
And he wanted them to be more focused on the greater gift. 00:03:18.360 |
Because if you know anything about the book of Corinthians, it's, you know, a lot of the 00:03:23.120 |
people that went to church there, they were really kind of more about the gifts that they 00:03:32.560 |
And he says, really the greater gift is Christ and you shouldn't have that self-focus. 00:03:43.960 |
He wants them to have godly concern for one another. 00:03:49.120 |
And so concern that is constructive is not a sin. 00:03:52.120 |
I mean, there's lots of times when you're going to have godly concern for people and 00:03:58.520 |
Scripture recognizes certain types of intense concern as being perfectly legitimate for 00:04:05.240 |
Do you think of some times in your life where godly concern would be appropriate? 00:04:10.720 |
You know, you're concerned for them in particular ways or friends that are making particular 00:04:16.800 |
So sometimes it's completely legitimate to have godly concern. 00:04:22.440 |
But what about when you're, another thing is the way God wires us, think about times 00:04:28.360 |
when you're kind of walking in a potentially dangerous area and you notice that your senses 00:04:37.880 |
And that's a good thing because that godly concern can get you out of trouble and kind 00:04:42.800 |
of make you a little bit more discerning about your environment. 00:04:45.640 |
But God's Word does address ungodly concern or anxiety. 00:04:59.280 |
Paul says in verse 6, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication 00:05:07.960 |
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." 00:05:14.080 |
And in that verse, Paul is actually using the same word for anxiety as he did in the 00:05:19.200 |
first Corinthian verse, but this is in the negative form. 00:05:23.440 |
In this context, anxiety means to divide or to rip apart or just to be distracted in your 00:05:32.680 |
And so this word is actually describing the action and the effect of worry. 00:05:37.000 |
So unlike the care and concern that he had for the church in Corinth, unlike that, he 00:05:43.560 |
is trying to show us, you know, that there's a type of anxiety that can be very destructive 00:05:53.040 |
And really the big difference between both of these, the godly concern and the ungodly 00:05:56.920 |
concern, is that godly concern focuses on God. 00:06:01.480 |
So if you want to discern whether you have ungodly or godly concern, godly concern has 00:06:05.280 |
its focus on God, and ungodly concern, of course, is a little bit more self-centered 00:06:14.960 |
I thought what would be a good idea is to introduce you to two women in the Bible to 00:06:21.960 |
Let's let Scripture shape our thinking in that sense. 00:06:25.800 |
There are two women in the Bible that we can look at. 00:06:28.880 |
One had a godly concern and one had a very ungodly concern. 00:06:34.160 |
Both believers, both love the Lord, but one of them that was having ungodly concern was 00:06:43.440 |
And I think that you'll relate to her, most women do. 00:06:47.640 |
And so why don't we go ahead and we'll look at that now. 00:06:50.440 |
Go ahead and turn back to Luke 10, and we're going to focus our attention on verses 38 00:07:09.440 |
"Now as they were traveling along, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed 00:07:21.240 |
She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to his word. 00:07:26.360 |
But Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and she came up to him and said, 'Lord, do 00:07:32.040 |
you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? 00:07:39.960 |
But the Lord answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about 00:07:44.840 |
so many things, but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part which shall 00:08:02.200 |
But we have two sisters who lived with their brother Lazarus. 00:08:06.680 |
And Bethany, and I've been there, Bethany is about a city that's about two miles away 00:08:14.280 |
And Martha is probably the oldest of these two sisters. 00:08:19.480 |
Some commentators say that she was probably a widow, and so this house was probably hers. 00:08:25.760 |
And apparently at this time, Jesus was passing through and came to Martha's house, probably 00:08:36.120 |
And I don't think this invitation would have been unusual. 00:08:39.480 |
I think that we know from other texts, like when we read through the book of John 11, 00:08:44.840 |
5 in particular, we learn a little bit about Martha and Mary. 00:08:48.680 |
We learn that these women really loved the Lord, including Lazarus. 00:08:54.120 |
So it wouldn't have been unusual for her to invite him over to her house for dinner with 00:09:02.720 |
And when you find yourself in this kind of a life circumstance, like Martha did, like 00:09:10.320 |
When you have people come over, what do you do? 00:09:12.200 |
You get into task mode, and you begin to engage in whatever the cultural expectation is at 00:09:19.080 |
And for sure, the cultural expectation at that time would have been if you had a guest 00:09:24.680 |
come to your house, you would get on it, you would make those preparations for the meal. 00:09:30.840 |
And get this, as a woman, I think you can identify with this. 00:09:34.840 |
It is probably assumed that Martha had to get food together, not just for Jesus. 00:09:40.320 |
He probably had at least the 12 disciples with him. 00:09:45.060 |
And some commentators say that, so it could have been a dinner party for about 15, but 00:09:49.480 |
sometimes commentators will say it could have been 70 people. 00:09:53.360 |
But we'll just kind of camp on 15, not to get too overwhelmed. 00:10:00.720 |
Now before I kind of pick on Martha a little bit, I just want you to know, I don't have 00:10:04.140 |
any doubt in my mind that Martha is a believer. 00:10:08.480 |
This isn't like a contrast between an unbeliever and a believer or anything like that. 00:10:11.960 |
I just really think that she, as a believer, is just like a lot of us. 00:10:17.140 |
And so she was just having a particularly tough day. 00:10:20.920 |
And we know, again, that she loved the Lord from other cross-references. 00:10:25.400 |
So if we assume the best, if a person like Martha came to me for counsel, because she's 00:10:31.280 |
anxious about so many things, I would honestly think that Martha was somebody that had as 00:10:38.120 |
an original heart motive to serve others and to be a blessing. 00:10:48.920 |
I can see her desire to want to serve others and to practice hospitality. 00:10:54.000 |
It's very evident in her life, and it's very commendable. 00:10:57.840 |
But what we need to discover is how did Martha, who had great intentions here, how did she 00:11:03.880 |
go from joyfully serving others to suddenly this ungodly concern? 00:11:14.480 |
And we need to ask, because Jesus says at the end that, "Martha, Martha, you're worried 00:11:22.120 |
And so he had to even gently rebuke her at that. 00:11:30.320 |
Luke actually gives us a clue word in verse 40. 00:11:37.640 |
And in contrast to what her sister Mary is doing, Martha was what? 00:11:52.440 |
That word "distracted" in the original language just kind of has the idea of being drawn away. 00:11:57.880 |
So she was being drawn away from Christ by this task at hand. 00:12:03.480 |
Or she was overly occupied with whatever it is that she is doing. 00:12:15.840 |
Because at first, remember, what we notice about Martha is that her external behavior 00:12:27.340 |
She welcomed Christ into her home for a meal, but somewhere in the process of preparing 00:12:32.200 |
and serving, Mary became overly occupied or overly busy about that task. 00:12:39.840 |
And in contrast to Mary, she became distracted. 00:13:00.900 |
She was focused and sitting lovingly at Christ's feet. 00:13:04.540 |
And so here's an interesting cultural side note on this whole issue. 00:13:09.260 |
In that culture, the rabbis would take on certain students, and these students would 00:13:19.180 |
And those students would have been considered disciples of whoever the rabbi was. 00:13:24.480 |
So when the text says, you know, we read these things, but if you really want to take it 00:13:28.380 |
at a different dimension, when the text says that Mary was sitting at the feet of Christ, 00:13:34.060 |
it's trying to give you a picture of what a true disciple is. 00:13:38.820 |
So Mary is sitting at the feet of Christ, and she's taking on that role of a disciple. 00:13:44.140 |
And that was a big deal, because rabbis back then didn't take on women as disciples. 00:13:49.780 |
But Christ did, and that was actually really radical. 00:13:55.060 |
And in the Gospels, you know, we often see Christ encouraging women to listen to his 00:14:00.060 |
I'm always encouraged when I read the resurrection story, because it was the women that he saw 00:14:11.160 |
And so here we have two women in the same intense circumstance. 00:14:18.200 |
You know, this would be their heat, in a sense. 00:14:21.800 |
One person is choosing to intently focus and listen to Jesus, while the other is distracted 00:14:27.760 |
with her serving, and it got in the way of her doing the same as her sister. 00:14:33.480 |
So what were some of the effects of Martha's ungodly concern? 00:14:37.100 |
Because we need to kind of think through, what did it reap? 00:14:40.520 |
You know, what kind of fruit did it reap as a result of her getting kind of worked up 00:14:48.600 |
Looking back at verse 40, it says, "But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she 00:14:52.880 |
went up to him and said, 'Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? 00:15:02.240 |
I could say that a little bit louder, because she meant it intensely. 00:15:10.520 |
And so the first effect, or you could say the first complicated sin, is that her anxiety 00:15:16.740 |
or her ungodly concern manifested so much so that she went up to Jesus and she actually 00:15:27.440 |
The second effect, or complicated sin, is that she humiliated Mary in front of everybody. 00:15:45.760 |
Mary was—where Mary's actually—her priorities were in the right place. 00:15:49.580 |
She was sitting at Christ's feet, and he was shepherding her through his teaching that 00:15:54.800 |
evening, which is what happens when we make it a priority to spend time with the Lord. 00:16:01.680 |
And he helps us when we seek him out through his word and in prayer. 00:16:08.120 |
And that's really actually a very significant part of this narrative and something that 00:16:12.120 |
you'll need to point out to women who you might counsel on this issue. 00:16:17.480 |
Above all other things, one thing I would encourage them to do is that you need to be 00:16:24.080 |
I think that you're just so caught up and distracted by what's going on in your life, 00:16:30.160 |
the pressures outside of yourself, that you're allowing that to distract you from your relationship 00:16:37.160 |
And so we would be talking about what we can do to help her to spend more time with her 00:16:42.360 |
We're in relationship with our Savior, right? 00:16:44.880 |
We don't want to think of Christ like a roommate that we never see. 00:16:50.720 |
And that's often how people deal with their relationship with the Lord. 00:16:54.080 |
We're actually in a relationship, and so we want to spend time with him. 00:16:57.920 |
And it's only when Jesus has filled up our own lives and ministered to our own souls 00:17:02.520 |
that we would even be fit to serve him and others. 00:17:06.380 |
So Mary's heart was really in the right place at that time. 00:17:10.940 |
She was focusing all her attention on Christ, and he was ministering to her. 00:17:16.360 |
But Martha, on the other hand, she was distracted by all of these preparations that she had 00:17:24.120 |
And she was also anxious about the future deadline. 00:17:26.080 |
I'm sure as a woman, if you've been in this situation before, sometimes when we're serving, 00:17:30.840 |
we're doing dinner and things like that, we get very anxious about getting things on the 00:17:36.680 |
You know, there's just a lot that we think about in preparation. 00:17:41.480 |
And so she probably, I mean, can you imagine? 00:17:45.040 |
I'm like, I can see why she got angry at her sister, because she's not helping her. 00:17:49.240 |
That would have been the cultural expectation. 00:17:55.380 |
But really, she was thinking the worst about Mary, and that's really a lack of love for 00:18:02.520 |
So the third effect, or maybe complicated sin of Martha's ungodly concern, and maybe 00:18:08.000 |
the biggest bomb of all, is she told Jesus, "Lord, do you not care?" 00:18:22.960 |
She's accusing him maybe of sinning, you think? 00:18:26.840 |
So at least she's accusing him of failing to do what is right. 00:18:34.660 |
When I was talking to my pastor about this passage a few years ago, he told me that with 00:18:41.280 |
this particular study, he said there's some ancient manuscripts that were written about 00:18:51.160 |
It says, "At that time, when Mary said those things, the disciples moved away from Martha 00:19:01.040 |
because they were fearful that they might be scorched by the fires of heaven." 00:19:11.280 |
And so, you know, you just got to have compassion for Martha. 00:19:22.480 |
So here's some circumstances that I think influenced her ungodly concern. 00:19:27.600 |
I think really part of the pressure for her, and it happens to us as well, is that it kind 00:19:35.320 |
of appears from her reaction that she just felt under pressure from a few things. 00:19:41.360 |
The first thing it could have been was that just the circumstance that she found herself 00:19:45.880 |
in, you know, I'm sure it was hard when she realized all these people were going to be 00:19:51.600 |
I mean, she wanted that, but at the same time, it was probably a lot of pressure to have 00:19:55.320 |
a lot of people and the Lord come to your house. 00:20:04.440 |
Sometimes culture really plays into pressure. 00:20:07.920 |
Culture doesn't trump the word of God, but culture can definitely be an influence, and 00:20:11.680 |
I think you know what I mean when I say that. 00:20:14.960 |
So she had a particular culture that was—there were certain things that were expected of 00:20:20.200 |
It was probably just the importance of the guests that she was serving. 00:20:24.000 |
I'm sure that was a lot of pressure that happened. 00:20:26.480 |
Sometimes we have the—I don't know, what would we liken it to? 00:20:29.280 |
Sometimes we feel pressure and we have certain people come over. 00:20:32.800 |
Maybe it's your in-laws for the first time or a new friend, you know, or the pastor and 00:20:40.880 |
I think another pressure could be just the desire to serve the Lord. 00:20:46.120 |
You just want to serve the Lord wholeheartedly. 00:20:49.380 |
And then of course, self-imposed expectations. 00:20:55.440 |
Why do we impose these expectations on ourselves? 00:21:02.140 |
So there's five possibilities, but instead of really focusing on what's truly important, 00:21:08.480 |
like Mary seemed to recognize that day, Martha allowed herself to be distracted by the preparations 00:21:16.320 |
And now what we're seeing is it's just yielding this sinful fruit in her life. 00:21:21.960 |
And it's really weighing her heart down with anxiety, which ultimately for her would 00:21:26.640 |
be pride because she's trying to control something. 00:21:29.200 |
She's not leaning on the sovereign Lord for help. 00:21:33.200 |
Doesn't she believe that Jesus could make dinner just like that? 00:21:40.080 |
So anyways, like I said, I think Martha had as an original heart motive really to honor 00:21:52.620 |
And I think she had great plans of just seeking to help and minister to others like we do 00:21:59.440 |
But now in this moment, she's unfortunately sinning to do it. 00:22:09.080 |
Been there so many times I can't even tell you. 00:22:12.000 |
We start out with the greatest of intentions. 00:22:14.800 |
We really want to serve people and then we end up sinning in the process. 00:22:20.040 |
So I know we've all been there and we've just fallen into the same trap. 00:22:25.960 |
We get caught up in the busyness of life or in the busyness of ministry. 00:22:35.880 |
You volunteer to do that ministry task or you work hard at serving your families. 00:22:41.160 |
And the problem is you have expectations of other people though within that context. 00:22:45.480 |
And when they don't rise to the occasion, we suddenly just find out, wow, there's just 00:22:56.440 |
So I would say that while it's true that there were cultural expectations of Martha in that 00:23:01.080 |
day as there are in our own roles as wives and mothers and daughters, sisters, students, 00:23:09.200 |
employees, I think probably the bigger thing was probably just the self-imposed expectations 00:23:17.600 |
So that might be something you can think through with somebody that's anxious. 00:23:22.880 |
They've really just self-imposed some things. 00:23:26.120 |
And let's just kind of talk through that a little bit. 00:23:27.960 |
You know, you can ask her, what are some things that you were hoping or wanting that you're 00:23:35.920 |
And you know, in Martha's case, do you see in the text anywhere that she ever asked Mary 00:23:49.480 |
So it's possible that she just expected Mary to help, which would have probably been expected 00:23:55.720 |
But when Mary didn't rise to the occasion, Martha just lost it. 00:24:03.880 |
And her distraction over much serving made something other than Jesus the focus of her 00:24:11.200 |
Jesus is no longer the focus of your attention and your heart. 00:24:19.920 |
But you know, thankfully, we have this gentle rebuke that Jesus, who is all wise and all 00:24:33.560 |
He says, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious, or we could say worried and bothered about 00:24:41.520 |
But only one thing is necessary for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken 00:24:49.000 |
The word that Jesus uses for anxious is the same word that we've been learning about. 00:24:53.400 |
It means to care for or to be concerned about some kind of future event. 00:24:59.240 |
And that's what Martha was really intently concerned about. 00:25:02.160 |
She was intently concerned about getting this dinner on the table, probably. 00:25:07.040 |
And so, you know, I would say, hmm, probably started off as godly concern. 00:25:13.160 |
I could see how that would be a part of what we do. 00:25:16.540 |
But in that process of godly concern, it just kind of manifested into ingodly concern. 00:25:24.200 |
The same word that Jesus uses for anxiety in verse 31 also appears in Luke 12, 22. 00:25:30.840 |
And in the same way there, as Jesus exhorts Martha in Luke, he's exhorting his disciples 00:25:39.400 |
It might be a passage that you're familiar with. 00:25:42.680 |
But he tells them, too, that they ought to be, instead of being anxious about your life, 00:25:47.240 |
what we ought to be doing is we ought to be seeking the kingdom. 00:25:51.160 |
And all those things that we're so worried about, like food and clothing and all those 00:25:57.280 |
And that's something that you can emphasize with people that you want to help. 00:26:01.160 |
You know, take them to great passages like Luke 12 or take them to great passages like 00:26:05.160 |
Matthew 6, and let's just see what Jesus says about the issue. 00:26:08.960 |
I mean, he talks about the Lord cares for two little birds. 00:26:17.200 |
You know, and you can kind of walk them through that practically. 00:26:21.520 |
And that's just something that we need to emphasize. 00:26:24.600 |
And you know, by the way, when you worry about your life, does it add anything to your life, 00:26:32.120 |
Does it add even any—how about, does it add gray hair to your life? 00:26:44.920 |
Man, it doesn't add anything well to our lives in a positive way. 00:26:49.200 |
It only adds trouble when we worry about our life. 00:26:52.280 |
So Proverbs 27, 15, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you don't know what a day will bring." 00:27:04.040 |
And the right course would be to seek his kingdom first, and God will see to the other 00:27:08.000 |
things, which is what Jesus speaks to us as we read that entire narrative, if you get 00:27:17.960 |
But kind of getting back to our text, Jesus is really communicating the same principle 00:27:23.400 |
to Martha as he did to his disciples in Luke 12. 00:27:28.120 |
You know, really, Martha, you know, instead of being anxious—you know, you can put your 00:27:33.880 |
name in there, really, Shelby, instead of being anxious, there's really only one thing 00:27:41.760 |
She's chosen the good portion, or the good part, which isn't going to be taken away 00:27:48.280 |
And probably Martha was taken aback by that a little bit, by that response, because she 00:27:54.600 |
probably believed that she was really doing the right thing. 00:27:57.600 |
And she started out doing the right thing, for sure, so she was probably taken aback. 00:28:02.480 |
And of course, you know, Jesus is admonishing her here. 00:28:06.160 |
So we talked about admonishment last night, right? 00:28:08.680 |
So here's an example of when Jesus admonished somebody. 00:28:15.640 |
He's trying to encourage her in that, you know, she is being anxious. 00:28:19.960 |
And so he is trying to help penetrate straight to her heart, and I'm sure it did. 00:28:25.760 |
And the reason why I know it did is because she did another dinner about eight months 00:28:31.600 |
And you can read about that on your own in John 12. 00:28:34.320 |
But when she had this dinner, Jesus came again to visit Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, and it 00:28:43.040 |
was six days before his Passover, or six days before the last Passover of his earthly life. 00:28:50.280 |
And so they gave another dinner, and while the disciples were there and Martha served, 00:29:05.020 |
Do you remember Martha complaining during that dinner? 00:29:10.800 |
Who was complaining about that anointment, the perfume? 00:29:22.120 |
But Martha, on the other hand, she was holding her peace. 00:29:28.080 |
She appeared quite content to serve the Lord. 00:29:31.760 |
And the reason why is because she understood, finally, the importance of the occasion, because 00:29:36.960 |
in a very short time, Christ would be crucified. 00:29:41.800 |
You know, this narrative here, although it's small, and it's really taken from one day 00:29:46.360 |
in a life of a woman, it has such huge impacts. 00:29:50.400 |
It had a huge impact on me personally when I first studied it, but it has a huge impact 00:29:56.040 |
on women if you really take the time to study it deeply. 00:30:00.160 |
I remember, just on a personal note, that where it had an impact on me was when my husband, 00:30:08.000 |
back in 2008, if, you know, a lot of you are so young, you might have been really little, 00:30:11.520 |
but for those of you that are married and were around in 2008, we went through a recession 00:30:19.160 |
My husband's an electrical contractor, and he was out of work for an entire year. 00:30:25.160 |
And that's pretty devastating in the state of California, because it's so expensive to 00:30:31.760 |
I was home, still raising a daughter that was in junior high at the time. 00:30:36.920 |
And so when that happened, I became anxious over my life. 00:30:41.760 |
And the reason why is because I was more focused on losing earthly treasure, right? 00:30:47.440 |
Because you start thinking, like, ridiculous thoughts, like, you know, am I going to be 00:30:55.480 |
Am I going to, you know, you just, you start getting very exaggerated in your thinking. 00:30:59.380 |
And that was really, literally dragging me away from the most important treasure in my 00:31:05.200 |
And so I had to sit at Christ's feet, and I had to repent of that idolatry, because 00:31:10.080 |
that's what was driving the anxiety in my life. 00:31:13.800 |
And I had to allow Christ to minister to me at a heart level. 00:31:17.580 |
And that's what's so wonderful about spending time with the Lord, because He becomes your 00:31:24.680 |
And He is that to many, many people, of course, and was to me as well. 00:31:32.040 |
So that's definitely an important passage that I would take a woman to if she's steeped 00:31:39.280 |
I'd want to minister to her, because Jesus is ministering to her and to both of them, 00:31:47.240 |
But in addition to Luke 10, another great text that we can turn to and kind of look 00:31:54.240 |
So let's turn there for a minute and kind of center your eyes on verses 25, and I'll 00:32:05.760 |
We'll just kind of take a brief look, but it's just a great passage, again, for you 00:32:10.960 |
to think through and study this portion of Christ. 00:32:15.680 |
This is part of the Sermon of the Mount that you can apply to your own life. 00:32:19.680 |
But the first thing I want to point out is that worrying or being anxious is just so 00:32:29.320 |
So let's look at Matthew 6, 25 to 34, and I'm going to read—by the time you kind of 00:32:35.680 |
get to verse 25, He's really telling the crowd and the disciples and all of us why being 00:32:44.660 |
And the first reason He gives why it's foolish comes out in verse 27, where He says, "And 00:32:51.640 |
who of you, by being worried, can add even a single hour to his life?" 00:32:56.960 |
And of course, I already kind of made a joke about that, but He's just saying, you know, 00:33:02.980 |
all this worrying and all this anxiety that we engage in accomplishes absolutely nothing. 00:33:11.060 |
It just works you up, and like we said, it leads to things, complicated issues in our 00:33:22.280 |
When people come in and see me and they're just—and anxiety is their thing—usually 00:33:29.660 |
they're not sleeping, and that can cause other problems, because if you get a person that's 00:33:34.100 |
just not sleeping, it usually manifests into depression and things like that. 00:33:39.140 |
And, you know, they're just struggling so much. 00:33:42.900 |
But anyway, if we jump down to 34, let's see what Jesus says there. 00:33:47.900 |
He says, "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. 00:33:57.260 |
And so what we learn there is that anxiety or worry is really unproductive because it's 00:34:04.420 |
Just think about how much time you've lost when you've sat there and really worried 00:34:09.540 |
You know, I mean, it's such a bummer when we think through that. 00:34:13.140 |
And again, kind of pointing back to my own testimony when my husband lost his job—and 00:34:18.300 |
by the way, he's doing fine now, but like 15 years ago—I lost a lot of time worrying 00:34:24.180 |
about my life because I was so consumed with just thinking and dwelling on all of these 00:34:31.860 |
And I would be willing to bet that a lot of you are probably consumed that way, and you 00:34:35.740 |
probably have friends in your life that are the same. 00:34:39.980 |
So it's very unproductive because it's a thief of your time. 00:34:51.180 |
Jesus says, "And why are you worried about clothing? 00:34:59.020 |
Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of 00:35:05.220 |
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown 00:35:09.540 |
into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" 00:35:15.900 |
And so Jesus is just saying there that worrying or being anxious about your life is just unnecessary 00:35:23.100 |
because God is completely able and He's completely trustworthy to provide for your 00:35:29.740 |
So why do you fret over things that you're going to wear or eat or drink, you know, specifically 00:35:36.060 |
I mean, don't you believe that God's concerned for you? 00:35:39.860 |
So a lot of times when we struggle this way, it's really the sin of unbelief, right? 00:35:44.660 |
Because we're failing to believe that God is good and that God is sovereign and that 00:35:51.260 |
But don't you believe that God is concerned for you and He's more than able to take care 00:35:57.420 |
In fact, it kind of comes to mind when I think about things like this is 1 Peter 5, 7 when 00:36:04.120 |
Peter says, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He will exalt you in due time 00:36:10.100 |
by casting your cares on Him who cares for you." 00:36:14.060 |
And so when we don't cast our cares on our sovereign Lord, we're actually struggling 00:36:18.180 |
with pride in that way because we're trying to take care of things in our own strength 00:36:24.940 |
So it's really about the sin of unbelief at times. 00:36:29.460 |
The point three there, Jesus says that anxiety is foolish because it's unbecoming. 00:36:36.940 |
And the reason why is because it focuses on what one doesn't have. 00:36:45.020 |
Do not worry then saying, "What will we eat or what will we drink or what will we wear 00:36:50.180 |
For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need 00:36:58.280 |
And so He's just trying to point out that being anxious about what you're going to eat 00:37:02.660 |
or drink is really a focus on earthly values. 00:37:06.380 |
You're really kind of focused just on things that aren't eternal. 00:37:10.420 |
And sometimes with the issue of anxiety or worry, it stems from the fact that your focus 00:37:15.740 |
is too much on earthly treasure or the gifts and not the giver, we would say. 00:37:22.940 |
And it's also very unbecoming because when you engage in sinful anxiety, you act as if 00:37:35.060 |
So kind of to sum up here, here are just some truths I gleaned from my study of Luke and 00:37:48.020 |
The first thing is that I know I'm being anxious, sinfully anxious anyway, when my thoughts 00:37:58.360 |
So when you're doing heart examination, you can think through that because in many situations, 00:38:03.960 |
women are leaning too much on their own understanding and they look for ways to get out of the mess 00:38:09.120 |
they're in and they expend a lot of energy trying to solve things in their own strength 00:38:15.120 |
versus seeking God's kingdom first and sitting at Jesus' feet and learning from His word 00:38:24.920 |
It really exhibits a low view of God when you're not doing that because you forget that 00:38:32.840 |
Secondly, as we've just discussed, you'll know that you are anxious when you recognize that 00:38:40.240 |
You know, when you start examining your thought life, you know, maybe you are allowing yourself 00:38:48.640 |
Do you guys go into the land of what ifs when you're anxious? 00:38:51.760 |
We just create these negative scenarios that aren't true and we just envision all these 00:39:00.240 |
horrible things that are going to happen to us that just aren't true. 00:39:04.640 |
And at the heart level, that's a struggle again with wanting to trust the Lord and wanting 00:39:10.080 |
So remember, notice the first two things I talked about, that has to do with your thinking. 00:39:15.040 |
So again, the battle is in the mind as far as that goes. 00:39:19.320 |
Thirdly, anxiety controls you instead of you controlling it. 00:39:27.640 |
It can be controlling like it controlled Martha because it can dictate the next move that 00:39:33.900 |
When you succumb to it, it will dictate your next move. 00:39:37.200 |
And then fourth, being anxious could actually lead you to neglect your responsibilities 00:39:44.240 |
When you're consumed with yourself and have anxiety, you're more than likely exhausted 00:39:48.720 |
and you're very distracted and so you're really not serving, you're neglecting responsibilities 00:39:56.600 |
It could be at home, it could be at church, whatever, but it can lead to other things. 00:40:01.780 |
And then five, anxiety can just damage your body physically. 00:40:10.160 |
Excessive anxiety really does manifest into physical problems. 00:40:16.080 |
Physical problems will have an impact on your physical body and vice versa, but this is 00:40:21.200 |
a spiritual issue and it will manifest into a physical issue. 00:40:25.440 |
And I just named a few, but I know there's all kinds of things. 00:40:28.460 |
If you're chronically fatigued, that is a manifestation of being simply anxious. 00:40:34.120 |
If you have trouble just even with insomnia, just not sleeping, that could be a reason. 00:40:44.800 |
So instead of finding answers, you spend your time worrying and fretting about your future 00:40:49.860 |
rather than looking to Christ for your hope in his word. 00:40:54.200 |
And when you don't do that, you feel hopeless. 00:40:56.800 |
And so that can be a really scary place for many people because it can lead them into 00:41:02.280 |
I actually lost a friend to suicide because of that. 00:41:05.580 |
They just let their thoughts consume them and they just didn't deal with it and it took 00:41:13.000 |
So we spent a great deal of time discussing how anxiety is defined in the Bible. 00:41:22.360 |
But for our purposes today, I want to just take a closer look at how sinful anxiety and 00:41:26.980 |
ungodly concern manifest in a life of a woman. 00:41:29.920 |
That's why we looked at Martha and how Jesus responded to her. 00:41:34.080 |
And now we're just going to kind of end our time with good old-fashioned applications. 00:41:43.200 |
What kind of biblical counselor would I be if I didn't give you practical application, 00:41:53.400 |
Something that I talk to counselees about constantly and from my own heart as well. 00:42:09.280 |
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. 00:42:12.320 |
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, 00:42:20.280 |
And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and 00:42:25.680 |
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is 00:42:30.480 |
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything 00:42:39.720 |
What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and 00:42:52.420 |
We need to have a right response to and an awareness of God. 00:42:59.480 |
Instead of succumbing to anxiety, we're to have a right response and an awareness to 00:43:05.080 |
Paul is calling the believer to rejoice in the Lord twice, which is really a present 00:43:11.640 |
active imperative, which means it's a command. 00:43:14.320 |
And so all of us, as we know, to rejoice simply means to be glad or to welcome. 00:43:20.620 |
And he's really emphasizing that by saying it twice. 00:43:24.160 |
So even when you are faced with difficulty, you can encourage others, yourself to rejoice 00:43:31.240 |
and just let your reasonableness be known to everyone because the Lord is at hand. 00:43:35.880 |
And what he's saying there is he's saying, "Look, the Lord is omnipresent. 00:43:43.960 |
So instead of being caught up in this anxious thinking, you need to stop and you need to 00:43:51.200 |
I mean, my goodness, why are you living as if the Lord is not near? 00:43:56.120 |
But rather you can rejoice in the fact that he is near and so you can let that reasonableness 00:44:03.960 |
Just trying to train someone to have a right view, even when they're in trial. 00:44:08.160 |
We're not all so excited to be in a trial, but we can have joy in the trial because theologically 00:44:13.760 |
we know that God is working through the trial and he's there to provide a way of escape. 00:44:28.760 |
It says, "Do not be anxious," similar to what Jesus taught in Sermon on the Mount. 00:44:33.980 |
But in this case, the believer is being called to put off anxiousness and to instead put 00:44:43.800 |
So as we lay aside our anxiety and renew our mind in the scriptures, we put on prayer with 00:44:49.440 |
thanksgiving and that means to have gratitude at a heart level to the Father. 00:44:54.440 |
There are so many things we can be thankful for, ladies. 00:44:57.800 |
What if we just sat here for the next hour and just wrote out lists of all the things 00:45:06.320 |
Too often when we're in trials, we just get very self-focused and we lack gratitude, quite 00:45:16.640 |
But if you can have right praying, what follows is peace. 00:45:20.960 |
And that's that divine peace from God which excels our understanding and guards our hearts 00:45:29.360 |
It just kind of implies that peace is standing on duty to keep out anything that brings ungodly 00:45:36.320 |
The next thing in verse eight is he says you must have right dwelling. 00:45:40.240 |
And so you've got all of those wonderful commands in verse eight that tell you how to think. 00:45:44.840 |
You want to think true thoughts and honorable thoughts and just thoughts and lovely thoughts 00:45:48.840 |
and commendable thoughts and excellent thoughts and worthy of praise thoughts. 00:45:52.800 |
Those are actually the standards for Christian thinking. 00:45:56.680 |
So that's important to emphasize in your own life. 00:46:02.000 |
Maybe I have that set up in the questions you're going to go through together. 00:46:12.000 |
And I'm not talking about cognitive behavioral therapy because they'll try to train you to 00:46:16.880 |
I'm talking about getting at the heart level and really, really being able to renew your 00:46:23.040 |
mind because that's what the Holy Spirit does is he renews your mind and helps you to do 00:46:27.960 |
And so not only are we to have a right response. 00:46:35.040 |
So you start thinking about how can I have a right response. 00:46:37.520 |
I need to think, have a right view of God, have an awareness of God. 00:46:44.440 |
I need to begin to dwell on right things because your mind is beginning to go into the land 00:46:49.680 |
And then finally Paul says we're to put on a right practice. 00:46:56.600 |
Paul is saying not only are we to learn these things, but we're to practice these things. 00:47:07.380 |
And so make sure that when you are applying this to your life that you are actually practicing 00:47:13.760 |
and walking out these truths, actually doing it. 00:47:21.520 |
Man, covered a lot in the probably a little less than an hour. 00:47:33.200 |
And I think probably where this is really going to hit home is just you in your groups 00:47:40.880 |
And let's see how many questions I've got for you this time. 00:47:58.200 |
So you've got a couple to work through there. 00:48:01.580 |
You're going to read some scripture and you're just going to dialogue about forgiveness. 00:48:11.440 |
I think that'd be neat for you to really take time to really talk through that because that 00:48:14.720 |
would be sort of a common thing that you would run into. 00:48:19.240 |
And then on page 29 is the questions for anxiety. 00:48:25.680 |
And you get to talk with each other about ways you're tempted to be anxious and how 00:48:29.360 |
you can actually put what we just talked about, the Philippians 4 passage into practice. 00:48:34.320 |
So I'm hoping that you're going to get that far.