Word of Salvation – Vol. 22 No. 11 – December 1975

 

Anxiety Forbidden

 

Sermon by Rev. Adrian Leenman, Th. Grad. on Matthew 6:31-32

(New Year’s sermon)

Scripture Reading: Matthew 6

Psalter Hymnal: 183:1,2,3; 111 (law); 200:8,9 (confession); 176; 211; 490

 

Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

If you would have a talk with a psychologist about his work, then you are likely to find that the greatest problem his patients face is FEAR: fear of going insane, fear of committing suicide, scared of being alone, afraid of heart disease, cancer, death, fainting, some sort of disaster, or: simply AFRAID OF EVERYTHING.

Some form of fear is ANXIETY and anxiety is a fearful state of mind, concerning the future, an undue worry about things which are either UNREAL or for which we have NO READY ANSWER.

It is a form of worry which centres on what ‘may become a question’ or be a problem ‘tomorrow’.

It is a form of worry which often centres on details of PROVISIONS…. provisions of all sorts – spiritual wants, physical needs, whatever you can think of.

But why are people, at heart, afraid?  Is it not because man is FINITE; man, with a definite beginning and an even more distinct ending as far as his physical life goes?

Finite man is therefore subject to decay, subject to changes, the changes of going through physical as well as mental changes in life.  And these very changes do indicate that man is constantly ON THE MOVE TO SOME OTHER STAGE.  A person may be moving from the teenage bracket to the adulthood stage.  Or he may belong anywhere within the adulthood bracket.  And it is during adulthood that deterioration sets in.  And deterioration is, or can be, an important cause of fear, because it emphasises, beyond a doubt, that man is time bound.

Moreover, anyone’s life can, at any given moment, be interfered with and so disturb or disrupt such a life.  A teenager may be affected by paralysis, changing his or her life plan.  Any adult may suddenly be faced with major changes in life.  As a matter of fact, the lives of all people are all subject to the most radical changes pertaining to EVERY REALM OF LIFE AT ALL TIMES.  No wonder that so many people are driven by fear and are obsessed with anxieties.  Moreover, only relatively few people have adequate answers to OFF-SET THEIR FEARS.

Man’s anxiety is further fostered by the surroundings in which he lives.  So much of what comes to us by way of the news media is indeed disturbing.  And every disturbing news item in turn adds to the feeling of being insecure, unsafe perhaps.

We live in an age where distances no longer protect us from danger or harm which prevails in far-away places, because distances have shrunk to such an extent that the dangers and risks people run in other parts of the world can so easily become our own.

Because of the small world we live in today, hostilities and threats, decline and decay have perhaps become more real to us.

So far we have omitted the primary cause of fear and anxiety.  Is not the primary factor man’s alienation from God because of sin?  Is not the reality of sin the real reason for the existence of fear, frustration and frailty?

Indeed, sin draws in its wake corruption within man himself and estrangement from God.  It is all because of sin that man has become a ‘wanderer’ on earth ― and not even a ‘happy wanderer’;

― that man has become ‘homeless’;

― that man, by himself, is drifting, not only without chart or compass, but without destination.

Man’s natural state, the way he is, as a fallen creature, fallen down and away from God, man has begun to ask himself a few questions.  These questions really bring out the fact that man HAS LOST HIS WAY…  like a child who has wandered away from home and asks: ‘Where am I?, ‘How can I get home again?’, ‘Where can I stay if I don’t find my home soon?’

Such a child is away from parental care and love and in addition to this, it is not even self-supporting.

Let us now turn to the nature of anxiety.  Do we realise, friends, that to ask questions, coming from an anxious state of mind, will get us exactly NOWHERE?

Questions asked by an anxious mind are not only senseless, but there is much more to it, for to raise such questions HAS A HARMFUL EFFECT.

We are still clear on what is meant by anxiety, aren’t we?  It is that fearful state of mind, concerning the future.  Anxiety makes a man say or think like this: “just imagine if we have an accident” or: “what if someone gets sick?” or: “what must we do if we don’t get there in time?”

Anxiety expressed like this CHANGES NOTHING, because only assumptions are made and it is SUPPOSED that things may go in a certain unfortunate direction.

Questions like these offer no solution whatever, but only pose the possibility of unhappy events.  As a matter of fact, they are not even REALITIES!

In the third place, to live in a state of anxiety is very strenuous.  It is likely to bring on that nervous sort of atmosphere,

It pre-occupies the mind, and so, it distracts from necessary and immediate work or occupation.

It further blocks the channels of clear thinking, it beclouds those issues which should have attention, and it causes unhappiness because of constant distraction.

There is one more reason why the believer must steer clear of being anxious and this last reason is a much more serious one: Man, by being anxious, is trying to combat his own feelings of frustration, and so attempts to SOLVE HIS OWN PROBLEMS.  To be anxious IS A HUMAN, MAN-CENTERED EFFORT TO DO WHAT WE IN FAITH MAY AND MUST LEAVE TO GOD.  In other words:
            anxiety is a form of unbelief!

At this stage we shall begin to make a distinction between being anxious and between making provisions.

To make provisions is quite okay; we even have the duty, as responsible people, to make provisions, to plan ahead, to stock-up, to work along a well- defined, laid-out plan.

On the other hand, we can become obsessed with the way we provide.  Then we go overboard, because our providing has then become a relentless hoarding, as if our security and safety lies in how well we provide.

That is just as much proof of unbelief and an attempt to self-management.  A simple illustration may make this clear.

Suppose you go on a journey, with the risk that you may get a flat tyre, so you make sure that the spare is ready to be fitted.

In this way you have counteracted your anxiety, the spare tyre is your precaution.  And so you set out on the journey and leave all anxiety behind.

The subject of anxiety can be rectified by adhering to DIRECTIONS.  The whole of Matthew 6 is a directive on a number of issues.  The chapter begins with giving instructions as to how to practise ones piety: —

― the way and the form in which almsgiving and prayer is to take place;

― the Lord Jesus gives directions as to the principles of forgiving one another.

― the matter of fasting is dealt with.
            Abuses are laid open and correct exercise is elaborated on.

Verses 16-19 speak about rewards and treasures, leading up to the idea of the master who is to give the reward.

This Master – our heavenly Father – is mentioned no less than 10 times in this chapter.

The directions given in this chapter are coloured by, and have the backdrop of, the Heavenly Father – about Whom 9 positive statements are made.  It is the Heavenly Father, says Jesus, Who sees in secret and rewards.  This phrase is repeated in verse 6 and again in verse 18.

In verse 8 it reads: ‘Your heavenly Father knows your needs before you ask Him.

This Father in heaven will forgive those who forgive others…..! (vs.14).  This Heavenly Father feeds the birds of the air and therefore our Heavenly Father will certainly care for His own children!’

By pointing out the centrality of God the Father in receiving these directions we begin to see that also our subject of anxiety must be viewed in the light of an all-seeing, all-knowing Heavenly Father.

Do we also realise, congregation, that, as long as we fret about imaginary and unreal worries and anticipated difficulties, that we then, at the same time, disregard the all-seeing eye and loving hand of a Heavenly Father…??

Suppose you promise to do a work for your friend and you agree to bring the tools and whatever equipment you need to do that work.  And when you start the work, you find that most of the preparations have been made by that friend himself.

Of course, this gives you the unhappy feeling that your friend either does not trust you or that he thinks that you may not be able to manage!  Likewise, anxiety disregards God’s loving care over His children.

Jesus goes so far as to regard us asking what we are to eat and drink ―HEATHEN-LIKE.

Indeed, when observing heathen religious rites, then we discover so much which is man-made and man-centred.

Do you remember how the Baal priests worshipped on Mount Carmel?  In the presence of Elijah…??  When their god Baal did not answer quickly enough, the priests simply TURNED UP THE VOLUME OF THEIR PETITIONS AND INTENSIFIED THEIR PRAYERS BY WAY OF EXTERNAL ACTIONS AND A FRENZIED MOVING ABOUT, it says in 1Kings 18.

When Paul excited the anger of Demetrius, who in turn aroused the mob at Ephesus, the angry crowd cried ‘all with one voice for about two hours: ‘Great is Diana of the Ephesians’ it says in Acts 19:34.

It seems that the further man is away from true spiritual worship, the more value he attaches to repeated forms in worship.

The Mohammedans are known for this and so are the Hindus.  They consider the repetition of the name of their god an act of worship.

They say that the name of God is like fire, all sins are burned up in this way, and so the repetition of the name of their gods is common practice.  This reminds us of what Jesus says about ‘heaping up empty phrases as the Gentiles do’.

Whatever form such worship may take, it surely does not afford any form of assurance or comfort, nor does it hold any form of promise as to the future.

The attention of the avowed atheist or the hardened unbeliever is firmly focussed on the material things of life.

They are his eating and drinking and his earthly possessions and his indulgence in life.

They make it their aim to take out of life what they can, and by doing so life and the world’s goods HAVE BECOME AN OBSESSION.

The foolishness of anxiety is driven home by Jesus by contrasting anxiety with the beauty and abundance displayed in the created world.

Examples from the created world are used to illustrate how God the Father provides and cares for the work of His Hands.

In the world of nature we see that all things take care of themselves without any panic anywhere and with perfect regularity and this has been going on ever since the creation!

The created world is altogether free from the spirit of anxiety ― perhaps the hamster makes an exception among all the species of animal life!

There has always been food to spare for all animals in summertime and SUFFICIENT FOOD for all to see through the winter season.

Only under extreme conditions this pattern has been interfered with at times, but even then only in local areas.

Millions of square miles of water have, ever since the creation yielded an abundant fish supply.  Paddocks have been grazed for long periods of time, fields have been cultivated for ages and they never yet turned sterile.  When extreme conditions do come about, even then ‘Mother Nature’ protects and cares, either by way of a blanket of snow, or by providing a lovely winter fur or by instilling the urge to hibernate or move away, as in the case of migratory birds!

When considering these aspects of the work of creation and preservation, then we are reminded of the loving care of a heavenly Father.

The real significance of this comes out when we remember that man was created in the Image of God and was given a special place in this created world.

Man, the crown of creation,
            man, made in God’s image,
                        man placed in ‘his Father’s world’.

It is, right now, that same Heavenly Father who is in perfect control of your life and mine.

He knows what we stand in need of.  We have abundant proof of His caring hand, and we have the distinct TASK TO COUNTERACT ANY FORM OF ANXIETY.  .  .  because it shows DISTRUST OVER AGAINST GOD.

― It is proof of self-centred thinking.

― It is being occupied with SELF.

― It is a matter of having our priorities wrong.

What is of GREATEST IMPORTANCE?  IT IS LIFE.

Physical life and Spiritual life and we HAVE BOTH OF THESE.

Food and clothing and shelter we have in addition and are subordinate to life.

Our lives are like the life of someone who has survived a disaster; to discover that the one who is rescued LIVES, IS A CRY OF TRIUMPH!  Even when he has lost an arm or a leg (or is going to lose one).  We as believers are SURVIVORS.

We have survived the great conflict: DEATH versus LIFE,
                                    RUIN versus RESTORATION.

AND IT IS THELORD JESUS WHO IS THE ONE WHO SAVED AND THAT SAVIOUR IS THE SON OF THE FATHER!

…the Father Who with great precision and with meticulous care continually provides, not only as to our material needs, but above all in respect to our spiritual needs, and this Lord Jesus, Who speaks here in our text, has in a most sublime way given proof of the value and worth of man BY GIVING HIMSELF.

Our anxiety, congregation, must be fought in a positive way by means of a living FAITH and a living, vital, radiant Faith will REMOVE ALL CAUSE FOR ANXIETY,

― It will remove all uncertainty as to the future.

― It will restore and vitalise one’s relationship to God.

At all crucial stages in the history of Redemption where man was involved or addressed or notified MAN’S FEAR WAS COUNTERACTED!

Whenever extraordinary announcements were made to man, the first words of such an announcement EITHER ENCOURAGED OR EASED-OFF TENSION!

They are the words: TAKE COURAGE;
                        FEAR NOT.  PEACE BE TO YOU;
                        DON’T BE AFRAID;
                        BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY.

We have just moved into 1976, and we may, with great confidence take these very same words and apply them to ourselves.

We may memorize these words, because they are an antidote to man’s fears, frustration and fatigue.

We may repeat these words, because our Heavenly Father knows where our most basic need lies.

It lies in the realm of OUR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD.

We are graciously provided with material gifts, we have freedom, there is peace in our country.

WE ARE KNOWN TO GOD, on the basis of Faith in God and the saving work of the Lord Jesus AS HIS CHILDREN.

WE ARE BEING RECOMMENDED TO GOD THROUGH HIS SON;
― by the Lord Jesus, Who had no place to lay His head, while we enjoy an abundance of earthly accommodation;
― by the Lord Jesus, Who gave away His Heavenly Glory and Who was born in the form of a Servant and constantly put up with fallen, sinful people WHOM HE CAME TO REDEEM

After a brief period of popularity He was opposed, rejected, forsaken, suffered intensely, died on a cross ― but was
― RAISED BY THE FATHER…
― RETURNED TO THE FATHER…
― HE PLEADS WITH THE FATHER FOR HIS CHILDREN;
and that’s why we should not and may not be anxious.

You are very precious to God.  And of much more value than the most beautiful orchid or the most gorgeous feathered bird.

Our Heavenly Father does certainly look WITH GREAT CARE AFTER EACH AND EVERYONE of His children for whom His Son died.

Indeed He knows about our every need, never mind of what nature his need is.

Remember above all that man’s most basic need has been provided.  It is the Mediator, the Christ of the Scriptures Who has opened the way to God ― for man!

Amen.