What’s Next: Cast Your Anxieties – What’s Next Part VI

Sermon Title: What’s Next: Cast Your Anxieties

Good News Statement: Jesus cares for us

Preached: Sunday, June 04, 2023, at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): 1 Peter 4:12-14 and 1 Peter 5:6-11 – Today’s scripture reading comes from Peter’s first epistle to the followers of Christ: chapter four verses twelve thru fourteen and chapter five verses six thru eleven. From this text we learn three things: 1) The enemy is out there, 2) The enemy is not us, and 3) Ignore the enemy and give everything to Jesus Christ…

 

Suffering as a Christian

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you.

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. ¹⁰ And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To him be the power forever and ever. Amen.

 

This is the Word of God for the People of God; And all God’s people said, “Thanks be to God.”

 

Introduction:

A priest buys a lawn mower at a yard sale. Back home, he pulls on the starter rope a few times with no results. He storms back to the yard sale and tells the previous owner, “I can’t get the mower to start!” “That’s because you have to curse to get it started,” says the man. “I’m a man of the cloth. I don’t even remember how to curse.” “You keep pulling on that rope, and it’ll come back to you.”

Let’s be honest, I bet there have been moments in your life when you found yourself “pulling the rope” but only to realize that nothing happened. The more you pulled the “rope” the more frustrated you got, the higher your stress level went, and your anxiety started to increase. What should work the first time, takes several tries, or days, or even weeks before pulling the “rope” becomes successful. Believe it or not, each and every one of you has been the priest in the opening joke: you have been frustrated and challenged to do something that you aren’t comfortable doing just so something would work out. However, doing what we are uncomfortable with sometimes causes us to experience worry, nervousness, or to be uneasy.

Moral of the story, if we don’t take time to notice the enemies in our life—again those things or persons that weighs us down and make us curse—then sooner or later the enemy will win. If the enemy wins, we might find ourselves doing or saying what we thought we would never do or say. During those moments, instead of cursing at the enemy or lawn mower—the thing that doesn’t work or the person that won’t listen—we should pause and invite God into the situation. We should do as Peter says and “cast all our anxiety” on to Christ.

From our text today, we learn three valuable lessons: First, the enemy is out there; Second, the enemy is out there but it’s not us; and Third, casting our anxieties unto Christ is similar to the doors in our life.

Body:

Peter says, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you” (I Peter 5:7 NRSV). How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said it, or something like it? Leave your worries at the foot of the cross, for example. Or leave worries at the door. Give it over to Jesus. Let go and let God take care of things. There are lots of different ways to say this fairly simple idea. We hear it and say it all the time. But here’s the real question – “How do you do it?” Or even – “Can we do it?” Is such a thing humanly possible? Peter is telling us that it is about perspective. He isn’t saying the problems will go away. But he is inviting us to not let the anxieties of today control us.

“A reporter was interviewing an old man on his 100th birthday. “What are you most proud of?” he asked. “Well,” said the man, “I don’t have an enemy in the world.” “What a beautiful thought! How inspirational!” said the reporter. “Yep,” added the man, “outlived every last one of them.”

Maybe we cannot outlive our enemies; though it might be fun to try; or it would be nice to think we live in a perfect world where we would have no enemies. But the world isn’t perfect. As a matter of fact, it’s filled with enemies and mistakes. Although we may try to make it perfect, it will never be perfect because of the enemies, temptations, and trials that are constantly bombarding our everyday life, especially an enemy who is out there to oppose our faith. Peter writes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). We are being tested every day by the ways of the world: every day, our faith dwindles; every day, we take a step away from God; and every day we are reminded that we are unworthy. Somebody puts us down, the world seems to be getting less happier by the minute, wars are taking place in our backyards, what we thought was the right plan of action turned out to be the worst plan of action, bad news floods our minds, etc.

However, God is giving us the opportunity to return to Him, to acknowledge the enemy and move on. Malachi 3:7 asserts, “Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.” The enemy is out there, but so is God, so is Jesus Christ, so is the presence and blessed assurance of the Holy Spirit, who are inviting all of us to return to them as we cast our anxieties unto the Lord. The enemy is out there, but God is inviting you to return to Him.

In chapter five Peter asserts, “Discipline yourselves; keep alert. Like a roaring lion your opponent the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The enemy is out there. Peter is warning us and calling us to be alert, to discipline ourselves as we remain steadfast in the love of Christ, but are we listening? If we don’t listen, we will be devoured. Similar to Peter, John is also warning us but is also giving us instructions to overcome the enemy. 1 John 4:1-3 shares, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.” The enemy is out there, and we have been called to test the spirits so that we don’t fall into temptation or find ourselves going down the wrong road and cursing at the problems before us as we become devour by the roaring lion, the devil. Peter says we must “resist him,” the enemy, the false spirits. But how?

Door #1: Push or Pull – Because the enemy is out there, it takes work to cast all our anxiety unto God. I invite you to think of those doors that require you to either push or pull to open. Some of those doors are tough to open: they’re heavy, large, tightly wedged into their frame. It takes work to get them opened. Once in a while it takes a lot of work to open one of those doors when the sign says pull but you are pushing. In life, the enemy that is out there is causing us to do work, to overcome the resistance, to push and to pull the door open on our own. Sometimes, the door is hard to open because the enemy—whatever is keeping us from Christ—is on the other side keeping the door closed. But, we must not give up. In order to open that door, we might have to pray; we might have to rejoice in God a little more, we might have to take a step back and thank God that we have made it this far, and we might even have to try another door. The enemy is out there, but so is a door leading to God. Isaiah 41:10 reminds us, “Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” When we allow God to be our strength, the enemy has no chance. Our anxieties have been cast to the Lord and God has found a way to take care of us. However, we must be willing to do the initial work to open the door to His ways.

So how do we resist the enemy, we allow God to help us so that we have the strength to overcome the resistance of the enemy. Pray for strength, lean on the works of God, and put your full faith and trust and God. For nothing is impossible for the one who believes.

Russell Brownsworth tells that Lord Nelson of England was about to enter an important battle. He heard that two of his officers were at odds with each other. He called them in and said, “Gentlemen, give me your hands.” The two captains put their hands in the Commander’s hands, and he squeezed them with a tight grip. “Men,” he said, “Remember the ENEMY is OUT THERE! But we ARE NOT the ENEMY.”

The enemy is out there! But the enemy is not us. Paul points out in Ephesians that the enemy is not “flesh and blood” it is not you and me, but the real enemy is the spiritual forces of this world—those things and people that draw us away from Christ. In Scripture, we call these things the “seven deadly sins”: lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, wrath, envy, and pride. From these seven deadly sins, we find ourselves walking through the door of the enemy instead walking through the door of God. The enemy is out there, but it is not us. The enemy is what draws us away from God. My friends, the enemy is out there and it is not us! It is merely a ploy of the real enemy to bring division among God’s people. The ploy of the enemy to stir up strife and controversy. The ploy of the enemy to secretly infiltrate enemy lines and set about grumbling and griping. The ploy of the enemy is to make us feel like we are the enemy; and sometimes the enemy’s ploy goes to plan, unfortunately.

In “Context” magazine, Mary Marty retells a parable from the “Eye of the Needle” newsletter, which reminds us that we are not the enemy: A holy man was engaged in his morning meditation under a tree whose roots stretched out over the riverbank. During his meditation he noticed that the river was rising, and a scorpion caught in the roots was about to drown. He crawled out on the roots and reached down to free the scorpion, but every time he did so, the scorpion struck back at him. An observer came along and said to the holy man, “Don’t you know that’s a scorpion, and it’s in the nature of a scorpion to want to sting?” To which the holy man replied, ’That may well be, but it is my nature to save, and must I change my nature because the scorpion does not change its nature?”

It is the nature of the scorpion; the nature of the enemy to “sting”. The world lies under its sway; it roams about like a roaring lion seeking to devour; lying in wait; setting a snare to trap and sting its prey. It is the nature of “evil”, of that which opposes good; the nature of the enemy that is out there, the devil, to sting. To lure it into the trap of sin, and sting its victim! It will even sting people who are trying to be holy. No, I should correct that. It would especially like to sting those who are trying to be holy. In fact there is a saying “If you’re not meeting the devil on the road, then you’re probably going the same direction”. It is because we are trying to walk in faith with God, in the steps of our Savior Jesus Christ, that Satan becomes the enemy. Satan wants to sting us with the venom of his seven deadly sins. Satan is the enemy, not us.

Friends, the enemy is out there but it is not us. We have been called to not do harm, to do good as often as we can in all the places we can to all the people we can, and we have been commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul as we love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We have been called to “Love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those you curse us, and pray for those who mistreat us” (Luke 6:27-28). Jesus rose from the grave not with revenge in his eyes, but with love in his heart and acceptance in his spirit. The enemy is out there, but it is not us.

Door #2: Revolving Door – It takes work to get the door moving, but once it’s moving it goes around and around and around: we get stuck doing the same thing and we don’t know how to get out. In order to get the first door to open, it takes a lot of work because we feel like we have to do things on our own. The second door takes work to get moving, but once it starts it never stops. When it comes to casting our anxiety unto the Lord, we are comfortable making the request to God, but then we get stuck in a perpetual motion and we can’t get out: we are in a rut. We ask God to remove our anxieties, but what comes next? Peter says, that once we ask God to receive our anxieties, our worries, and our stresses, essentially the works of the enemy, we must “be humble, discipline, keep alert, resist the enemy as best as we can” (1 Peter 5:6, 8-9), and be glad and “shout for joy” (1 Peter 4:13). After we cast all our anxieties unto the Lord, we put our trust in Him as we move forward doing what He has called us to do. And what He has called us to do is to carry out the mission of His Son: “to make disciples of all nations.” After we cast our anxieties unto the Lord, we are free to move forward, to get out of the rut, and to experience a divine life in Christ. Door number two takes work to get moving, but if we aren’t willing to exit and move toward Christ, then we will simply just keep going around and around and around. We ask for our anxieties to be removed, but then it is on us to leave the rut and walk toward Christ, to return to him.

The third and final door is the door we all long for: it is an automatic door. Door #3: Automatic Door – Jesus is just waiting for us to stand before his door and say, “Jesus, remove my anxieties. Care for me today and every day.” Life is not easy, because the enemy is out there. Life is stressful because the enemy is causing resistance and fighting back. Life is filled with worry and doubt because the enemy knows how to get our attention. Life is anxious because we don’t know what is going to happen next. When we step in front of any automatic door, we can assume that the door will open, that what we need is on the other side, that the enemy can longer keep the door of Christ from being open to us. The automatic door is what we seek in life. At that door, we cast all our anxieties unto the Lord, because he cares for us. At that door, we are told not to be “anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6). At that door, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). At that door, as Matthew 6:34 asserts, “So do not worry about tomorrow…” At that door, we realize that we have defeated the enemy. The work is done. The enemy is no longer in us.

There will be moments in our life that we will have to work to get the door open to get to Christ and we will get stuck in a revolving door seeking the opportune moment to get out. But, when we truly turn everything over to God and let Him take care of us, “The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ,” as Peter notes, “will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10).  I don’t know about you, but I pray every day that God will take care of me so that I can take care of others. I pray every day to overcome the enemies in my life—whatever is keeping me from Jesus—so that I can be a better disciple today than what I was yesterday. Every day I pray that I will be able to approach the automatic door, walk in with no struggles, and walk out feeling refreshed and renewed. Every day, I pray for peace.

Conclusion:

From the Resurrection of Christ, we are given the opportunity each and every day to cast our anxieties to the Lord so that we may be set free to more fully experience the love and salvation of Jesus Christ. At times, when we pray to be taken care of, we will need our strength to overcome the resistance—the enemy—behind the door so that we can get to Christ. At times, when we pray to not be anxious or to worry about tomorrow, we may find ourselves going around in circles until we learn to fully let go of what is weighing us down. When we have this realization, we can get out of the rut, move away from the enemy, and tell ourselves that we are not the enemy. Lastly, when we truly give everything to God, meaning our hearts are empty of worry and anxiety, we find ourselves standing in front of the automatic door as Jesus opens it up for us, gives us  the strength that we need, and sends us out into the world proclaiming the good news.

I ask you, what door are you standing in front of: the door of resistance, the revolving door of hope, or the door of Christ’s automatic love and grace. The enemy is out there, but so is God, so is Jesus Christ, and so is the Holy Spirit—three is certainly greater than one. Today, cast your anxieties to the Lord, take a deep breath in and let out. God will take care of you. Let it be so…

 

Communion Transition:

Gathered around the table with his disciples, Jesus invited them to give him everything that was weighing them down. Jesus invited them to leave their worries, anxieties, and stresses at the door. Jesus invited them, through the bread and wine, to let him take care of them. At the table, you are invited to let Jesus take care of you, to let your worries and anxieties be cast to the wind, and to receive the peace that surpasses all understanding. Holy Communion is your time to seek a new beginning and refresh start, to allow Jesus to do the work for you. All are welcome to the table, the table of caring.

 

Benediction:

Because Jesus rose from the grave, he proved to us that the enemy will never have the last word. Give your worries and anxieties to the Lord. May you be blessed this week by the strength, peace, and comfort of Jesus Christ as you let him take care of you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go, living and experiencing the caring love and presence of Jesus Christ. And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen.