Finding Peace in our Anxiousness
Notes
Transcript
Christmas Feels Different
Christmas Feels Different
How does Christmas speak into the worry and anxiousness of our hearts?
Christmas Lists
Christmas Lists
A short time after my birthday, most often before Thanksgiving, but it gets much more frequent after thanksgiving, I start getting texts and phone called endings with these words, “where is my list?”
My mom and my mother-in-law start asking “What do you want for Christmas?”
So I go on the search for things that I just can’t live without.
When I was a kid it was easy to fill up a list, but as I have gotten older I struggle more to come up with things.
It isn’t that I don’t want anything, but what do I really “want”.
And there is already so much junk in our house and in my drawers, it feels wrong to ask for more.
But if we were to really examine our hearts, look deep down, what is it that we REALLY want for Christmas?
Perhaps the thing we all really desire is PEACE.
Not like that absence of war or conflict, but PEACE as in WHOLENESS, COMPLETENESS, and the absence of CHAOS.
The biblical word is “Shalom”, Hebrew =
This year has really exposed that in me and likely in most of you as well.
As we have faced a disease that creates chaos in our bodies.
As we have faced a political climate that could only be described as chaotic.
As we have faced chaos in the social unrest of our culture.
And for many, we have had to face chaos in our personal lives, with our kids, our spouses, our jobs, our homes, and even our own physical and mental health.
If we were to write out an honest Christmas list, we would all desire that wouldn’t we.
Peace in our struggles
Peace in our bodies
Peace in our relationships
Peace in our country
Peace in our society
This lack of peace is really at the core of our fear, worry, and anxiousness.
The instability of our world, the concern for what tomorrow might bring, and the constant changing of our circumstances makes the world around us seem chaotic.
When we look for peace in the middle of our chaos, where is it we are looking?
Christmas reminds us where to Look, we look to the Son who was born, whose name shall be called “Mighty God” and we say along with David in Psalm 121
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
That help was announced to a group of shepherds several hundred years later:
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
Hear the the song of the Angels the truth that speaks peace into our Hearts.
“Glory to God and on earth peace.” those two concepts are inseparably linked.
John Piper says “He will be our peace by being our God. “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace.” The angels have it right. The angels keep it together. If we want peace to rule in our lives, God must rule in our lives. He is our peace.”
So we can say with much confidence and much comfort “Peace was Born on Christmas day.”
God became man and dwelt among us
God became man and dwelt among us
Another Messianic prophesy from Isaiah is found in Isaiah 7.
He is speaking to King Ahaz about the same child who would be born and he uses a different, and equally significant name, “Immanuel”
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
The title “Immanuel” means “God is with us”
Let the weight of that statement marinate in your mind and heart.
God almighty, the maker of the heavens and the earth, was to come and be with us.
Yes, that is why He would also be called “Mighty God”
Peace was Born on Christmas Day
Peace was Born on Christmas Day
“For to us a child is born, a son is given…and his name shall be called MIGHTY GOD.”
The term “Mighty God” is the combination of the Hebrew words “el” and “gibbor”
“el” is the word God uses to refer to Himself as well as the word the writers of the OT use to refer to God.
“gibbor” is defined by hebrew dictionaries as “ability to do things, by virtue of strength, skill, resources, or authority.”
It can be translated as mighty, powerful, strong, or, even, hero.
How is Jesus Mighty?
He is mighty because HE IS GOD.
The one who in Genesis 1 spoke into the chaos of nothingness and light entered the darkness.
The one who, in a word, created uncountable stars in the universe AND, simultaneously, the unseen quantum forces that make life possible.
The one whom David says “Knit each of us together in our mother’s womb.”
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Why does this matter to us on Christmas?
Because our peace in the midst of our fear, worry, and anxiety hinges on that Child who was born.
1) He is INFINITELY CAPABLE
1) He is INFINITELY CAPABLE
Control is at the roots of much of our anxious thoughts, our worry, and our fear.
I am not a good car rider, I like to drive.
When I am the passenger I don’t get to choose the speed, decide when we need to brake, or determine how close we get to the sides of roads and the curbs on our turns.
But I get good use out of the imaginary brake and steering wheel on the passenger side.
My anxiety isn’t about the person in the driver’s seat, it is about my wanting to be in control.
It could be Mario Andretti drive, I am still going to stomp that brake, until I stop and realize that he is entirely capable (and likely more capable than me) to drive the car.
When we feel like we are not driving the car of our lives, we have the tendency to stomp that imaginary brake and grab the imaginary wheel because we are struggle to trust the driver.
When we realize and begin to grow in understanding that the one who is driving was also the one who created everything that exists in our lives, not to mention that He created us, then it starts to sink in that He is infinity more capable of directing my life than I am.
Hear when I say this. I am not saying all our anxiety comes from not trusting God therefore we need to have more faith when we are anxious.
I am saying that when we feel anxious, we must turn our thought the the omnipotence of our Mighty God
There is literally nothing outside of His control or too complicated for Him to handle.
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
“in everything pray” is not a legalistic jab that our anxiety comes from not praying enough.
It is an encouragement and reminder of God’s bigness and our smallness
It is an exchange of burdens as we place our burdens in capable hands.
2) He is INTIMATELY AWARE
2) He is INTIMATELY AWARE
The fact that Jesus became man is a comfort in knowing that He is knows our struggles (as we talked about last week).
But Jesus also being God means that His awareness is not a distant “I know how that feels”, but a presence that is with us in our struggles.
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
He is with us, He is in us through His Spirit.
He knows our struggles and helps us through them.
6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
When we are worried or anxious we must be reminded that our Mighty God is near to us.
3) He is INTRICATELY INVOLVED
3) He is INTRICATELY INVOLVED
Not only is He aware, the Lord is “working all things out”
This is hard to fathom, that God is not only aware of what we are going through or aware of what our future holds.
He is involved to the most basic level.
Working ALL things out. Romans 8:28
When you consider the life of Joseph in Genesis you clearly see the way God is involved in all things in our lives.
Joseph understood when he told his brothers in Genesis 50
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Jon Bloom said of Joseph’s life
“Joseph had a unique role to play in redemptive history. But God’s intricate involvement in Joseph’s life is not unique to yours. One of the many reasons God gives us a close-up of Joseph’s life is to show us how active he is, how he never leaves us or forsakes us all along the way, in both the good and the evil things we experience (Hebrews 13:5).
Maybe that doesn’t help you too much with anxiety to know that God is behind our struggles and our ease, but keep listening.
4) He is INTENTIONALLY ACTIVE
4) He is INTENTIONALLY ACTIVE
He is also intentionally working in ALL THINGS for OUR GOOD and to use EVERYTHING for our GROWTH.
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
God doesn’t waste opportunities. He uses everything that happens to us, every situation, every struggle, every weakness, sickness, or sinful tendency to shape us into faithful followers.
Why is that comforting? Because we will never find true, lasting peace unless we acknowledge how strong and mighty our God is
And how He is intricately and intentionally using everything is our past, in our present, and in our future for our good, even when it sure doesn’t feel all that good.
Peace for our anxious hearts.
Peace for our anxious hearts.
I read this quote this week about the WHY of the incarnation (why did God become man).
God is not a robot. He isn’t a controller of an accounting company trying to make things add up or work out. He is a being full of deep emotion, longing, and memories of what it used to be like. The incarnation therefore isn’t about an equation but about remembering what home used to be life and making a plan to get back there.
Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection proved not just that God wanted us back but that He has power over sin and imperfection and that His original design can be renewed, rebuild, and reconceived.
Don’t think of the doctrine of the incarnation as a doctrine. The incarnation is a story of passion. God longed for everything to be back the way it was, and therefore He sent His Son, Jesus, to remedy the cycle of sin so that everything could be made new! That is way more than something to be studied. It is something to be considered and reflected on.
God is working all things out for PEACE my friends, so let us cling to Him to find it there.