The Anxious Soldier

This morning I want to talk with you about anxiety.  I told Miriam that if she went into labor, I would lead her into the hospital, open the door and cry out for a doctor, exclaiming, “My wife is in labor.  We need pain medicine, nausea medicine and something for anxiety.  And my wife will need all those as well.”  

 

No matter what stage of life you’re in there’s always something to be anxious about.  When you’re in school you’re anxious about getting out.  Once you get out you become anxious about finding a job.  Once you find a job you get anxious about being single.  Once you get married you get anxious about kids.  And once you have kids...you give them to their grandparents.  

In Max Lucado’s book, Traveling Light, he shares an insightful story about living life with many burdens:

“Why don’t you try traveling light?  Try it for the sake of those you love.  Have you ever considered the impact that excess baggage has on relationships?  We’ve made this point at our church by virtue of a drama.  A wedding is reenacted in which we hear the thoughts of the bride and groom.  The groom enters, laden with luggage.  A bag dangles from every appendage.  And each bag is labeled: guilt, anger, arrogance, insecurities.  This fellow is loaded.  As he stands at the altar, the audience hears him thinking.  Finally, a woman who will help me carry all my burdens.  She’s so strong, so stable, so…

As his thoughts continue, hers begin.  She enters, wearing a wedding gown but, like her fiancé’, covered with luggage.  Pulling a hanging bag, shouldering a carry-on, hauling a makeup kit, paper sack--everything you could imagine and everything labeled.  She has her own bags: prejudice, loneliness, and disappointments.  And her expectations?  Listen to what she is thinking: Just a few more minutes and I’ve got me a man.  No more counselors.  No more group sessions.  So long, discouragement and worry.  I won’t be seeing you anymore.  He’s going to fix me.

Finally they stand at the altar, lost in a mountain of luggage.  They smile their way through the ceremony, but when given the invitation to kiss each other, they can’t.  How do you embrace someone if your arms are full of bags?

   

For the sake of those you love, learn to set them down.

And, for the sake of the God you serve, do the same.  He wants to use you, you know.  But how can he if you are exhausted?” (Lucado, Traveling Light pgs. 19-20)

A soldier has to make the same considerations.  How can a soldier fight if he is lugging his 75 pound safe around on the battlefield?  Paul told Timothy, “No one serving as a soldier gets entangled in civilian affairs, but rather tries to please his commanding officer.” (2 Timothy 2:4)   

I define anxiety as: the fear of losing what’s important to me.  Over the years I have dealt with a lot of anxiety (or worry).  I remember moving to Raleigh to go to school at NC State.  I was homesick.  I began to worry that I wouldn’t like a career in forestry.  I didn’t like the big city I was in or the big campus for that matter.  I was also wrestling with giving God control of my life.  I wanted to stay in control.  I wanted to have a forestry job in the mountains, not bothered by people and making plenty of money.  What did I end up with?  I got a missionary job in the big city of Raleigh that was focused on pouring my life into people.  And I wasn’t making that much money either.  

Why was I anxious?  I was afraid of losing something that was important to me.  I was losing control of my life and giving it over to God.  Let that sink in for a moment.  When you’ve been anxious or worried, what have you been afraid of losing?  Is it a close relationship?  A chance to be married?  A large amount of money?  A job?  Chances are, if my definition is correct, you’ve been afraid of losing something that was important to you.

Anxiety weighs a soldier down.  As Christian soldiers, our battle is not against flesh and blood as Paul said in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”  John shared this passage two Sundays ago when he was talking about the soldier’s armor.  In the context of this same chapter we see that we are fighting the battle by sharing the message of the gospel, “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel…”  We are heralds (or messengers) of the gospel.

God wants His heralds to move about quickly without weight slowing them down: “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Then the Lord replied:  “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.” (Habakkuk 2:1-2) 

For the sake of your own soul, for the sake of the people you love and for the sake of the God you serve...travel light.

In Philippians 4:4-9 Paul shared how we can have victory over anxiety when he said,

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”  

He promises the peace of God.  This comes about as we pray, be thankful to God, share our requests to God, rejoice, and focus our minds on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy.  This morning I want to focus on one practice that will help us get rid of the baggage of anxiety.

The principle is this: focus your mind on things that are true.  There are many lies that we’re tempted to believe.  You might not realize that the lies I’m about to tell you can cause anxiety.  So hang with me as I explain each one. 

#1.  It’s my way or the highway.  If it’s not my idea then it’s not the best idea.

 

Dr. Kenneth Wuest said, “Anxiety is a self-contradiction to true humility.” (Wuest, 1 Peter. pg 129)  The apostle Peter says, “Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:5-7).  It’s no coincidence that Peter talks about casting all our anxieties on God in the same context that he says “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  Pride leads to anxiety.

It’s tiring trying to be right all the time.  You have to make sure that everyone stays in line with what you want.  And it’s exhausting correcting people all the time.  The constant desire to get what you want is taxing to your soul.

In Proverbs 11:2 it says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”  In chapter one, verse five it says that a wise person isn’t the one who always has the answers: “let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance—.”  We usually think that a wise person is “wise” because they have all the answers.  But God is saying that the wise person is actually someone who is a learner.  They’re not born with innate knowledge of multiple disciplines.  They’ve become good at asking the right questions and learning from other people.  

 

Instead of believing lies what truth should we believe?  Peter says that God “cares for you.”  You don’t have to prove anything to God.  Don’t let worldly principles control your relationship with God.  You may be able to impress your boss or professor with having all the right answers but you won’t impress God.  You don’t have to strive for His approval.  He already cares for you.  Don’t you think you would be more at peace if you believed the truth that God cares for you?

 

What are you afraid of losing?  Are you afraid of losing the argument and being wrong?  Are you afraid that you might lose the appearance that you have it all together as a Christian?  Are you afraid of losing a relationship with God that’s built upon performance and not grace?  Learn to travel light.  What’s another lie that leads to anxiety?

#2.  Everything I want to do needs to be done right now.

How this lie produces anxiety may be a little more obvious than the last lie we looked at.  A great example of this is found in Luke 10:38-42,

“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

For Martha, everything had to be ready and planned out ahead of time.  One translation says that she was “Martha was distracted with much serving.”  I can relate to this.  It’s not that “much service” is a bad thing.  It becomes a bad thing when we let it replace our worship of Jesus.  

What did her anxiety produce?  The first thing was bad theology.  She thought that Jesus didn’t care when she said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?” (Luke 10:40)  Her anxiety caused her to think that Jesus was aloof and wasn’t involved in her life.  In Martha’s case, her anxiety caused her to be cold in her worship of Jesus.  She no longer saw Him as caring.  Secondly, her anxiety produced loneliness.  Martha said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?” (Luke 10:40)  She felt like she was the only one doing the work.  In some sense she was right.  Martha was serving but Mary was sitting.  But Mary wasn’t just sitting to avoid work.  She was sitting to listen to Jesus.  Anxiety can cause us to lose our desire to sit at the feet of Jesus.  We begin to think of all the work that needs to be done and so we keep moving.  Anxiety will also lead us to think that everything we do in the church must have a mission statement, goals and a perfect strategy.  

I have suffered the consequences of trying to plan everything out for the church with meticulous detail.   I’m an obsessive planner.  I like talking about church growth strategy.  Most of my brain is on my iPod stored in my calendar and tasks list.  I like making lists.   I like getting things done before they’re due. I actually enjoy making an Excel spreadsheet to organize things in my life.  Miriam doesn’t understand that.  And there are times when I don’t leave enough room for Jesus to give input into my life.  We’re surrounded by the hounds of busyness.  Thirdly, her anxiety caused her to have a demanding spirit towards Jesus. “Tell her to help me!” Martha demanded.  She wanted so badly for everything to work out in her timing to the point where she began demanding Jesus to do what she wanted.  A heart that’s demanding of Jesus is not at peace.  Lastly, it appears that Martha became bitter because of her anxiety.  “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?” (Luke 10:40)  It’s not obvious at first, but sometimes the root of bitterness can lead to anxiety.  Martha wanted the evening to be packaged in a certain way.  When it didn’t turn out as she expected, she got angry.  Poor Mary had to face Martha’s wrath not because of anything she did wrong, but because of Martha’s anxiety.  If you had one evening at home alone with Jesus what would you do?  Martha felt like everything had to be perfect.  She wanted to be the princess of preparedness or the queen of hospitality.  And all along Jesus just wanted her.

It’s interesting to see how Jesus addressed her true problem.  He didn’t challenge her bad theology.  He didn’t rebuke her for her loneliness or her demanding spirit.  And there was no correction for her bitterness toward Mary.  He focused on the root problem, her anxiety.  He said, “'Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things...’” (Luke 10:41)

What truth do we need to believe in place of the lie?  Jesus said that “‘Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’”  As much as our flesh will fight against this truth, spending time with Jesus is never a waste of time.  In the NLT it says, “‘There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.’”

 

What was Martha afraid of losing?  Maybe it was the appearance of being a super-spiritual person by always staying busy.  Maybe she was afraid of losing her anonymity.  If she put the dishes down and sat in front of Jesus she would more vulnerable.  Letting Jesus get to know the true Martha may have been too much for her.  Maybe she wanted to be alone after all.  

 

#3.  Everyone is against me.

Another lie that leads to anxiety is “Everyone is against me.”  Or maybe you think that a particular person is against you.  This lie works closely with the destructive habit of suspecting the worst about someone.  Maybe they haven’t returned your phone calls.  Or maybe they didn’t give you an energetic “Hello!” when you came to church.  Or maybe you end up in a disagreement in most of the conversations you have with them.  

It’s easy to misread what somebody thinks about you.  It could be that their facial expression means they don’t like you.  Or maybe they’re just suffering from indigestion from a burrito they ate last night.  Assuming the worst about someone will oftentimes lead to anxiety.  There’s an example of this the book of first Samuel.

God anointed David to be the next king of Israel and he already had great success as a leader in the army.  The people of Israel began to respond to David’s leadership: “When the men were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out from all the towns of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs and with tambourines and lutes. As they danced, they sang: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.’”  (1 Samuel 18:6-7)  Saul suspected the worst about David.  In verse 9 it says, “And from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.”  

What was it that caused Saul to be jealous?  Verse eight gives us the answer: “Saul was very angry; this refrain galled him. ‘They have credited David with tens of thousands,’ he thought, ‘but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?’”  He was afraid of losing his position as king.  Apparently, Saul had forgotten that the people of Israel were God’s people and not his own.  He was just a steward that was to be faithful with the task that God gave him.  Saul elevated himself and lowered God from His place of worship.

What truth do we need to believe in place of this particular lie?  In 1 Samuel 16:7 we find a truth about God: “But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."  We can’t look into a person’s heart to see what they are thinking about us.  Only God knows.

Let me encourage you with a few things this morning.  Whatever is true...think about these things.  Faith magnifies God’s ability.  Anxiety tricks our minds into thinking that He’s somehow limited because of our situation.   Maybe you can relate to one of the lies I talked about this morning.  Or maybe it’s another type of lie you’re dealing with.  You can ask yourself, “What am I afraid of losing?”  If you can answer that question then you can probably discover why you’ve been anxious.  Then find God’s promises to replace that lie with the truth.

Will you make a commitment today to start unpacking the luggage of anxiety?  Trusting in God’s truth will help you leave the luggage behind.