I Believe, but I Still Worry

Do you long to be faith filled but find it hard to? Do you wish for more follow through and less fall through? Maybe you think, “I believe in God, but forgiveness is impossible.” Maybe you believe in God but are scared to share your faith. Or “I believe, but do I really have to be part of a church?” Join us as we try to move forward in belief and practice.

How can we practice faith when so much of life calls us to worry instead? Focus on one thing at a time…

Transcript

Good morning everybody. My name is Sandi. I am married to Brian. We are the pastors of Community Covenant. And I am unfortunately going to bring up a touchy subject. COVID. What was the worst thing about COVID for you? Think in your mind. For me, it was feeling dizzy and sort of like unrooted after all of the online online meetings. Do you remember that feeling? Just like everything was virtual. And I remember that during these meetings, it wasn’t the meetings which were often and long. It was that what happened during those meetings is I found a lot of different things to do to get through the meetings. Okay, stick with me. Like multitasking. Um maybe you you were talking about something and you thought, “Oh, I could just send that email right now.” Uh or I would put it on um in my ears and turn off the camera and I would cook. So I was listening, right? But I was actually getting something else done. Or I would read the news and check the latest COVID numbers. Do you remember when we would like check how many people had COVID in the state or whatever? Oh man, it was terrible.

After feeling just plain yucky about how my body was feeling, I remember talking to my therapist and we came up with a revolutionary idea, monotasking. I vowed to just be on a call with a paper and pen to take notes. I would wait till after the meeting was over to send that email or that text or read the news. Now, perfect concentration during these meetings. I never achieved that. But when I tried, it really did make a difference. Doing one thing at a time, being undivided and not distracted. Do you have moments like this? Can you remember the last time you only had one thing to do and you actually focused on that one thing? Maybe just dream of what that might feel like when you just get to sit and watch your kid play ball. Or when you meet a friend for lunch and the phones never come out. or you’re cooking a meal and you’re enjoying it and you’re smelling the things and you have all of the ingredients that you need at home and you don’t have to run to the store. It’s a treat, isn’t it?

Well, we are in this series about faith and the lack of faith. The pivotal verse comes from a man desiring that his child would be healed and he asks if Jesus might be able to do anything. Kristen Odlin walked us through this a few weeks ago. Jesus responds, “If if I can do anything, the man responds, I’m sorry.” Jesus says, “Everything is possible for those who believe.” And the man responds, “I do believe. Help my unbelief.” These things seem mutually exclusive and definitely multitasking. I’m believing and I’m not believing at the same time.

The point is this series is about increasing our faith into practice about where we do lack faith. This man says out loud, which is probably true for many of us, even those of us who have been in a relationship with Jesus for decades and for those of you who are not yet in a relationship with God. It speaks to what our heart can sometimes feel about relationship with God. I believe in God, but do I really know God? Kristen talked about this. Matt talked about I believe in God, but I’m I don’t really share my faith. This week, we’re going to talk about anxiety. I believe in God, but man, I worry a lot.

So, there are a lot of studies out there right now about mental health. I don’t know if you’ve heard, we’re in a bit of a mental health crisis in this country and on the planet. There are a lot of studies out there. One study I looked at said that 63% of Americans report being anxious. And what makes us anxious? Global issues and paying the bills are about even. Young people ages 18 to 25 apparently struggle the most right now with anxiety. And this is not just in the United States. All across the planet, people struggle with anxiety. But according again to studies, we are the most anxious. Go USA.

Now anxiety is not new. If you look at the scriptures, David in Psalm 139, I have this on a slide. Psalm 139 is about how we know that God created us in our mother’s wombs. And at the end of it, David writes, “Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts.” Jesus himself as he faced the cross in Luke 22. Luke writes, “And being in anguish, Jesus prayed more earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Yes, Lord and friends, I am going to make the claim that Jesus himself was anxious. I believe he was anxious and he knew the terror that was facing him on the cross. So much so that he experienced a medical condition caused by anxiety and he sweated drops of blood.

So sometimes my friends I am going to say and suggest to you perhaps we need to reframe our understanding of anxiety. If Jesus was in fact anxious, it proves that anxiety is not always a sin. If I’m wrong on this, science, the Bible can prove me wrong. Psychology would say that some anxiety is given to us to protect us. Fight or flight. You get that sense, oo, something’s not quite right, and you change your behavior. Sometimes our bodies can pick on something that we have not quite fully thought through, like the sky is looking a little dark and I think it’s time to get off the water. It also can be a way to experience feats of strength. I didn’t look up any stories, but I know they’re out there. People have incredible anxiety. They see someone in danger and they literally lift cars off people. On a less like dramatic level, students claim that that high feeling of anxiety before an exam can help them be super focused and be incredibly clear. There’s also a great book out there Curtis Chang wrote called The Anxiety Opportunity. I would love to preach on this and read this book, but if you want to check it out, Curtis Chang talks about that anxiety is actually an opportunity to experience God. What is God saying when we’re anxious? And reframe that all anxiety doesn’t necessarily have to drag us down.

On the other hand, some of us might struggle so much with anxiety that just the thought that we’re preaching on it today gives you a sick feeling in your stomach and you feel like, “Oh, great. Now I’m going to come to church and they’re going to tell me if I just prayed more or I’m such a bad Christian because I have anxiety.” I want to assure you that’s not what this is going to be about.

I’ll tell you a very real thing happened to me during COVID. I experienced more anxiety than I ever have in my life. Like many people, we had moved to Mano to plant a church. We had three young children essentially in elementary school and the pandemic happened. So we were planting a church online and I was helping three students learn online, which now seems like not a big deal, but six years ago it was a really big deal. Personally, I experienced anxiety in very overwhelming ways where it just felt like it was swallowing me.

So, anxiety, it’s reality. We live with it. Those of us who are Christians, I looked statistically, we have a little less anxiety, but it really wasn’t worth talking about how much more Christians experience freedom. So, okay, Lord, do we just live with anxiety? Where is the hope? I want to challenge us to consider today if we are in a place if you have moments where you’re like up at night or you have this recurring sense of anxiety and you feel like man actually this is a place where I’m not trusting the Lord. This isn’t just like a condition or something I’m experienced. This is actually an area where God would invite me to believe. And I’m going to suggest monotasking.

Philippians Philippians 4. Uh I don’t memorize a lot of verses. I’ve said this to you all before. And I realize that two of my favorite sections of scripture are right next to each other in Philippians 4. I’m going to admit that to you because sometimes I think you all look at those of us on stage and think, “Oh, there’s something there’s just something about them.” We forget things in the Bible, too.

Okay, so Philippians 4 starting in verse 4, Paul is writing a letter from prison. He has a lot of reasons to be anxious and let’s just say not joyful. He at the end says to his friends, “Rejoice in the Lord always.” And I will say again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. I think no matter our situation, we can and sometimes with the help of community around us always find reasons to rejoice. And in light of anxiety, I imagine Paul could say something like, “Even when you’re worried, don’t let it turn you into a monster. Be gentle.”

Verse six, Paul says,”Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, there it is again, rejoice, present your requests to God, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” This is not magic, okay? This isn’t use a verse and boom, your anxiety is going to go away, okay? This is about Jesus. Just letting you know this. And I also I I read this over and over and I wish it didn’t say what it says. I wish it didn’t say don’t be anxious because that feels like Sandy don’t have curly hair. It feels like saying always be patient when you’re driving with your new driver behind the wheel. It feels like saying love your enemies during the political season. It feels like really hard and it just feels so extreme. Like really Lord, don’t be anxious ever. Like how about just like on Mondays like Monday mornings? I wish that I could rewrite this but that’s sinful I think.

But I I feel like what I want to suggest in this section is that as you are anxious about everything, Paul is suggesting prayer. When you worry, prayer. When you’re bound by fear, petition God. When you can hardly breathe because of that issue on your heart, present your requests to God. God doesn’t want us to be anxious. Don’t be anxious. Pray to the Lord. We will worry in this life. I think that that is part of living as broken people until Jesus comes back. John 16:33, Jesus says, “We’re going to have trouble, but take heart because he has overcome the world.” At the end of verse 7, it says, “There is a peace of God that will transcend all understanding.” It goes beyond what you can even imagine when you’re in those dark places. And it is in Jesus. Jesus has had victory. The very person of Jesus is the one who can give us the freedom.

Verse 8, Philippians 4 says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, all y’all, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is worthy, I’m sorry, lovely, whatever is admirable. If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you’ve learned or received or even heard from me or seen in me, put into practice, and the God of peace will be with you. I just got to think Paul’s probably a little anxious and his people are a little anxious because in this section twice he talks about the peace of God or the God of peace. The opposite of having anxiety.

Earlier this year, we preached through a book by Max Lo talking about our thoughts, taming our thoughts. And of course, when we have anxiety, oftentimes it presents itself into thoughts, right? Sometimes it’s here. You get anxiety and you can feel it in your body. For me, I used to call it just busy head. You know, you just can’t stop thinking about that thing. I have to tell you, yesterday I couldn’t remember someone’s name and I went to bed thinking about it. I talked to Brian about it. I woke up thinking about it. I don’t even know what I don’t know if it was a sermon illustration for this moment or what, but I just like couldn’t turn it off. Paul invites us to experience something other than just that. If you’re interested, the book was called Tame Your Thoughts. There were a lot of things in there that were super helpful. Max and Paul are saying the same thing. Think about what you’re thinking about when you get in those like you know the spin out. What? Okay. What are you thinking about? What are you exposing yourself to? What spun you off into that? Is there something super simply that you could do differently?

It’s hard not to talk about the cell phone at this point, at least momentarily. Uh Brian just said, “We got back from China. Uh, we spent some time in Paris as well on our way like layover and I wish I could say people in other places on the planet and God bless you my Chinese friends sitting right here. I’m super disappointed in my Chinese friends. Y’all are on your phones in China. Oh my gosh. Everywhere you I don’t know why I thought it would be better. I mean, they’re connected too, right? I mean, we’re in Beijing. We’re in big cities. Everyone’s on their phones just like here. It w it’s so funny to go to the airport and it’s actually quiet in certain places because everyone’s sitting there on their phones. Before friends, you who are young, when you went to the airport, it was a place of glee and happiness and people talking to each other about their trips. Can you imagine such a time? Anybody with me? But, you know, it’s very quiet now in the airport. We’re all exposed to information that before our grandparents had to wait for it to come out in the newspaper the next day or even farther back, they had to wait for the radio program to come on and then when they got the news, right, it was in shorter snippets and then the bills. Again, you can look at your finances all the time. I remember my mom would like get the check statement from the bank and then she balanced the checkbook. We can look every jot and tit, every cent the minute that it happens. Everything is right here.

So again, I’m calling you today to monotasking. Say it with me. Monotasking. I did a paper when I was in college on a section in Matthew that talks about anxiety. This word in Philippians is the same word. Okay, this word anxiety at its root means division. It means being divided, being distracted. When you are anxious, you’re not probably thinking about where you’re going or the conversation you’re having or I don’t know, right? You’re distracted. You’re divided.

And so my invitation to those of us who struggle with anxiety, I of whom am one of them, is to consider monotasking. Okay, I’m going to give you some options, but you only get to pick one. Little joke. Thank you for that. The first one is not hard, not a big surprise, and yes, it is a Jesus answer. The first one is prayer. Have you admitted to the Lord your unbelief? that man in Mark who wanted Jesus to heal his son. That was a pivotal moment for him to say, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” And have you ever worried and fredded about something and had someone say to you, “Well, have you prayed about that?” And then you kind of go, “No, I haven’t actually.”

Secondly, maybe you can’t. Maybe it is so all-consuming you literally cannot pray about it. Okay. Well, shift gears. What can you be thankful for? We start our volunteer meeting every Sunday with what are you grateful for? Paul says it, rejoice always. What can you find to be grateful for?

Third, Paul also says, “Let your gentleness be known to all.” Okay? Don’t be a monster. But also, what does that look like? Gentleness. This morning, a little anxious about preaching on anxiety. Ironic. And I was thinking about doing something nice and being nice to something. And so, I went to my garden and I picked some weeds. I also thought about what Philippians says. It’s on the back of this, of course. whatever is noble, whatever is lovely. So, I went to my garden and I got some flowers. This isn’t rocket science, right? But it’s one of the things I did today. So, pray. Can you be grateful? Can you be kind to someone or something? Can you think about good things? So, I literally went to my garden. Think about the good things. Anyone? Raindrops on roses. Whiskers on kittens.

There we go. Thank you so much. When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I’m feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things and then I don’t feel so bad. Okay. Sound of Music. Julie Andrews/Maria is comforting the children with a song because there’s a thunderstorm. Somehow this song became a Christmas song. And there’s a whole thing on the internet about that. And I don’t think this is exactly what Paul is getting at when he says, “Think on these things, brothers and sisters.” But I do believe that when we can shift our mindset and think about what is true, what is noble, and then Paul says, put it into practice.

Uh I took a soul care seminar thing, cohort deal like two years ago. Uh Janice McWills wrote a book about soul care and one of the exercises she offered was this. You get a purple pen and an orange pen. You set your timer for five minutes and you pick up the orange pen symbolizing prison jumpsuits. Okay? Orange. And you write down all the things that you’re getting twisted up about. All the things that are causing anxiety. Sometimes it’s first thing in the morning. I do this. Sometimes it’s before bed at night. And you get to write it all down. But after five minutes, you stop. Then you pick up a purple pen. Purple pen, sign of royalty, the kingship, and the lordship of Jesus. And you ask the Lord, “What is true? What is noble? What is praiseworthy?” Narrow your thinking to one thing.

So, I don’t know where you’re at with anxiety. Maybe we all really struggle with it. Some people talk about it, some people don’t. I know that God is near when we are anxious. I know we when we share about anxiety in general, I hear people saying, “Oh my gosh, I totally get that.” Sometimes it becomes a personal isolated thing and we live alone with it. The statistics show that faith makes a difference in terms of a faith community. If you are involved in some way in a faith community and if you are serving, I actually heard somebody who works with youth say the difference that the church can make for this next generation is by giving them opportunities to serve because they see a direct correlation with mental health with young people. And if they are involved in a faith community that serves, not just like come to worship and like rahrh, but like actually do service.

Jesus said that we cannot add any minutes to our life by worrying. Jesus says we can’t get any taller by worrying. Now, I’ve never worried about how short I am. So, this one like throws me a loop. So, I’m going to say it out loud because maybe someone out there wishes they were taller and you worry about it. Jesus says you can’t get any taller by worrying about it. It does us no good. But Paul and I believe the Lord gives us this promise that the peace of God which transcends all understanding can guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

I’m going to call John back forward. Back forward back to the front. We have a lot of seat back forwards. Grab that card in front of you in the seat back. Two things that seem mutually exclusive can be true at the same time. You can believe and follow Jesus and struggle with doubt. And we invite you into a season where we are going to talk about where we struggle with the unbelief. And today I invite you to choose to try to do one thing when that anxiety comes. Help us Lord believe. And yes, we do believe.