Today on Renewing Your Mind, you'll hear a devotional message originally recorded and released exclusively to a special group of people, the ministry partners of Ligonier Ministries.
Here's a preview. Ligonier Ministries was founded by R.C. Sproul over five decades ago and over the years the Lord has used the financial and prayerful support of Ligonier's ministry partners to fuel and grow this ministry. And as they faithfully give each month to help more and more people better understand who God is and to grow deeper in their knowledge of His word, we seek to equip them with discipleship resources for their own growth and the growth of their families and communities. And on today's special edition of Renewing Your Mind, you will hear a devotional message that Burke Parsons, our chief editorial officer and the senior pastor at St. Andrews Chapel, recorded for our dear ministry partners, a message on anxiety and worry and the antidote to anxiety. It's messages like this that our ministry partners receive throughout the year in addition to other discipleship resources. I'll explain more later, but if you'd like to learn more, you can click Give Monthly when you respond to today's resource offer at renewingyourmind.org.
Or by visiting ligonier.org slash partner. Here's Dr. Parsons with the antidote to anxiety. Dr. Parsons' message is that anxiety and worry are something that every human being experiences in this life. Now, I've met people over the years, as I'm certain you have, who might say, well, you don't need to worry about anything. And even others who say, well, I never worry about anything. Well, I have one thing to say about such people.
They are either lying or they're crazy. Because the reality of it is, is that in this world, with sinful minds and sinful hearts, the noetic or the intellectual effects of sin on our entire being, we cannot help but fall into worry and anxiety. Throughout the Bible, we see how God's men, prophets, judges, apostles, dealt with anxiety. In fact, we see it almost on every page of the Psalms, taking our worries and taking our anxieties to God. Now, one of the things we see in the ministry and teaching of Jesus is that he is constantly telling his disciples not to worry, not to be afraid, do not fear, fear not. These exhortations from our Savior to his disciples were very frequent exhortations.
In fact, one of the most frequent charges that Jesus gave to his disciples was just that, do not fear, do not worry, do not be anxious. We read in Luke's Gospel in chapter 12 and verses 4 through 7, Jesus said, Now, in reading that, every one of us knows full well with certainty that we are of more value than many sparrows. Now, in reading that, every one of us knows full well with certainty that we are of more value than sparrows.
In Matthew's Gospel, Matthew records Jesus' comments about not only the birds of the air but also the lilies and how they neither toil nor spin, yet God takes care of them. Now, we understand as Christians that we are of more value than the lilies, we are of more value than the sparrows, and most of us know that God will ultimately take care of us. We know that God ultimately will save us in the end, that ultimately we will persevere and that we will have eternal life. We are not ultimately worried about those things. We have assurance. We know that God is faithful, that He will continue us and that He will persevere us to the end.
So, we don't worry too much typically about our eternity. What we typically worry about, what we typically find ourselves falling into anxiety about is the everyday matters of life. And not only for ourselves, but for those whom we so dearly love. Anxiety is a real thing.
And it's not just something that we happen upon once in a while. If we're thoughtful and if we're mindful of it, if we're sensitive to the realities of our sin and our anxieties, the truth of the matter is that we are tempted by anxiety every day of our lives and we often find ourselves giving into our anxieties every day of our lives. We worry about our children. We worry about our grandchildren. We worry about life and death. We worry about disease.
We worry about health. We worry about finances. We worry about our jobs. We worry about getting fired. We worry about our investments. We worry about our retirements.
We worry about social security here in the United States. We worry about real things that really affect us, that really concern us, and sometimes have a tendency to overwhelm us. We can't escape the reality or the presence of anxiety. What we must do is we must fight against allowing ourselves to be imprisoned by anxiety. And one of the ways that we fight that is first by recognizing that anxiety is a problem. And I've found that so many Christians I've spoken with over the years, that there's almost a way in which they look at their anxiety and rationalize it as sort of a godliness, a type of holiness that they find themselves being overwhelmingly concerned and worried about everything, that it's almost as if they have rationalized thinking that it's okay, because this gives me a more sad, mournful, more thoughtful, maybe even more considerate approach and perspective on all things in life. And I have found that even some Christians seem to think that it's okay to sort of wallow in the mire of anxiety, to find that it's even a place of comfort for some people. But we must recognize and we must first deal with the fact that anxiety is a problem, that anxiety is a sin, that worrying about everything, that worrying about tomorrow, worrying about next year and worrying about next decade, worrying about the future, not only for ourselves, but for our children and for our spouses and for everyone around us, worrying about our country, worrying about the future, worrying about the economy, worrying about a recession, all of these things, we must recognize that we must go to the Lord with our worries. You see, the reality of it is, is that we can't escape anxiety. Everyone has anxieties. The question is, what do we do with them? Where do we go with our anxieties?
Where do we turn? In 1 Peter 5 and verses 6 and 7, Peter writes, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Now often when I hear this passage quoted, I only hear the second verse quoted, that is casting all your anxieties on him because he cares for you.
And typically I hear it as a command, cast all your cares on him or all your anxieties on him because he cares for you. Now that's not entirely inappropriate, but we have to note that this command is a part of the continual exercise of the Christian who is humbling himself under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time he may exalt you. And so the first part of this biblical equation of dealing with the realities of anxiety is humbling ourselves. And so often the reason we are anxious, the reason we are overwhelmed with worry is because we have not first and foremost humbled ourselves before God. We have not gotten on our knees before our Lord, going to him, seeking him in his wisdom, and saying, Lord, I have all these concerns, I have all of these worries, and I bring them to you. You know, too often I have found that in my own life and in the lives of many Christians that we typically think that we can keep everything under control. And it's only when we sort of lose control or have too many things on our minds or on our shoulders or on our hearts that it's only then that we need to run to God. But that meanwhile, most of life, we just take it all on, consume ourselves with the worry and the anxieties of all the details and all the mess and all the problems and all the concerns that we face in life until things get out of control. And then, then we go to God, but we are to live our lives on a daily basis, humbling ourselves before God, regularly on a daily basis, casting all of our anxieties. Notice that word, all.
It's not just some of them. It's not just the ones that we don't think we can really have control over, but all, each and every one of our cares, each and every one of our anxieties, bring them to God, cast them upon Him and listen to the language. It is casting upon Him and that means leaving them with Him, not casting them upon Him and then taking them back upon our hearts and upon our minds and heaping them back upon our shoulders.
No, bringing them to God and leaving them with Him. Now, Luther said something that has always intrigued me, although I wouldn't say it quite like he did. Luther, of course, had a fascinating way with words, but he said something to the effect of pray and let God worry. Now, of course, Luther understood, as we understand, that God doesn't worry.
God is not like us, but Luther's point was, of course, very simple. Pray and leave it to God. A lot of times, many of us think that if we just keep praying over and over and over and again each and every minute, each and every hour of each and every day about the very same thing, that that will somehow relieve us of it. Now, it's true that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, but we also have to recognize that we need to have faith that when we pray, God hears us, that He listens to our prayers through Christ, our mediator, that the Spirit, our heavenly translator is taking our prayers, and that our God is hearing our prayers, and that He in His sovereignty is listening to them. We should have a sense of resting that when we have prayed and when we have brought our anxieties to Him, when we have cast our anxieties upon Him in humility, independence, and in rest upon Him, that God will take care of it according to His perfect will. Now, it doesn't mean we don't continue praying for that. It doesn't mean we don't pray for it on a daily basis, but I have to sometimes catch myself in praying for something and then immediately saying, well, if I pray more and if I keep praying more and more and more each and every moment, then I'm going to really get God's attention. I need a lack of faith on my part.
I need to be able to cast my anxieties upon Him and leave them with Him. You see, the antidote to anxiety is prayer. And the only way we pray is when we humble ourselves, because prayer is an act of humility. When we pray, we are acknowledging that we are not God. We are acknowledging that we are dependent.
We are acknowledging that we can't do it on our own. We are acknowledging that we need the desperate help of the Holy Spirit, that we need the desperate intercession of our Savior, Jesus Christ, that we need the mighty hand of God in His sovereignty and providence to help us get through not just every day, but every hour. Now, something that Paul in Philippians chapter 4 and verses 4 through 7 charges the Philippians, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Now, I love this passage of Paul's in Philippians 4, because he begins with this charge and too often when we hear this charge or this exhortation to rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I will say rejoice as a standalone exhortation that comes with no further instruction.
It's almost as if we're just called to do this by sort of a brute strength. I must rejoice. I must rejoice even when I don't feel like rejoicing.
Well, Paul is indeed commanding us. God is indeed commanding us through Paul to rejoice in Him, in the Lord, always, in all circumstances. It's very similar to what we read in James chapter 1, verses 2 through 4, in Romans chapter 5, verses 3 through 5, that we are to experience and we are to count it all joy, that we are to recognize the hope and the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
All of these things are to be products and fruit in our lives, even in the midst of trials. Now, when we're young in the faith, it's very difficult for us sometimes to see that or to understand that, but it's only when we've grown and when we've aged in the faith, when we've experienced real suffering and real trials, that we know how God by His Spirit can grant us the ability to have genuine and deep joy. It doesn't always look like a happy face and a smile, because it's a joy and a rejoicing that's deeper than that. And yes, it expresses itself with thanks to God. It expresses itself in faith to God, but again, it doesn't always look like happiness based on occurrence and happenstance, but it's a joy that is deep within, as Jesus always experienced, even in the midst of sadness and misery in His own life. The rejoicing that we have as Christians is not some superficial mask that we put on, but it's a deep rejoicing of the soul that sometimes has trouble even expressing itself in words to others. Because it's difficult to explain the joy that God gives us in our hearts, even when we're going through miserable sadness and the worries of what's to come, worries about our spouse dying from his or her disease and being alone, worries we have about our children and grandchildren, worries about them not trusting Christ, about them not being successful in life or whatever it is we worry about.
These worries are real. And the question is, where do we go with them and what do we do in the midst of them? I've said many times to brothers and sisters in our congregation that we have to remember to pray for joy. Joy doesn't just come by osmosis or by association. We have to pray for joy. We have to ask the Lord, Lord, please give me joy by your Holy Spirit. Give me the peace and the joy that I know are mine in Christ. And we can even pray, Lord, help me to feel it because joy and peace, yes, it is based on our theology and is rooted in what we know and the assurance that we have in Christ.
But that knowledge transforms into real and genuine feelings. We can even pray, God, help me to feel and to sense the joy of the Holy Spirit, the peace that passes understanding, the peace that doesn't really make sense to us even in the midst of trials. I find it interesting that Paul in this passage in Philippians 4 says, do not be anxious about anything, but just before he says that, he reminds us the Lord is at hand. That's a way of saying the Lord is near.
You can reach out to Him. It's only because the Lord is near. It's only because He is close.
It's only because you can go to Him. It's only because He is near to us that we can therefore not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God. You see, as Christians, going to the Lord is not just about going to Him once a week when we are gathered together with His people. It's going to Him every day and every hour and on every occasion, because when we go to Him, we are liberating ourselves, liberating ourselves from our worries and our cares so that on every occasion and every situation, we are running to Him, turning to Him who is our help each and every second of our lives. Now, that passage where Paul says, pray without ceasing or pray on every occasion, I think too often Christians look at that passage and they see it almost as a burden that if they're not praying constantly, then they're in sin. And that's not really the point of Paul's exhortation at all. The point is Paul saying, liberate yourselves by going to God on every occasion. Liberate yourselves by going to the Lord all the time, constantly, without ceasing. You see, as we grow in the Christian life, as we grow in our faith in the Lord, we find that going to the Lord and praying to Him is communion with Him.
It's fellowship with Him and constant fellowship, constant communion, almost like breathing and inhaling and exhaling, inhaling thanksgivings and exhaling words of praise, inhaling words of asking the Lord for help and exhaling words of gratitude. This is the Christian life. You know, too often I hear when it comes to anxiety, people immediately say, well, if you're anxious, that's because you're not trusting God. Well, that can be the case because in truth, in part, we worry because we are men or women of little faith and we need to have a greater faith.
We need to trust the Lord more, but anxiety is not always the result of a lack of faith because those of us who know the scriptures well, those of us who know our theology well, those of us who understand who God is and His character and His acts throughout all of history, we know what our sovereign God is capable of. And He has told us that in our lives we will suffer, that He will, by His grace and because He loves us, conform us to the image of Christ. He has promised us that we will share in the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. And we know that our God brings us through trials in order to bring us closer to Him. So we know what God is capable of. We know the story of Job. We know the story of David. We know the story of Peter.
We know the story of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that God in His sovereignty brings us through trials. And we're scared of those trials. We're anxious, especially those of us who've experienced such great trials in our lives. We don't want them.
We don't want to have to go through them again. Yet we also know that our God loves us and that our Savior cares for us in such a way that He will permit sovereignly our going through trials because He knows that that leads to greater faith. So when we pray, God, give us more faith. When we pray, Lord, increase my faith.
When we pray, Lord, make me more humble or make me more like Christ, those prayers are often answered by God bringing us through trials, some minor and some major and some seemingly devastating in a temporal way, but ultimately leading to greater faith, not only in our lives, but often in the lives of those around us. And so we have to understand, dearly beloved, that as Christians, we will worry. The question is, what do we do with our worry?
Where do we go with our anxieties? And the biblical answer is to go to God because He can take care of them. He will answer them always in accordance with His perfect will for our lives. And so in going to Him, we are declaring to God humbly, Lord, we are trusting you. No matter what you bring my way, no matter what I endure, I'm trusting you because this world is not my home. My home awaits me in heaven with you forever. That is a message that I needed to hear, and perhaps you did too.
Where do we go with our anxieties? We go to God. You're listening to a special Friday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm your host, Nathan W. Bingham. Today's message from Burke Parsons was recorded for a special group of people, Ligonier's ministry partners.
R.C. Sproul would call them the backbone of the ministry. To give you a glimpse into what the Lord is doing through the monthly financial and prayerful support of these ministry partners, we now have over 1,000 chaplains using Ligonier resources behind bars with inmates who need the truth and with those serving on the front lines. They're helping enable trusted teaching to get to the next generation through Ligonier's always ready events.
Thousands of teenagers attend every year, and it continues to grow. And they are making it possible to reach our goal of sustained ministry and a substantial teaching library in the world's top 20 languages. So if you're not a ministry partner, I'd like to ask you to prayerfully consider becoming one today. Beginning at $30 a month, around $1 a day, enables you to become a theological lifeline to countless Christians around the world. And to help serve you and your family, every month you'll receive a copy of Table Talk magazine, exclusive or early access to messages like the one you heard today, special discounts on resources and conferences, and most recently, as a ministry partner, you'll have complete streaming access to our entire and expansive teaching series library.
And when you set up your recurring gift, you'll also receive a copy of the Reformation Study Bible. Become a theological lifeline today by selecting Give Monthly when you respond to today's resource offer at renewingyourmind.org, or when you call us at 800 435 4343. And exclusive to Renewing Your Mind listeners, when you respond today at renewingyourmind.org or via the phone, we'll send you a bonus resource, a copy of John Calvin's A Little Book on the Christian Life.
Dr. Parsons, who you heard from today, served as co-translator. So visit renewingyourmind.org and click Give Monthly to become a ministry partner today and also receive Calvin's A Little Book on the Christian Life. If you're unable to give $30 or more a month, any monthly gift fuels the outreach and is appreciated and we'll get you a copy of this classic book from Calvin.
Thank you. Oftentimes we worry as we think about the future. What does the future hold? Next week, W. Robert Godfrey will join us to share our blessed hope and to teach from the book of Revelation. So be sure to join us Monday here on Renewing Your Mind.
