Anxiety and Unbelief

Introduction

Jesus says in John 16:33 that we will have tribulation in our lives which basically means trouble. While we are here on the earth, we are subject to troubles that may come.

So we should not walk in this life without the expectation of trouble.

But the question that we need to answer tonight is “How will we respond to life’s troubles?”

There are many many ways that we can respond to troubles, some ways are healthy and good whereas other are unhealthy and even dangerous for our faith.

Tonight we are going to examine and unpack how Christ says we should react to troubles.

And the goal is for everyone of you to understand that

Your troubles in life do not have to define you or shake you

Christ has provided a way out and a hope for you to hold onto, in everyone of life’s troubles.

The Text:

John 14:1-4 ,6

John 14:1–4 ESV

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”

John 14:6 ESV

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Context:

Jesus was speaking during the passover meal that he was having with His disciples. He was preparing them for His future imminent death, and departure from this world.

That was what this meal was all about, He was notifying them that the time had come for His death and departure and He wanted them to be prepared for the troubles that would come their way.

For a moment put yourself in the shoes of the disciples. Think about following Jesus for 3 years, the actual Son of God, and now He is telling you that He is going to die, and leave this world.

What would be your reaction?

Now lets look at what Jesus says about your reaction:

1. The troubling within you is not what Jesus wants

After Jesus says that He is leaving the disciples, He says in John 14:1

John 14:1 (ESV)

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled.”

The first point that Christ hit on was for the disciples hearts to not be troubled.

What does He mean by troubled?

In the original language that the New Testament was written in the greek word for trouble actually means “to stir or agitate”

So think a bowl of water that someone puts a spoon in and begins to violently stir and slosh the water around. What happens is the water that was once settled, and calm now becomes chaotic and out of control. And what can easily happen when a liquid is spinning and being agitated is that when something is deposited into it in that condition, whatever was deposited in can become mixed into what was already there.

It is in these moments when our hearts are anxious and stirred that satan tries to plant seeds of doubt into our faith.

Why? Because When something is settled and calm it is very easy to see when something that doesn’t belong there is present, but whenever everything is moving around and going crazy (Like our minds get sometimes) it is harder to recognize that something that doesn’t belong has infiltrated our territory.

It is your faith that satan is after. Because it is your faith that makes you a threat to him and his agenda. This is called spiritual warfare.

So Christ knew ahead of time that His leaving was going to open the door for the enemy to plant seeds of doubt into the faith of His believers.

And He is giving us the same message today that He gave the disciples. “Do not let your hearts be troubled”

As you all start this next school year, be aware that certain things may happen that you will not agree with, but that is normal, and Christ is with you and He does not want you to be influenced or shaken by those things.

And He has given us all promises that if we follow and if we hold onto, we shall not be moved.

2. Your Faith is More Powerful than Your Circumstance

As soon as Jesus told His disciples not to become troubled when He leaves, He immediately begins explaining to them the remedy for such “trouble”

He says in John 14:1

John 14:1 (ESV)

1 “Believe in God; believe also in me.

He says that it is our faith that will keep us strong and unmoved by the circumstances in our lives. That it is our faith that is the most powerful tool in our toolbox.

It makes the most sense that the very thing that satan is trying to attack (which is our faith) is the very thing that Jesus says is the wonder weapon.

But it’s not just any faith or belief that Christ says we should have, it is faith in Him! Faith in Jesus Himself.

What’s even more interesting is that in the greek the word believe used here in verse 1, actually means to “be persuaded of and to place confidence in”

WOW! Christ says that we have to not only believe that He is our Lord and Savior, but we have to place our highest level of confidence in Him that He will do as Psalm 91:15 “15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.”

We must be fully convinced that He will answer and rescue us from trouble when we call on Him. Because if we cling to this faith, there is nothing that our circumstances can do to shake our faith.

I call this faith RAW FAITH.

RAW FAITH is faith that you hold onto regardless of how you feel, or what you are seeing. That is what Christ is asking of us.

“Don’t be worried about what you are seeing or what you are feeling at the moment. Trust in me. Trust that I will deliver you, I am more powerful than what you are going through.”

So if we have to place our utmost confidence in Jesus to win our spiritual battles, then it makes the most sense that we have to know Christ. Not just know who He is, but we have to develop a intimate relationship with Him.

In the army, they train us to learn about our fellow soldiers and to develop relationships with them, so that when we have to go into battle, the strong relationships that we have formed with each other will help us to trust one another. The same is true in our lives. If we are going to trust Christ with our eternal lives, then we must develop a intimate relationship with Him, we must get to know Him.

Why? Because that is what is going to grow our faith, which is what is going to keep us strong when the waves of life hit us.

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Basically this verse is telling us that our faith is going to be increasing dependent upon how much we hear God’s Word.

So if we are going to do as Christ says and trust in Him fully, whenever life throws those curveballs at us, and our minds and the enemy is telling us to give up, then we have to know Him personally and deeply, and if we are going to know Him, we have to spend time with Him reading His word and talking with Him.

But besides all this what else does Christ tells us to help us overcome our hearts from getting “stirred”?

3. His Hope for our Eternity

As fitting as it should be, after Christ talks about future troubles, and placing our faith in Him, during those times, He gives the beautiful hope and promise for us all.

Right after telling the disciples not to be troubled, and then to trust in Him He says:

John 14:2–4 ESV

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

John 14:6 ESV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus gives us 4 promises that we can hold onto during times of trouble, in addition to doing the other things that He mentioned:

That He is preparing a specific place for us in Heaven, individually.

He is coming back to get us.

When He comes back to get us, He will be taking us to be with Him forever.

That by following Him, we can rest assured that we are doing all that we need to do, to go with Him when He comes back.

Isn’t it awesome how much God has prepared for us!

During this time Christ was telling His disciples this to remind them that what they are experiencing is temporary and that there is a better future that they are promised.

This is the same thing He is telling each and everyone of you. Don’t let your mind get caught up in this present moment, this bad situation. Stop and think about the promises that I have waiting for you.

When we stop and think about these promises that God is coming back to get us, and that right now even while we are speaking He is preparing a place for us in Heaven, if we stop and think about that more often, then it would make our present troubles much easier to bare.

Conclusion:

Me and Brianna are going to put on some music and we want to pray over each and everyone of you as you start this school year.

We want you all to be blessed and for the Lord to use ya’ll, but also we want ya’ll to be strengthened to endure and overcome any problems that may arise this year.