The Unaxious Life

Philippians 4:6–7 (NIV)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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.

Introduction

Growing up in church I had these ideas about prayer. I thought that prayer was strictly a spiritual discipline. When I needed God to do something in and through me, it was always for a spiritual purpose.

So one day, before I was working for the church, I was in the middle of negotiating a contract for work. It was to the tune of $22-25 million dollars. This wasn’t a small matter.

And I was gridlocked with our supplier.

I had received instructions from my boss that I could not go home until we reached a negotiated agreement.

During one of our breaks from negotiation my Pastor called me. When I explained what was going on with negotiations he asked me, “Have you prayed about it?”

And, at that moment the thought going through my head was, I don’t think God cares about this.

I mean of all the things that he has going on, I don’t think this negotiation for a Government contract matters much to him.

But since it was my Pastor speaking into my potential all night negotiation, I decided I should pray.

So I closed the door to my office and prayed that God would help me to close out the negotiations. And, sure enough, when I walked back to the table, we wrapped up negotiations shortly after, and most importantly I learned something about God in prayer that night.

Transition

Today I want to share with you what I have learned about prayer. Not only is this foundational to this series, but this could absolutely change your life.

So let me just now set a foundation for this series, and then I’ll unpack what I’ve learned, and what I am learning about prayer.

A Better Way

Last week I made a statement, and I think it may have broke with some of what you’ve been taught about coming to Church. I said that heaven is a destination, but becoming like Jesus is the goal. The goal is not to get to heaven, the goal is to receive Jesus as your Savior and to be deeply formed in the ways of Jesus.

My hope in this series is to accomplish a few things:

1. The avoidance of hell is not a way of life.

2. I want you to see the beauty of Jesus.

3. That you would passionately chose to the way of Jesus, because the way of Jesus is a better way.

Anxiety is the Way of the World

Prayer is the not the way of the world.

Right now, anxiety and hurry are now markers of the cultural moment we are living in. Anxiety and hurry are the way of the world.

What is anxiety? It is the feeling of worry.

Another way to describe it is worrying about tomorrow’s possible problems today.

And right now, anxiety is gripping the hearts of every generation.

There was a time when anxiety was only something adults with weighty problems dealt with. Now, we are learning that youth and children are dealing with anxiety.

Why is that?

Come on, if you are a child the only thing you should be thinking about is recess and playing after school. But instead, we’re raising an anxious generation.

If you’re a teenager you should only be worried about getting good grades, sports, and a few extra curricular activities.

But the world is shifting and we are willingly burdening our children and youth with problems that they should not be carrying, and it’s pushing them towards anxiety.

We have our kids so overwhelmed by grades, club sports, social obligations, and we are hurrying their development with unrealistic expectations of success.

And, as I said a moment ago, it wasn’t uncommon for adults to deal with anxiety but the degree to which we are dealing with anxiety as a nation is crippling.

We are so hurried to accomplish more, grow our influence, and to grow our net worth.

Everyone is hustling. Everyone is on their grind. It’s go, go, go all the time and everyone is in a hurry!

There’s no more room for deep meaningful conversations and deep meaningful relationships.

How many of you know what I am talking about?

And none of this is natural, and we must push back… the church and the follower of Jesus must be counter-cultural to the way of the world and the rise of anxiety.

Jesus, A Better Way

Now I want you to see the way of Jesus...

Jesus was always busy, but he was never in a hurry.

I think that there is one passage of scripture that exemplifies this more than most others. In the interest of time, I’m going to have to paraphrase this passage in scripture.

Mark 5:21–23 (NIV)

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.”

So Jesus is doing his Jesus thing… he walks into a city and there is a man pleading with him to come and heal his daughter. So Jesus obliges… but then on his way to this man’s house he encounters another person.

There is a woman who had been hemoraging blood for twelve years, and she also heard that Jesus was in town. She gathered all of the strength she had, which was not much, and she pushed her way through the crowd to get to Jesus.

Now remember, Jesus is busy. He’s got somewhere to be. But he feels that someone had touched him. And this is how he responds.

Mark 5:30–32 (NIV)

At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”

But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it.

OK, let’s stop and perform an autopsy of the situation.

Jairus is in a hurry. He KNOWS that he needs to get Jesus to his house ASAP or else his daughter may not live. He’s found Jesus and things are starting to look good. But then this woman showed up and now she’s messing everything up!

Let’s look at the disciples because they are here in the story as well. When Jesus stops and asks, “who touched me?” the disciples got frustrated. Look at how they responded. They got sassy!

“Jesus, there is a CROWD here and EVERYONE is trying to touch you, and here you are, the all knowing God and you want to play games asking, ‘who touched me?’ We do not have time for this Jesus. We gots to go!”

Why did the get like? Because THEY were also in a hurry.

Jairus had managed to shift his anxious energy to them, and now they are frustrated with Jesus...

CAN I PAUSE HERE FOR A MOMENT...

This is why you gotta be careful with you let affect you. You can’t just let anyone come and put their energy on you. You know what I’m saying?

You don’t have to answer every phone call.

You don’t have to respond to every text message.

You don’t have to go hang out with THAT friend just cause they called you.

Put your hand over your chest and repeat this: My soul is my responsibility.

Some of you are anxious because you are hanging around anxious people. You are hanging around with people who don’t have peace, and their anxious spirit is getting on you!

OK BACK TO THE STORY...

Jairus is anxious. The disciples are getting anxious, and a little sassy.

But Jesus… Jesus was touched by someone in the crowd.

And now he wants to stop.

But he doesn’t just stop, but he stops and he starts looking around for who touched him.

Why?

Because Jesus wasn’t anxious. He wasn’t going to be hurried.

Anxious for Nothing

And now let’s get to our text...

Paul tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything!”

You might be thinking, “But Paul, you don’t know my situation!”

And I would push back and tell you that you don’t know HIS situation. He said that from prison. And, near the end of his life, because this was the last time in prison and the only time he left his cell was on the day that he was executed.

And yet, he tells us not to be anxious.

And how does he suggest we do that? Here it is...

in every situation, 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.

Prayer and Petition with Thanksgiving.

You see what Paul, and what the life of Jesus demonstrated was that the way to overcome anxiety and the way to overcome an anxious life was to become a person of prayer and solitude.

The Way of Jesus

I can’t show you every reference in the scriptures, but let me walk this out with you.

Mark 1:35 (NIV)

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.

Mark 3:7 (NIV)

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake...

Mark 3:13 (NIV)

Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.

Mark 6:46–47 (NIV)

After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

We could go scripture by scripture and walk this out, but I believe you are getting the point.

Jesus was a man of prayer. He was a man of quiet times. He was a man who was comfortable in silence.

As a matter of fact, it was from these places of prayer and solitude that he was able to be effective in ministry.

The way of Jesus shows us that prayer is a not a retreat, but an advance.

But I believe we have lost this way. We have made prayer our last option when our world has fallen apart, and not our place to receive the peace of God before the craziness of the day.

Prayer is not my retreat, prayer is my advance.

“Solitude is the furnace of transformation.” - Henri Nouwen

Conclusion

As I close, I want you to see the importance of becoming a person of prayer and solitude. Perhaps you have heard this called devotion. That’s exactly what this is.

So let me give you some real practical actions you can take:

Start your morning with prayer, reading your Bible, reading a book and planning your day. Do this in quiet. Do this in solitude.

Spend less time on your device. It should not be the first thing and the last thing we see each day.

End your day in gratitude. Paul said, “with thanksgiving.” Thanksgiving naturally decreases anxiety.

Remember, the way of prayer and solitude is the way of Jesus, and it is a better way.