Cast Your Cares

(Story about Josh Termeer)

It's worth noting again that Peter opens his letter by addressing the Church, dispersed throughout the world, as elect exiles. He says it again in 2:11, this time with an additional title--sojourners and exiles. I want to draw your attention to it again because the saints he's writing to have not literally been exiled anywhere, as punishment. But, he calls them that because that's how he sees the saints (and himself), the elect ones, the Church--as a people who are in a world that is not their home...their true home. You are spiritual exiles, waiting to walk into your true home. This is the same Peter who Jesus is with, after his resurrection in and the disciples say,"Are you gonna restore the kingdom to Israel?" This seems like a great time to do so. Then Jesus ascends into the heavens and a cloud takes Him out of sight. So wouldn't it then, make sense to Peter, to think, "Where He is going, where I am going you will be also, we who believe are going, and He just left, He promised He'd be back, but here is not the place where Jesus was talking about. Here is not my home. We're exiles." And so, as elect exiles and sojourners we are not to grow comfortable here on earth, the way we would if this were our final place of residence.

And then He goes to the Cross...so that's one place exiles should go...to the Cross. And, then He rises from the grave...so that means exiles have victory over death and death is merely a doorway; it has no staying power, and then Jesus is with Peter and the rest of the disciples for a while before, in , the disciples say,"Are you gonna restore the kingdom to Israel?" This seems like a great time to do so. Then Jesus ascends into the heavens and a cloud takes Him out of sight. So wouldn't it then, make sense to Peter, to think, "Where He is going, we who believe are going, and He just left, He promised He'd be back, but here is not the place where Jesus was talking about. Here is not my home. We're exiles." And so, as elect exiles and sojourners we are not to grow comfortable here on earth, the way we would if this were our final place of residence.

I don't want to automatically assume that all of you are equally concerned about the current situation that's impacting the world, right now--COVID-19. But, I think it's safe to assume that everyone of you listening now, has cares, worries, concerns, fears, anxieties about something. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I'm also certain that if you don't have any strong concerns, worries or fears that at the moment...you will. And God, has given us council for them. He's given commands for what to do with them.

I mean, you wouldn't walk in someone elses house and start moving in furniture and hanging pictures on the all and taking off your shoes...there's no reason to get comfortable, because it's not your home. We as believers are living by a different set of principles than the world, because we have a different kind of hope than the world, because the world and what happens in the world is not our hope. Which means that we are called, as exiles, to respond differently than the world responds to things that happen down here.

He's given us direction for what to do with them, and He's done so, in His Word, because He cares for us. My hope and prayer for you (and me) is that the reality of our fears and concerns would be overwhelmed by the truth of the Gospel, because in the Gospel, we see a God who has revealed proven that He cares for sinners to the uttermost.

I don't want to automatically assume that all of you are equally concerned about the current situation that's impacting the world, right now--COVID-19. But, I think it's safe to assume that everyone of you listening now, has cares, worries, concerns, fears, anxieties about something. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I'm also certain that if you don't have any strong concerns, worries or fears that at the moment...you will. And God, has given us council for them. He's given commands for what to do with them.

He's given us direction for what to do with them, and He's done so, in His Word, because He cares for us. My hope and prayer for you (and me) is that the reality of our fears and concerns would be overwhelmed by the truth of the Gospel, because in the Gospel, we see a God who has revealed proven that He cares for sinners to the uttermost.

God’s exhortation for us, through the Apostle Peter is that we humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. (v.6) And what’s the best way to do that? What’s Peter’s advice — he knows that the people he’s writing to are under difficult circumstance. He’s already spoken to them about the inevitable fiery trials and certain suffering. What’s his advise?

(ESV)

7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Let’s take some time to consider this. I don’t really have points, per say. We’re just going to look at the two halves of our passage.

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. How? This is Peter’s first descriptor of humility.

Cast Your Cares on God - What the Humble Do

He Cares For You - What the Humble Know

Casting/ Cast - trans. to throw upon or place upon, versus what? Holding onto them.

trans. to throw upon or place upon

VS.

holding onto them

Cares - trans. anxiety, worries, can also mean to be drawn in different directions or distraction

It’s th

Why do we need to be told to cast our cares on the Lord? Because, it's most natural for us not to. So, as we approach this passage we should know, right away, that our hearts are suspect.

We will have many cares, anxieties and fears

Cares…plural. Peter assumes that the elect exiles will have many cares, worries, distractions. Jesus promised that in the world, His disciples would have many troubles. No one is immune to the things that make for anxiety, fear or worry.

In his commentary on 1 Peter, Matthew Henry says it this way,

The best of Christians are apt to labour under the burden of anxious and excessive care; the apostle calls it, all your care, intimating that the cares of Christians are various and of more sorts than one: personal cares, family cares, cares for the present, cares for the future, cares for themselves, for others, and for the church. - Matthew Henry

Cares, worries and concerns are to be expected.

Why do we need to be told to cast our cares on the Lord? Because, it's most natural for us not to. Right away, I come to this passage and I have to say Lord, my heart is suspect. My most natural inclination is, “I’m gonna keep whatever it is I’m anxious about, afraid of, nervous about…I’m going to keep it close to me. I will deal with it. I’m gonna burry deep. I’ll figure a way out of it.”

Why do we need to be told to cast our cares on the Lord? Because, it's most natural for us not to. Right away, I come to this passage and I have to say Lord, my heart is suspect. My most natural inclination is, “I’m gonna keep whatever it is I’m anxious about, afraid of, nervous about…I’m going to keep it close to me. I will deal with it.

We have to understand that if the humble person throws his cares, fears, worries, anxieties on the Lord, the prideful person refuses to. There are commands and exhortations all throughout scripture against worry, being afraid, and being anxious about what will happen.

Of David.

[1] Fret not yourself because of evildoers;

be not envious of wrongdoers! (ESV)

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (ESV)

fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (ESV)

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,

whose trust is the LORD.

He is like a tree planted by water,

that sends out its roots by the stream,

and does not fear when heat comes,

for its leaves remain green,

and is not anxious in the year of drought,

for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (ESV)

We will have many cares, anxieties and fears

Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. How? This is Peter’s first descriptor of humility.

The first characteristic of the humble is seen in what they do with their cares.

This is why I love the fact that he says all your anxieties.

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

And there’s more...

The sin of holding onto our cares

But, despite so many calls not to be anxious, or afraid, or dismayed…we are. We hold onto our concerns and do our best to manage our cares on our own. One way to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand is to cast our anxieties on Him. Which means that one obstacle to casting your anxieties on God is pride. Which means that excessive worry about your future is probably a form of pride.

Pride is many things: self-sufficient, arrogant, boastful, it denies God’s help and the existence of God and refuses Him, but…in our passage today, it’s clear that one of things that pride is, is that it’s anxious about the future.

Maybe you say, what are you talking about? I struggle with anxiety, it’s something I can’t control. How can it be sinful? So, before I go any further let me clarify what I’m not thinking about or talking about when I talk about worry or anxiety, or your cares.

Negative feelings that are connected to something we value, being threatened. Paul and Jesus both felt anxiety about the future.

- have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!

Jesus is distressed about the Cross, and the fact that He will be separated from the Father.

- And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!

Paul is concerned about the Church, because he loves her.

And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.

The God given emotional response of fear. This is our response to an immediate threat. It’s a warning system God has given us.

The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

- The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

Clinical anxiety, that is the physiological malfunction that has become debilitating. Anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic attacks.

Anxiety that comes as a natural consequence for your sin. Ex. Someone spends all their money on clothes and then is anxious about how they’re going to pay their bills.

The worry or “cares” or “anxieties” I think The Apostle Peter is getting at here is a tactic of our fear that’s aim is to get us to forget who God really is, what’s most valuable and who we are in light of The Gospel. It’s obsessing over something that we value or see as essential…like clothes and food…to the point that we mix up what we value for life and forget God’s involvement in our lives. Not only that, but we value the things that we need for life, more than the God of Life. The worry and “cares” I think Peter is talking about is a mix-up in our value system…to the point where our forgetfulness of the truth causes us to obsess over the fact that we might lose something that means so much to us…when God should actually mean infinitely more to us.

I heard it once said, “Worry is the belief that if we think about our problems and concerns, cares long enough, we can actually change them.”

In other words, I am God. I can change my cares…with my thoughts. That’s crazy. Which is exactly what sin is.

My anxious cares are a ploy of the devil and dangerous for my soul.

The word for “cares or anxieties” that Peter uses, is the same word that Jesus uses when He’s explaining the purpose of the parables to his disciples.

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. (ESV)

Here’s what I was convicted of. This means that our cares, anxieties, worries, fears are not to be held onto, entertained, meddled with and especially not for us to hold onto, as we if we could deal with them in our own strength. We must give them over to the Lord, in prayer. Preacher Warren Wiersbe puts it this way, “We must not hand them to Him piece-meal, keeping those cares that we think we can handle ourselves. If we keep “the little cares” for ourselves, they will soon become big problems.”

We’re not supposed to be trying to coach ourselves out of our worries. “Come on, you got this.” Why? Because their a sinful ploy from the Devil, who would love nothing more than to see us obsess over them, stress about them, try to control them, until the word of God has been choked out. Which, I don’t doubt, is why Peter’s next admonishment for the elect exiles is, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

Which, I don’t doubt, is why Peter’s next admonishment for the elect exiles is, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

God has sovereignly ordained the coronavirus to spread throughout the entire world. It’s everywhere. And yet, the most dangerous virus is squirming around in my own heart—the sin of thinking that this world and everything in it is my actual home, that my clothes, my food, my bottled water, my health is what matters most in my life, and that some biological phenomenon is going to take it away from me. It’s revealed that I love the world so much! I just don’t wanna lose it! I don’t wanna lose my job, I don’t wanna lose my comfort, I don’t wanna lose my health, I don’t wanna lose all the things I’ve come to love so much. The devil whispers, “This is it…this is all there is. You have to keep it. It’s everything. It’s all you have…and you’re gonna lose it if you don’t do something. God’s not enough! Christ’s not enough!” And I believe it! If this moment in our world is a call for anything, family, this is a call to war with our own sin! The Lord is at hand!

- Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (ESV)

[8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (ESV)

- For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

[39] Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (ESV)

Strength and dignity are her clothing,

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (ESV)

and she laughs at the time to come.

Jesus is calling us away, away, away from the world. You’re exiles, church! Why do we carry cares the way the world does, when this isn’t even our home. When you go on vacation or even to a restaurant, do you get concerned about whether or not the bills are gonna be paid at the hotel or the Applebee’s? No! Because you’re just a visitor. You have an actual home. You place that you rest at, for real rest at. Your comfortable there. That place your staying isn’t yours. What sense does it make to stress about a place that isn’t yours? Wouldn’t it be so strange if you walked into that hotel or that chain restaurant and started nervously taking orders or checking people in? Someone would say, “Do you work here? Are you supposed to be doing that? That’s not yours to worry about. Don’t worry about that.” And when they take away your plate, after your done, you don’t say, “Oh, but wait…please…I need that! Are you gonna clean it probably? Please leave the forks with me! Kids, hoard the napkins.” Why would you…it’s not yours to worry about.

The humble are not worried about what happens here, to the point that they’re scrambling to hold onto everything under the sun. Concerned, caring, compassionate, generous, absolutely. The Church should be on the frontlines, not growing weary in doing good, in the world full of worry and anxiety and concern. But worried about losing all of the things that the world holds dear? Why would we be worried? Why would we be anxious? Why should the Church be worried? Even if we do lose the world, we have it’s Creator forever. And He cares for us!

Strength and dignity are her clothing,

and she laughs at the time to come.

This is something that the humble know....that God cares for them.

If we, in this season, listened to last weeks message and said, "I am not humble." Which, by God's grace, should've been everyone…than we can say, “Lord, I’ve forgotten what’s most valuable. Help me to cast all of my cares upon you. You can do with them far more abundantly than all that I could ask or think

If there was anyone who knew from experience, the care of his Lord, it was Peter. Jesus healed his mother-in-law, he helped him pay his temple tax in , when he was sinking in his forgetfulness, Jesus helped him walk on water, He healed the Roman soldier’s ear after Peter cut it off, He rescues Peter from prison in , and after Peter’s denial of Him, He rises from the grave and the angels says to Mary, … go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee.”

Peter is certainly convinced…God is capable and willing to care for us!

How do we humble ourselves so that we can take all of our cares and throw them on the Lord?

By recounting all of the ways He has, does and will continue to care for us!

What are all the ways God cares for us? Look at all the promises connected to our worldly cares, in the Scriptures:

Cast your burden on the LORD,

and he will sustain you;

he will never permit

the righteous to be moved. (ESV)

Soul, how can we doubt that He cares?

fear not, for I am with you;

be not dismayed, for I am your God;

We are placing all our sinful misplaced cares on God because he cares. The Cross is the perfect and complete proof of His care for us. Not only is it the evidence, it's the place that Christ took our anxieties, cares, worries, fears--all of our doubts about God's mighty caring hand. God placed upon, cast upon Jesus...all of our cares, so that we could be humbled under His mighty hand and cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us.

I will strengthen you, I will help you,

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (ESV)

Heart, how can doubt that he will give you help in your time of need? He has a mighty and righteous hand!

- “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.”

Family, have you forgotten that you’ll be with Him, after just little while...

As for me, I am poor and needy,

[17] As for me, I am poor and needy,

but the Lord takes thought for me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

Brother, there’s no reason to question if you’re on his mind, right now?

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,

but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. (ESV)

- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (ESV)

Church, how can we doubt that our God cares for us…when from before the foundation of the world, He chose you to be His, in Christ!

Cast your cares on the Lord, because he cares for you!

For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

the Lord bestows favor and honor.

No good thing does he withhold

from those who walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts,

blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Matthew Henry says, “He will either avert what you fear, or support you under it. He will order all events to you so as shall convince you of his paternal love and tenderness towards you; and all shall be so ordered that no hurt, but good, shall come unto you,’’

He will either avert what you fear, or support you under it. He will order all events to you so as shall convince you of his paternal love and tenderness towards you; and all shall be so ordered that no hurt, but good, shall come unto you,’’

Cast your cares on the Lord, because he cares for you!

We are placing all our sinful misplaced cares on God, because of the simply but glorious and unchanging truth -- he cares.

The Gospel is the Perfect Proof

The Cross is the perfect and complete proof of His care for us. Not only is it the evidence, it's the place that Christ took our anxieties, cares, worries, fears--all of our doubts about God's mighty caring hand. God placed upon, cast upon, threw on Jesus...all of our cares, so that we could be humbled under His mighty hand and cast our cares on Him, because He cares for us.

Is the call to humility, and the call to cast our cares on the Lord, not the same call of the Gospel! The Good News of the Gospel is -- You are weighed down by your sin, your strength is your god, you try to carry your own burdens, you obsess over a future that you can't control, your manipulative, you lash out in anger when your plans are disappointed and you think that that will someone how make your life better--in all of these things you've ignored God and preferred your own way--you've sinned!

But, look...there's a Cross where Jesus carried all that you could not. He's carried all your anxieties and cares in his body on the tree, so that you might die to sin and live to righteousness. Be reconciled! If you will humble yourself and come to Him...He will take it all and forgive it all!

Pride Forgets and So Pride Worries.

The call to humbly cast our cares on God, is God telling us, remember the Gospel! The proud person is the person who has forgotten the Gospel, and has fallen asleep to the sufficiency of it's power. This is what Jesus is saying to His disciples in John 14:1

“Let not your hearts be troubled. eBelieve in God; believe also in me.

And what is throwing our cares on the Lord, but an expression of our trust and belief in Him. The humble person says, "I am safe in the Saviors hand. He's delivered my soul from judgement. Certainly, he'll care for me in this as well." The humble person knows "God cares for me." The proud person says, "Certainly, God has forgotten me. He's sleeping on the job. He's forgotten what's best for me. He's out to get me. He's to blame for all my problems. He doesn't know how to handle my problems. He's not listening to me. I'll do it my way. I'll get it done. I care me more about me than God does."

God help me...this is me.

And some of us Christians, have operated this way for so long, we think it's normal. It's not. It's our pride and I believe that God has, in his mercy, as Pastor Brian said last week, "Put the world on pause" to show, "He's in charge. He is big, we are so incredibly small. He is our only hope in life and death." And, the good news is...HE REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY CARES FOR YOU! He's assured us He cares, because He sent His very Son to show us. No one has ever seen God...the God who cares for us, who is at the Father's side...Jesus Christ came to make know the God who cares!

Isaiah 51:12

I, I am he who comforts you;

who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, [ or the corona-virus, or poverty, )

of the son of man who is made like grass,

13 and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth,

and you fear continually all the day

because of the wrath of the oppressor,

when he sets himself to destroy?

What's God's rebuke...How dare you be afraid. Don't you know who I am...and don't you know I CARE FOR YOU! Every hair on your head, I care for. The worst that could happen is you lose your life...and how dare you be afraid of that, because I've defeated death and the grave, in me you have everlasting life...to live is Christ, and if you die, you get Christ.

The Gospel is the Perfect Evidence of His Care

Let’s Pray

Church, how can we doubt that our God cares for us…when from before the foundation of the world, He chose you to be His, in Christ!

[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, [4] even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, [8] which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight [9] making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ [10] as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (ESV)

Cast Your Cares

Intro

Cast Your Cares on God

Cast Your Cares on God - What the Humble Do

Because He Cares For You - What the Humble Know

Because He Cares For You - What the Humble Know