Identity: Gratitude over Anxiety
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Introduction:
Introduction:
o Today we are continuing our discussion of identity. We’ve discussed how our personal identity should align with Christ’s. So far we’ve discussed how God is an eternal loving, forgiving father.
o Today we are going to hone in on one of the most important topics in modern America. Anxiety is one of the most rampant mental issues plaguing us today.
Identity: Gratitude over Anxiety
Identity: Gratitude over Anxiety
Gratitude
Gratitude
The quality of being grateful
We often find it is easier to be grateful when things are well, but Paul says always.
Ephesians 5:20 ESV
giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a feeling of worry; a side effect of shortsightedness
Philippians 4:4-6 ESV
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.
Make note of the similarities between Eph and Phil
The reason to not be anxious: the Lord is nearby.
This verse also tells us what to do when we are anxious.
Make your requests known to God. Petition him through prayer but approach him humbly.
Psalm 100 expands on the reasons:
Psalm 100 NIV
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Having gratitude can be the hardest in the worst moments of our lives. These times are the desert or the storm. Today were going to show the process of how to be thankful in the midst of anxiety.
Salvation
Salvation
Salvation is the first step.
The book of Exodus stories many ups and downs the Israelites underwent, and truly we can look at the way they praised and thanked God in the worst circumstances.
The Exodus is a prime example of God’s capacity to save.
Following the Exodus Moses sings:
The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;
you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
Because of God’s salvation Moses sings. Our salvation is reason for to be grateful:
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Jesus’ salvation is our main source of hope. Because of our salvation, we can know God is with us, not just now but always.
Jireh
Jireh
Abraham called the location where God provided a ram in the place of Isaac Jehovah-Jireh meaning the Lord provides.
God provides for the Israelites multiple times continuously. In the wilderness, God sends mana from Heaven and water from a rock.
In Exodus 17, the Israelites are arguing because of the lack of water. They question whether God is with them.
And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
The answer was yes. God is with us and he provided. So not only does God provide a one-time salvation, but an eternal comfort, sustenance and protection.
Jesus asked does God not make the flowers beautiful and do the birds not eat? Jesus says:
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Intercession
Intercession
Importantly, we must remember God is open to intercession. Before the Israelites enter the promised land, some decide revolt and decide to return to Egypt.
God questions whether they are the right people:
The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”
Moses intercedes with God. He quotes something he said earlier in Exodus. He appeals to the image of God.
‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now.”
The image of God is slow to anger, great in love, and full of forgiveness. Not exempt from his judgement.
Moses is akin to how Jesus intercedes for us now.
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
For every time we fall, Jesus responds to the father, you are the father of mercy.
Assurance
Assurance
Finally after 40 years, the Israelites enter Canaan. God assures Joshua:
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
The greatest assurance we can have is that God is with us.
Just as God assured Joshua we are assured in Jesus:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
Jesus is our ultimate assurance and our greatest deterrence of anxiety.
Ultimately, remember that God loves you, he loved so much that he made you, but more so he did not abandon you and he sent Jesus to redeem you and he will still be beside you.
Lyrics to the song BREATHE:
Sometimes you're in the desert
Sometimes you feel the pain
Sometimes He calms a storm and sometimes He let's it rain
Please don't hold your breath
There's power in the way that we breathe ...
let everything that has breath, praise the Lord
With every ounce of our being we should be grateful that we have breath, but not just breath that sustains our life. Breath that is God’s spirit.