Casting All Your Anxieties on God

1 Peter 5 : 5b - 11

Today I will preach according to the church calendar, which takes the passage from 1 Peter 5. It is about anxiety but not only that. I believe one of the themes that we servants of God know to be popular is anxiety. But I did not choose this theme because it is popular. Rather, it is because I follow the church calendar, which happens to have these verses. It seems that as long as we are in this world, we still cannot be completely free from anxiety. I think we need to address this, and when we read this passage, I would like to invite you to read about anxiety not only in itself, but in relation to at least other verses from 5b to 11.

Firstly, verse five says that we are asked to clothe ourselves with humility toward one another. Sometimes the term ‘submit to one another’ is used, as in the writings of Paul. In Christianity there are two aspects: on one side there is order, and on the other side there is equality. Both are true. For instance, in the husband-wife relationship, of course there is an order. A husband leads, loves and sacrifices for his wife while the wife submits and respects her husband. However, the book of Ephesians that talks about that relationship also says that we should submit to one another. This is not about turning the order upside down. Instead, it means everyone is a disciple of Truth, should consider others more important than oneself. Thus, this talks not about order but about equality.

Verse five ‘clothe yourselves with humility toward one another’ is interesting, especially when we live this out in Eastern culture, which is very strict about order. Sometimes it is not about order but a kind of prestige of seniority. If we are not careful, it might become like a kind of feudalism. We try to obtain places of honor not only in society but also in church. We then create strata in society and church, and then classify people based on them. But this verse says that we should all clothe ourselves with humility toward one another. It is not only the young toward the old. It is not only women toward men, but also men toward women. The old also humble themselves toward the young. This is what I believe goes beyond the boundaries of Eastern culture. The basis is simple: God opposes the proud in any kind of relationship. A proud person does not know the grace of God. But a person who is humble knows and acknowledges the grace of God. Especially the Reformed tradition, the importance of theology of grace is emphasized. Our entire life is something that is given. You and I receive grace from God. Family, salvation, work, the possibility to work, are all grace from God. People who are humble are people who live their lives as something given by God and not something that they work out themselves with all their greatness, strength and wisdom. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

What is the connection with anxiety? A person who is anxious is somehow not humble. A person who is anxious has a kind of pride. If we meet someone anxious, we usually try calming him or her down. It might be uncommon that people who are anxious get rebuked for being proud. But what is the connection between pride and anxiety? Pride is seeing life not as God’s grace, but as something we fight for on our own. And we know, when we fight for it on our own, sometimes it succeeds, sometimes it does not. Sometimes it goes according to our desires or expectations and sometimes it goes against, and then we become anxious. But here it is said that a person who learns to place himself in God’s care is a humble person. This life is cared for by God. Of course this does not mean that we have no responsibility - that is not the point of this passage. You and I still have responsibility for working and putting in effort. However, if we see life as something that we must fight for with our own strength, then it is pride. It is pride if we see our family as the fruit of our hard labor, or our ministry as something that happens because of our faithfulness and sacrifice. It is pride if we have knowledge and feel it is because we have invested ourselves into getting it. Life is given and sustained by God.

There is joy in somebody who understands the grace of God. Not only is this person not anxious, but he or she can share and feels free to share. An anxious person is self-centered. Everything is about him or her. It is not restricted to the individual, but can be broader. My family is seen not as other people whom God entrusts to my life but as my family. My wallet is seen not as something given by God but as my wallet. It could be my church or my nation. A nation is already so big, but it is still about me and myself. For things about me, I can be anxious and proud. This is incompatible with theology of grace, which is not supposed to be a mere jargon or slogan, but something that we truly live out. A person who lives out theology of grace is not someone who feels inferior either. It is simply about confessing that life is given, blessed and sustained by God.

A person who takes life as something he strives for himself, and tries to take care of himself or herself, his or her family, will have many anxieties because he or she does not believe that God cares for his or her life. The first question in the Heidelberg Catechism is ‘What is your only comfort in life and in death?’. The answer is that I am not my own, but I belong to Jesus Christ. It continues to talk about how God who cares, and how a hair that falls is not outside God’s will. God’s providence is very detailed, up to the things we do not care about. Perhaps we care if 100,000 hairs fall, but we probably do not care if only a single hair falls. Nevertheless, God cares and it is under His will. If there is someone who cares the most for your lives, it is not you, not your parents, not your children, not your wife, not your husband, but God. And this, for the author of the Heidelberg Catechism, is a comfort. It is a comfort that I am not my own. You can contrast this with the life of modern people, who are proud if they own their lives. According to Heidelberg Catechism, however, that is a woe. It is woe if your family belongs to you. If your life belongs to you, then you are on your own, and you struggle on your own. Blessed are we if we know that life is owned by God. God not only owns our lives but also cares for our lives. God opposes the proud: people who try to own themselves and take life as under their care and not God’s care. However, God gives grace to the humble, who give themselves to be cared for by God.

It is supposedly simple and yet difficult to talk about, even in the religious context. Religions want to have a portion. God can help because I am finite and need the Almighty, but I want a portion I can call my own. Even God can take 99% and I take only 1%. It is because of that 1% then the sin of anxiety enters our lives. Sometimes we trivialize anxiety and treat it as an existentialist tendency. We can say adults are adults because they worry. You do not see little children who worry about electricity bills. But then we say that as we grow from being childish, immature, to becoming more mature, don’t we start to worry? We start worrying about children, family, wife, husband, future, or even church, the work of God. Sometimes anxiety is used as a sign of maturity. Children who do not worry are considered immature as they do not know how hard life is, and think only about playing. Maybe we also have a little pride in our ability to be able to worry. Not only do we trivialize anxiety, but we also glorify it. Glorifying anxiety is considered a sign of maturity and adulthood.

However, if we read in the parable of the sower for example, there are people who have been sown with the seed of God’s word, but in the end they still cannot grow, because they are choked by the deceitfulness of wealth and anxiety. These two are often a package. Anxiety because of what? Anxiety because of greed. The greedier we are, the more anxious we become. We set our standards so high that we have more and more anxieties. In life we want this and that. We might have been poor in the past but now we have worked hard and desire to upgrade our quality of life. Or if we are born in a rich family, our quality of life should not degrade. We apply concepts like this in our lives, and then we feel ashamed if we cannot upgrade our lives. If we do not have the facilities that we can enjoy, we become more and more anxious as we desire many things.

The more we grow in the Lord, if we become more mature, we should become more aware that life does not require many things. A person who grows is one who learns to let go of things. He or she knows that this life does not require many things. We learn to reduce our things to what we need. It is not for the sake of simplicity itself, but because we realize that what we need has been provided by God, for He cares for us.

Matthew 6 also talks about anxiety and ends with verse 33, the climax, ‘Therefore seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you’. What does ‘all these things’ refer to? All the things that we want? Is seeking the Kingdom of God just a bait for people who would like to seek ‘all these things’? Note that the verse uses ‘and’, not ‘so that’. If it is ‘so that’, then seeking the kingdom of God becomes a stepping stone to get the higher goal, which is the next clause. This is an ulterior motive to get all the things one desires. Once again, that verse doesn’t use ‘so that’ but ‘and’. Also, do not forget that in that passage, Jesus talks about food and clothing. ‘All these things’ are actually as simple as food and clothing. Is there anyone among you who is worried about your clothing? A few days ago I was worried because the spare pants I brought had their zipper broken, but even if I could not have it repaired in time, I had the option to buy another one. I suppose not too many people here are worried about clothing. However, maybe there are people who are worried if their clothing is not expensive enough, or if they have to wear the same clothing every week. Maybe one feels he or she needs 365 clothes for each day of the year so that people will see him or her wearing the same thing in one year’s time. This kind of strange thing makes us anxious. We fail to reduce our needs, and instead multiply them. People who keep desiring more things as they want a higher standard of life - they cannot serve God and become blessings to others. They are people who cannot give thanks, cannot be satisfied, and feel that life is always lacking as their life is full of demands. However, food and clothing have been provided by God - is it not enough?

Sometimes in reading about the life of missionaries who love God, they shared that while in poor conditions and sickness, they were helped by God, not by extraordinary things, but just by being enabled to sleep. God provides for their needs, but greedy people will not feel it is sufficient. To us, God’s help looks too small, as if God is not powerful enough to do greater things. But maybe it is because our demands are too high. We are so greedy that we cannot be satisfied with God’s providence that allows us to ‘merely’ sleep. I ministered to a congregation where there was a person who found it hard to even sleep. He did not lack resources, but struggled to fall asleep. Being able to sleep is already God’s providence, but we consider it normal and take it for granted. My professor in Heidelberg once remarked that eastern cuisines are typically seasoned in an overstimulating way, and then mentioned it is similar to people who need to shout when they speak because their hearing is already not good. Why is an overstimulating taste needed? Because the tongue is already damaged. I am not badmouthing your culture, but want to use this illustration to relate it with the Word of God. In life, maybe we only become aware if others shout at us. We do not feel any gentle tapping but need to have our whole body shaken before we recognize it. The Israelites were not satisfied with manna from God and desired the meat they ate back in Egypt. We think that God provides for us only if He provides the menu of different dishes we demand each day. In life we often fail to give thanks because we cannot see God’s simple provision. We set our standards so high that we cannot give thanks nor feel touched. Finally we become people who feel entitled and deserving of many things: help, honor, etc. Sometimes the poor can really have a happier life than the rich because they can appreciate God’s simple provision. The Bible does not discriminate against the rich, but the rich are often people who cannot give thanks because they cannot see and appreciate God’s providence.

I return to verse 5 and 6, which say, ‘for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God.’. The mighty hand of God is a motif, especially in the Old Testament. The term ‘God’s mighty hand’ reminds us of the exodus. God brought Israel out of Egyptian bondage with His mighty hand. He liberated His people from the oppression of a worldly empire. What is the connection of this with anxiety? Indeed, our country is already independent and no longer colonialized. However, is it not true that in life there can be an Egypt, a kind of pressure, that we unknowingly turn it into an idol. We are then enslaved by it, and because of that our lives become full of anxiety. I worry if I cannot compete and be greater than others - where does this story come from? Is this not a kind of Egypt? People then do everything they can to pursue it. This does not come from Christ but something else. We end up becoming people who are full of anxiety.

Ironically, here it is said to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. The mighty hand of God is what actually frees us from the ideologies of worldly narratives. But humans prefer to place themselves in Egypt because in Egypt there is a pot of meat, in Egypt there are facilities. In Egypt there is neither tabernacle nor the temple of God, but it is ok. What is this life if not about eating well? What is this life if not about comfortable living? We then do not realize we are chasing this, yet we still call ourselves christians. What do those things have to do with christianity? Perhaps the source of anxieties in our lives is us ourselves.

Verse 6 says, ‘Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.’. Humbling oneself under the mighty hand of God is active, but being exalted is passive. Try to contrast this with the life of climbing the social ladder: a poor person has to strive to move up the ladder to become respectable. If we meditate upon the Christmas story, Jesus was not like that. In fact, the movement was precisely the opposite. Do we really believe the Christmas story, or do we just believe it only around Christmas day, and on other days live out the story of climbing up the social ladder? If so, can we call ourselves christians? Which Jesus climbs up like that and is afraid of being at the bottom? If we know Jesus in the Bible, we know that he goes down, and is not interested in going up. He has the power to exalt Himself - He is God after all. But He waited to be exalted by His Father. This is Jesus, who is fully divine. He shows solidarity with you and me, waiting for the time to be exalted. He did not chase His own glory. He glorified His Father in His life. It is right then for us, the church, the bride of Christ, to become more like Him.

Humbling oneself is active. It is not automatic. However, we might think that being humbled could happen on its own but moving up requires effort. One might do nothing and yet others could put him or her down, so one should keep striving to move up - the survival of the fittest. This is not christianity. This is darwinism that has nothing to do with the narrative of the Kingdom of God or the Gospel. What the narrative of the Kingdom of God is about is this: humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God. We can then wait for the time to be exalted. It is not something instant like a ball that bounces back up instantly when dropped to the ground. Jesus’ humiliation started since He was born and happened as a process over years.

The more we grow in the grace of God, we should be more able to humble ourselves. A person who wants to move up has a life filled with insecurity. And because of that, there are many anxieties in his life. Anxiety of being looked down on, of being insulted, of not being appreciated, of not being able to compete and win. It is so tiring. But God frees us with His mighty hand out of Egypt, out of the anxiety that is created out of ideologies and unnecessary pressures that in the end make our lives empty. Many struggle to move up, yet when they reach the top, they find loneliness. If you reach the top of Mount Everest, what do you find? No one there. People at the top are usually pitiful because they often cannot enjoy genuine relationships. People only want to flatter and manipulate him or her to get something they want. Having a relationship and being opportunistic are two things that cannot come together. We might have heard stories that when we are at our lowest, and yet there are friends who would still help us. Those are our true friends because they really come for us and not for something else. People at the top are pitiful because others approach them for their money, power and other benefits. We do not have to bother ourselves with moving up the social ladder. We should just wait for God’s time and if He wants to exalt us, then we are exalted.

Cast all your anxieties on Him because He cares for you. Let God take care of the things you are anxious about, and focus on humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God: serving, blessing and sharing. I am interested in a commentary that discusses anxieties from a slightly different perspective. It says, ‘Many anxieties result from professing faith in Christ in a polytheistic society that is hostile to the exclusive claims of the gospel.’. Many anxieties are the result of believers wanting to confess their faith in Christ in the midst of a pluralistic society that is hostile towards the claim that Christ is the one and only Lord and Savior. If one says Christ is just one helper among others, it is not a problem because it is in line with pluralism. However, it is a problem if one confesses that Jesus is the one and only Savior in whom there is true comfort and happiness as well as the way of salvation for sinful man. This claim is exclusive. However, is this not the calling of you and I in the midst of an age that has no direction, that is searching, that is miserable? Then there is anxiety here because one can be afraid. One of the temptations in this life is to play it safe. We don’t dare to speak the gospel, especially if it is offensive. If we talk about the Gospel as an idea, maybe it is alright, but when it clashes with the worldly narrative: corruption, dishonesty, injustice, hypocrisy, arrogance, greed, triumphalism, etc, we can be in danger and end up in persecution. We can be cast out, lose our job and friends, etc. When Hitler was rising, many people played it safe and kept quiet. While they did not persecute the Jews themselves, they did not speak out for fearing loss of their security of their family, church and so on.

In the end we choose to be silent, and then we become anxious. The commentary says many people are anxious for themselves because in life they want to be striving, securing, ensuring, making sure of their own lives. But this is not compatible with the christian life. A life that wants to be preserved whole is neither light nor salt. You have seen a candle, right? A candle, once lit up, never gets taller. Even if a lit candle stays unchanged in height, it is already scary. Salt must also be dissolved before it can give flavor. Is there salt that gives flavor but does not dissolve? There is not. The christian life that wants to be wholly preserved, or even moves up, is nonsense. It has nothing to do with becoming salt and light. What we believe is that if you see a candle, in order to give light, it is destroyed. I am not trying to glorify destruction. This is something natural. We want our lives to be a blessing, we want to be used by God, but are we willing to be destroyed? Are we willing to be broken into pieces? Like during the Holy Communion, the bread is broken into pieces, pointing to the body of Christ that was broken on the cross. When we eat it, it means I am in Christ, and Christ is in me. It means our lives are also broken into pieces if we do not want to betray the meaning of Holy Communion.

A life that tries to secure itself might turn out to be secure. God can allow that. In Exodus, the Israelites were asking for meat, and God gave quails. However, on that day, the people ate so greedily that it became a curse for them and thousands of people died. What do we actually need in life? Securing our own lives? We might get a secure life, but God cannot use it because it is too whole and cannot be broken. I observed people who wanted to become servants of God and went to theological seminaries, but in the end did not become servants of God after graduating because they found it hard to be broken. School and graduating from it are relatively easy, but when we talk about being broken, we are talking about spirituality, about life together with Christ. The brokenness is not just in the category we want. Some might be alright with sharing their money, but perhaps God wants their feelings to be broken. Some might be alright with being offended, but do not want their money touched. Wasn’t Abraham asked to sacrifice Isaac? Isaac was the most precious thing in Abraham’s life. God did not ask for his wealth. Maybe Abraham would not hesitate at all if God asked for his wealth. He already left Ur anyway, showing his willingness to leave his wealth. Sometimes I observed that people who struggled to get children and finally got one, tended to be overprotective for the child. It was difficult for Abraham to get a child, and God Himself promised it. Abraham was then given Isaac, and God asked Isaac back. Abraham then gave him. That is called being broken. If we do not want to be broken in our lives, we cannot become a blessing nor salt and light. We yearn that our church is blessed by God more and more. We struggle in reaching out and blessing more people, but what if we are not willing to be broken, to sacrifice leisure time, travelling, studying, family time, etc, and only give spare time for ministries? Is it not a contrast with the Father who gave His own Son? He gave not spare things but His own Son. Christ gave His life. There is a famous saying from Leonard Ravenhill, a revivalist, ‘the life that you live - does it follow Christ who died on the cross and redeemed that life? Christ died for this kind of life - what kind?’. We need to ask for forgiveness from God because too often in our lives we do not want to be broken to become a blessing to others. Instead, we secure our own lives. We need to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God who can free us from the idol.

Peter asked us to be sober-minded and watchful because our opponent is the devil. The devil can sow anxiety, a life that is centered on oneself, making us self-conscious of our desires. Be careful with a life that is seen as solving endless problems. We always have problems, but this life is not about solving problems one by one. If we wait for all the problems to be solved before helping others, the time will never come. The beauty is that despite there being problems in this life, we can still surrender our lives to God so that God can use it. Be sober-minded and watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around seeking someone to devour. Devouring someone here does not necessarily mean making the person fall into great sins e.g. adultery, murder, etc, but maybe simply by giving anxiety. The person is just kept busy with his or her problems e.g. fixing a leaking roof, buying organic groceries, etc, until he or she dies. Be sober-minded and watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around seeking someone to devour. Resist him with a firm faith. Do not let ourselves be constantly self conscious, thinking about issues that just revolve around me and my family.

What is the comfort? Peter says, ‘knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.’. This is fellowship in suffering. We lack deep fellowship. One of the reasons is because we lack suffering together. I am not glorifying suffering. Do not get me wrong. We do not glorify suffering. We glorify Christ. But if we glorify Christ, the Christ who is glorified is the suffering Christ, is He not? If we have fellowship with the suffering Christ, then suffering is included. A person who has fellowship with Christ and follows Him will surely suffer. If we have not had any sufferings, we might have played it safe and do not have the courage to share the gospel and witness the Kingdom of God. Jesus says that a disciple is not more than his master i.e. he or she will suffer like Christ. What actually unites a church? Or what divides a church? Some say that doctrines are the one which divide a church. Peter, Paul, John, Luke have their own congregations, but they did not compete or say bad things about each other. Why? Because they had one thing in common: they suffered together with Christ. This is perhaps one thing that is lacking in contemporary church. If we have many experiences of suffering together for Christ, it will unite us as fellow sufferers. In another part Peter addressed fellow elders and fellow brothers who suffered together for Christ. If we have suffering for following Christ, there is no time and energy left to get divided. All the energy is used to fight against Satan. However, in the fallen world, people fight not against Satan, but other people considered as competitors.

Let us struggle with what it means to cast all our anxieties on God, who cares for us. If we suffer together for Christ, for the Gospel, for the Kingdom of God, I believe in the end you and I will have no energy left to be anxious either. We will enjoy fellowship with Christ. This is the sign of a person who grows to become more and more mature, more like Christ. May the Lord bless us all. (S.W.)