Please be seated and turn in your Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 5. In this particular chapter, Peter is addressing various groups in the congregation. He starts with the leaders, with the elders. He encourages them to give proper oversight. to the flock as God's deputy shepherds, shepherds of the chief shepherd. He then addresses the younger members of the congregation, and then he widens his comments to everyone, to the whole group. And that's what we pick up in verse 5 of 1 Peter chapter 5. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. Be sober-minded. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Here's a question that I've been pondering this week. Fear. Fear. Is it rational or irrational? Is it logical or illogical. Do all of our fears and worries and anxieties that emerge from our hearts, do they make sense? Some phobias just sound plain bizarre, and here's an example. Arachibutrophobia. This is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. It's an actual fear that people are paralyzed by. It actually inhibits their daily life. They're just afraid of peanut products. Now from us, from the outside, perhaps that sounds silly, but for the arachibutrophobic, it makes sense. He can give you a list of reasons why he should be afraid. Let's take something that's a little bit more common, probably a little bit more known to all of us. The fear of rejection. Some people are so afraid of being rejected that they will withdraw from or avoid other people. They're afraid that if someone rejects them, they will be alone. So they choose isolation to avoid isolation. To me, that doesn't sound rational, doesn't sound logical, but yet Every fear has its own sort of twisted interpretation of the world. Every fear has its own logic. The fearful person can give you reasons for why they are afraid. The children's author Hans Christian Andersen was always afraid that he would be buried alive and so when he would go to sleep at night he would place a note on the bedside table that said, I may seem dead, but I'm very much alive. Just in case someone came by and he was in a very deep sleep and they tried to awaken him and he wouldn't rouse from that sleep, they shouldn't go put him in a coffin. I only seem to be asleep. See, he had reasons for why he believed that, why he acted the way he did. So, fearful, anxious people can always give you reasons for why their fears make sense. If you're afraid of bridges, Bridges do collapse. We've seen videos of this. If you're afraid of flying, planes do crash, even if the statistics say that that's extremely rare, that airplane travel is very safe. I was sitting next to a couple on a plane several years ago and the wife was very talkative, the husband was not, he was looking out the window and as the wife and I were chatting, she turned to say something to her husband and he grunted in response and she said to me, he's very much afraid of flying, he's a very nervous flyer. Well, that was my cue to bring good cheer into this situation. And I said, Sir, you know that you have a better chance of winning the lottery than dying in a plane crash. Airplane travel is very safe. I have no idea where I got that from. I think I must have read it somewhere. But I thought, this will be just what he needs to hear. And he responded very soberly, No one ever died from not winning the lottery. Looking back, I probably should have led with the sovereignty of God or something like that. But he was determined, from his perspective, there were good reasons for why he should be a nervous flyer. Even though the statistics may say it's only one in a million, from his perspective, he was that potentially one in a million. where Peter's epistle is addressed to a group of Christians who have every reason to be anxious and fearful. We're told in chapter 1 that this group of believers are grieved by various trials. That's chapter 1 and verse 6. They are oppressed, persecuted, abused by individuals in power. You see, the Roman Empire at the time was not very friendly to Christianity. So there were outbreaks of localized persecution, so many of Peter's readers were enduring that kind of either verbal abuse, discrimination, perhaps even physical abuse. They had every reason to be anxious and afraid, and yet what does Peter do? He gives them better reasons to not be afraid. As if to say, yes, you may have these legitimate reasons, legitimate concerns to be afraid, but here are some better, superior reasons why you should not be afraid. So I want us to see some of those reasons tonight. Why is it that we are so often given to anxiety and fear and worry? How do we combat it? How do we address it? I'd like to suggest that we move from fear to faith. when there is a climate of grace created by a caring Savior who confirms and establishes our circumspect faith. First of all, there's a climate of grace. A climate of grace. And Peter addresses that first in chapter 5 and verse 5. He begins to address the elders of the flock in the first part of the chapter and then he turns to the younger members of these congregations, and he encourages them to be subject to the elders. He's getting to this topic of humility, submission and humility very much closely connected, and then from submission to humility, from humility to anxiety. These are all connected in this chapter. Now he doesn't give age parameters as to who the younger members are that he's addressing, but in general, apparently the younger members of the congregation, however old they were, were not very deferential or respectful to the elders, and so he has to remind them be subject to those who are in these positions of leadership. But then in the second half of verse 5, the discussion shifts, the discussion, the audience that Peter is addressing begins to widen. He now encompasses everyone, directs his comments to everyone. He says, clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So you create a climate of grace in your local community of believers by tying on, fastening on, humility. In other words, the interpersonal relationships that are existent in your local body of believers, the fundamental characteristic of those interpersonal relationships is humility. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility. And the verb that Peter uses here It has the idea of a servant fastening on an apron to tend to the needs of the household. Perhaps Peter had in mind here the very actions of Christ when in the upper room Jesus laid aside his garments and he fastened on the towel and he then washed the disciples' feet in humble service of his disciples. See, redeemed people, those who have been redeemed, those who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb, their lives should be characterized by humility and love and mercy and grace. Meaning that we look at people in a very large-hearted way, in a generous way, instead of a critical, cramped, opinionated way. When we approach conflict, we are in it for the other person's good. But when we, with this climate of grace, when we express anger, it's not anger for the glory of self, a destructive, punitive type anger, it's an anger that is for the glory of God, zealous for the glory of God. It is constructive, it is helpful. So we are quick to resolve conflicts, we're quick to come to the aid of those who are wounded, we're quick to forgive, to use edifying speech that would build up others rather than tear others down. A climate of grace. Now, Paul gives a very practical definition of humility in Philippians chapter 2. I'm sure you're familiar with it, where he says, do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility, do what? Count others more significant than yourselves. There's a good practical definition of humility. Where I labor out of love, because of the grace of God that's been shown to me, I labor to make others successful. So it's more about this corporate collective we, us. How can I make others within the body of Christ successful? How can I build others up? How can I resolve these conflicts that I'm in so that there can be peace and purity within Christ's church? It's more of a corporate collective we rather than I, me and my pursuits, my interests. Pride is a very cruel master, an unrelenting master, and that's what feeds, we'll see later, this is what feeds anxiety. The proud person is often a very anxious person, because the proud person is very self-important, very self-trusting. Instead of seeking to create a climate of grace in their relationships, there is suspicion and distrust, there is defensiveness. So the humble person is at rest, seeking the well-being of others. Giving of themselves for others. And Peter here quotes from Proverbs 3.34, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. That whole quotation applies to daily living because the verbs are in the present tense. God continually opposes the proud. God continually gives grace to the humble. It was the summer of 1966. There was a Christian conference being held in London. And one of the workers of the conference, a fellow named Doug Nichols, was out sweeping the front steps of the conference center. It was very late at night. Everyone had gone to bed. It was about 1230 in the morning when an older man approached him. This man was very plainly dressed. And he asked Doug if this was where that particular conference was being held. And he said, yes, this is the place. But most everyone has gone to bed. It's very late. But the man said, well, I've been traveling all day. Again, very plainly dressed, plainly spoken individual. And so Doug began to try to find this older man a place to sleep. And they found a room with about 50 people all bedded down on the floor. So he found a spot for this older gentleman. He did not have any bedding or blankets or pillows, and so he found some padding for him to lie down on, a blanket and a towel to use as a pillow. And the man was very appreciative, said this would be just fine. And then Doug asked this man if he'd had dinner. The man had been traveling all day and had not had a chance to eat, so he took him to the kitchen and fed him some food. And as they began to talk, this older man shared with Doug that he and his wife had been working in Switzerland for several years, where he had a small ministry for hippies and travelers. And he spoke about how the Lord had converted many of these individuals to Christ through their ministry. When he finished eating, they both retired for the evening. Well, the next morning, Doug was in big trouble. The conference leaders came to him and said, do you realize the person you made sleep on the floor last night? He's the featured speaker of our conference. His name is Francis Schaeffer. If you don't know Francis Schaeffer, profound apologist, Christian apologist, celebrity-like figure in the 60s and 70s. Francis Schaeffer. We had a whole room set aside for him, a private room where he could sleep and you made him sleep on the floor. Well, Doug had no idea that this was Francis Schaeffer and Francis Schaeffer never let on that he should be entitled to any of this. There was no sense of entitlement, no sense of self-importance. To me that's an example where he fastened on humility and sought to create a climate of grace wherever he went. Create a climate of grace and humble reliance upon, secondly, a caring Savior. And here's where Peter makes the connection between humility and anxiety. Look at verse 6. Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all of your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. Now for all of my fellow worriers out there, verse 7, no doubt, is maybe your life verse, something that you quote on a daily basis or a weekly basis. Perhaps it's even turned into a mantra, where this is something I quote on a regular basis, to deal with the regular anxieties and worries that arise in my heart. And I'm not opposed to that, I think that's a good thing, but there is a sense in which the take one verse of scripture and call me in the morning approach to to our problems, it has a very shallow, shallow results. You know, if we treat scripture as a pill, if I just take it for a couple of weeks, then I'll be healed of my maladies and I can move on. Well, there are different degrees of anxiety, different ways that we respond in anxiety. For some of you, you may feel like it's overwhelming, it dominates your life. For some of you, it's just a low grade anxiety. And I think this verse addresses all types. But verse 7 doesn't make full sense without verse 6. And here's what I mean. That phrase, casting all of your anxieties on Him, actually modifies the opening phrase of verse 6. Humble yourselves. Which gives us the secret, if you will, to dealing with sinful anxiety. Humble yourselves. Meaning that the sinful anxiety that emerges from my heart is fueled by, motivated by, a certain sense of pride. A sense of self-importance. We attempt to control all of our cares, we attempt to control our lives, to remove any kind of pain or discomfort or trouble from us instead of humbly entrusting them to God. Now every emotion that we have has a good and bad form. The line between good and evil runs between sinful anxiety on the one hand and biblical anxiety. There is a good sense of anxiety, this is what Paul had for for the churches. He said, I'm anxious for the churches that I've helped to found, that they will be prosperous, that they will thrive. That's 2 Corinthians 11, 28. So that was a good kind of anxiety, a good kind of emotion. But there's also an anxiety that is sinful. Another good kind was Paul was concerned about his friend Epaphroditus, and actually used the word anxious to think about his friend Epaphroditus in Philippians 2. So there's a good anxiety that expresses love and concern for other people. that does good, but there's an anxiety that is negative, that is sinful. It's a frenetic, frantic attempt to control my world. To control my world. And that's the kind of anxiety that I think that Peter is addressing here. The anxiety that wants to control what we cannot control. To know what we cannot know. To attain what we cannot attain. How will my kids turn out? Will I get Alzheimer's someday? Will I get cancer someday? Will I ever be married? Will I ever have money? Will I have enough money to cover next month's bills? Will I have a job when I finish college? These are the kinds of questions where we're attempting to control the uncontrollable. Yes, to a degree we have a measure of control. We have some contribution that we can make. But to fashion my life, to create my life in such a way that I seek to eliminate all pain, all discomfort, all suffering is a recipe for disaster. It's a recipe for more anxiety. So it's no accident that Peter would come right out and say, and emphasize the mighty hand of God. Look again at verse 6. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God. That hand of God symbolizes God's control, God's power, His reign, His rule. This is what Exodus refers to when it says that God delivered Egypt with His mighty hand. This instrument of power, this instrument of control. Humble yourselves and submit under that mighty hand. You see, anxiety is our way of playing God. Where we attempt to control our world, to seal it off, it's airtight from any kind of pain or trouble. You know, it might happen this way. We're diagnosed with an illness unexpectedly and we begin to panic. Our culture worships good health. Good health is a good thing. It's a gift from God, a blessing from God. But so often I think in our culture it's elevated to this idolatrous worship of good health. It's salvific. It can save you. If you don't have good health, you're destroyed. You can't possibly have a good productive life. And so I get this diagnosis and I begin to panic and overreact and I clean out the cupboards of every possible food that might bring a relapse. So I remove any kind of harmful chemical from my home. And my fear begins to intrude on those who are nearby, nearby relatives where my diet restrictions also become their diet restrictions. Or perhaps it's not an illness or it's a relationship that has gone sour. It's brought much pain and heartache to us. And so we construct a wall of defense around ourselves. No one can get in. No one can talk to us or deal with us or address any of our problem issues. We push everyone away. And what that does, it only feeds anxiety. Anxiety feeds on anxiety. Avoiding what you fear only breeds greater fear. Nothing so empowers fear more than fleeing some fearful event, and so anxiety is what activates this fight or flight response. It's a good thing that God has put within us for our own defense, for our own good, for our welfare, but that can become a hyperactive vigilance. It becomes stuck in the on position. where I'm always at red alert. I'm always searching my surroundings for anything that might threaten me. Someone has said that fear is like a pack of wild dogs. It just multiplies. Fears just multiply. They feed on each other. And so the way to conquer anxiety, to deal with it, is not by pushing it aside and acting like it doesn't exist, but bring it into the light. So that the promises, the blessings of scripture can actually address those specific fears and anxieties and worries. This is what the psalmist says in Psalm 94. When the cares of my heart are many, when the cares of my heart multiply, your consolations cheer my soul. So anxiety wants to be boss, it wants to take control, it doesn't trust very easily. So we batten down the hatches, we secure ourselves in this hermetically airtight environment so no one can get to us and we can't get to anyone else, no one can hurt us. And here Peter comes in and he says, Humble yourselves by casting your anxieties on your caring Savior. Submit under His mighty hand, instead of frenetically trying to control your world, Submit these cares. What does he mean there by casting all of your anxieties? It's a very intentional word. This idea of throwing willfully, persistently, actively, throwing my cares and anxieties upon the Lord. It's not just passively waiting and sitting around for the Lord to lift my anxiety, but actively, intentionally pursuing the mercies of the Lord. Now the background here for verse 7 is Psalm 55, 22. Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you. Peter borrowed some of the words from that verse. So it means we willfully, intentionally throw these cares upon the Lord, but it also means that we acknowledge our inability to handle these cares. Lord, do what you are equipped to do. That is, be God. Rule the universe. And I will do what I'm equipped to do and that is trust and rely and depend upon you. But notice how Peter does not stop there. He actually provides a motive. It's not just some sheer force of my will that I defeat these anxieties. You know, an anxiety-ridden heart does not trust well. It doesn't trust people. He doesn't trust the Lord. So Peter here helps us. He helps to nurture our trust by revealing the character of God. Cast your anxieties on Him. Why? Because He cares for you. He tells us something about the character, the nature, the actions of God. He cares for you. He is intentionally, personally, individually caring, compassionate about you. Meaning He wants the best for me. He knows what's best for me. So I can go to my Heavenly Father. This is what the Gospel of Luke says in Jesus' discussion of this anxiety. It says, fear not, little flock. Your Father will give you the kingdom. He intends good for you. He wants to hear from you. So you take these anxieties and you name them, you list them, you list the stressors of your heart, the anxieties of your heart, the fears of your heart, that sound maybe so bizarre and irrational to so many other people, but you have legitimate reasons for why they are troubling you. It doesn't sound bizarre to our Heavenly Father. You go and you cast those cares upon Him, knowing that He cares for you. So Peter doesn't give this, this is the one command here in this passage, he doesn't give it, It's the one command in this verse. He doesn't give it in just a vacuum. He gives it with also a knowledge of God that helps to expand our understanding of who God is. He will always give you what is best. So in our anxiety, when we attempt to control the uncontrollable, to attain to the unattainable, to know the unknowable, How will my kids turn out? Will I get Alzheimer's? Will I have money for next month's bills? Will I have a job next month? Yes, those are good concerns, but here Peter gives us better reasons to take all of these concerns and anxieties to the one person who can do something about them and who has your best interest at heart, meaning he is preeminently trustworthy. I was on a plane one time in Asia. Towards the end of the flight, we hit some severe turbulence and it felt as if the pilot was losing control of the plane. I was frightened. Everyone around me was frightened. Here I was sitting in my seat. I had no control whatsoever of this plane. Have you had that sensation before? But the thing that kept me, I guess you could say, grounded, anchored, was that I quoted Psalm 46.1 in my mind. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. I will not fear. Just said that over and over again. Not that it was a mantra devoid of meaning, but I think at that moment, when that sudden terror flooded my heart, I could give you a rationale for why I should have been afraid and why I was afraid. But at that point, I didn't need to reprogram my mind to think about a tropical beach somewhere on a deserted island. That was not going to help me. I needed to dwell on the character the provision, the love, the protection of my Heavenly Father. And that's what Peter does here. You cast your anxieties on the Lord as you grow in your knowledge of Him. The two go together. The two should be operating together. Now it's entirely possible that for some of you, the fear will not dissipate. It's possible that whatever anxiety you're dealing with will pester you, will nip at your heels for the rest of your life. Or you may conquer one fear only to have it replaced with another fear. So the question is, the real question is, how will I respond in my anxiety? Will I look to Christ for help even if the anxiety remains? Will I turn to Christ in the midst of my fear and say, Lord, help me? I think Peter sums it up very well. In 1 Peter 4.19, he says, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator. while doing good. Sometimes the most courageous thing we can do is carry on, obey the Lord, even in the midst of all of those fears and worries and anxieties, entrusting our soul to our faithful creator, the one who rules, the one whose mighty hand we are to submit to and humble ourselves under. And what does that do? It means we are continually casting those cares upon the Lord, resting, trusting, believing the promises that He will care for us. Fear not, little flock. God has given you the kingdom. Therefore, boldly, not with this stuck, hyperactive vigilance that would seek to control my world and eliminate every pain and sorrow, But do good in trusting your soul willfully, actively, persistently, casting your cares upon the Lord, knowing that He will care for you. As we pray together.