Carson writes in his book Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World, “Interpreting the Scriptures demands both balance and precision: balance to weld together diverse teachings, and precision so that no one teaching is thoughtlessly extrapolated out of proportion.” (Carson, 109). Our approach to Scripture in regards to topics of counseling is of utmost importance. The Bible is a counseling book because it utilizes Divine wisdom to address our every day life struggles. We can see cognitive therapy being implemented by the Apostle Paul in his writing to the Philippians (Phil. 4:6-8). This is the idea of pondering truth to practice truth. We can also see an example of dialectic therapy in the story of Elijah hiding in the cave, when God "grounds" him in a cave and communicates to him in a still, small voice (1 Kings 19). This is the concept of distracting your feelings to direct your mind. In fact, the case can be made that the entire Sermon on the Mount as a body of work handles most of the issues we handle in pastoral conflict:
Anger
Lust
Conflict
And of course, today’s topic: anxiety.
Misnomers Aout Anxiety
Anxiety is from the noun, merimna or “care” and the verb merizo or "distract". It means to be distracted or pulled mentally in different directions by what you care about. It's important to note that anxiety as a struggle of feeling is not a sin, but anxiety can be the result of sinful choices. Proverbs 18:14 speaks to this idea when it says,
“A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a broken spirit who can bear?”
In addition to this, we must remember that anxiety as a struggle of feeling is not a lack of faith, but anxiety can be the result of trust issues with God our Father. There were some renowned Puritan preachers like Jonathan Edwards who ministered here in the Northeast and battled seasonal anxiety and depression. Anxiety isn’t always solvable on this side of heaven, but part of pursuing sanctification is fighting anxiety to see it diminished through obedient trust in God.
The Bible is a counseling book because it utilizes Divine wisdom to address our every day life struggles.
Establishing A Baseline
Let’s start looking at Jesus’ teaching on anxiety. Jesus starts off with the root of anxiety, and ironically He doesn’t focus on anxiety itself, or the feeling we feel, but rather what we wrap our minds around. This is an important truth: to deal with anxiety we must deal with the truth, or fallacy we dwell on. Jesus started addressing anxiety with the topic of how we approach our day-to-day needs. He had just spoken about idolizing treasure, or money; but what about our day-to-day needs? Surely that cannot be an unhealthy pursuit! As it turns out, we can struggle not to idolize our basic every day needs, and this issue really has to do with who we view as the sole provider and sustainer of our lives. Jesus says in verse 25,
“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?"
The basic necessities for the people Jesus was ministering to amounted to food, water, and clothing. For us, we have added many things to this list, including education, internet, a vehicle and much more. Interestingly, the more we think we need, the more we have to be anxious about, and yet Jesus is zeroing in on the impoverished as the baseline. In other words, Jesus wants us to understandd that at our poorest, we still can choose not to make our life about material things we think we need. Jesus is shifting the paradigm of thought: food exists for the body, not the other way around; and the body can still function without clothing.
What do we actually need to live for God? We need a body, and time for that body to live life.
Do you need a car? Not to live, to thrive.
Do you need to own a house? Not to live, to thrive.
Do you need vacation? Not to live, to thrive.
Can you live without food? You can, but not long. Food helps you live longer, but you will live every minute God intends for you to live! Psalm 139:16 teaches, "Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them."
What Jesus is getting at here is that God actually does care about your thriving in the sense that he knows what you need to make more of your life, or time. Food, hydration and clothing do matter to God, because God cares about the thriving of all his creation. Jesus used two examples to make his point: birds and flowers.
Look At The Birds
In verses 26-27, Jesus says,
"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?"
Birds have a lot to teach us about living life today, and not next week. Birds are the symbol of freedom and mobility. They follow the weather, they sing, they eat, and they exhibit beauty. They represent the best in what humanity would love to be. Jesus says we have a choice to live like the birds! You might say “What about diligence and responsibility?” The Bible never negates one truth for another. We are to live diligently and responsibly and wisely, but without making our responsible life our soul identity. Solomon spoke about the diligence of ants in Proverbs 6:6-11. However, he also spoke about the bread of anxious toil in Psalm 127:2. Truly there must be a balence in our approach to these things.
Birds don’t necessarily live an easy life. The smaller the bird, the more dangers they can encounter, yet God has designed the life span of even the smallest creatures! Jesus told the same truth and connected it to tiny sparrows later in Matthew 10:29-31! That is the point--you are not going to lose a day allotted by God because of a lack of provision, and you aren’t going to lengthen your life with a greater amount of provision. If God is sustaining your life, God will sustain your needs to account for the life He designed for you.
What does life look like when we don’t trust God? Let’s consider some results of anxiety and the triggers that cause anxiety.
Trigger: We get anxious when we are unhappy with what God has designed and allowed.
Result: Disgruntled people are anxious people, and anxious people become angry people.
If God is sustaining your life, God will sustain your needs to account for the life He designed for you.
Consider the Lilies
Jesus continues His teaching in verses 28-30:
"And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
Clothing has always been a sense of pride; it is part of our human nature. In Biblical times, your clothing indicated what type of person you were. In modern times, clothing indicates what type of person you want to be. Jesus wants us to see the source of true value in identity, and that source, like the flowers God created, comes from God, not us.
Trigger: We get anxious when we base our security in an identity we want to have instead of who God has made us to be.
Result: Insecure people are anxious people, and anxious people become self-focused people.
A Good King And Kingdom
The passage continues in verses 31-33,
"Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
If you are into Psychology, you have heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Jesus plainly stated what we need in our life if we are going to be people of security and peace:
Our first need is to see Jesus as a good king, and see myself as a citizen of His good kingdom.
Our second need is to exhibit Jesus’ goodness in how I live for Him as my king.
The result is that my King will take care of my daily needs according to His will.
Trigger: We get anxious when we worship any other king in our lives than Jesus, which leads us to our third type of anxious person:
Result: Idolatrous people are anxious people, and anxious people become disappointedly depressed people.
Jesus concludes this section of teaching on anxiety with these words:
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
Jesus wrapped up this teaching with a reminder that life is governed and designed by God, so we can’t lose what we can’t control. The goal in sanctification is to live each day as it’s own lifetime.
Trigger: We get anxious when we live our lives on any other day than the one we are currently living (past or present), and this leads us to our final 2 types of anxious people:
Result A: Overly ambitious people are anxious people, and anxious people become controlling people.
Result B: Lazy procrastinators are anxious people, and anxious people become frozen people.
I find 2 Peter 1:3 very encouraging in light of this discussion. It says:
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence."
Upcoming, we will wrap up this topic with some practical application (or cognitive therapy) from Scripture. For now, I want to close with this thought: "Question your feelings and you will trust God, but trust your feelings and you will question God."
References
Carson, D. A. (2018). Jesus’ Sermon On The Mount And His Confrontation With The World: A Study Of Matthew 5-10. Baker Books.
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