The Grace Zone - Part 12

We are still in the book of 1Peter. But I love the book of 1Peter. We have been there for a couple of months now, but the end is near. Next week is going to be the end, we are at the penultimate episode. I was kind of thinking of trying to wrap it up this Sunday, but then I got stuck on this one verse. And in my beautiful plan, I was going to cover lots of verses today, but I got stuck on this one verse. And this one verse that we are going to have a look at today is really addressed to you, you tressoholics. And I know some of you are out there. All of us at different times of our lives, we go through seasons of stress and anxiety and worry. We don’t have to learn how to worry, it just something that comes naturally. Then there are some of us who take it overboard, when we live lives of constant stress and worry.

 What I want to talk about today, is one little verse that Peter zones in and focuses in and he addresses this thing called anxiety and worry. I felt so challenged by it, and I pray all of us would change our thinking and our understanding. He is going to address these two questions; why as a believer in Jesus, as a follower of Christ, why should we not worry? And the second question is how do I not worry? What can we do to stop stressing and worrying and being so anxious. So, before we read what Peter says, what would you say? You don’t have to shout out the answer, but formulate an answer in your mind. What do you think God is saying about this thing called worry? Why should we as believers not worry and then how is it that we should stop worrying. 1Peter chapter five verse seven: “⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” How simple is that? The beauty of God’s word is something so simple; it can be so powerful and so profound. So, let’s go back to the first question. Why is it that as believers in Jesus shouldn’t stress and worry? And the simple is because our God cares for us so much. My prayer this morning and it’s a simple prayer. Is that somehow the light will come on and the penny would drop to something we all know, everyone knows that yes, God loves me, but if we really caught this revelation of just how much our heavenly Father loves and cares for us. If we realize this, if we got a glimpse just how much God cares, this thing called stress and worry would evaporate. I want to take you through a few scriptures, and I want to pray that as I do, God’s word would minister.

Number 1, God cares for you. Just like a father cares for his children. I’m a dad, I have to boys. Many of you are parents, and you would know that as a parent, you would happily sacrifice your life for your children. As a dad, I want the best for my boys. I would do anything to try and see them get the best. How much more would our Heavenly Father? Listen to what Jesus said, He was speaking about worry and stress, Matthew chapter six verses twenty five to twenty seven: “²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[e]?” Think about that for a moment. Our heavenly Father considers you and me more valuable than the animals, the birds and nature. I know that would be offensive for you, the reality is that God created us in His image, the pinnacle of His creation, mankind. And if we look around at nature, and we see how well God makes a plan. He engineers the universe to make sure that the plants and animals get food. He has made a plan for them, how much more can the God of the universe make a plane for us? Our God cares for us as a father. Jesus carried on in verse thirty one and thirty two, saying: “³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” We have a God who cares for us as a father. But not just like a father, we have a God that cares for us as the creator. Jesus carried on in verses twenty eight to thirty; “²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?” Think about that for a moment. It’s not just as a father that He cares for us, but as our creator. And the way God can provide, He takes Solomon, Solomon was the richest man, the wisest man, had the most resources in all the world. So he would have been dressed and attired in splendour in robes of glory. What Jesus is saying, man’s best efforts at trying to provide for himself falls short of what God provides for nature. How much our creator can provide for you and me? I know that this is a simple truth, but if we just let it sink in that our God the Father looks out for us. Our God the creator looks out for us

 Number 2. Paul was writing of marriage, he said that Jesus is a husband to His church. But not just God is Father, and God as creator, but our God as a husband caring for His wife. It says in Ephesians chapter five verse twenty five: “Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself, loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it. Just as Christ does for the church for we are members of His body.” We don’t just have a father, we don’t just have a creator, and we have a husband. And a good husband will do everything to look after his wife. He will work extra shifts, he will protect her, he will care for like an absolute perfect husband, Jesus watches out for us. Imagine if that revelation gripped our heart. We are not alone, here’s another one. Remember Joshua. Joshua was about to go into battle. He was facing an unknown future crossing into the Promised Land. He knew there were battles ahead of him, and God comes to him in Joshua chapter one and verse one: “Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged. “ That is a big deal. Imagine if you were facing war after battle unknown future, you were facing, who knows, a fearsome, worrying future, God says, don’t worry, I have commanded you, don’t fear, don’t be terrified. God, how are you going to do that? He carries on and said: “For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” He cares for us as a father. He cares for us as our creator. He cares for us as our husband. He cares for us as our leader. Can you imagine what it must have been like for David?

 David grew up as a shepherd. He spent his teenage life looking after sheep. And as he looked after the sheep, he would recognize, oh dear, there’s a lion. And he took his sling and his staff, and went to kill the lion. He killed the bear to make sure the sheep were fine. He would recognize their fodder is depleted, and he would say, let me take you somewhere else where there is fresh, green grass. It’s hot, let me take the sheep to the water, they must be thirsty. Oh, that sheep is straying, let me make sure it comes back. It must have been a good life to be a sheep. They don’t have to worry about anything. I’m there shepherd, and I make sure all their needs are covered. And maybe in that moment of revelation, he suddenly realized that this is what it’s like with God. He’s the shepherd, and we are the sheep. He knows what we need, when we need it, when we need protection, when we need leading, feeding, guiding, watering, and David wrote that beautiful Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want. Jesus comes in John chapter ten and said: “I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.” Isn’t that beautiful? We have a God who cares for us. He cares for us as a Father, he cares for us as a creator. He cares for us as our leader, he cares for us as our husband. He cares for us as a shepherd. If we have that kind of revelation, we will realize we can live lives without being burdened by the constant sense of worrying and stress, because our God cares. It says in 1John chapter four verses eighteen and nineteen: “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one fear is not made perfect in love. We love because He first loved us.” I love the thought of this. That the more we understand God’s love. It says that perfect love drives out fear. That worrying and stress and anxiety.

 The more we taste of His love, the more fear gets driven out of us. It says we love because He first loved us. So, my dear tressoholics among you, God wants to say to you today. If you are living in that constant worrying and stress and anxiety, all of us have taste it, and we all are prone to it. But some people become addicted to lives of stress and worry. If that is you today, I believe what God wants to say to you is, I want you to let me love you more. We love because He first loved us, and the more we allow His love in, the more fear and worry get driven out. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the conviction that God is with you. You what an amazing thing, a thought struck me, do you that God’s peace is not a feeling, but a person. The peace of God is not a warm, fuzzy feeling, but God’s peace is actually the person of The Holy Spirit. I love what Jesus in John chapter fourteen verses twenty five to twenty seven: “All this I have spoken while I am still with you, but the councillor, the Holy Spirit that the Father will sand in my Name, will teach you all this, and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you.” What do you think Jesus was talking about? He was talking about the Holy Spirit. The Father is going to send the Holy Spirit. Jesus said my peace; I’m going to leave with you. I do not give like the world gives, do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid. I pray that our hearts would be open today, to understand this revelation that our God cares. Does that make sense? So, let’s get practical now. In our verse, it says: “Cast all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you. How do we get this whole casting thing right? Well, I must be honest, I’m not much of a casting instructor, when it comes to fishing, me and casting never really saw eye to eye. I grew up in the midlands, where we used to go trout fishing in some of the streams and dams in the midlands, and I remember rying to get that graceful art of fly fishing.

 The problem is I almost got my ears pierced at the same time. Ai one particular instance, I felt this thing whack me at the side of my head. At that moment, I realized I could either have my ear pierced, or my ear removed completely, but for the grace of God. Now, the problem was that I tended to catch a lot, but not this side, that side. I had this ability, if there was a fence or a tree, anything behind me, I had this ability to get snared and snagged, in fact, the one time, I think the guy was teaching us. His dad was a bit concerned, because all my friends were catching trout, and I was catching nothing. So he said, maybe you should have a look at your lure, or your fly, and when we inspected it, we realized that I had snapped off the whole end of the hook. He said no wonder you don’t catch anything, you don’t have a hook left. Because of all the snagging that happened behind. So, my casting didn’t get better when I came to Richards Bay, I wanted to teach my boys to fish. You have these little reels where you have to turn the flappy thing over. I mean, who remembers that every time. So, one of my best casts, I saw the sinker disappearing into the future, Then I finally got it, I need to turn that thing, or the line snaps. Casting doesn’t come that naturally to me. Peter, who was a fisherman, said: “Cast.” That word cast, I think the best to understand is, Peter was a net fisherman. So, it wasn’t out there, it was here cast. The best way to understand it, I think, is for us South Africans is, imagine if you have been doing some building alterations, you have been chopping down a huge tree, and you know those big stumps and branches, you need to get rid of all that stuff, you pick up the pile of bricks, or a piece of the stump. And you would be walking toward the driveway, burdened down by this heavy load, just trying to make it to the truck where you can unload.

 That’s what that word cast actually means. It means rolling away, or letting go of your burden onto something else that can carry the burden better than you. For us, it would be a truck, but for them it would be camels and donkeys, Like carrying a heavy bag of grain or something, till you can get to the camel where you can cast your burden onto the camel, that was better equipped to carry the load. That is what Peter was trying to say. He was saying, that thing you are carrying, that burden you have, cast it, get the burden off you onto something or someone who is better equipped to carry it. Cast your burdens onto the Lord, for He cares for us. So, how do we do that? Well, I mentioned a few things practically. The first way, to learn to cast our burdens onto Jesus. That requires humility. This verse that we read is not an isolated verse, it’s not a standalone, in fact it links back to what we were talking about last week. We spoke about the whole area of humility, and the key verse in 1Peter chapter five verse six said: “Humble yourselves therefore under God’s mighty hand that He may lift you up in due time.” That’s the whole concept of humility, as we humble ourselves, God lifts us up. Then it carries straight on and he says: “Cast your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” One of the ways we humble ourselves is by getting the burden off ourselves, and humbly submitting it to God. But that’s the problem, because sometimes it’s our sense of control, it’s of our sense of not willing to trust God and let go. It’s that unwillingness to trust anyone but ourselves that sometimes forces us to keep holding on to our worries and our fears and our stresses. So, Peter says, no, humble yourselves and cast that burden. It takes humility, it means learning to trust and learning to let go. In Hebrews chapter four verse sixteen says: “Lets us approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we can receive mercy and find grace to help us when in a time of need. We find that grace, Grace comes to the humble.” As we come with humble hearts, we find His mercy, we find His grace.

1.      Casting requires humility.

We discover isn’t not a random thing, dump your anxiety and stress anywhere. It’s a much directed word; cast all your anxiety on Him. I discovered as I was growing up,  living in the midlands, we used to go boogie boarding at Uvongo. Where we used to surf, but there’s also a fishing pier. There was always a war between the boarders and the fishermen because they both liked the same spot. As I was paddling out to catch a wave, a fisherman took aim and cast at me. He hit the front of my board, and if I got hit, I would have been seriously hurt. I realized that day, you can cast with good accuracy. And this is what it means when we cast all our anxieties onto Him. It’s not a random letting go. Jesus said in Matthew chapter six verse thirteen three: “But seek first the kingdom of and His righteousness.” And the way we focus, and the way we direct our burdens onto Jesus is primarily through prayer. Philippians chapter four verses six and seven says: “Don’t anxious, don’t worry or stress about anything. But in everything, by prayer and petition. With thanks giving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, that transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” How do we deal with this thing called worry?

2        We humble ourselves. Saying; “Jesus. I need to release this to You. I don’t want to carry this; you haven’t called me to carry this, you have called me to trust you.”

We have to direct it towards Jesus. The way we do that is through prayer. Lastly, there’s this thing about limiting our range of worry. With some people, it’s easy to become worried and stressed about things further and further into the future. It’s one thing to worry about today, it’s another worry about tomorrow, and it carries on. We serve a God who specializes in answering today prayers. When Jesus taught us to pray, He said give us each day our daily bread. When God fed the Israelites in the desert, every day he would provide them with their daily manna. And what Jesus said to us in Matthew chapter six verse thirty four: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” There is some self-control that we need tp watch ourselves and not allow our minds to be consumed with things out of range. I remember when I was at university, we had a stress relief policy, there was a golf driving range right next door to the university in Durban, and our stress relief was to take the one wood, and our goal was always to get the ball over the end fence. There was no sense of limit of how far you can hit the ball. We tend to do that with our worries also. We tend to worry about things that are way beyond our control. Jesus said, by worrying, we cannot add a single minute to our lives.

Maybe if we worry hard enough, maybe we can somehow alter the universe, we can’t. Don’t let your worries range out into the future. I have a particular type of worry, every time airports are involved. I love flying, but there is something about knowing you have a plane to catch that always sets a bit of anxiety going. In so many times, God has challenged me over and over with this simple thing, the Bible says: “Those who trust in the Lord will never be put to shame.” And many times I feel the challenge from God saying: “Are you going to worry, or are you going to just trust me?” What are you worrying about in th future. Whaqt are you worrying about out there, over the fence, that we have no control over. Jesus said: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, focus on today.” Focus today on humbly releasing things to God. Focus today on praying those burdens to Jesus so that He can take care of them. Learn to live for today. Pray for today, trust today, and leave the future to God. This series is about the grace zone. And one of the ways, we live in the grace zone is by getting out of the worry zone. God’s desire for our lives is not that we live worries, anxious, stressed out lives, but part of the Gospel is that He wants us to release to Him those burdens of worry and fear, so that he can put His peace, the Holy Spirit, to guard our hearts and minds. Are you a worriaholic, or a stressoholic? And if you are, are you willing to repent right now, and say God, it’s time to stay in the grace zone and hold onto it in Jesus Name.