Anxiety and Idolatry

I don’t know how it happened, but somehow us Christians have accepted a hierarchy of sins. The hierarchy says there are three sets: 1) sins that are terrible, 2) sins that are bad but everybody kinda does them, and 3) sins that are “bad” though seldom viewed as such. Set one includes things like murder, rape, theft, fornication, spousal abuse, etc. Generally, these are the sins that are the easiest for a good Christian to avoid, especially if they are in a close Christian community. Set two is this squishey middle of gossip, lust, greed, self-loathing, crude speech, anger, jealousy, etc. These are the sins that are easy for a good Christian to hide, especially if they are aware of Christian culture. The third category is where the sins of worldly conformation fall. This category includes things like buying into the world’s value system, finding worth in non-Christ things, always striving to make your name great, comparing yourself to others, and anxiety, among others. I’d like to focus this discussion on the sin of anxiety.

Anxiety is a sin. Other words for anxiety include worry, nervousness, angst, fear, fearfulness, and panic attacks. Passages that have prohibitions against anxiety include Matthew 6, Philippians 4, and Jeremiah 17. Jesus, Paul, and Jeremiah all prohibit anxiety. Interestingly, Paul also uses this term “anxious” in his instruction to men and women about marriage in 1 Cor. 7, and Paul even says that he wants to send Epaphroditus to Phillipi so that Paul “may be less anxious” (Ph. 2:28). Let me define terms.

There is anxiety of the mind and anxiety of the heart. Anxiety of the mind is the awareness of an undesirable circumstance and the desire to avert the consequences. For example, if you leave work without an umbrella and on your way to work it begins to downpour, it is appropriate to feel a certain level of anxiety knowing that you will have to walk through the downpour and be drenched for your 9:00am meeting. It is human and appropriate to exhibit some anxiety (or maybe better: concern) due to a circumstance that forces you to deal with the consequences. This is not sin. If I drive to the airport just in time to board the plane and realize I forgot my wallet at home, there is an appropriate level of concern that will happen to me. Anxiety of the mind is not sin.

Anxiety of the heart is a disbelief in the providential hand of God which is manifested in many ways. It is a doubting of God’s character. It is the belief that something other than God has power and control at that moment in time. Anxiety happens when something other than God becomes more important in your heart, thus anxiety is idolatry. Here are a few examples.

In the Old Testament the Israelites were especially tempted to worship the god Baal. Ever wonder why? Where Israel is located in the Middle East it is imperative for the flourishing of their crops and, subsequently, the Jewish people for it to rain consistently. Israel has very few rivers and water sources, so rain was crucial. Rain too late and the seeds wouldn’t take to the ground, rain in the harvest and the grain would spoil. No rain and there is no food. The provision of rain is even one of the blessings of obedience given to Israel in Deuteronomy 28. It is promised by God. The Israelite temptation to worship Baal was so attractive because Baal was the pagan god of rain, fertility, and agriculture. He was the pagan god that determined if it rained. So, when the spring came the Israelites would wait for rain. Sometimes they might wait, and wait, and it would begin to be the time what rain is needed and still not rain would come. At that time Israel’s temptation to offer sacrifices to Baal was the strongest, for the Israelites doubted the character of God and became anxious. Their sin of anxiety propelled them to greater and greater levels of sin and wickedness that included sins of the squishy middle (anger, greed [Amos 4]) and the wicked extremes (child sacrifice [2Kings 17] and temple prostitution [1Kings 14] ). The Israelite’s desire for security and control were more important in their hearts than patience for the hand of God so they acted out of their anxiety.

Let us now look at Jesus’ teaching on anxiety found in Matthew 6:25-34. Jesus tells his listeners not to be anxious about their lives, what they will eat, drink, or their body, or what we wear. He focuses on two specific worries: food and clothing. The Sermon on the Mount was given to a large group of working poor, those that had jobs but still experienced difficulty making the ends meet, but I do not believe that most of his hearers were literally starving or were so poor that they were almost naked because they could not afford clothing. This was during the Pax Romana, or the period of peace in the Roman Empire, which was characterized by prosperity. Don’t get me wrong, there was a real threat of going hungry and of lacking food and clothing, but I don’ think the pith of this teaching is about staying clothed and alive. This is the case because Jesus asks “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” In reality the body is not “more than food” because no food = no life. And the body is more than clothing, but you can’t walk around naked and still function as a member of society. Jesus even says not to worry about what you will drink, but there was no real worry in Jesus’ time of thirsting to death because there were many public wells that anyone could draw from. So, what is Jesus saying?

I believe Jesus is saying something deep to their heart, past the simple visceral elements of worry to their situation as the working-class in Israel. Food is a huge part of the Israelite culture in that day. Who you dined with, how you dined, and what you had to eat determined who you were in society. Any given time I can eat meat, use exotic spices, take my pick of fresh fruits and vegetables, but a first century Israelite could not. They most likely only had meat during the special Jewish festivals. Society says that their inability to afford delicacies makes them less valuable, for if your meal included meats, spices, nuts, dried fruit, vegetables, and wine, you were valuable. If your meal included bread and water, you were less valuable. Here Jesus is proposing something totally different.

If you have ever watched birds feed, you know that it is one of the most mirthful sites in nature. They flitter and flit from branch to branch, bush to bush, chipping and chirping as they chomp on seeds, berries, and whatever else they can find. They look jubilant as they eat their seed. Jesus points to these birds, explaining that all they do is show up to the field and there is food. Their Heavenly Father is so kind to these birds that he provides food for them even though they don’t do anything to deserve it. The birds don’t work for their food, but because God is so kind, good, and providential he provides for them. Then Jesus poses this question: “Are you not of more value than they?” Look at the birds and how they feast on seeds with such mirth and contentment because God feeds them. Of course, people are much more valuable than birds, infinitely more. If God is so caring, loving, and in control to feed the birds, how much more will he feed people! Our value is not dependent upon what we eat but who feeds us.

Now to clothing. Like previously mentioned, all of these people had clothes to wear. They had fabric that covered their bodies, but most likely they owned two articles of clothing: a tunic and a cloak. A tunic is basically the part of clothing that touches the skin and a cloak is an overcoat/wrap thing. Jesus’ hearers were not thinking, “Oh, I hope I will have enough money to buy another cloak before this one becomes so threadbare that my body will be exposed!” This was not what they were thinking. Clothing is the first thing someone sees when they see a person and is the most significant personal expression. In almost all cultures what a person wears tells a lot about the person. If I see a man walking down the street in a mishmash of clothes, all not matching, many torn and tattered, I will make immediate judgment about that man and about his ability to contribute to society. Most of Jesus’ hearers could only afford simple, drab, unadorned apparel. His hearers were plain-clothed people. This is the issue that Jesus is trying to get at. Many of his hearers were blue-collar workers working in the fields and other crafts. They didn’t have the nicest clothes and the clothes that they did have were probably dirty often. So, when a wealthy man saw a peasant farmer with his plain and dirty attire, the peasant would feel ashamed, devalued, insignificant, and desiring of better clothing. Remember the scandalous lavishness of Joseph’s coat of many colors? A garment of color and beauty was the envy of all poor people, not because having a garment with color was great by itself, but Jesus’ hearers wanted to experience what it would be like to walk down the street and have people know that you are a significant person because your clothes say so.

Jesus draws his hearers’ attention to the fields ornate with brilliant flowers covering the hillside. A new shirt holds nothing to a field of spring flowers or a dogwood tree in bloom. Even Solomon’s wardrobe is dull compared to a single flower. Jesus says that the flowers don’t make their clothes or work for them but God kindly blesses them with outstanding colors to give them special qualities and to draw the eye to their splendor. He does this even though each year the flower dies, or is cut and thrown into a fire to be consumed. Think about it, the vegetation with the least external significance is usually the most colorful. If God is going to do such a magnificent thing for the flowers that wither and fade, how much more will God do for his children? How much more ornate will we be? God is in the business of taking the plain and making it prodigious.

Jesus questions the audience, saying “31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things”. The Gentiles are those outside the faith, or the pagan worshipper. When Jesus says that the Gentiles seek after these things he is contrasting the Christian’s relationship with the divine and the pagan’s relationship with the divine. Jesus exhort his hearers to believe that God is really who he says he is in the Scriptures, a benevolent, loving, compassionate, powerful, and in-charge God that what to do good things for his people coupled with an uninhibited ability to do these things. A “Gentile” would have believed in a pantheon of gods, each responsible for different areas of life. These gods are like superhumans, but they have a propensity for forgetfulness, to capriciousness, and ineptitude. The Gentile must make certain that he has sacrificed the right amount at the right time to the right god with hopes that god will come through. The Gentile has no basis for confidence in being provided food, water, and clothes from his gods. The Christian, on the other hand, should have unequivocal confidence in God’s provision for his people. Remember the Exodus? Jesus is calling his hearers to believe that God is who he says he is and to rest in that belief.

Now a personal example. I feel like most people see me as a guy that kind of has his “life in order.” I get up early, go to work, do school, never turn in a late assignment, lead a disciplined life, and have even been known to tuck in my shirt. I’ve never been to jail, I’ve never had my electric shut off and I take a shower every day. Though I live my life under control and work to always orient my life around and under Jesus Christ and his salvific power through the Gospel, I still struggle with the sin of anxiety. Anxiety can manifest itself in many ways, and it manifests itself most clearly in me through claustrophobia. I’ve never been a big fan of close spaces but it has not been until recently that it has become a caustic presence. About six months ago I went to Nicaragua to meet my dad at an orphanage and school his church sponsors. I boarded a plane in Raleigh that would take me straight to Miami and then to Nicaragua and I boarded with my backpack on my shoulders when the desk clerk called for boarding. As I was on the plane waiting to get to my seat my shoulders began to feel tight, my chest began to feel like it had a weight on it, and then I realized I was short of breath. “I think this is a panic attack” I told myself. When I got to my seat I was on the verge of hysteria, literally a moment away from running off the plane like a crazed maniac and missing my opportunity to serve in another country. I called my mom and she prayed for me and the man I sat next to used to experience similar anxiety so he coached me through it (ironically, a nonbeliever).

When I got off the plane in Miami I had a three hour layover that I utilized to pray about why I experienced what I experienced. The Lord revealed this to me: I was not afraid of running out of air but I was afraid of what other people would think if I freaked out. I was concerned of what my family and friends would think when I told them I couldn’t take the simple situation of being on a plane. I just don’t like close spaces, and that’s fine. What is not fine is the belief that God will not sustain and provide for me during a time of discomfort and uncertainty, and the necessity to have everyone think I’ve got it all together. I clung tightly to my idol of others thinking well of me, and I believed that God would not provide and I must take care of my situation because God could not. This anxiety was idolatry. I believed in myself more than in God, and I valued other’s thoughts of me more than God’s.

Having physical appearance as an idol will cause anxiety when ageing comes. Money as an idol will cause anxiety when financial hardship comes. A relationship as an idol will cause anxiety when the relationship is on the rocks. Mental perspicuity as an idol will cause anxiety when around people smarter than you. Leisure as an idol will cause anxiety when a full time job, kids, and a spouse presses in. Family as an idol will cause anxiety when the family disperses. Morality as an idol will cause anxiety when you sin and have to hide it from everyone. Societal position as an idol will cause anxiety when you lose the position. You get the point.

Since my panic attack I’ve committed 1 Peter 5:6-7 to memory, especially verse 6. I must believe that God is so powerful, strong, vigilant, and aware that his mighty hand is strong enough to do what needs to be done to project, provide, and sustain me for his purposes, no matter what the external circumstance.

1 Peter 5:6-7
Humble yourselves, therefore, under 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.

Soli Deo Gloria.