American Christianity

1 Peter 5:7-8

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Last time we talked about the devil as a roaring lion seeking those who he would devour. We talked about how the devil has been attacking the Christian faith in the world. But today, specifically, I want to talk about how the devil targets American Christianity. What’s his strategy for us?

You see, I think of something as quite remarkable in all of human history. There’s never been a society, a people, that is safer than you and I. We have better access to wealth, to food, to water, to shelter, to information than anyone in all of human history. Yet for being a society that is so safe, our country has declared a state of emergency over a mental health crisis. They say 1 in 3 adults in the last year have suffered symptoms of anxiety and depression. Now, as you go down to ages 18 to 24, they say 50% of those young adults have suffered symptoms of anxiety and depression.

What is happening? We are being eaten alive. Devoured by fear. Now, first I want to say that anxiety and depression are very real. It’s a complicated web of emotional, physiological, and spiritual trouble and difficulties. And I’m not going to pretend for a moment that there’s a magic faith pill we can take, and all of a sudden all of our problems go away. I want you to know today that if anxiety and depression is something that you suffer from or if you’ve ever had thoughts of harming yourself. There are people here for you. There are people ready to talk to you and willing to listen and help you through this dark time. There is help for you.

These things, though at the same time, can also be self made. We demand more out of life than what life can give. We have so much money, we overextend ourselves and pierce ourselves with many griefs. We have anxiety because we can’t say no to people, especially our children. All of a sudden we’re drowning in commitments and it feels like we are just overwhelmed. Social anxiety is something people really suffer from. We put so much stock in what other people think about us, what other people feel about us, that we’re afraid to talk to them. We’re afraid to show our face. We hide behind a screen and we don’t have those conversations that really matter. More than anything when I try to play God in my life and control things that are far outside of my control, I do feel anxious because I’ve stepped into God’s place and that’s something no human being can do.

Again, taking a step back, though, what’s the devil’s strategy? You see, we are so consumed by anxiety. We don’t give to support the church. We’re afraid of committing our time to the church. We don’t talk to people about the gospel because the social anxiety, he’s swallowed us up and made us so afraid, making us think that we are just nothing more than frightened sheep. And though anxiety is something very real that Christians have to face. And if it weren’t true, Peter wouldn’t mention it in these verses, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. But what Peter tells us is that though anxiety is real, as a Christian, we know its place. And its place places under the feet of Jesus, your risen and ascended Lord.

Your Jesus who has all authority in heaven and on earth. Your Jesus who knows anxiety, who took his divine power and set it aside so he could suffer in a lowly way and feel anxiety just like you and I. And you probably can visualize that moment when Jesus is in the garden sweating drops of blood because he’s so anxious about what’s going to happen when he’s nailed to the cross. But even in that moment of deepest anxiety, Jesus was still trusting himself perfectly into his father’s hands. Jesus suffered and died on the cross for all the times that we put our trust in the wrong place. For all the times we were too afraid, for all the times we were swallowed up and mastered by our fear and anxiety. Jesus died for you and has forgiven you.

But what’s more is God the Father brought him from his hour of darkness and suffering to his hour of glory. Jesus rose from the dead and he swallowed up death. And he swallowed up fear forever. And because Jesus lives and because he’s by your side, you and I, we don’t have to be afraid. No matter what we go through, we never go through it alone. But more than anything, today, I want you to know that the devil attacks us with fear because the devil is afraid of us. He’s afraid because he knows the power of what happens when a Christian congregation rises up and rallies around the powerful gospel and the powerful promise of Jesus that even the gates of hell will not be able to overcome his church. Amen.