Care-free, Careful, Caring

I'll ask you to turn please to 1st Corinthians and chapter 12, 1st Corinthians and chapter 12. I want to read a few passages of Scripture. We'll read them in the order they're found in our New Testaments, not necessarily the order that I'm going to refer to them.

1st Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 25, 1st Corinthians 12 and verse 25, that there should be no schism or division in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Over please to the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 15, Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 15, Ephesians 5 and 15, see then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Just read that verse for you from Darby's translation, see therefore how you walk carefully, not as unwise, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. The word circumspectly is not a very common English word today. It has the idea of walking carefully or accurately.

Over to the book of Philippians, Philippians chapter 2 and verse 19, Philippians 2 and verse 19, but I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort when I know your state. For I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state, for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. Over just one page to chapter 4, Philippians chapter 4, and we'll read from the middle of verse 5, Philippians 4 and verse 5, the Lord is at hand, or the Lord is near, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

And over please to the book of Titus, Titus chapter 3 and verse 8, Titus chapter 3 and verse 8, this is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. And one final reading, please, in 1 Peter chapter 5, Peter's first epistle and chapter 5, 1 Peter 5 and verse 7, 1 Peter 5 and 7, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Now these verses may seem to be scattered and somewhat unrelated, but I would like hopefully in my comments on these verses to draw to your attention some very simple practical advice that the Bible has for us about the way that we live. I have been impressed recently that God is very interested in my everyday life.

Sometimes we get into our heads the notion that significance in heaven's perspective in my life is somehow found in sensational events. And so if I am ever able to achieve something great for God, then heaven will stand up and take notice. Or if I am able to put together a great message and preach publicly in the assembly, then I get a checkmark in heaven's records.

Or if I am able to do something in the assembly that everyone sees and recognizes, then I have somehow got a brownie point that God has taken notice of. Nothing could be further from the truth in terms of heaven's interest in our lives. God is intimately interested in the way that I live.

My lifestyle is the term we use today. The everyday, what we might consider mundane, routine course of my life. God is interested in that.

How should we live? And the New Testament is rich with relevant teaching about the way that Christians should live. And I want to just pull three very simple lifestyle instructions that the Bible has for us about the way God intends me to live the Christian life. First of all, we should be marked by carefree Christian living.

Carefree Christian living. We read in Philippians chapter 4, the Lord is near. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God that passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And we read in 1st Peter chapter 5, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. I don't think it's rocket science to recognize we live in a stressful period of time.

There is stress. There is anxiety. There are worries.

And these are not unique to any one generation. And they are not necessarily even unique to one personality type. We all have stress.

We all worry. And living in the world in which we live, it is not at all unexpected that there are things that come into our lives that are very real, that are very, very genuine. And they fill us with anxiety.

And they burden our hearts. And they crowd into our minds. And they have a direct debilitating effect on making progress for Christ.

Now, I want to speak sensitively today, because I know these things are real. And there are times in our lives when we face particular trials. It may be a medical issue.

It may be an issue with a relationship. It may be financial stress. It may be a time of bereavement.

However long or short your Christian experience may have been to this point, I'm sure that at least to some extent we all know the reality of things crowding in on us and our minds begin to get consumed. And a knot forms in your stomach. And your chest begins to tighten.

And maybe in the middle of the night, when your wife or your husband is asleep and the house is quiet, and you are lying with your eyes wide open, and you are going over and over and over and over, the same issue in your mind. And when the morning comes, you paint on a smile, and you square your shoulders, and you put on a brave face. But in your heart there's turmoil.

And in your mind there is stress. And you're wondering, where can I turn? The Bible tells us how we can cope with pressure. And how we can cope with stress.

And when we feel at our wits end and we don't know where to turn, the Word of God gives us teaching relative to carefree Christian living. Now let me just say, carefree Christian living scripturally is not irresponsibility. The world used to have a song, don't worry be happy.

Well that's not carefree Christian living. It's also not cluelessness. You know, I know some people and they're always happy.

I mean bombs could be falling, and alarms going off, and they're smiling. Isn't it a lovely day? And they're just clueless. And you look at them and I don't know whether to envy them or pity them, but they really don't seem to ever have any stress.

They could be standing on a track with a freight train hurtling towards them, and a little fake smile on their... I don't know if it's fake or not, but a little smile on their face. Well I'm not made that way. And I certainly have known times, perhaps I haven't been through trials like some of you have gone through, or are going through.

But I have known times, when in circumstances in life, I have had those experiences, of lying awake and wondering, how is it going to turn out? And where am I going to turn? And everybody thinks I'm in control, and I know I'm not. Carefree Christian living begins with a correct focus on God. That's what we read in Philippians chapter 4. Carefree Christian living begins with a focus on God.

The Lord is near. Be careful for nothing. 1st Peter chapter 5, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.

We just traveled as a family, and on vacation, and we were traveling through an airport. Let me just paint a little illustration to try to communicate the truth I want to get across here. Airports now, in North America especially, they are big, and you tend to have long, interminable walks to get from your plane, to your security, to your gate, to where you need to go.

Picture with me a man and his son, a little four or five year old boy, and they're trying to make their way through one of these large airports, to get to where they need to go. And the little fellow, and this is, you don't have to imagine this, because this really happens, little fellow is lugging along a huge knapsack, and it's filled with his Game Boy, and his PSP, and his books, and all the things to keep him occupied, his snacks, and the little fellow is struggling along with this weight, and the father's trying to hold his hand and take him with him, and the father turns and says, here give me that, let me carry it. The little boy says, no, no, I can carry it, and he's struggling along, and the father's trying to help him, and they're barely making progress, and the little fellow looks up, and he sees that there's a moving sidewalk, and he thinks, if I can just make it there, but the father, who's a lot taller, looks and sees the sidewalk's broken, and he's looking at the little fellow saying, we're not gonna make the flight, we're not going to make it, let me take that.

The little boy, no, no, I'm good, and he's struggling along, and he looks and sees a corner up ahead, and if you know anything about airports, you have a long, long walk, and you see a corner, and the little fellow's thinking, if I can just make it there. The father knows, when you get to that corner and make the turn, there's another corner just as long, stretching down towards the terminal, and he's saying, give me that, let me carry it. The little boy's saying, no, finally, the little boy gets to a point where he can't do it anymore.

He turns, and he asks his dad one of the most ridiculous questions. He turns, and he says to his daddy, could you carry this for me? You know, that's just the way we live as Christians often. We have burdens that we can't carry, and the Lord never really intended us to carry them, and he's telling us over and over in his word, give it to me, let me carry that, and we keep looking to heaven and saying, no, no, I can cope with this, I can deal with this, I can struggle along with this, and all along our Heavenly Father is saying, cast your burdens on me.

You know, when the Scriptures say, he cares for you, I think there's at least two things involved in that. First of all, he cares about me. That is, he's interested in me.

He knows what's going on. Isn't that the question the disciples ask the Lord in the boat? Is it in Mark chapter 10? No, it's not Mark chapter 10. I have to put my glasses on and find out exactly where it is.

We have the example in Mark chapter 4 and verse 38. The disciples are in the boat. The Lord's sleeping in the back.

The waves are coming over the side, and when they finally can't cope with it anymore, they wake up the Master. What do they say? Carest thou not that we perish? It's the same question that Martha asked the Lord. She's busy bustling, serving.

The Lord's sitting over there, and Mary's sitting talking with him, and Martha's blood pressure's rising, and she's getting more and more and more frustrated with the inequity of the situation, and finally she says to the Lord, Lord, don't you care that I'm cumbered with all this serving? In other words, Lord, don't you notice? Aren't you interested? And the Bible says he cares for you. Let us never forget that there is one who is interested, and when I am struggling along with a burden that seems unbearable, and a mountain that seems insurmountable, I should always remember there's one who understands it, and he understands it better than I do. He knows exactly what I am passing through, and he cares.

But you know, the thought that he cares for you actually goes deeper than that, because it's not just the Lord's interest or knowledge in what I'm going through. Think of the way the Lord used that word in the parable of the Good Samaritan. Concerning that man, yes, he was interested in him.

Yes, he had compassion on him. Yes, he took notice of him. But it goes far further than that, because the Bible says that he bound up his wounds, he poured in oil and wine, he lifted him up and he put him on his beast, and listen, he took care of him.

And when the Scriptures say he careth for you, it's not just that he's interested, it's that he takes care of us. He nurtures us. He is capable of bearing the burden.

The little story of the boy with the knapsack, if we could see that story just a few gates down the airport there, the father with his broad shoulders has that little knapsack tossed over one side, not even breaking a sweat, not even breaking stride. You see, the father is capable of carrying a burden. He is capable of caring far more than we're able to.

I have spoken to people, and I've experienced it to some little extent in my own life, who have gone through times of great triumph. And you know what the message of those people almost always is? I would never have chosen to go by that way, but I would never want to be without the lessons I learned of God when he brought me through. Some of the darkest periods in life are the times when we learn the most vibrant lessons of God's care for us.

So carefree Christian living is not some air-headed, empty, shrug my shoulders and be irresponsible. It begins with a solid grasp that the burden I'm struggling with, the Lord is able, and the Lord cares, and the Lord is interested. But the second thing about carefree Christian living that impressed me as I was looking at these verses is how all-embracing this exhortation is.

Both passages that we read, Philippians chapter 4, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known unto God. First Peter chapter 5, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. You see, we struggle often in two ways.

We struggle with burdens that we feel are too big. You know, we can go along okay, praying, reading, trusting, making progress, and sort of dealing with the mediocre medium sort of challenges, and leaving those with the Lord. But then something comes cascading in that we've never faced before, and it knocks us flat.

And we are left gasping, wondering, what will I do? And we struggle because we think this burden is too big. The Lord says, bring them all. All your cares.

But you know, for some of us, we struggle with burdens that we think are too small. You know, if you lose a life partner, well, take that to the Lord and he'll sustain you. If you have some crushing medical emergency in your life, that is a time to seek the Lord's face and try to grip hold of the grace that he gives.

But we think that we can square our shoulders and carry all the rest ourselves. This exhortation is all-embracive. Casting all your care on him, for he careth for you.

I don't know what you're facing today. I have no idea when this day comes to an end, if the Lord be not come, and your public face is put away for the night, and you're all alone in your bed tonight in the dark, I have no idea what's going to be racing through your mind. And I can't personally claim to understand it, but I can tell you in the authority of God's Word, there is a path to carefree Christian living.

It is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know, the real challenge is, how do we get there? The word that Peter uses has impressed me for the last couple of weeks. I was just down in Trinidad last week, unexpectedly.

A close friend of my parents passed away, and I went down with mom and dad to try to help the family. And this verse was much in my mind. Casting all your care on him, for he careth for you.

We know that God cares. We know the giants we're facing. How do we make that connection? And you know what impressed me with this verse in Peter? There is a deliberate, decisive action required for me to harness this carefree Christian living.

Peter uses the word, casting. That's a very active word. It's a very decisive word.

It's something that you have to determine to do. In other words, the Lord is not just going to come and lift it, although I know there is a sense in which he does that. But the exhortation Peter gives is, cast it.

It's like a hand grenade. You're holding a hand grenade with a pin pulled. And it's going to cripple you as a Christian.

And you can clutch it, and you can grab it, and you can look at it, and you can worry about it, and you can fret over it, and you can mull it over from every angle. But the Bible says, get rid of it. Cast it.

You know, when you throw something, you have to let go. It's impossible to throw something without letting go. Try it.

You'll put your elbow out. Try throwing a baseball. You have to let go.

And that's what Peter says. Casting all your care upon him. So I can't claim to be an expert in this by any stretch.

But I can only tell you what the Word of God says. All of your cares, large, small, and everything in between. If I focus on God, and I recognize his interest and his care, and I realize his knowledge and his capability, and all he asks me to do is give it to him.

Can he bear it? He can bear it. But you know what touched my heart when I was thinking of this? It's not so much that he's interested in my burden. We get very occupied with the care itself.

We're looking at the grenade from every side. But you know what impressed me? It doesn't say casting all your cares on him because he cares for your cares. We care for our cares.

We're occupied with our anxieties. We're preoccupied with all of the things that are burdening our hearts. But what does the verse say? Casting all your cares on him for he cares for you.

That father in the airport. Did he care a whole lot about the backpack he was carrying? Or did he care about the little boy at his side who was struggling? Actually, if he's anything like me as a father, he probably cared that he was frustrated and the kid was making him angry. But our Heavenly Father is not like that.

He cares about us. And he wants to lift from our shoulders burdens that he knows we can't carry. And he wants us to enjoy carefree Christian living.

But secondly, God is not only interested in my life in the way that I live it, and that he wants me to enjoy carefree Christian living. But I would like to draw to your attention from the we have read that we should be marked by careful Christian living. This is something that burdens me in personal life, in assembly life, and in the life more broadly among God's people in my own generation.

I fear at times that we have been going through for the last maybe 10 years or so a little bit of a resurgence in modern Christian thinking and modern Christian writing that has pointed out accurately and has drawn attention to a trend in Christianity that was moving towards externalism and legalism and rigidity and a form of Christian living that was empty and hollow and meaningless and rules-based. And many, many modern writers have accurately pointed out that that is not the Christianity the New Testament advocates, where there's an external rule or code book, and I just take my life and I rigidly try to conform to those rules. And if I can check off every item on the list, then God's happy with me.

And if I violate one of the items, then God bops me. And many, many have accurately pointed out that is not vibrant, real, sustainable, God-honoring Christian living. And I subscribe to that wholeheartedly.

But I will tell you one of my big fears. One of my big fears is that in this newfound, broad-minded, liberated Christian living that we claim to be celebrating, we are leaving ourselves wide open to attack that comes from inside. Because the Bible says that my natural tendency is not to do what's right.

It's to do what's wrong. That's what comes from inside of me. And the Bible says that the world out there is not neutral or innocent or harmless.

It's actually an enmity to me as a Christian. And the Bible says that there's an enemy, an adversary that John's already reminded us of, who is opposed to us, seeking to devour us. And therefore, I would like to speak very carefully today to remind us all, the Christian life, while it is a life of freedom, it is not a life of freedom to do as I please.

And while it is a life of being liberated from the bondage of legalism, it is not liberty to indulge in anything that my heart desires. We have read that Titus wrote that as the children of God, we should be careful to maintain good works. And Paul wrote to the Ephesians that they were to walk carefully, circumspectly, not as fools, not as unwise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

And Peter wrote that they were to be sober, be vigilant. Now, to some of you young people, I don't know exactly what you face. But let me warn you of a very dangerous mindset.

A mindset that says that I am free to go out and engage in everything I want to in the world. And no one has the right to tell me don't do this or don't go there or don't listen to this or don't keep company with these people. Because that's not Christianity.

And that's rules based. And that's checklist Christianity. And that's all wrong.

I can go out and do what I please. Now, I am not at all suggesting that anyone can give you a list and you check it off and please God, that's not what I'm saying. But what I am telling you is this, that everything you see around you out in the world, it is not harmless.

And every activity that presents itself available to you, it is not innocent. And if I could advocate anything to your soul today, it is this be careful. Think, be sober, be watchful.

Christian living is a serious, serious thing. And God's interested in it. God's not just interested in where you are at 10 o'clock on a Sunday morning breaking bread.

God is intimately interested in where you are at 10 o'clock on a Friday night and who you're with and what you're doing and what you're feeding your soul on. I don't have time to touch on the three different enemies that we have, and I think they're brought out in Titus warning about being careful because of what I tend to do on my own. And Paul's warning in Ephesians chapter five to be careful because the days are evil.

The world all around us is evil. And Peter's warning to be careful because of our enemy, the devil. Let me just touch on the last one.

I don't know how many of you young folks subscribe to Peter Ramsey's Bible bite. A little email he sends out twice a week. If you don't, you should.

It's excellent. But Peter gave a very graphic illustration a number of weeks ago, a number of months ago now, which I thought was excellent at bringing out the truth of what first Peter brings to us about be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. And the illustration Peter used was this.

And remember young believers, all of us believers, this is the world we live in and this is the enemy we face. This is our reality every day. Peter said if you were with some friends at the zoo and you're just enjoying the stroll in the zoo a nice sunny afternoon when suddenly you saw a little commotion and someone ran over and said to you the lion's cage, the doors open and the lions have all escaped and nobody knows where they are, but they're on the grounds of the zoo.

Would it affect your walk in the park? Would it affect the way you behave at the zoo? Would it be wise for you to continue to push your baby stroller and just walk around and laugh and talk with your friends? No. It would completely revolutionize the way you walk through the zoo if you knew that there's a lion on the loose. That's exactly what Peter the Apostle is saying in 1st Peter chapter 5. Be sober, be vigilant.

Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. So carefree Christian living, careful Christian living. But in the two minutes I have left I would like to speak to everyone, young, old, and if you're like me in that sort of awkward middle ground where you can't really honestly claim to be young anymore but you would never ever admit to being old, we're sort of stuck in that bracket in the middle, all of us, I would like to issue an appeal to caring Christian living.

Paul makes a very very sad statement in Philippians chapter 2. He says I'm going to send Timothy to you because I have no man like-minded who will genuinely care for your state. Isn't that sad? He had no one else. Thank God he had Timothy.

But Paul makes a sweeping summarizing statement of everyone else and he says all seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ. Is that true of our assemblies? I'm not asking you to point fingers at anybody else. I'm asking you to shine the spotlight of God's Word on your own soul and I'll do the same.

Is that true of me? Or do I practice caring Christian living? John touched on it. We have a direct instruction in Scripture to care for one another. What does care mean? Remember the two things I said about the Lord's care for us? Care means first of all noticing, being interested, paying attention.

You can't fake it. That's what Paul said about Timothy who will genuinely care. There's a world, an ocean of difference between pretending to care and showing that you care.

You see caring is not something you put into your BlackBerry or into your Microsoft Outlook. From 10 to 1015 I'll care for a Christian and once I get over with that I'll get on with my day. Caring has to be real and genuine and from the heart.

But caring will be translated into action. Nurturing, caring, supporting, reaching out to one another. We live in a world that is opposed to us.

Let us band together. Give the Lord the burdens we can't carry. Walk carefully in the environment that he's placed us and ask the Lord to give you someone.

He'll do it. Ask him to give you someone across your path that he can use you as an instrument to care for them. And you know what you'll find? Rich, rewarding, relevant, Christ-honoring Christian living.