Louie Giglio - The Anxiety Exchange
First, Peter has a context, so let’s read our text today, and then we’ll come back and try to lay over again the context of why Peter wrote this, who he wrote it to, and what was happening in the world around him. Our text today begins in chapter 5, verse 5. Right above, there have been some specific words to leaders, young and old, but then as we do throughout 1 Peter, we are all going to get swept into the story in verse 5. Young men, in the same way, be submissive to those who are older, to which I say amen. Then here we all come. So if you’re not an elder or if you’re not one of the younger, if you’re not one of these leaders that get specifically addressed in the first few verses of this chapter, all of a sudden, the net is thrown wider, and he says, «In the same way, excuse me, all of you, clothe yourselves with humility.»
So we’ve got young men in the same way, and now in the next phrase, all of you. All of you means all of you leaders, but as we track back through 1 Peter, it means all of you believers. We always look at these specific segments through 1 Peter, and then he’ll come and say, «And now all of you.» All of you believers are now on board. He says, «All of you,» that’s me, that’s you, everybody in Christ today, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
So the context is that believers are scattered and they’re under persecution, so this text is going to relate to me today, but it’s relating to them on a whole different level. Their anxiety was about being in a foreign land among pagan people; nobody gets the gospel. We’re trying to be a mere reflection of a new way, a new king, a new lord, and that’s not going down so well, given that the emperor is still running the show. So believers are going to face fire, they’re going to face persecution, they’re going to face difficulty in suffering, and what Peter has been saying all the time is, «Hang on to your confidence.» Do you remember this from a few weeks ago? In God’s promised outcome, even while going through the fire, you can live with abundant grace and peace, showing the lost world around you how great God is. We started in the beginning saying this is what Peter is trying to get us all to step into. Now we’re coming down into the specifics of it. There’s going to be a hard road ahead for anyone who chooses alignment and allegiance with Jesus. Namely, Peter is going to lose his life for his faith in Jesus.
So today, when we’re talking about an anxiety exchange, we’re not talking about, «Man, I wanted the black Mercedes, but the dealership said those are on back order, and you can’t get a black one for six months now because of COVID and the shipping whatever, but they had a satellite blue one, and I was like, 'I don’t really want the satellite blue, but it’s available today, ' and they made me a deal on it.» I’m stressed over it. «Louie, could you pray? We’re a little bit concerned.» Now that’s a dumb example; hopefully none of us are walking into this today. If you are, I’d wait for the black one, if I were you. I mean, what do you have to lose? But a lot of our anxieties are real. They’re not real like there’s an emperor in Rome, and if I stay on this path, I might die. They’re not at the level of, «If I continue in my proclamation of Jesus among my pagan neighbors, co-workers, and community members, I may be dragged before the authorities at some point and torched as entertainment by the Roman emperor.» But that’s where we are in 1 Peter. We’re in a time where the anxieties were big time.
So I say that not to belittle whatever I’m anxious about today. I say it to give you confidence that no matter what you’re anxious about today, how big it may be, you’re going to get some encouragement from this text. Amen? So let’s look at verse 7. Eleven words, and in these eleven words of verse 7, two things are on the table, and we’re going to get a little of our words going back and forth today, so you’re really going to have to lock in and make sure you get the right ones in the right order. In verse 7, we’re seeing an offloading of something and an onboarding of something. I want you to say that with me: «We’re seeing an offloading of something and an onboarding of something.»
Now just right at the beginning—and this is a little confusing. I like to get kind of the rhymes right, but they don’t work out completely in this because the offloading is really an onloading, so it’s really an onloading and an onboarding, and that’s a very, very, very, very important detail in this verse. Let’s look at verse 7 again and then let’s unpack it and then we’ll see how this works out in our lives. «Cast,» that’s a big word; that’s an active word. «Cast all"—can we say «all»? All your anxiety. The word in your translation could come different: worry, care, anxiety; all the same word. And as we’ve talked about many times in the past, this word at its heart has to tear apart. So anything that’s like ripping you apart on the inside, anything that’s dividing your thinking or your confidence or your trust or your assurance or your vision for the future, anything that’s separating, tearing apart, or isolating you from the bigger story, that’s what anxiety is.
In this word, your care, your worry, your anxiety, cast all your anxiety on him. Now who is the «him»? See, that’s important, right? You’re like, «Well, I’m assuming it’s going to be God, or Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, or somebody good,» but I’m not a thousand percent sure I’m ready to go in on the final jeopardy here on «him.» Well, here’s what Bible study is all аbout: the «him» is given to us a few verses above in verse 4 as Peter talks to these leaders who are shepherds of the flock. Notice verse 4: «And when the chief shepherd appears.» If you have your Scripture open, just circle «chief shepherd» right there because the chief shepherd, he’s going to appear, and these leaders of the flock, these under-shepherds, are going to receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.
So now when we come to «cast your anxiety on him,» we know that we’re casting our anxiety on the chief shepherd, and that’s important. So that when you memorize this verse, «Cast all your anxiety on him,» you might even want to transpose in there, «I’m casting all my anxiety on the chief shepherd.» In other words, Psalm 23 is coming to life for me right now: «The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. The Lord is my chief shepherd.» There are shepherds of the flock that God has put in place. It says he led them in the Psalms by the hand of Moses and Aaron, and he’s been doing that all through the history of his people. But there’s a chief shepherd of the flock; his name is Jesus, and he’s the one that you’re invited today to cast all of your anxiety on him.
And I love today that he didn’t say, «Cast all your anxiety on the CEO.» He is the CEO, president, owner, lord, boss, king—he’s all that. But the invitation is cast, was concerning you, what you’re worried about, what you’re anxious about—cast it on the chief shepherd. A whole new context, right? Because now I’ve got someone whose primary function is to get me to green pastures, and still waters, and to restore my soul, and to guide me in paths of righteousness, and to be with me in a valley of the shadow of death—with a rod and a staff he comforts me. He is going to prepare a table, anoint my head. I’m going to have abundance in my story, and he’s going to follow me with goodness and love all the days of my life. He knows my name, and I know his. My sheep, they know my voice, and they follow me. I count them in, and I count them out; I don’t miss any of them.
If one of them is not at the assembly today, I would say, «Hey, I’ll be right back,» and I would go for the one because I’m a chief shepherd. And Jesus said the good shepherd—say it with me—lays down his life for the sheep. «I am the gate,» Jesus said. We looked at that a few weeks ago. That means there’s no wolf coming in here tonight; they’re going to come through me. There’s no lion coming into this pen tonight; you’re going to come through me. There’s nobody coming to steal any sheep here tonight; they’re coming through me, the chief shepherd. And we know in the context of David writing this Psalm, a boy who, in the power of God’s spirit, had pounded a bear and a lion into the ground—and Jesus is saying, «Whatever is concerning you, cast it on me, on your chief shepherd.»
Because this is the crazy part: He who is the «he» referring to there—you need to say «the chief shepherd» real quick and confidently. The «he» there is referring to the chief shepherd, your chief shepherd, because the chief shepherd cares for you. So the invitation is to offload or to onboard—to offload what you’re concerned about. But the beauty of the text is it doesn’t just say «cast off your worries.» That’s what we’re already trying to do. «I’m just trying to forget about my problems; I’m trying to forget about my struggles.» I’m trying to, you know, two more glasses of wine, and I won’t even remember what I’m concerned about, whether my business is going to make it or not—at least, not for the night. Oh, it’ll still be there when I wake up in the morning. But at least for a little while, I’ll be able to cast that off.
And so we’re spending a lot of energy trying to cast off our concerns—cast off, get rid of, throw off our worries. But you can’t get rid of your worries by trying to cast them off. You can’t buy a new handbag in an effort to cast off what’s really ripping you apart inside. You just now have anxiety with a really cool handbag. And so we’re trying to cast off, but the invitation is to cast on your anxieties—cast your cares on him. So intentionally, the word there actually means «deposit,» and it’s challenging for me because the word means «deposit once and for all» all of the things that concern you on him and walk away.
And I’m here to tell you today; I haven’t quite gotten to that point just yet. But I’m thankful for the grace of God that allows me daily to step into the possibility that there can be a progressive movement toward me saying I don’t have to do this every moment, every hour, every day. There’s going to be a moment where I’m going to mature enough in my understanding of the backside of this verse to really nail the front side of this verse and say, «This would be my last deposit of this thing with you.» That’s what the word means when it is saying «cast"—put it, put it on deposit, put it in the lockbox with God and walk away from it. Just leave it with him—all of it, all of what concerns you—not just all the things that concern you, but all of what there is about that thing that concerns you.
Put it on him. So we’re not today saying, «Hey, just push away all of your anxieties.» No, very intentionally take your anxiety and deposit it with Jesus, the chief shepherd. You see the difference? It’s a big difference. Putting it on him, casting it on him—not just casting it off of your life. So something’s going off, but the something going off is really going on, and then you’re onboarding this idea that the chief shepherd cares for you.
Now here’s what’s powerful, and you have to understand the difference between humans and God. We’re over here on sort of the negative side of anxiety, but there could be a positive side of it too. You may care about the fact that your child’s falling behind in school right now, and that’s not a negative thing to God. He’s not looking at you going, «Oh, you shouldn’t be worried about that.» That’s a legitimate concern, and it is ripping at your heart, your confidence, and your well-being. But he’s saying, in the same equation, God over here is also concerned—not in the anxious way that I might be, like «So-and-so said something and it wasn’t true, and therefore I have to fix it all.» He’s not concerned about that. He’s not concerned like, «My job is ending in 30 days, and I don’t know where I’m going after that.» He’s not anxious about that. He’s not anxious about a lot of the things that we’re concerned about, but he’s very much concerned about you.
And the words are tied into the same idea. So what he’s saying is, «I know what you’re concerned and anxious about. I see that, and I’m inviting you to put that with me on deposit. But I want you to know that I’m concerned about some things as well.» I’m not just floating at 45,000 feet up here, you know, at a harp concert; I’m concerned. I’m on high alert; I’m fully engaged. And you know what I’m concerned about? You. That’s what I’m concerned about.
I know you’re concerned about where the finances are going to come from; I’m concerned about you. You are the concern of the chief shepherd of the ages, and there are almost 8 billion of us on the planet, but don’t you let that lead you to believe God can’t tell you how many hairs are on your head right now, and he’s concerned about you. Do you see how this anxiety exchange is going to work today? But there are a couple of things you have to see—two things that are tied up in whether this is going to work for us today, and they’re in the text.
The first one is humility—humility towards others and humility towards God. Humility is a key that opens the door and frees you from anxiety. You’re like, «I don’t see how that could be possible.» Well, the way that it’s possible is most of our anxiety is related to other people. Amen? Some of it’s related to the economy. Right now, we’re in a circumstantial anxiety vortex. So we do get that we’re anxious over elections, we’re anxious over economies, we’re anxious over pandemics. But most of the things that we get anxious about in life have to do with our boss, or our co-worker, or a family member—it’s people-related. And so that’s how he starts: «Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility towards one another because God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.»
Now this is a principle for life. What does that mean? It means if you want to fight God, be proud—you just got in the ring with the Almighty, and you’re going down. But if you want to flow with God, get low because he gives grace to the humble. We spend a lot of time at the end of the summer in the ocean kayaking, and man, when you’re going against the tide coming into the bay or you’re going into a strong wind on a given day, you’re working overtime. It’s different than when you finally round the turn and are headed for home, and you’ve got the wind at your back. I mean, now you’re just cooking like crazy; you’re like, «Oh yes, I am crushing this!» But it’s opposite when you turn the other way. If you happen to start going the wrong direction, and you come around that side of the island, and now it’s like you’re paddling, but you’re not moving. That’s pride.
Pride is paddling, but you’re not going to move. Humility is grace, and you’re paddling, but the tide’s coming in, and the wind’s at your back, and you’re going about three times as fast as normal because you’re in the flow. And this is a principle of life. If you’re proud today, that’s great—you’re just going into the headwind of the glory of the Almighty, and that’s a tough way to live life. If you’re proud, you’re just paddling into the tide of God’s sovereign glory. But if you lower yourself to that glory, all of a sudden, you’re in the flow. Now, it doesn’t mean life’s easy; it just means that God’s grace is with you, and that’s an option that we all have.
And so then he comes again and says, «Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand.» So humble yourselves with each other. In other words, some of your anxiety will be alleviated today if you will humble yourself in that relationship where the tension is. If you’ll say, «I’m sorry,» if you’ll say, «I forgive you,» if you’ll say, «As far as it is with me, I want to live at peace with you,» if you’ll say, «I know I said I would never, but I’ve decided I changed my mind because I have a God who doesn’t say that to me,» and I’m going to come back and try to repair, you’ll be amazed at how that humbling of yourself with someone in your life where there’s the anxiety point will alleviate the anxiety.
And you’ll lay down tonight for the first time in a long time and say, «I can sleep tonight because I made that call.» See how simple that is? I got in the flow today when I made that call. I got grace when I made that call. I all of a sudden felt God’s wind with me when I made that call today when I had that conversation. I felt freedom in that.
And then he says, secondly, «Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he might exalt you at the proper time.» In other words, we’re talking about humility among ourselves, and we’re talking about humility with God—a sense of saying to God, «I’m going to humble myself under your leadership in my life.» It’s not devaluing me. That’s not humility. It’s just elevating my confidence in God.
That’s humility. Humility isn’t saying, «I’m a nobody.» Humility is just saying, «I’m starting to really understand that God’s a somebody.» And when you meet proud people, here’s the one thing you know: they don’t know. They may know how to run a business; they may act like they know how to run a business; they may have amassed some things in life. But the one thing you know that they don’t know when you meet proud people is you know that they don’t know how great God is.
So humility isn’t the enemy coming in and saying, «You’re a worm.» That is not humility. You are not a worm. You are the concern of the chief shepherd. Humility is not you saying, «I’m a nobody.» You’re not a nobody. Humility is you saying, «I’m beginning to see God as a somebody.» And when you begin to see that, it rearranges things in your heart.
Because humility always starts in the heart. Have you noticed a lot of people say, «Well, you know, she runs this big company and she has all this empire going on, and that’s why she’s proud»? Look, being proud has nothing to do with the size of your organization or your bank account or how many employees you have or how big your family is or what your influence is. That has nothing to do with pride. Now, it can feed into pride for sure if you are not growing in your estimation of how great God is.
But have you ever met somebody who only had four employees, but man, they ran that place like they were the king of the universe? You ever met that person? They have these staff meetings, and there are four of them in the room, and they’re like, «All right, everybody, everybody stands when the boss comes in.» You’re like, «Okay, I’m good with that.» It says honor the king, so we’re good with that.
But then they just act like they’re the greatest thing that’s ever happened on planet Earth. People say, «Well, these big churches, you know that’s where the problem is.» No, trust me, I’ve preached in churches of every size on planet Earth, and you can walk into a church of 75 people with two full-time staff and three part-time staff, and the pastor is the most proud person you’ve ever met. They have a sign in the parking lot: «Pastor parks here.» It’s like, «Bro, only 75 people coming here; you’re good on spaces.» I know, but I park in this one.
Pride is not about the platform; it’s about the heart. It’s not about how big your business is or how many kids you have or how much influence you have; it’s about the heart. And that leads us to the second key to making this exchange, and that is intimacy, because humility comes from proximity.
Have you ever been around somebody in your field—whatever your particular field is—and you’re doing fairly decent in your field, but you were around a legend in your field? Anybody ever gotten that opportunity before? And you got to spend maybe 10 minutes or a lunch or a meal or an evening with somebody who’s just like, you know, what you’re trying to do on steroids? And you walked away, and you didn’t feel like a worm, but you understood that you weren’t all that? You know anybody know what I’m talking about?
Like you walked out and went, «Okay, I got some room to grow here. I got some ground to cover here.» Why? Because of proximity to greatness. It calls greatness out in us, especially if you already have that gene. You love being around people who are better than you, faster than you, stronger than you. If you don’t have that gene and you have the pride gene, you’ll tend to gravitate to people who are slower than you, not better than you and not greater than you, as a way of continuing to make sure that you’re the big dog in the equation.
But if you want to really be truly great in the kingdom of God, you gravitate toward the opportunity to observe people who are better than you. And when you walk away, you don’t go, «I’m a worm; I’m a nobody.» You’re like, «I’m a somebody because I just got four feet from the guy, from the lady. I was right there,» and when you were there, it inspired you to greatness. But it also made you humble. It reminded you that you’ve got room to grow; you’ve got mountains to climb; you’ve got stuff to learn; you’ve got a ways to go still.
And proximity with the Almighty does that to you and me. It doesn’t make us walk away going, «I’m one inch tall.» It makes us walk away going, «I’ve got a long way to go before I start fully trusting that God is big enough to actually run my life.» So humility—let me read something for you real fast. I know we’re right down at the end, but it’s just a couple of sentences. I think I’ve shared with you a few weeks ago, but this is a great intermediate step. By the way, just since we’re in a book of the Bible, between just clicking things on Google and looking for them and actually being able to read a Greek New Testament:
This is what he says about this verse 7, and this is coming down to where this works for you, so please don’t miss this. He says, «Anxiety is a self-contradiction to true humility. Unbelief is, in a sense, an exalting of self against God, and that one is depending on self and failing to trust God. Why worry, therefore, if we are his concern? He is more concerned about our welfare than we could possibly be in it all. He is concerned about us; therefore, again, why worry?» And when he says, «Humble yourself under God’s mighty hand,» I love that he didn’t say, «Humble yourself under God’s iron fist,» but he said his mighty hand—a hand pierced, a hand powerful, a hand that is alive.
And here’s the thing that started really ringing the bells inside of me: If I’m under God’s mighty hand—okay, if we had a second, I’d just have somebody come up and get under my mighty hand, so mighty. And if you were under my hand at any point, you would be in very close proximity to me. He didn’t just say, «Humble yourself under my rule,» because that could be my global empire. He said, «No, come humble yourself under my mighty hand,» meaning come close—like Psalm 91: «I take my shelter; I find my refuge under your wing.» Can you imagine that? How intimate is that? I’m like underneath the wing; I am like one of those sparrows in Psalm 84 building my nest right near the throne of Almighty God. I am close; I am in; I’ve got proximity, and the proximity is giving me intimacy.
And the intimacy is necessary for me because the roar of the lion around me is saying, «You’re not going to make it; you’re going under; this is never going to work out; God has forgotten your story; you’re done.» The roar—if you want to hear the invitation to the exchange, you’ve got to get close. You ever been in a crowd trying to get that last bit of information? Right? Big concert, or what do you do? You get as close to that person as you can. What? What? What? Say it again—proximity, intimacy. Why is it important? Well, A, we were created for it, but B, it’s so that we can hear our chief shepherd talking to us in the roar of the adversary that is around us.
And we can resist him, firm in our faith. Why? Because we’re close enough, because we’ve chosen to go under the hand to hear the voice of the exchanging shepherd who’s saying, «Deposit it with me because the thing I’m concerned about today is you.» In the right place at the right time, God’s got a plan for you, and he’ll raise you up. You can rest today.
«Why am I not moving up in the organization? Why are people not recognizing what I’m doing? Why is our bottom line not expanding? Why is my influence not increasing? Why am I toiling in the shadows?» It’s just simply because the chief shepherd, who cares about you, knows that either the people aren’t ready, the timing is not ready, or you’re not ready. But when you’re ready, and the timing is ready, and the people are ready, time to exalt you. Thank you for humbling yourself under my mighty hand; time for me now to put you on display for a minute.
This is the economy of God, and this is the offer in the exchange. So here’s the exchange: we’re going to take a moment to give somebody today the opportunity to step into this. I release what I’m concerned about and I receive that you are concerned about me. Jesus, I release what I’m concerned about. I want to humble myself. I do not want to be the proud person here today that says, «I got it,» because I don’t. I’ve said it so many times, but some of the reasons I fell into a hole of anxiety and depression that I never thought I would come out of—I learned, kind of, as I unpacked on the backside of this verse—control and wanting approval, wanting people to like me, and wanting to be able to control things.
I still struggle with both of those things, but in that season of life, especially planting a local church, that’s a bad formula because nobody controls God’s church. And when you lead a church or a company or even those of you moms and dads that are leading a family, you understand you’re not going to get everybody’s approval all the time. I mean, some of you, before you got to church today, your three-year-old told you that he hated you. You’re like, «Great, thank you so much! I’ve given my entire life up for you, little one. I hate you, Mom!» Awesome—carry that with me into the house of God today. You already know that you can’t control your kids. Amen? You can’t control your spouse, your future spouse, the market, the economy, the outcome of the game. You can’t control all of that.
Or you can do your best, but you cannot control everything. So if you’re a controller, you’re anxious today, and you need to humble yourself by saying, «God, I am not in control. Thank you that you are in control of me.» And if you don’t have any proximity today, you’ve got to make that your prayer: «Lord, I need to get near you.» Because humility isn’t, you know, one of these character traits that you develop over time; it’s a result of walking with the Almighty. In a second, in His presence, it puts you on your knees in the very best way. I release what I’m concerned about, and I receive that you are concerned about me.