038. Handling Our Insecurities

We’re going to open our Bibles to the book of Hebrews, chapter 6.  And we’re going to read from verses 13 to 20.

It looks a bit complicated but I think you’ll get the idea soon.

PP      Hebrews 6:13-20

v13   “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,

v14   saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.’

v15  And so, after he had patiently endured (that’s talking about Abraham. …. after he had patiently endured,) he obtained the promise.”

PP    

v16   “For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute.

v17   Thus God, determined to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath,

v18   that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.”

PP

v19   “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,

v20   where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”

So here are some interesting verses – a little bit complicated.  We’re going to explain them a little bit.  The Bible doesn’t actually say that the book of Hebrews was written by Paul, but we see by the way it’s written and sometimes by the complexity of this learned man’s writing, that it’s quite likely written by Paul. ………

So the title of our message today is …

PP    HANDLING  OUR    INSECURITIES

At age 18, I read my first book on psychology.  It had the fancy title …

PP   ‘Psycho Cybernetics’.  

It’s author - Maxwell Maltz.  

He estimated that 95% of people in our society have a strong sense of inadequacy. 

It was certainly true for me back then.  

I had no difficulty believing that 95% figure.  And I still believe it’s true today.  ------     But the only surprise I have is the other 5 percent. Why aren't those people feeling insecure?   Inferiority, inadequacy, and insecurity all go together. ….

PP    When you look at what it means to be a human being, you wonder how anyone can feel secure. 

You can't even count on your next minute or your next breath. 

Many circumstances are totally out of our control. 

Any thinking person recognizes some degree of insecurity. 

------   I listened to a preacher by the name of Stuart Briscoe speaking on our insecurity problem and I’m going to share some of his thoughts with you.

For help with insecurity, I point you to …

PP       Hebrews 6:19   (where it says)

"This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, …”

I want to concentrate on the expression, "an anchor of the soul." (or an anchor for the soul).  The anchor was an important symbol to the first Christians.  Delphine and I have visited the catacombs in Rome, those tunnels under the ancient city where many of the early Christians were buried.  You can see the symbols of faith on their tombs. Three common symbols appear: the dove, the fish, and the anchor. 

PP1    The dove symbolizes our helper and comforter, God’s Holy Spirit. 

PP2    The letters of the Greek word for fish stood for the words Jesus Christ, God's Son, and Saviour.  

PP3    The anchor came from the idea, that as Christians we’re going through difficult, insecure times and Jesus is our anchor.

Now we all  know that…

PP     Insecurity is a real issue in our society.

The causes of our insecurity are well documented. Some people say that the experiences of childhood produce feelings of inferiority from which we never escape. A noted Christian psychiatrist says parents who excessively condemn and judge their children's failures cause them to grow up with a warped idea of what appropriate standards are. 

PP    Some parents give -

         too little encouragement, 

         too little praise, 

         too little thanks, 

         too little congratulations, 

         and too little appreciation.

Parents can make their children feel that they are inferior because they did not do as well as well as their parents wanted them to do.   They grow up convinced that anything short of perfection is failure.  And as an adult, they feel guilty and inferior, suffering from false guilt, low self-esteem, and insecurity.   -------

PP    Now Change is another cause of uncertainty. We are a mobile society. We move because of a promotion. We move because we don't like the weather. We move to run away from a difficult situation. 

Christian psychologist Gary Collins says that …

PP     “Mobility tears up friendships, separates families, eliminates neighborhood and community spirit, and causes people to avoid close friendships that might end in painful separations. Along with its benefits, our changing, dehumanizing, technological society has disrupted people and shattered traditional sources of security.” 

PP1    Crisis also breeds inadequacy and insecurity.   

Checking the writings of various psychologists, I read about  …

PP2    singleness, divorce, bereavement, and middle age. 

The phrase that came up over and over is that all these crisis experiences produce inadequacy and insecurity. 

Let me identify four characteristics of insecurity: 

PP          1.  Aggressive behavior 

      2.  Addictive behavior,
      3.  Affective (emotional) behavior.    

      4.  Criticism. 

First, …

PP1   Aggressive behavior.  

Two cardiologists wrote a best-selling book about the type-A personality and how it affects the heart.  I’m type A!   Some of you may be also.     

PP2    They described type-A people as aggressive, impatient, and work-dominated. They often have hidden anger. They are excessively competitive. They work, eat, and drink too much, and they relax too little. They usually have deep-seated insecurity. 

---  We love the aggressive competitor in our society. We laud the person who goes out there to win. What we should be doing, of course, is trying to help them with this sense of insecurity that hides under the aggressive and highly competitive behavior. ----  Aggressive behavior can be indicative of insecurity. 

Now, …

PP    Addictive behavior. The word addiction has been overused in the Christian community.
Strictly speaking, addiction is a physiological experience that results from a prior psychological experience called dependence. 

All of us find it relatively easy to develop a dependence on some thing or some person. Feelings of insecurity or boredom or loneliness or desire for acceptance drive us to embark on behavior that brings relief or euphoria or acceptance. As we need more and more, we move into these behavior patterns and develop a dependence. We have to maintain the high, because we cannot face the low. This becomes psychological dependence, which can degenerate into a physiological addiction. Remember the root cause? Insecurity. We couldn't cope with our situation, and we had to compensate in ways that were eventually self-destructive. ------

Next, …

PP    Affective or emotional behavior.   

Karen Homey - (another) Psychologist, (says) 

“Anxiety is the result of personal and collective insecurity.” 

A Stanford University study on shyness made the
startling discovery that 80 percent of us regard ourselves as shy. People are self-conscious and strongly preoccupied with the reactions of others. One of the reasons for shyness is an inbred sense of insecurity. Carol Burnett says that when she was a girl, she joked and clowned around just to get over the fear of not being liked because she was poor and not very pretty. To be socially acceptable in our society, we need to show the trappings of success and be physically attractive. Lacking those, we can feel desperately insecure and try to compensate in a variety of ways. For Carol Burnett, it worked out fine. She became the funniest lady on television. But - for many people, it doesn't work out fine at all. Researchers in the area of shyness say, shy people are afraid of emotionally threatening people, like strangers, authority figures, members of the opposite sex, and people who might criticize or reject them. They will engage in affective or emotional behavior that is rooted in their fundamental insecurities. 

Then there are …

PP     Critical people. Did you realize that they are probably critical because they are fundamentally insecure? 

Critical people are insecure people who are always finding fault with others. They try to build themselves up by knocking down everyone else. If they do have a good word to say, you wait with baited breath because you know the next word is "but," and then the cutting and slashing begins.  

Well we’ve just considered a few thoughts about insecurity.
Now let’s look at some …

PP   Biblical examples of  SECURITY.

We see aggressive, addictive, and affective behavior on every hand: anxiety, jealousy, resentment, shyness, and criticism. All have roots in insecurity. Therefore, what the Bible says about security is of profound significance to all of us. Let me give you a couple of examples of some very insecure situations where people did not slip into insecure behavior. 

In Acts 27 we read a wonderful story of a shipwreck in the Mediterranean. You remember
that Paul had been arrested and charged with all kinds of things, and his defense was an appeal to the Roman Emperor. Eventually, they put him on a boat headed for Rome. The south wind blew gently. ----  What an idyllic picture.   But as soon as they left the lee of the land, they were hit by the mother of all storms, and the ship began to disintegrate. They tried tying it together with ropes. They threw overboard all their loose equipment. They couldn't see the stars or the sun. They were scudding along day after day with no idea where they were and at the mercy of this vast, incredible storm. Now, that's insecurity! ----Paul says to all those aboard, "Now, folks, don't worry. I've got some good news. God has just revealed to me that none of you will perish." Well, there was no reason to believe him because the storm probably went on for many more days. 

But God had spoken, and they believed him.    That is fundamentally what the Bible says. In circumstances where we cannot cope, God speaks to us. In the midst of our insecurities, we lay hold of what God has said, and we can become greatly encouraged. Well, eventually, Paul's ship hit a sand bank with tremendous force, stuck fast, and the great waves coming in behind simply destroyed the stern. The whole thing fell apart, but every one of the men got ashore safely.  ----

---- Now look at the second story. This has to do with a man who lived in a well-established city called Ur. One day he believed that God was speaking to him. The gods of the area where he lived were quite different from the God Jehovah. But this Jehovah God said to him, "Abraham, I want you to leave where you're living. I want you to uproot your family and head west." I have no doubt that Abraham said, "Well, could you be a little more specific?" God said, "Just head west." "Why would I do that?" "Because eventually you will come to a land that I will give to you." "Where is this land?" "I'll tell you when you get there." "Well, what's it like?" "You'll find out when you get there." 

Well, incredibly, Abraham went. And if you were contemplating a move, would you go on that kind of information? Probably not, but Abraham went. Along the way, God gave him further promises. He promised that although Abraham wouldn't get the land, his descendants would. God said that Abraham's descendants would bless all the nations of the world. He said that He would be their God, and they would become His people. Abraham said, "That's wonderful, God, but there's one slight matter that I need to raise with You. You say that through my descendants all the nations of the world will be blessed, but I don't have any descendants. I'm almost 100 years old. My wife is no spring chicken, and we can't have children." God said, "I'm aware of that. Don't worry about it." 

Well, eventually, they had a son, Isaac. --  And from Isaac, a huge nation was born.  God promised it -  we can believe it!   

PP1    You can begin to build your life on who God is and what He has promised. And in so doing, you find an anchor for your whole life.

So …

PP2    God is the source of TRUE SECURITY. 

We hear so much about insecurity. We see all kinds of insecure behavior. We see all kinds of lives being self-destructed, self-destroyed. We see all kinds of relationships being destroyed simply because of insecure people not dealing with their insecurities. There is a fundamental, spiritual principle here. ---  It is possible, for people to relate so well to this reliable God, that in their relationships they find an anchor for their entire lives, steadfast and secure.   -----   We used to sing a song when I was growing up…

PP1  

‘We have an anchor that keeps the soul  steadfast and sure while the billows roll.  Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,  grounded firm and deep in the Saviour's love.’     

PP2    Is that your present experience?   ----

With that in mind, let me just identify a few things around this expression in Hebrews 6, to help you find an anchor for your soul. Let me show you where we get our encouragement from in times of insecurity.   In …

PP     Hebrews 6:16-17  (it says) 

"Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath." 

 -----    Is the unchanging nature of God's purpose for your life clear?     Are you convinced that, having committed Himself to you, God has absolutely committed Himself to keep that which you have committed to Him? Do you understand that He is a promise-making, promise-keeping God? 
Through obedience and faith (or believing) we find in God a sense of eternal purpose. He has planned for you in such a way that if you commit yourself to Jesus Christ, you have – life - eternal. You know that at the end of all things, you can be with Him for all eternity.   

PP    Are the unchanging promises of God totally clear to you?   

If they are, then they become an anchor for your soul, an anchor for your whole life.  

The Scripture also talks about God's unfailing promises being confirmed. There are two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie.   He can't lie when He gives a promise, and He can't possibly lie when He makes an oath. …

PP    

What has He promised to you? 

He has promised that if you come to Him in repentance and faith or belief in his Son Jesus Christ, He'll take away your sins and give you the gift of eternal life. 

He will care for you in this life and take you into heaven and the fabulous new earth for all eternity. 

That's a promise on an oath. 

He is your covenant-making, your promise-making God. 

Have you made a covenant with Him? 

If so, then in the midst of your insecurity, you have an anchor for your soul.  -----

Well, there's a third thing in verse 18 that tells us that we might have strong consolation (or encouragement).   And it says, …

PP     "We who have fled for refuge, lay hold of the hope set before us.”    

The word fled here means literally, ‘to become a refugee’—to flee from that which you cannot handle and find refuge in God's purposes and promises. 

PP     Critics of Christianity sometimes say to me, "Christianity is for weak people and wimps." They say, "Christianity is simply a crutch." 

Well when they tell me that, I congratulate them on their keen insight into Christianity, because they're right. Christianity is for wimps. Christianity is for weak people. Christianity is a crutch.  -----    Everybody is a wimp, whether we are Christians or not.   All of us are at some point weak, and we are all at some point so insecure that we can't fit ourselves for heaven. We cannot reconcile ourselves to God. We cannot undo what we've done. We're incapable of doing what we should have been doing for ten, twenty, thirty, forty, maybe fifty years. We're a bunch of wimps. It is only the macho who will not admit it. They go on living in their arrogant self-centeredness and independence. They continue in their insecurity instead of finding refuge in Him from whom we come, to whom we go, and through whom we survive. 

The writer to Hebrews says when we begin to understand God's unchanging purposes, which have been made clear, and His promises, which have been confirmed, and we come in all our uneasiness to find in Him that which holds us secure, we are opened up to be encouraged and strengthened at the point of our insecurity.  ------

Now our conclusion…

PP    CONCLUSION

In the army, the training for commandos in the Special Forces included cliff assaults. The theory was that a commando raid should be a surprise, done as quickly and as silently as possible in the area with the weakest defenses.  The weakest defense is at the point where attack is least expected. More often than not, it was the cliffs. The men would come close to the cliff in the small boats and fire one rocket up through the darkness. Attached to the rocket was a grapnel. Attached to the grapnel hook was a light rope. When the rocket landed on top of the cliff, the grapnel would lie on the grass. A man would then pull it back gently until it caught on
something. The hope was that it caught on something secure. 

The climbers were experts. Those men were like spiders. They would get out of the little boat onto the seaweed-strewn rocks, and they’d scale those cliffs in the dark, hanging onto this thin, little rope that was on the end of a grapnel that they hoped was hanging onto something secure.

A bigger rope trailed behind them. Below, the men would feed the rope up.  When the climber got onto the top, he would secure the rope he'd taken up and then give two little tugs on it. The minute the two little tugs came, the rest of the men jumped out of the boats, cold and wet on the waves and rocks and they would scale the cliffs. It was a hairy experience, except, they had utter confidence in the one who'd gone before.  They had utter confidence in the security of the rope he had fastened for them. ----

 Friends, for us, Jesus is called, …

pp     Jesus – ‘the one who has gone before’

(In the)   Greek =  (it’s the word) prodromos – (o as in oat)         (which means)  forerunner 

So it means the forerunner.  The prodrome was a person who headed a patrol in military maneuvers. He was the forerunner, the one who went ahead and made sure the way was open.  -----  We can find ourselves totally secure on the cliff faces of life because of the utter reliability of the skilled climber – the one who has gone before! 

PP     

So friends, there's One who has gone before.  

He has lived on this earth and He is Jesus.  

Jesus has now gone into the presence of the living God. 

He has forgiven my sins. 

He has offered me eternal life. 

And He has promised to keep that which I have committed to Him.   You and I can feel unbelievably secure, even though we have every reason in the world to be insecure. 

My insecurities will show from time to time, as will yours, but I ask you a question:  …    

PP     Do you have an anchor for your soul, 

          steadfast and sure while the billows roll,

fastened to a Rock that cannot move, 

         grounded firm and deep in the Saviour's love?

(S)    Friends, this is where we find security in the midst of all our insecurities.  

PP

Friends, if you have been blessed and challenged by this message, 

       then please take time now to send it on to your friends. 

                        To God be the Glory!

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