16 Truth Encounter : Handling Emotions Well

by Jeff Fry adapted from "Freedom in Christ" by Neil Anderson

I.       Intro

A.   We continue with our series "Truth Encounter".

1.     Review

2.     A look forward

3.     Today "Handling Emotions Well"

B.   The 10 commandments for today: - Douglas Taylor-Weiss, rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Dayton, Ohio, has proposed a new set of Ten Commandments based on his observations of our culture:

II.    We must live by faith in God's truth, not by feelings

A.   State

1.     Negative feelings are a way of life. 

a)    anger

b)    depression

c)     worry

d)    anxiety

e)     jealousy

f)      vengefulness

g)    hate

h)    unworthiness

i)       shame

j)      guilt

k)    fear

l)       rejection

2.     There is nothing wrong with having these feelings.  In fact feelings are good.  Even negative emotions are in-built in us by God.  Something happens during your day which triggers one of these emotions to indicate to us that something is going on under the hood of the car - like the red light on a dashboard of a car.   And that red light is good for the driver of the car - it’s a warning to him to check under the hood before things really get out of hand and the car breaks down. 

3.     The question isn't whether we have these feelings or not, we all have them.  The question is how do you handle them?

4.     How do we handle difficult situations when they arise?  Difficulties, troubles, challenges are always litmus paper tests of our faith aren't they?

5.     When things are great it's easy to include God in the great day we are having.  We are steady.  Our emotions are steady.  We are happy and well-adjusted.  Things are going our way.  If we have any emotions they are positive and not negative.

6.     But when things become difficult and negative emotions begin to flood in on you, it is easy to lose perspective on the situation and to let your negative emotions guide and direct you instead of God's word.

a)    the boss says there will be no raise this year - anger

b)    the company is laying off people in your division and you've been summoned to a meeting with the boss - fear

c)     health symptoms that could point to something serious - worry

d)    your neighbour buys a new car and is off on holiday to Hawaii - jealousy and feelings of unworthiness

e)     you are not sure if you can pay the bills so you start worrying and becoming dishonest in the way you deal with your money.

f)      something happens which reminds you of a past trauma in your life and feelings of rage start to surface.

7.     Instead we are called to live by faith. 

a)    And we only need the faith of a mustard seed says Jesus .

b)    In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says, " …. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

c)     If you have a little bit of faith, God can work with that.

d)    And faith is taking God at His word.  Again it is a truth encounter.  What will we believe - our feelings or God's truth.

e)     In Matthew 24:35 it is written, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."

B.   Illustrate

1.     David and Goliath

a)    The Israelites vs. the Philistines (w/ Giant Goliath)

(1)  They decide not to have a bloodbath but to just put forth one man forward  to fight it out

(2)  Philistines put forth Giant Goliath

b)    Israel afraid

(1)  Israelites are afraid as they know that they alone cannot defeat the giant Goliath

c)     David Gets God's Perspective

(1)  David reminds Israel that God is greater than Goliath

(2)  David brings back faith and hope to the Israelites and gets them to look at the situation from God's perspective

(3)  David brings God into it

d)    Philistines Defeated

(1)  David goes out in the power of God and defeats Goliath

e)     What was the difference between the outlook of the Israelites and David?

(1)  they both were faced with the same situation

(2)  But David brought God into it and

(a)    remembered the truth about the situation

(b)   didn't react purely by his emotions - acknowledged the emotions but got God's perspective and acted according to the truth.

(3)  The Israelites approached it without God

(a)    on their own strength and

(b)   forgot about God's truth

(c)    reacted emotionally - fear

f)      Same situation - different outcomes

(1)  David and the Israelites both faced the same challenging situation, but they handled it in different ways.

(2)  David had victory because he had the faith of a mustard seed

(3)  The Israelites (David's brothers) would have either run in fear and thus been defeated or tried to fight on their own strength and been defeated.

III.  Conclusion