Antidote For Anxiety Series

Antidote to Anxiety (Matthew 6:25-34)

Chris Surber, a pastor in Suffolk, Virginia, tells the story is about a woman who for many years couldn’t sleep at night because she worried that her home would be robbed. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate.

When he got there, he found a burglar. The husband said to the burglar, “Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting 10 years to meet you.” (Chris Surber, Liberty Spring Christian Church, Suffolk, Virginia, in his sermon Worry Cure, June 8, 2007; www.sermoncentral.com)

A real burglar can steal from you once. Worry can steal from you night after night for many years.

So how do you keep worry from doing that to you? We know that a security system can stop burglars, but how do you stop worry? How do you prevent anxiety from stealing your peace? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Matthew 6, Matthew 6, where Jesus gives us the antidote to anxiety.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (ESV)

Contrary to popular opinion, you are NOT what you eat or wear, so don’t stress about those things.

DO NOT BE ANXIOUS, Jesus says.

Don’t be afraid of having enough food or clothes. Don’t worry about possible misfortune.

The word for anxiety literally means “to be drawn in different directions” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Loyal), and that’s exactly what happens when you try to serve God and money at the same time (Matthew 6:24). It pulls you apart! That’s why Jesus says, “Do not be anxious,” right after He talks about what to do with your money (Matthew 6:19-24).

According to the American Psychological Association, money is the number one stressor for most Americans. A recent study showed that:

72% of adults report feeling stressed about money at least some of the time, and

26% of adults report feeling stressed about money most or all the time.

Americans worry about paying for unexpected expenses, paying for essentials (like food and clothing), and saving for retirement. (American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association Survey Shows Money Stress Weighing on Americans' Health Nationwide, 2-4-15; www.PreachingToday.com)

Even so, Jesus says don’t let your money worries pull you apart! Do not be anxious! Don’t worry!

But how? How do you stop worry? How do you prevent anxiety from pulling you apart? It’s very simple. Jesus says...

LOOK AT THE BIRDS AND THE FLOWERS.

Don’t focus on money; focus on how God cares for His creation. Pay attention to the way God feeds and clothes His lesser creatures.

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (ESV)

See how God feeds the birds. It’s not that they don’t work. They just don’t worry about where their food is coming from. God takes care of them, and He will certainly take care of you, who is worth so much more than the birds!

Besides, your worry contributes nothing!

Matthew 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (ESV)

Literally, “a single cubit to his age.” A cubit is a unit of measure from the elbow to the end of your fingers, about 18 inches. Now, 18 inches is the size of one small step, which doesn’t take very much time at all to make, certainly not an hour, and more like a second, if that.

The point is: Worry cannot add a single second to your age. If anything, it takes seconds (if not years) away from your life. So see how God feeds the birds and don’t worry.

More than that, see how God clothes the flowers, and let that bolster your faith, as well.

Matthew 6:28-30 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (ESV)

The lilies of the ?eld were the scarlet poppies and anemones that bloomed for only one day on the hillsides Israel. Their beauty was overwhelming, even more so than the robes of Israel’s wealthiest and wisest king, King Solomon himself! But after their day of blooming, the women of Jesus’ day threw handfuls of the dried flowers into their own ovens as kindling to get a quick fire going. (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol.1)