A WISE WORD TO THE WORRIED
Dr. David L. Lane
TEXT: Phil. 4:6,7
I N T R O D U C T I O N
The biography of multitudes of people today is hurry, worry and bury. Therefore, the ulcer and the heart attack seem to have become the status symbols of our time as people live desperately without peace.
Whether we know worry as an occasional visitor or a constant companion, whether we find anxiety to be mildly uncomfortable or intensely painful, whether we experience worry as a slight distraction or a force that completely immobilizes, we all know we should worry less.
We know we shouldn’t, but yet we do. Some people worry over the big things, some worry over the little things, but we all worry. .[1] As someone said, “I have so many troubles that if anything happens to me today it will be two weeks before I can get around to worrying about it.”
“If we don’t have a job, we worry. If we do have a job, we worry about losing it. If we don’t have a car, we worry. If we do have a car, we worry about it breaking down. If we don’t have any money, we worry. If we do have some money, we worry about losing it."
• The ignorant worry because they don’t know enough.
• The knowledgeable worry because they know too much.
• The rich worry because they are afraid of losing what they have.
• The poor worry because they don’t have enough.
• The old worry because they are facing death.
• The young worry because they are facing life.
• Parents worry about the children they have
• Childless couples worry about the children they don’t have
• Single people worry if they will ever get married
• Married people worry about being married
You see, worry is an integral part of humanity. Ever since Adam and Eve started their worry about being naked, sewed fig leaves to cover their nakedness and hid in the bushes to avoid being questioned or punished by God, it has been an integral part of human nature.
The truth is, most of us need an anxiety makeover. The Good News for us today is this: God can help us to manage our anxiety Worry doesn’t have to dominate and destroy our lives.
We can attack worry and stress from a human perspective or from the spiritual perspective. The human perspective, which can help, says: get some exercise, get enough sleep, listen to good music that calms (not creates confusion and chaos), stay away from negative and nasty people (they drag you down even more), and learn to laugh (don’t sweat the small stuff - laugh at it.)
The spiritual perspective says that we must look to the Lord in order to overcome worry and stress.
I. WHEN WE WORRY WE DESTROY GOD'S TEMPLE.
Worry does not help, rather it hurts us physcially!
Not only does worry not help, it often has the opposite effect.
• Worry about losing your hair?. Worry will only accelerate the process. It won’t add a single hair to your head.
• Worry about getting sick? Worry will suppress your immune system and makes it more likely that you will get sick. It won’t make you healthier.
Worry about losing your job. Worry may actually cause behavior that lowers your performance.
Worry about gaining weight. You will probably eat more.
Proverbs 12:25 - "An anxious heart weighs a man down."
“Worry is like putting your car in neutral and revving the engine. It burns oil and gas, and is hard on the engine, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.”
We have learned that worry actually has a very detrimental effect upon the human body.
The Mayo Clinic claims 80-85% of their total caseload is due directly to worry and anxiety.
Many experts say that coping with stress is the #1 health priority of our day.
One leading physician has stated that, in his opinion, 70% of all medical patients could cure themselves if only they got rid of their worries and fears.
We know that medical science has closely tied worry to heart trouble, blood pressure problems, ulcers, thyroid malfunction, migraine headaches, a host of stomach disorders, amongst others. For example…
* 25 mill Americans have high blood pressure due to stress/anxiety; one million more develop high blood pressure each year. 8 million have stomach ulcers.
*Every week 112 million people take medication for stress related symptoms.[3]
Anxiety and worry cause all kinds of Physical and Emotional Problems
.• Fear to Act
• Withdrawal
• Hesitation
• Cowardice
• Depression
• Discouragement
• Angry
• Defeatist Attitude
• Distrust and Unbelief
• Unwise Decisions and
• Spiritual Decay
There is zero value in worry. It does nothing good for us. The words of Jesus express this truth completely: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
WHEN WE WORRY WE DESTROY GOD'S TEMPLE.
II. WHEN WE WORRY WE DISTRUST GOD'S WORD.
Listen to what God has offered us in His word regarding our anxiety and worry :
Hebrews 13:5 (NIV) “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Deut. 7:21 (NIV) “Do not be terrified by them, for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.”
Phil. 4:19 (NIV) “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”
Phil 4:6 Be anxious for nothing”
A) Make a choice
“Take no thought about nothing.” The idea is that the believer is not to worry or fret about a single thing.
Paul uses a present imperative which is telling us “stop being anxious”
The word “nothing” (medeis, may-dace’ ) “not even one thing.”
Nothing means what it says…we are not to worry, not even over one thing, not at all!
Humanly speaking, the Philippians had every reason to worry and be anxious. Humanly speaking, a person living in the 21st century is going to worry and suffer anxiety...
BUT THE FACTS ARE CLEAR:
• 40% of what you worry about will never happen
• 30% of what you worry about or fear are things that happened in the past and can’t be changed
• 10% of what we worry about are considered by most to be insignificant issues
• 12% of what we worry about are issues about our health that will not happen
• This means that 92% of what we fear or worry about will never take place
It should be meaningful to realize that only 8% of anything we worry about can be considered legitimate concerns.
But even that 8% does not get solved by worrying about..
John Haggai tells of a woman who worried for 40 years that she was getting stomach cancer. Every cramp had to be cancer she thought. When she was 73, she died of pneumonia. She wasted 40 years worrying about the wrong disease!
Worry is like a rocking chair. It will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere! Nothing ever gets solved by worrying about it. You don’t have to worry, in fact the Lord is telling you not too. He is telling you that if you have something to worry about to give it to Him!
“Stop perpetually worrying about even one thing, but in everything, by prayer whose essence is that of Worship and devotion and by supplication which is a cry for your personal needs let your requests with thanksgiving for the things asked for be made known in the presence of God, and the peace of God which surpasses all power of comprehension, shall mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” [4]
Good news – God always keeps His word!
Numbers 23:19 (NIV) “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”
In I Peter 5:7 the Bible says "casting all your cares upon him for he cares for you." When I worry I do not believe that God is going to care for me.
When I worry I distrust God's Word.
Psalm 34:17-19 reads, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their cry…The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.”
III. WHEN WE WORRY WE DELAY GOD’S PEACE.
I guess the number one reason we ought not to worry is because it disturbs peace in our heart. You can't have worry and peace in the same heart. They are mutually exclusive. You can't have the two. When I worry it robs me of personal peace. When I worry I do not have that tranquillity of soul that God wants me to have.
The Greek word for worry is a combination of two smaller words; one word meaning "to divide" and the other word meaning "the mind." Therefore to “worry” means to have a “divided mind”. [2]
Our English word for worry comes from the German "worgen" which means "to strangle." Which is why Webster defines worry as: “to feel uneasy or anxious; to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; to fret.”
“Peace” means to be bound, joined, and woven together; that which is inseparable.
The word peace literally means to join together, to put together. The word worry means to pull apart. Peace puts things together. Worry pulls things apart. Worry takes our mind and our heart and pulls them apart.
Peace is the calm assurance and security God will deliver us, guide us, provide for us, strengthen us, save us and encourage us.
Peace here refers to inner tranquility or calmness in spite of adversity. This refers to the result of prayer.
When we have worries and turn them over to God in prayer, we experience an inner peace/calmness.
“The peace here particularly referred to is that which is felt when we have no anxious care about the supply of our wants, and when we go confidently and commit everything into the hands of God” (Barnes)
Two facts about this peace:
1. The source of that peace is God. It’s call the “peace of God”
This peace comes from God. No human being can bestow this. No human doings, counseling, or self helps can produce this peace. .
2. The description of that peace – “surpasses all understanding”
It is a kind peace that is beyond human comprehension. As Albert Barnes suggest comments: “That is, which surpasses all that men had conceived or imagined. The expression is one that denotes that the peace imparted is of the highest possible kind. The Christian, committing his way to God, and feeling that HE will order all things aright, has a peace which is nowhere else known.”
The peace of God is beyond human understanding. It is above and beyond whatever men can conceive, imagine, and do.
This is the kind of peace that God lets you experience when you pray in times of worries.
C O N C L U S I O N
IF WE COULD RECEIVE A LETTER FROM GOD ON THE SUBJECT OF WORRY, it would sound something like this…
Good afternoon,
I am God. Today I will be handling all of your problems. Please remember that I do not need your help. If the devil happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, DO NOT attempt to resolve it. Kindly put it in the SFJTD (something for Jesus to do) box. It will be addressed in MY time, not yours.
Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold on to it or attempt to remove it. Holding on or removal will delay the resolution of your problem. If it is a situation that you think you are capable of handling, please consult me in prayer to be sure that is the proper assumption. Because I do not sleep or slumber, there is no need for you to lose any sleep. Rest, my child. If you need to contact me, I am only a prayer away.
He is Hope for the hopeless,
Help for the helpless,
Love for the loveless.
and strength for the weak.
He is rest for the trying,
Peace for the crying.
Hope for the dying,
For despair, He gives hope.
For fear, He gives courage.
For anxiety, He gives peace.
For rejection, He gives acceptance.
For loneliness, He gives love.
For frustration, He gives encouragement.
For failure, He gives forgiveness.
For bondage, He gives freedom.
For dishonesty, He gives truth.
For confusion, He gives order.
For pain, He gives comfort.
For emptiness, He gives purpose.
For sadness, He gives joy.
For darkness, He gives light.
For death, He gives eternal life.
END NOTES
1. http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/anxiety-makeover-david-owens-sermon-on-guilt-88591.asp
2. Greek word, MERIMNAO “mer-ih-nah’-O” “merizo”, “to divide”, and “nous”, which means, “mind”)
3. (http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/dont-worry-about-anything-craig-simonian-sermon-on-human-body-36723.asp)
4. Kenneth Wuest Word studies in the Greek New Testament pg. 110
(David L. Lane, Ph.D.--Senior Minister Marsalis Ave. Church of Christ Dallas, Texas --CEO Ja Kem Consorts and Leadership Institute
Author of “Low Motives In High Places” and the June 2013 Book “All Stressed Up and No Place To Go”)
