Lay Your Burden Down
TCF Sermon
July 14, 2013
How can you tell when it's going to be a rotten day? Here’s a few leading rotten-day indicators:
You wake up face down on the pavement.
You see a "60 Minutes" news team waiting in your office.
Your birthday cake collapses from the weight of the candles.
You turn on the news and they're showing emergency routes out of the city.
Your car horn goes off accidentally…and remains stuck as you follow a group of Hell's Angels on the freeway.
The bird singing outside your window is a buzzard.
All signs it will probably be a lousy day. All indicators that maybe it’s time to worry about your life, or at least that day. Of course, we don’t need these kinds of things to happen for us to worry. We manage to find plenty of other things to worry about
– some legitimate concerns, some more realistically not that big of a deal.
But we worry, don’t we? It’s part and parcel of our human existence. Show me the person who says he never worries, and I’ll show you someone who’s a liar, or at least self-deceived. Yet, scripture tells us this:
1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Worry has no legitimate place in the lives of the children of God.
This is a consistent theme in many passages of scripture.
Philippians 4:6: do not be anxious about anything.
John 14:27: do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.
Ps. 37:8: do not fret.
Mt 6:25: do not worry...
Psalm 55:22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you;
This is a theme we see again and again in God’s Word. The Lord says to us, trust in Me, not in your ability to handle things. It’s not a suggestion, it’s a command.
I find myself asking this question: Are we as vigilant about not worrying...as we are about other things He commands us not to do? We tend to justify worry, or somehow make it more noble. That’s what God has, over the years, repeatedly convicted me of.
I’ve had seasons of life when worry has been far from me – when I’ve been able to fully trust in the Lord with all my heart. I’ve had seasons when the peace of God that passes all understanding has been very real to me, even in the midst of challenging circumstances.
But somehow, my trust leaks, and I take back the worries I’ve given to the Lord. Something will get me worrying, and it’s as if all I learned, all I’ve grown in, related to trusting God, is right out the window. I’m sure nobody else here has ever experienced anything like that.
There have been sleepless nights, days at a time of anxious thoughts, and, honestly, a lot of what I’d have to classify as worry. Now, because these sometimes weren’t about me, personally, that is, I wasn’t worrying about money or a job, or something like that, I tended to think that these worries of mine were somehow above these commands.
While I’d gain peace for a season, circumstances would worsen, and I’d begin to stew, fret and worry about these things once more. I’ve come to believe that there really is a difference between worry and concern. One preacher called it the difference between Constructive Concern, and Deconstructive Worry.
There are things about which it is legitimate to express concern....but constructive concern leads us to deeper prayer, to fuller reliance on God. Deconstructive worry, just leads to deeper worry. Deconstructive worry, unlike constructive concern, depletes our resources. It drains our energy. Deconstructive worry often includes a circular reasoning process…your worry takes you round and round on a downward spiral, which always brings you back to the same point.
here’s an example:
1. I have to pass my test tomorrow
2. If I don’t pass my test tomorrow I’ll be put on academic probation
3. If on academic probation, I could get thrown out of school
4. If I get thrown out of school, I’ll never find a good job
5. If I don’t find a good job, I’ll never be able to buy a house
6. If I can’t buy a house, how can I ever get married?
7. I have to pass my test tomorrow… and so on.
Think about it…After all our worry, we never come one inch closer toward a solution, which could help us pass the test!
Constructive concern seeks a solution… Try this: I have a test tomorrow…I better stay in and study… and I better ask God for help!
It moves you from a problem to a solution. There’s also the reality of grieving over certain circumstances, of grieving over a loved one in sin, or someone who’s ill, or someone who’s in pain, whether it be emotional or physical. Or even experiencing that pain ourselves. This, too, can be different from deconstructive worry.
However, having the kind of care or anxiety spoken of in this passage is more than just a legitimate, or constructive concern, and it’s different from the kind of grieving we just referenced. It’s being loaded down...burdened, with a load of worry. Picture yourself with a huge boulder on your shoulder. Feeling the weight of it. Carrying a weight that literally keeps us from what God has for us to do, keeps us pinned to the ground...from moving forward constructively, and hinders our relationship with Him.
The original language here in this passage from 1 Peter indicates the kind of anxiety that completely distracts you from your daily living. One Bible dictionary says this word means:
the kind of anxiety, or care, that brings disruption to the personality and the mind
This dictionary also notes this word:
is probably connected with another Greek word which means, “to draw in different directions, distract....”
This kind of anxiety is mentioned in many verses of scripture.
This kind of “care” about things, or anxiety, is used in these verses...
Matthew 13:22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
Luke 8:14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature.
Luke 21:34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.
So what we see here is the kind of care, worry, or anxiety that can choke faith, that can make our lives unfruitful, that can weigh down our hearts.
Proverbs 12:25 An anxious heart weighs a man down.
In writing of the 1 Peter passage, Matthew Henry says these cares can be:
personal cares, family cares, cares for the present, and cares for the future, for yourselves, for others, for the church... These are burdensome, and often very sinful, when they arise from unbelief and distrust, when they torture and distract the mind, make us unfit for duties, and hinder our delight in the service of God.
Arthur Somers Roche said: Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all others thoughts are drained.
From the perspective of the enemy of our souls, on the other hand, worry actually has many wonderful benefits: Such worry can paralyze Christians into ineffectiveness. They can distract us from our work. Worry causes people to rely on themselves...we tend to carry these worries on our own. Worry undermines trust in God.
Now, before I go any further, let me offer a quick qualification. There’s a very real thing called anxiety disorder. That’s a kind of anxiety produced when your brain chemistry is out of whack. Please, please, for those among us who are challenged by this, don’t hear this morning’s message as another reason to worry, or to self-condemn. The admonition to trust the Lord remains for you, too, so I don’t want to blunt the clear words of scripture, which apply to all of us. But please don’t beat yourself up when your brain doesn’t cooperate with you, and please don’t quit taking your medications that help with this condition because the preacher said that casting our cares on Him is a command. In reality, your medication may be one of the tools God uses to help you face worry, and clear your head, so you’re better equipped to rely on Him.
But for all of us, worry can be sin, indicating a lack of trust in God. Another thing I noticed in this passage is that Peter is really comparing worry with pride. Let’s look at these verses again:
1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
It’s humbling to admit that you can’t handle something. Why else would he write “humble yourselves?” Sometimes, when we think we’re strong enough to handle a circumstance, a trial, a challenge, we’re essentially too proud to admit that God’s timing is perfect. Note that Peter writes God will lift us up “in due time” or “at the proper time.”
When we worry, we’re too proud to admit that we cannot manage a given situation, too proud to admit that we need help. So, we worry instead. We worry instead of casting our worries or anxieties onto the One who is able to carry the load so much better than we can. The One who can actually do something about that worry besides worry about it. When we worry, the Word of God is choked out of our lives, as we just read in Luke 8:14. Worry robs us of joy, it robs us of peace. When we worry, we can’t enjoy God’s blessings. When we worry, we can’t even see them, let alone enjoy them.
A Dictionary of Word Origins says that
"Worry originally meant to "strangle...’ the sense of "harass physically’(as in "dogs worrying sheep’) emerged in the 16th century, via an intermediate "seize by the throat’....this word has evolved to include all these understandings.
I once read an article in Discipleship Journal about worry. In this article about worry, the author wrote, “Failure to obey His explicit commands is a sin” - and then she asks that if classifying worry as a sin is too harsh.
She writes, “it actually brings great freedom. I no longer see my anxiety as a hereditary trait I cannot control. Rather, I see it as a sin I can choose to resist. Because sin does not have mastery over me (Rom 6:14) I can be set free from slavery to worry.”
Let’s spend a few minutes looking more closely at this passage of scripture from 1 Peter 5...let’s read it again.
1 Peter 5:6-7 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
It takes humility to recognize we cannot handle our life on our own. It takes humility to realize our worry is not getting us anything but ulcers. We sometimes try to sanctify worry, at least in our thinking if not in our words.
I’ve done that – especially when my worry involves a genuine concern for family members, and at times a grieving over their condition, which led on the one hand to lots of extra prayer, but often has deteriorated into fretting over what I should do, and exhibited my lack of faith that God was in charge, that God loved these people more than I did, and that He would pursue my loved ones through every circumstance, providing absolutely every opportunity for these to respond to His love and grace. My worrying could never accomplish that.
I had to humble myself, recognize my sin of depending on what I could do in the situation, repent of this worrying, this trying to take back the load that God promised to carry, and commanded me to hand over to Him.
And that’s exactly what God does in this passage – He commands us...Cast all your cares, your worries, your anxiety on Him. That’s a God-given command.
I wondered also about the tense of this word. I wondered if casting was like the verse that says, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit,” which, in its proper understanding, could read: keep on being filled... be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit. I researched it, thinking, that would be a great help in understanding this...I found that’s not the case.
Here, the word “casting” is a single act... you do it once, and it’s done. There’s no expectation that we should do this continually. At least we don’t have to. Once you’ve cast a burden on the Lord, He takes it. He says to us – hey, I’ve got this.
However, our human nature being what it is, we have the tendency to take it back, and begin worrying all over again. So, even though it’s a single act, and there’s no implication in the text that we must keep on casting, the reality of our human condition is such that we end up doing that anyway. Just as we don’t get saved over and over, but we need to remember, appropriate, act on, and live in, the understanding that we are crucified with Christ, which is a finished act, and no longer live, but Christ lives in us, so, too, when burdens become heavy for us, when we’re taking on the load and trying to carry the weight of circumstances ourselves, even after we’ve already cast it on the Lord once, twice, fifty, one hundred times, we are commanded, when it becomes a care, when it becomes anxiety, to cast that worry on the Lord.
In practical terms, because of our foolishness, that means we do it again and again. Not that God asks us to do it again and again, but because we keep taking up the weight of that burden again, because our trust erodes, or in our foolishness, we subconsciously think we can somehow handle this better than the King of Kings.
I’ve gotta do something!...we think.
Yet, He is our burden-bearer. He says his yoke is easy and his burden is light. It doesn’t remove our responsibility to lay that burden on Him, but it can and does remove the weight of the outcome of those circumstances that are weighing us down, those things that distract us, those things that hinder our walk with the Lord, and often, our relationships with each other.
We are told to pray about everything, rather than be anxious, and the Word is clear we are to persevere in prayer, but when we’ve slipped past concern, and into worry, the answer is clear – cast our cares on Him. Lay your burden down.
How do we know when we’ve slipped past a godly concern, which can be legitimate, into the arena of worry and anxiety?
First of all, I think we know that intuitively – it’s not hard if we’re honest with ourselves. Some things are obvious. Tense or tight muscles...a racing mind that we can’t shut down to focus on the things we need to, or the things of God. Sleeplessness – sometimes but not always – can be a sign that the our worry has slipped beyond legitimate concern. Of course, there can be other reasons for sleeplessness, too.
Other signs are more subtle...
“A lack of joy and lightheartedness, impatience with myself and others, taking myself too seriously, forgetting to thank God for His blessings, difficulty praising Him – all of these signs point to the presence of smoldering coals of worry in my heart. Like a smoke detector warning of impending danger, they alert me to the asphyxiating smoke of worry.” When we worry, we’ve unthinkingly questioned His wisdom (that He knows best), His love and goodness (that He cares for us and wants what is best), and His sovereignty (that He is able to do what is best). Worry reveals not only our distrustful thoughts about God but also an unrealistic view of ourselves: that we are ultimately in control; that we are responsible for other people’s happiness (our spouse, children, parents, boss, friends, etc); that we can determine better than God what we or others need. Stacey Padrick, Discipleship Journal
We read in Luke 12:22-31
Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus said three important things about worry or anxiety here:
First, he said anxiety or worry is foolish, because life consists of so much more than material things, such as what we eat, or wear.
Well, you might think, Bill, my worries are not about material things. But Jesus isn’t done speaking here. Secondly, Jesus told us that worry is foolish, because our worry cannot change the situation. Finally, Jesus pointed out that worry is foolish because it’s the same attitude unbelievers have. The world is concerned with material things, not with life’s ultimately important spiritual realities. And the world is self-sufficient. Besides, God takes care of birds, doesn’t He?
Said the Robin to the Sparrow
I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about, and worry so?
Said the Sparrow to the Robin,
Friend, I think that it must be
They have no heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.
Someone here may have a child or a loved one who has decided to live a destructive lifestyle. Concern is appropriate, as is persistent prayer, which indicates we trust God, rely completely on Him, for the outcome. But worrying will not change the outcome.
We may have a sick family member, but worrying won’t change the outcome. As we noted a moment ago, worrying makes us like the unbeliever, who doesn’t know God, and lives in a way in which he relies on himself, and his own ability to handle a given circumstance. When we worry, we’re just like that person, practically indistinguishable from what Jesus called “the pagan world.”
Let me share briefly a few ideas about dealing with worry...practical ways we can help ourselves in the act of casting our care on Him. These are adapted from a book called “Worry Free Living”
1. meditate on and memorize scripture – the Word is our source of supply. It’s too easy to say, just read the Word. Yes, we should do that, but when we’re worrying just reading the word is not enough. And sometimes it’s harder to do when we’re consumed with worry. We need to chew on it. We need to mull it over, think about it. We need to hide it in our hearts, so it will impact our hearts, and our worries. Meditate, for example, on John 14:27, where Jesus says:
John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Let those words echo in our minds and our hearts, when worry has begun to take over.
Get away to a quiet place...think about what the scripture says, pray and ask the Lord to not only illuminate the passage, but to help this Word be living and active in your life, sharper than a two-edged sword...penetrating your worry, dividing the worry from the legitimate concern, cutting the insidious growth of worry from your spirit...
And, then as you pray for God to use His word in your spirit, listen to what His word is speaking to you. Sometimes our worries get our minds going so fast, we don’t take the time to listen to the Lord. He may or may not provide the solution, the answer, or the relief from whatever’s worrying you - He might, but He might not, but He can and will provide the peace that passes understanding.
Related to that is memorizing scripture. Sometimes when we worry, we don’t have the ability to focus and read, not even the Word. But, if we make a habit of memorizing the Word, especially in those seasons when worries aren’t challenging us hiding His word in our hearts, we can call to mind those verses that minister to us, those verses that help remind us of the truth when the enemy is using our worries to lie to us.
Sometimes I’ve also found that Christian music…either worship music, hymns, or even some popular Christian music, can be a great means of slowing down my racing, worrying mind, long enough for me to allow God to take those burdens, to bear my cares, worries, anxieties.
Did you ever wonder why so many stores play easy listening music on their in-store sound systems? The reason is studies show it relaxes us, and actually, people buy more when they are relaxed. I’ve had times when the truth of scripture put to music has done more to lift me up, than anything else, and enabled me to truly cast my care on the Lord. We’ll hear an example of a song like that at the close.
Another way to defeat anxiety and worry is to learn to talk through your problems with the right person. Christian author Paul Meier says, “Anxiety and depression build because people don’t air their feelings daily”.
God gives us people in our lives whom He uses as tools in His hands, to help bear our burdens. I do think we must exercise care in not relying on any individual, rather than the Lord. But the reality is that we need each other. We’re called the body of Christ for a reason. When I’ve shared my worries with a select circle of people, God used that to provide me support, to carry my worries. God can and will use the right people in our lives.
Another principle we need to learn to deal with worry is to focus on today. “One day at a time, sweet Jesus...”
Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Worrying about the future is fruitless...and then, of course, there’s worry about the past.
Playing “what if,” in worrying about the future, or “if only,” in worrying about the past, is a dangerous game. Our past will keep us in it, if we let it. Worry about our past mistakes is absolutely fruitless...it keeps us trapped there, and gives us no future.
Related to that is this idea of “due time.” Peter said the Lord will lift us up in “due time,” or “the proper time” God’s timing is perfect, whether we can see that or not. Last but not least is prayer – it’s the tangible expression of our reliance on God.
Philippians 4:6-7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
There are other things we could mention, but I wanted to make one more point before we close. The end of our main text for this morning tells us why we can confidently cast our cares on God. Verse 7 says, “Because He cares for you.” The idea is God “continually cares.”
Our attitude is often similar to that of the disciples in Mark 4:35-41. They’d just been with Jesus the whole day and were on their way to another town when they encountered a big storm on the lake. The disciples got so worried, they became fearful, and upset. They rushed to Jesus, sleeping at the back of the boat, and accused him: “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
This time, Jesus showed He cared by actually changing the circumstances. He calmed the storm. But there’s a song that says, “Sometimes He calms the storm, but other times He calms His child.” Whether He calms the storms of our life to relieve our worries, or He chooses to calm us by carrying our load of worry and anxiety so we don’t have to, the question the disciples asked: “Don’t you care?” has been answered in the most amazing way we can imagine...through his suffering and death and resurrection for us.
The incarnation, and all that resulted from that, answered for us in the most compelling, most complete way possible, the question, “don’t you care?” And think of this, too. Of all the burdens we cannot possibly carry, that He will carry for us, our sins are the most significant ones we must lay at the foot of the cross.
In closing, I’d like to tell you this story.
Years ago, in the pioneer days of aviation, a pilot was making a flight around the world. After he had been gone for about two hours from his last landing field, he heard a noise in his plane, which he recognized as the gnawing of a rat. He realized that while his plane had been on the ground a rat had gotten in. For all he knew the rat could be gnawing through a vital cable or control of the plane. It was a very serious situation. He was both concerned and anxious. At first he did not know what to do. It was two hours back to the landing field from which he had taken off and more than two hours to the next field ahead. Then he remembered that the rat is a rodent. It is not made for the heights; it is made to live on the ground and under the ground. So the pilot began to climb. He went up a thousand feet, then another thousand and another until he was more than twenty thousand feet up. The gnawing ceased. The rat was dead. It could not survive in the atmosphere of those heights. More than two hours later the pilot brought the plane safely to the next landing field and found the dead rat.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, worry is a rodent – chewing through our connections with God and each other, and ultimately destructive. But worry, like the rat, cannot live in the secret place of the Most High. It cannot breathe, it can’t survive in the presence of God, made real and effective in our prayers, and as we rest in and rely on the truth of the Word of God. Worry dies when we ascend to the Lord through prayer and His Word, when we cast our worries and cares on Him. When we lay our burdens down at the foot of the cross.
This morning as we close, we’re going to have an opportunity to respond to this Word while we listen to a song. This pulpit, in case you’ve not noticed, is the shape of a cross. This morning, you have in your bulletins a sheet of scrap paper, and if you didn’t get a bulletin, there are extra sheets up here. As the closing song plays, we’re going to give an opportunity to take just a few minutes to write down a burden – just a few words will do – God knows.
There’s nothing magical about coming up here today – you are certainly free to seek God’s grace right where you sit and lay your burdens before Him, but sometimes, God will use these kinds of visual reminders to help us remember, and access His grace.
And we’re going to take one additional step today. We’re bringing our burdens, symbolically, to the foot of the cross, and as we do, we remember, that despite the reality that we often cast our cares on Him, we sometimes later take back those burdens, and begin carrying them ourselves again. So today, we’re bringing them to the foot of the cross and putting them in a shredder, hopefully symbolizing that God will always carry that burden, and even though our tendency is to take back that worry and begin carrying it again – we don’t have to.
So, as this song plays in closing, let’s respond as the Lord would lead you.
Pray – play Chuck Girard, Lay Your Burden Down
