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)
If God so beautifully clothes these one-day wonders, He will most certainly take care of you, who are forever His! Don’t doubt it! Just trust Him to do it for you.
Manoj Singh is a rickshaw driver in India. He lives with his wife and three children in a one-room home constructed of rusted corrugated metal held together with plastic tarps. In a recent documentary that explores the nature of happiness, a reporter asks him about his life. He says, “I am not poor, but I am the richest person.” Then he proudly talks about his work as a rickshaw driver in the crowded streets, the monsoons, sweltering heat, and occasional abuse from drunk passengers as mere inconveniences. He says his home is “good” even though it doesn't protect his family from the monsoons. Sometimes they can afford only rice with a bit of salt. “But we are still happy,” he says.
How can that be? Manoi and his family eke out a living amid grinding poverty. Their home is a ramshackle shack, exposed, and without title or deed. There is no running water or sanitation to speak of, Manoi’s children have little chance for a quality education, and one catastrophe could sabotage their very chance of survival.
And yet, Manoj is happy. (Steven Bauman, Break Open the Sky, Multnomah, 2017, pages 39-40; www.PreachingToday.com)
That’s because he is not drawn away or distracted by the accumulation of things. He just enjoys what God gives him every day. You do the same! Enjoy what God gives you everyday and appreciate the beauty and nourishment in that. Don’t be anxious. Instead, look at the birds and flowers. Then...
LOOK TO YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER.
Focus on His love for you, and pay attention to what He wants for you.
Matthews 6:31-32 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. (ESV)
Your Heavenly Father knows your need, so you don’t have to worry like those who don’t have such a Father.
The Gentiles in Jesus’ day had jealous, capricious, and unpredictable gods. If they wanted any help, the Gentiles had to pest their gods with “many words,” according to Matthew 6:7. But even then, their gods may decide not to help, so the Gentiles were pretty much on their own. That’s why they sought hard after their basic needs.
On the other hand, your God, your Heavenly Father, knows what you need and delights in answering your simple requests for daily bread, forgiveness, and protection from Satan’s traps (Matthew 6:11-13). In fact, Matthew 6:8 says, He knows what you need even before you ask Him.
In the movie Fences, Denzel Washington plays Troy Maxson, a 53-year-old man who works for the sanitation department. He resents the fact that he was not allowed to play major league baseball in his prime because he was black. He ends up spending 15 years in prison before he lands his job as a trash collector. He is a proud, bitter man, which shows in his relationship with his sons. Take a look (show video: Fences, I ain’t got to like you scene)
Cory: [Dad] how come you ain't ever liked me?
Troy: Liked you? Who the [heck] say I got to like you? What law is there say I got to like you? Don't you eat every day?
Cory looks down.
Troy: Answer me when I talk to you! Don't you eat every day?
Cory: Yeah.
Troy: As long as you in my house, you put that sir on the end of it when you talk to me!
Cory: Yes, sir.
Troy: You eat every day.
Cory: Yessir!
Troy: Got a roof over your head.
Cory: Yessir!
Troy: Got clothes on your back.
Cory: Yessir.
Troy: Why you think that is?
Cory: 'Cause of you. 'Cause you like me.
Troy: Like you? You about the biggest fool I ever saw. It's my job. It's my responsibility! You understand that? A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house, sleep your behind on my bedclothes, fill you belly up with my food 'cause you my son. You my flesh and blood. Not 'cause I like you! 'Cause it's my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibility to you! Let's get this straight right here … before it go along any further… I ain't got to like you. [My boss] don't give me my money come payday 'cause he likes me. He gives me 'cause he owe me. I done give you everything I had to give you. I gave you your life! … Don't you try and go through life worrying about if somebody like you or not. You best be making sure they doing right by you. You understand what I'm saying, boy?
Cory: Yessir. (Fences, Directed by Denzel Washington, Los Angeles, Paramount, 2016; www.PreachingToday.com)
Tory takes care of his sons, but only out of duty. Your Heavenly Father takes care of you, because He actually loves you.
The Bible says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God loved you so much that He gave His only Son to die on a cross to pay for your sins (and mine). As a result, those who trust Jesus with their lives, find that they are beloved children of the Father (1 John 3:1), blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), and favored by Him (Ephesians 1:6).
God not only loves you; He actually likes you. On top of that, He knows what you need. Tell me: Don’t you think such a Father would bend over backwards to meet those needs? Sure, He will! So don’t worry! Look to your Heavenly Father who loves you and knows your need.
Then focus your attention on His will. Don’t worry about getting your needs met; worry about doing what God wants you to do.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (ESV)
Make your number one priority the Kingdom of God. That is to say, make it your #1 goal to pursue God’s will for your life and to exhibit HIS righteousness. Don’t seek to exhibit YOUR righteousness. Seek instead to exhibit GOD’s righteousness as you let Christ live His righteous life through you. Pay attention to God’s interests first, and He will pay attention to your interests, to your needs.
After living as a quadriplegic for 45 years, Joni Eareckson Tada reflected on the diving accident that changed her life. As a 14-year-old, Joni had embraced Jesus as her Savior; but in her words, she had “confused the abundant Christian life with the great American dream.” Joni said:
“I was a Christian and would lose weight, get good grades, get voted captain of the hockey team, go to college, marry a wonderful man who made $250,000 a year, and we'd have 2.5 children. It was me focused: What can God do for me? I almost thought that I had done God a great big favor by accepting Jesus… [But my boyfriend and I] were doing some things together that we knew were wrong.
“In April 1967,” Joni says, “I came home from a sordid Friday night date… and cried, ‘Oh God… I'm staining your reputation by saying I'm a Christian yet doing one thing Friday night and another Sunday morning. I'm a hypocrite… I want you to change my life… Please do something in my life that will jerk it right side up because I'm making a mess of the Christian faith in my life and I don't want that. I want to glorify you.’ She had the diving accident about three months later.
Immediately after the accident, Joni told God, “You'll never be trusted with another of my prayers.” But after struggling with anguish and anger Joni said, “I prayed one short prayer that changed my life: ‘Oh God, if I can't die, show me how to live.’ She said that was probably the most powerful prayer she had ever prayed.” (Marvin Olasky, “Loving Life,” World Magazine, 1-12-13; www.PreachingToday.com)
You do the same. Ask God to show you how to live. Don’t be ME focused; be HE focused. Focus your life on God’s will, and He will focus His attention on your needs.
That’s His promise to you, so don’t be anxious! Instead, look to the birds and flowers; look to your Heavenly Father; and...
LOOK ONLY AT TODAY.
Focus only on today’s needs. Pay attention to only one day’s trouble at a time.
Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (ESV)
The ancient Jews had a saying: “Do not worry over tomorrow’s evils, for you know not what today will bring forth. Perhaps tomorrow you will not be alive, and you will have worried for a world which will not be yours” (William Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, Vol. 1). It’s a little morbid, but the point is clear. You have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow, so it’s useless to worry about it today.
Last summer (July 2019), clinical psychologist, Dr. Lucas LaFreniere, released a study to Science Direct with the title, “Exposing Worry’s Deceit: Percentage of Untrue Worries in Generalized Anxiety Disorder Treatment.”
In his study on worry, he asked participants to record their worries and how they caused distress and interfered with their lives. Each night at 10 pm, they reported how much time they spent thinking on each specific worry throughout the day. Then, 20 days after that period, they reviewed each entry and reported whether any of the worries had become true. He discovered that 91.4 percent of their worries never actually happened!
Dr. LaFreniere said, “This is what breaks my heart about worry. It makes you miserable in the present moment to try and prevent misery in the future. For chronic worriers, this process leads them to be continually distressed all their lives in order to avoid later events that never happen. Worry sucks the joy out of the ‘here and now’” (Sarah Sloat, “Researchers Prove That What You're Worried About Isn't Likely to Come True” Inverse, 8-4-19; www.PreachingToday.com).
The good doctor’s study only confirms what Jesus said 2,000 years ago! Please, don’t worry about tomorrow. It only sucks the joy out of today.
In September 2018, Men’s Health magazine featured J. J. Watt, a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. That year, he was recovering from two previous years of injuries.
In 2016, Watt played only three games before suffering a herniated disc. In 2017, he was out by Week 5 with a fractured shinbone. Plagued by injuries, you might think that Watt would be concerned about another injury that season, but this is what He had to say at the time:
“I’m excited,” he said. “People ask, ‘Are you going to play the whole year?’” to which he replies, “All I care about is having a good practice tomorrow. That’s it. I’ve learned that the best way to attack things is one day at a time. When you start thinking too far ahead or behind, that’s when you hit trouble” (Ben Court, “JJ Watt's Injury Could've Broken Him. Instead, It Made Him Stronger,” Men’s Health, September 5, 2018; www.Preaching Today.com)
That’s Jesus advice to you this morning: Don’t think too far ahead. Attack things one day at a time, and let tomorrow’s worries take care of themselves. Besides, over 90% of them never materialize.
So don’t be anxious! Instead, look to the birds and flowers; look to your Heavenly Father; and look only at today. In a word: Have FAITH! Trust the Lord to take care of you today and tomorrow.
I like the way Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it years ago. He said, “The words of a motto which a generation ago were commonly found on the wall in the homes of devout persons need to be etched on our hearts: ‘Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.’” (Dr. Mervyn A. Warren, King Came Preaching, IVP Academic, 2001, p.148; www.PreachingToday. com)
That’s the way to keep anxiety from stealing your peace! When fear knocks at your door, send faith to answer and find your worries no longer there.
