I. In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck and Tom Sawyer set out together to rescue the captive slave, Jim.
A. However, their grand plans soon led to disappointment. As they scouted the situation, they found that the rescue would pose no difficulties at all. Vainly, they tried to figure out some way to make the situation more complicated and interesting. Finally, Tom remarked, “Why, … Huck, it’s the stupidest arrangement I ever did see. You got to invent ALL the difficulties.”
B. I think we laugh largely because we recognize a true facet of human nature in the boys’ actions––mankind insists upon worrying about everything.
II. In this, like in so many other things, the Christian needs to be different from the world.
A. This was one of those basics that Jesus spoke upon at some length in His Sermon on the Mount, recognizing that man so often falls into the trap of worrying. [Read Matt 6:25-34.]
In this passage, Jesus promises that God will take care of our needs if we will make serving Him, rather than pursuing those needs, our first priority. He also gives us several reasons that we should not waste our time and energy in worry. First, the things that we worry most often about are not even the things that really matter (25b). Secondly, do you really think that God, having created us, won’t take care of our needs (26)? To doubt that God will do so is to display a lack of faith in God’s keeping of His promises (30). Thirdly, worrying doesn’t change anything anyway (27). Finally, Jesus says that while such worry characterizes the worldly people around us, we should be different, trusting God to take care of those worries as we devote ourselves to what really matters (31-33).
B. Peter speaks as well about this great difference in perspective that should exist between us and those of the world. 2 Pet 3:10-14 reads in the NKJV, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.”
Peter says, (a) if the only certainty about this life and this world is that it will come to an end, and (b) if God has offered us a life that will not end in a new and wonderful world, then (c) our focus should not be upon this world and the things thereof, but upon ensuring that we are qualified to inherit that life (“in holy conduct and godliness” and “without spot and blameless”). And if we are doing this, he says, we should (d) be “at peace.” What sort of peace? At peace with God, our sins not creating enmity with Him. At peace with man, without strife toward those whom God has created and loves. At peace with ourselves and the world around us, not in turmoil and immersed in worry.
But notice that Peter doesn’t say this is easy. He says, “Be diligent to be found by Him in peace.” This is something that we have to work at; it requires diligence, which Webster defines as “a steady, earnest, and energetic effort.” Peace of mind doesn’t come naturally to us. We are too busy “invent[ing] all the difficulties.” As counterintuitive as it may seem, we have to work at being peaceful.
C. Notice again also that Peter ties our peacefulness to our understanding of mortality, immortality, and of heaven and the perspective which that gives us on this life. 2 Pet 3:11 says, “Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be.”
In John 13 through 16, John records a long discourse that Jesus had with his disciples as He prepared them for His departure. On the one hand, He reassures them several times that even though He will die, they will see Him again and ultimately live with Him in the place to which He goes. On the other hand, He warns them repeatedly that they will be hated and persecuted.
In John 14:27 He tells them that He will give them peace, but not the kind of peace that the world is able to provide. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” It will not be a peace that comes from a lack of hardship and trials. It will be a peace that comes in spite of those hardships as they (and we) put those hardships into perspective by looking toward the heavenly reward through Christ.
He ends that conversation in Jn 16:33. “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” God plainly says that in the world we will have tribulation. He doesn’t promise to shelter us from all of the effects of the evil in this world. In fact, He tells us that our relationship to Him will likely cause evil to direct its efforts toward us. But He provides a promise of an eternity of bliss that can enable us to endure the evils and hardships of this world with a peacefulness that the world cannot provide, and indeed cannot even understand.
D. Paul remarks upon this seemingly illogical nature of the peace we can enjoy from God in Phil 4:6-7. “Be anxious for nothing, 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 minds through Christ Jesus.”
Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing.” In today’s vernacular, that is simply, “Don’t worry.” But he doesn’t say simply, “Don’t worry; be happy.” Paul tells us the #1 key to obtaining this peace. He says, “Don’t worry–pray!” (4:6)
Like Jesus and like Peter, Paul does not say God will take away all of our troubles and make everything peaceful in our lives (4:7). He says God will bring peace to our hearts and minds. Instead of worrying about that which we cannot control, turn it over to God with confidence that God has our best interests at heart and loves us dearly. And turn it over to God with the perspective that much of what we worry about is things that make a difference for only a tiny bit of eternity.
The result can be a peacefulness, in the very midst of the storms of life, that the world without this perspective cannot even understand.
E. Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing.” Does this mean the Christian should never be concerned about anything? Should we have the attitude of Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Neuman, “What? Me worry?” Not at all! We need to make a distinction between just worrying about something and having a proper concern about it.
OK. So how do we make that distinction? A proper concern is well illustrated by 2 Tim 2:15. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Paul clearly says to Timothy that we need to be concerned that we not find ourselves ashamed before God. But what does he say we should do about it? Just worry? No, “be diligent;” be “a worker.”
The Christian is not unconcerned about things. When faced with a matter of concern, the Christian is diligent to do what he can. But at the same time the Christian can be peaceful in the face of the things that he can do nothing about, having turned those over to God in prayer. What is known as the Serenity Prayer describes this distinction beautifully. “God grant me the ability to change those things which I can change, the serenity to accept those things which I cannot change, and the wisdom to recognize the difference.”
III. What are some of the worry traps that we fall into?
A. One of the most frequent sources of worry is the future. We fret about all sorts of possible future events that are beyond our control:
•Will the government default on its finances and leave us suffering the consequences?
•Will some family member bring turmoil upon our family?
•Is my health about to fail to an extent that will affect my lifestyle?
•Is my employer going to be able to continue to pay me?
As Jesus pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount, worrying will change nothing.
We need to plan and prepare for the future, doing what we can to prepare for difficulties that we can foresee, while not being caught up in worry over what we cannot control. It may also help to consider how unimportant the things we worried about a year ago seem right now.
B. Perhaps even less helpful than worrying about the future, we worry about the past. We lie awake at night thinking:
•Why did I say that?
•Why did I do that?
•If only I had prepared better.
•I wish I hadn’t spent that money.
There may be much about the future that we are unable to control, but there is literally nothing that we can change about the past. We need to learn what lessons we can from the past and then go with the present.
With Paul’s background, having fervently persecuted Christians and having even assisted in their murder, what if he had chosen to dwell on his past mistakes? In Phil 3:13-14, Paul tells us how he dealt with that heavy burden of past mistakes. “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
•Forgetting what is behind.
•Pressing forward to what is ahead.
•Focusing his efforts upon the goal of a heavenly reward.
C. Of course, we also worry about money. Paul addresses these worries in 1 Tim 6:6-11. “Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”
He says that we not only need to be godly, but couple our godliness with contentment. He says that we need to recognize that we can’t take it with us; our wealth or lack of it will neither increase nor decrease our heavenly reward. He says that we need to have faith that God will provide us with the necessities. And he says that worrying about having more than that becomes a temptation, entraps us, drowns us, pulls us away from God, and fatally wounds us.
We need to ask ourselves which occupies more of our time: thinking about the end of the world, or thinking about the end of the month? Timothy also tells us what to do when we realize that we have fallen into that trap (6:11). Flee from this temptation. Don’t walk, run away from this. Take it as a reminder that we need to shift our focus and energies from the physical things of this world to becoming more godly and serving God.
D. That last thought is one of great importance to this topic of worry. We need to engage ourselves in doing what we can about all of the things that concern us, but it is just as important that we ensure that the things most concerning us are the truly important things. Luke presents Jesus’s discussion of this in Luke 10:38-42. “Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’ And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’”
Who would blame Martha for her concern? The greatest of the prophets was coming to dinner! She had food to prepare. She had a house to clean. The goats hadn’t been fed. The children were making messes. But Jesus said that none of that mattered compared to the spiritual concerns of Mary.
I think it is the little worries, and not the large, that most often distract us from engaging in the pursuit of godliness: getting the car washed, cleaning the house, painting the bedroom. Small concerns take up so much of our time that we leave ourselves little opportunity to even think upon the spiritual things. We need to ask ourselves: Are we, like Mary, choosing the good part, that cannot be taken away from us?
IV. How serious is it when we allow ourselves to become caught up in worry? Luke 21:34-35 teaches that it is to be avoided every bit as a much as drunkenness. “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.”
Why is it that drunkenness is a sin? Because God says so, it clouds our judgement, it impairs our influence, and it harms our bodies (the temple of God). Why is worry a sin? For the exact same reasons: because God says so, it clouds our judgement, it impairs our influence, and it harms our bodies (the temple of God). I know we all carefully avoid drunkenness. Are we as careful to avoid worry?
V. So just how do we go about avoiding worry? Let’s summarize what we have seen in the scriptures.
A. Turn our worries over to God in prayer. Peter reinforces this idea in 1 Pet 5:6-7. “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”
God, the most powerful of all beings, cares for us. We can cast our cares upon Him. This implies two things: (1) God will take those cares upon Himself and do what is in our best interest, and (2) having cast our cares upon God, we have cast them from ourselves. We can stop worrying! Notice also that Peter implies that to fail to cast our cares upon God is to fail to humble ourselves before Him. If we are not willing to let go, it tells God that we don’t truly trust Him to care for us adequately.
B. Thus the second way we avoid worry is to have faith that God can and will take care of what we cannot.
C. Third, we need to put our worries in proper perspective by ensuring that our primary concern is our spiritual health and service to God. If the thing we are worrying about is so pressing that there is no time to focus upon spiritual matters, then we have lost our perspective. Paul wrote in Phil 2:19-21 how there are few who are successful in properly setting those priorities in their lives. “But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.”
D. Finally, when faced with worrisome things that we cannot control, we need to engage ourselves diligently in doing those things we can do, particularly with pursuing godliness and holiness.
