The population of this country is 200 million people. 84 million are retired. That leaves 116 million to do the work. There are 75 million in school, which leaves 41 million to do the work. Of this total, there are 22 million employed by the federal government.
That leaves 19 million to do the work. 4 million are in the armed forces, which leaves 15 million to do the work. Take from that total the 14.8 million who work for state and city governments and that leaves 200,000 to do the work. There are 188,000 people in the hospital at any given time, leaving 12,000 to do the work. Currently, there are 11,998 people in jail. That leaves just two people to do the work - you and me. And you’re just sitting there listening. No wonder I’m stressed!
Sometimes, we approach life in that way. We feel as if we’re the only ones who count for something, and everything is up to us. And so we get stressed out. Stress takes its toll on us when we especially feel that we’ve lost control of our lives and have no sense of direction. Today, the Holy Spirit alleviates all of that tension. So, DON’T GET STRESSED OUT. 1) The Lord Takes Away Your Fears. 2) He Guards Your Life.
1) The Lord Takes Away Your Fears
Sometimes people get stressed out as they try to de-stress. Perhaps you’ve found yourself in that trap. The concerns of daily life have wound you tighter than a drum – you feel as if you’re going to snap – and so you tell yourself, “unwind and settle down.” In the process, you add more stress because you can’t settle down, so you become even more stressed out over the fact that you’re stressed out.
St. Paul offers a solution: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” “Don’t be anxious.” That’s Paul’s solution. Don’t get stressed out. It sounds as if the apostle is preaching to the proverbial choir. And as we’ve seen in our own lives, just wishing for stress or troubles to stop, doesn’t mean they will stop.
We need to look closely at St. Paul’s words in order to understand what he’s telling us. We’ll notice he tells us to rejoice. A related word would be joy. This is more than happiness. Joy is not some artificial emotion that comes and goes with the ups and downs of life. We can be joyful even when we’re not happy. Christians can be joyful in the midst of troubles or suffering, pain and sadness. The reason is because our joy is based in the Lord. This is where St. Paul found his joy and it’s where we base ours.
What’s the joy that can only be found in the Lord? Well, it’s the joy of knowing your sins are forgiven. What joy there is in knowing that your Savior is concerned about you now and forever! Even when things go badly in this life we can still rejoice because we have a Savior who loves us.
And the love of Jesus alleviates our fears. Let’s face it we get stressed out because we’re afraid. We’re afraid that we might be losing control in over our lives. We get scared that things might go wrong. We fear the unknown. My oldest brother had to go in for surgery this past week. It wasn’t major surgery, but we were concerned about him all the same. I called him the night before his operation and he was “tense” to say the least. He told me that he couldn’t seem to sit still. He was fidgety. His stomach was doing summersaults. And all the while, he kept telling himself, “Calm down! Calm down! Everything will be alright.” Whenever he did that it made him feel worse. He realized he couldn’t calm down. Everything wasn’t all right. My brother realized that he wasn’t in control. And he admitted that he was a bit frightened.
No amount of positive thinking could squelch that fear. That’s when I reminded him of his Savior. I reminded him that the Lord promised to be with him, and that no matter what, God loved him in Christ Jesus. Either way, God would work that surgery out for good. God would either lead him to recovery and give him patience to endure the pain of healing, or the Lord would simply call him home to heaven. In either case, my brother was a winner. God has proven it to be the case. It’s neat how my brother responded to my simple encouragement. He said, “yeah, I just need to take it to God in prayer.” And that’s the truth. Paul tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
God knows what’s on our hearts and minds, so we might as well give it to him. That requires faith, however. Faith in the Savior is what leads us to pray to God. Our faith in Jesus leads us to admit: “Lord, if you can save me from my sins, and you’ve proven that; you can handle these temporal problems that arise in my life and give me hope in your victory which you share with me.”
God wants us to bring our prayers and requests to him. What a blessed joy to know that God wants his children to talk to him. There is nothing for us to worry about because we can bring everything to God in prayer. In this way, God dispels our fears and worries. In the face of fear, the Lord leads us to be thankful. Recently, I was talking with a fellow pastor who lives near Detroit MI. He expressed concern for us in lieu of Hurricane Lili. From his perspective, it looked as if we were flooded out. All the news media in his area painted a grim picture of statewide destruction. He prayed for our family and for you – fellow members with him in Christ. As I told him how we were really spared from a potential disaster, his voice perked up, and I could sense the sincere thankfulness he had towards God that he had indeed spared us from danger. In fact, he talked about how literally amazing it was that a category 4 hurricane lost so much power in so little time before it reached our shore. Indeed, the One who rules wind and wave was listening to our prayers.
We are thankful too. God had revealed his goodness to us. He spares us from real horror and disaster. He calms the fears of his people. The cross of Christ makes God’s goodness stand out for all to see. It’s there that we see our sins forgiven. In the cross of Jesus, we learn how we are children of God. The cross of Christ is where we see the fear of sin and death quelled. Christ has de-clawed Satan and de-fanged Death. We’ve nothing to fear. As we look at God’s goodness in the cross, we see the goodness of God in every aspect of our lives. He’s the one who guards us day by day. We don’t need to be stressed out.
2) The Lord Guards Your Life
You want to know what happens as you allow God to handle worry and concerns his way? Paul gives us an answer: “And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” That’s the result. God gives peace as a free gift. Through the perfect life and innocent death of his Son, God has made peace with the world. That’s what the gospel tells us. This peace literally blows our minds. It transcends all understanding. We can’t comprehend God’s love on our own. Only God can reveal the peace of Jesus Christ to us. He does it in his Word. We can’t figure out God with our own reason. He is incomprehensible. He is hidden in his majesty and glory. Yet, God chose to reveal himself to us through his Son, who humbled himself and became one of us, so that we could be with him someday in perfect majesty and glory. And even now God is guarding us day-by-day – keeping danger completely from us and only allowing things that do happen to us for his will and purpose.
The peace we have in Jesus affects our way of thinking. It actually guards our hearts and minds. Down at the River Walk Mall, there’s a jeweler’s store that has these mock guards standing in the doorway. They’re all dressed up to look like the guard detail at Buckingham Palace. They’re decked out in the authentic English uniform complete with the tall fuzzy hat and phony rifle. They even perform a mockup changing of the guard. I noticed at first these fake guards would stand outside the store in the mall walkway, but people could come up and harass them by making gestures at them, waving hands in their faces; they’d do anything just to try to distract them.
Apparently, they complained to their boss. Now, those mock guards stand inside the store on the other side of the glass door where no one can bother them. I always wondered what would happen if someone tried to steal something from that store. Those mock guards wouldn’t be around to protect anyone but themselves. They’d probably be the first to run if they had the chance. The truth is they don’t guard anything. That’s because they’re not qualified or capable.
How often we do the same thing! We try to guard our lives behind the false security money or wealth. We try to guard ourselves behind the appearance of youth. People try to dress younger and look younger. In fact, you can find doctors to perform liposuction to remove that “spare tire” or who will give you Collagen injections to alleviate your wrinkles. None of these efforts will guard us to eternity, though. When I’m lying in the hospital hooked up to a respirator, my 4-bedroom house won’t matter; my stocks and bonds won’t buy happiness; that “tummy-tuck” won’t make a difference. All of those things are like those teenagers dressed up in River Walk mall. These efforts look like they can guard us from aging and death, but in reality, they can’t.
How the opposite is true with the peace of Christ. We have peace with God because of Jesus, and that peace is like a sentinel standing at the doorway of our hearts. The peace of Jesus drives away all thoughts of worry and fears that could corrode our faith in God’s promises. This worries of this life want to break into our hearts and steal away our hope in Christ. Illness, unemployment, family crisis, bad weather, guilt, anger, lust and greed – all these try to steal away our hope in Christ. Yet, our hearts and minds are secure through faith in Jesus. The love of God guards us from despair and fear. It keeps our hearts focused on the ultimate goal of forgiveness – heaven.
The apostle Paul gives us a remedy to stress. He reminds us that the key to real joy and contentment is found in Jesus Christ alone. The peace of Jesus guards our hearts and minds now and forever. Your sins are forgiven. God has removed your guilt and shame forever. You are his own dear child. Whether you are rich or poor, sick or healthy, down and out, or up and coming, the message is the same: Don’t get stressed out. Your joy and happiness is secure in Christ Jesus, your Savior. So, rejoice in the Lord! Amen.
