SURVIVING WORRY
PSALM 23:1 & MATTHEW 6:25-34
INTRODUCTION TO SERIES: (“Alien Song” video clip - 0:43 - clip can be acquired from http://www.navone.org/HTML/Index.htm - used with permission.)
Have you ever felt like that? I mean, you think you’re okay, or maybe like our little alien, you’ve come through a tough time and survived, but then something else smacks you. Oh it may not be a disco ball but there must be a 100 things in this life that can knock you flat. Maybe someone deliberately crushed you. A mate, a friend, co-worker, an employee.. knocked you down and left you deeply wounded. Or maybe circumstances have flattened you. Your health is broken, a loved one died, a financial risk you took didn’t pan out, a relationship has gone sour. The stresses of life can come down on you hard and no matter your race, gender, or economic class, stress can often kick you off the island of peace. And so we have men in "mid-life" crisis, run-away wives, alcohol and drug addicted youth. Stress has become one of the biggest issues being dwelt with in the employment field, in the physical & mental health arenas and we desperately need to know how to survive the stresses of life.
That’s why, for the next 6 weeks I want us to look closely at Psalm 23. Because within these 6 verses is God’s “Survival kit” for stress. So we’ll look at how to survive busyness, indecision, emotional hurts and more. You know, there may be no passage in all the Bible any better loved or any more familiar than the 23rd Psalm. And I think it is because this Psalm tells us how to survive, it points us to God and tells us what he is really like. And my earnest prayer is that when we conclude this series, you’ll have come to know in a deeper way what God is like and that you’ll be assured of how much He really loves you and how much you matter to Him. And whether that knowledge is new to you or simply a reminder of truth, I hope that you will learn during these next six weeks to make use of God’s survival kit by learning to trust Him. Because as one author put it: “The more you understand God, the easier it is to trust Him.. And trusting Him is what brings real peace, real satisfaction, real life.”
INTRODUCTION TO SERMON:
The first cause of stress we’ll look at is Worry. Now we need to look at this cause of stress seriously. Sometimes we look at worry as a kind of personality quirk or a little flaw in our character. But we are beginning to learn that constant anxiety can have devastating effects on us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Jesus, in one of his most famous sermons, dedicates a large portion to deal with this issue in Mt. 6, and the writer of this Psalm - King David of Israel, makes this his first part of God’s survival kit from stress. Why? Because this is important; so, let’s study it seriously. Now, let me tell you right at the start that there is no easy, sure cure for worry. I wish there was some equation I could give you. You know, A+B=C and “there you go, see how easy that was?” But I’ve got no equation, no gimmick to give you that would enable you to walk out of here and never worry again. And I think we all know it goes deeper than that. But I also think within Psalm 23:1 and Mt. 6 there are some suggestions for changes in attitude that, if we will incorporate them, can have some positive long range benefit.
I. WHAT IS WORRY:
First, let’s make sure we understand what worry is. The Greek word for worry as Jesus gives it in Matthew 6 means not to engage in a “care-worn, anxious fear, which robs your life of joy.” That is why a great many translations use the word "anxious." A.T. Robertson in his word study says, "this is a command not to have the habit of (perpetual) worry." Now, some pressure in life is essential in order for us to be properly stimulated but there is a big difference between worry or anxiety and concern.
Concern focuses on predictable or probable difficulties and results in action. Certainly we need to be concerned about some things.. our financial well being, our children’s education, we need insurance. Remember one of Jesus’ parables talked about the fact that no man builds a tower without first counting the cost or no general goes to battle without being concerned about the number of the enemy. But worry focuses on uncontrollable problems and results in inaction. Worry is always asking, "What if?" But instead of stimulating the positive, anxiety promotes the negative. Ringing our hands, wondering, "What if this or that happens?"
In fact, the bottom line is that Jesus called worry a sin! Now the word sin came from an archery term that simply meant, “missing the mark.” Jesus is saying here that when you worry you have missed God’s mark for your life. In fact, in Matt. 6, no less than 4x in the NIV, Jesus emphatically says, “Do not worry..” Why does Jesus make such a big deal over this? Well, for the same reason He tries to keep us from any sin.. Because it is outside of God’s will for us, it is not best for us, and in the case of worry it means we are, at the time, putting our focus primarily on this world, not on God. And that creates four problems with worry.
(1) It makes worry unhelpful because it never accomplishes or solves anything. It is stewing without doing. It’s like racing your car engine -- you may create a lot of smoke and noise but you don’t go anywhere. Worry has never solved a problem. Worry cannot change the past. Worry cannot control the future. Worry only makes us miserable today. (2) It makes worry unreasonable. It exaggerates your problems, makes mountains out of molehills. The more you review something when you’re worried about it, the bigger it gets. John Haggi tells the story of a woman who worried for 40 years that she was going to get cancer. Every pain in the stomach was cancer, and she was running to the doctor over each little hurt. She died at age 73 of pneumonia. She had worried for over 40 years over the wrong disease! Worry is a waste of time and energy. To worry about something you can’t change is useless.
(3) It makes worry unhealthy. The body was not made to worry. When you worry you get ulcers, backaches, headaches, insomnia. Our bodies were not made to worry. Plants and animals don’t worry. The only thing that worries in all God’s creation is people. The old English word for worry is the word "to strangle" or "to choke". That’s what worry does -- it strangles the life out of you. You weren’t born worrying. You have to learn to worry. And some of us with all of our practice are quite good at it. (4) A fourth problem is that Jesus’ discussion makes worry a sign of being unfaithful. In Matthew 6:30 Jesus accuses those who worry as being “of little faith.” Why? Because worry says, "God, I’m not sure that’s true. I’m not sure I can trust you." Worry says, "I don’t think I can cope with it, God won’t be adequate." Yet, Phil. 4:13- "I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need."(NLT)." In fact, let me shoot straight with you. Any time you worry you’re acting like someone who doesn’t believe in God. Jesus, in Mt. 6, says when you worry about things like what kind of food you have (vs:25) or about what clothes you’re going to wear (v.28), or about the future (v.27) then you’re acting like a pagan! Vs.32 - “For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” You see when you worry about these things you are basically saying: “God is not going to keep His promises; God’s not going to take care of my needs. If it’s to be, it’s up to me.”
II. WHO CAN HELP US? THE SHEPHERD:
So what do we need to do to apply this part of King David’s survival kit here in Psalm 23? Well, David would say, put on dependence - depending on the Shepherd. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” In other words, I believe God will take care of me! If I believe that God is going to take care of me, I’m not going to worry. One of our problems I think in depending on the Lord as our shepherd is that it means I have to say, “If the Lord is my Shepherd than I am one of His sheep..” And that’s not a very favorable image! Of all the images that the ancient King of Israel could of used to picture himself, this one is the most unflattering.
How many remember the Art Linkletter show or the most recent remake where Bill Cosby did it called, Kids Say The Darndest Things? Well, for those of you who don’t know or don’t remember, at the end of each show they would ask 4 or 5 children questions. One of the oft asked questions was: "If you could be any animal in the world what animal would you choose to be?” The girls would say they wanted to be a warm, furry kitten or a mink so they could have a built in fur coat. The boys who always seemed to be more realistic, would say they wanted to be a lion or a tiger or maybe an elephant so they could squirt water through their nose. Yet in all the years that they played this game I can never remember one of the children saying they wanted to be a sheep. Why? Because sheep were everything that growing boys and girls did not want to be. Sheep are: defenseless, dependent, easily disoriented. They have no natural way to defend themselves except run. No wonder children don’t want to be sheep. But are those youngsters much different from the nations of the world?
When you look at the countries of the world and the emblems that they use to represent them, all of them take emblems that show they are fierce & courageous. There’s the screaming Eagle of the United States, there’s the Lion of Great Britain, the Soviet Union use to use a Bear as their symbol. And I do not know any nation that ever marched to battle behind the emblem of a sheep. It’s in our athletic teams too. We have the Lions & Tigers in Detroit, we have the Bears & Cubs in Chicago, we have the Philadelphia Eagles, the N.Y. Giants, even the Bronco’s horse looks more aggressive than it used too! But I do not know any team that ever took the field calling themselves the Denver Sheep. Somehow a sheep is everything you don’t want to be, dependent, defenseless, disoriented, nervous, often scared. And yet that is precisely what David is saying about himself. When he writes, "The Lord is my Shepherd" he is saying about himself, "I am a sheep." Before God I am dependent, before God I am defenseless, before God I am helpless, without God I’m nervous and scared! And I do not think you will ever make much spiritual progress in your life until you recognize that’s true of you. When it comes to the totality of your living, before God, we are like sheep. We need someone else to guide us, to protect us, and direct us. David is saying then, “THE LORD- is the Shepherd of my life.” That’s the part of this survival kit that gets us past worry: that if the Lord is your shepherd, you’ll have a relationship with Him and you shall not want for anything in time or in eternity. A little girl is said to have recited the verse this way "the Lord is my Shepherd- he’s all I want!” And although she was wrong, she was rather right wasn’t she? Isaiah 40:11 "God takes care of his people like a shepherd. He gathers them like lambs in his arms and carries them close to him." (NCV)
And King David was a shepherd so he knew that a shepherd does at least 4 things for his sheep. (1) A shepherd provides. He provides food, shelter, the basic necessities for his sheep. (2) A shepherd protects. He defends against enemies, harm. (3) A shepherd guides. He leads sheep when they’re confused and don’t know which way to go. (4) A shepherd corrects. Any problem that comes along, or any rebellion that occurs on part of the sheep, he corrects it. The amazing thing is this: God has promised to do these four things in your life if you’ll trust Him, if you’ll let Him be your shepherd. He says, "I’ll provide for you. I will protect you. I will guide you. I will correct the problems in your life for you. If you will let Me be your Shepherd.” God even gets more specific in Phil. 4:19- "This same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”(NLT) Now, notice, that it doesn’t say, God will meet all of your greed. If God met all of your wants you’d be the biggest spoiled brat in the universe and soon like with most spoiled brats, you’d be miserable. But He has said, "I will meet all of your needs." God says "I will...". He doesn’t say, I might or I’ll think about it, possibly. He says I will. That means because God is our shepherd that He has put His integrity on the line. He’s either going to do it or He’s a liar.
God says "I will meet all ..." What does "all" include? Doctor payments? Mortgage payments? Financial needs? Health needs? Relational needs? Yes. All. If God has promised to provide all of your needs, to protect you, to guide you when you’re confused, and to correct you when you start to stray, then what does that leave left to worry about? Nothing. I love Peter’s answer to Jesus in John 6, when the crowd left Him after a particular hard teaching. Jesus asked, “Do you want to leave too? .. Peter answered him, `Lord, to whom would we go? You alone have the words that give eternal life. We believe them, and we know that you are the Holy One of God.”(John 6:66-69 NLT) Peter learned the lesson.. We’re nothing, we’re nowhere without the Shepherd, but because we have the Shepherd we shouldn’t worry.
III. DECIDING NOT TO WORRY:
But how do we practically do that? It’s one thing to say, “Don’t worry, be happy!” But it’s quite another to actually pull that off! Well, the first thing you must do is decide not to worry! Worry is a choice! You must make a personal commitment to say, “I am going to depend on the Lord and not worry about the things I cannot control.” I am going to say like David.. “Since the Lord is my shepherd... I will not want!” You’ve got to follow Jesus’ advice in Mt. 6:33 and say, “I will put God first because I will “seek FIRST his kingdom and his righteousness.”Remember our definition of worry and concern? Well use that and ask yourself this question when you are caught up in a complicated or fretful issue. Ask: “Is there anything else I can do?” If there is then you are probably in an area of concern and you need to act. If there is not - if you are stewing without doing and refusing to trust God to handle it, then you are missing the mark, you’re saying, “God isn’t enough” and you are worrying. “Is there anything else I can do?” Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that positive thinking is all you have to do to defeat worry. But a decision is where it starts. Ask forgiveness for the times you’ve acted like a pagan, an atheist and have not depended on God and then make sure you incorporate these three things in your decision:
(1) That Jesus is Lord. Please understand that God is not the Shepherd of everybody. He’s only the Shepherd of those who let Him be the Shepherd. And when David says, "The Lord is my Shepherd," I think he makes the point that the Lord can’t be your Shepherd until the Shepherd is your Lord. That’s the way it works. What does it mean to be Lord? It means to be in control, to be in charge. Today we might say boss, manager, CEO, chairman of the board. Lord means the one in control, the person who is on top, calling the shots. Jesus Christ is Lord in your life if He’s calling the shots. If He’s not calling the shots, He’s not Lord. And if He’s not Lord, He’s not Shepherd. Because the Lord is my Shepherd. To accept Jesus as Lord means 3 things. John 10:14, 27 - "Jesus said, `I am the good shepherd... my sheep know me.. they listen to my voice, and they follow me." These three words is what it means to have Jesus as Lord: You know Jesus, you listen to Jesus, you follow Jesus. You put Him in control.
You see, worry is a control issue. The root behind all of your worry is a fear that you are not in control. Worry is always an attempt to control the uncontrollable. Worry is assuming responsibility God never meant for you to have. Whenever you try to control the uncontrollable you’re going to worry. Worry is a warning light. Whenever you start to worry the light should go off: Warning!-- you’re trying to control too much! Maybe the most important question this morning is: Who’s in control of your life? Amazingly, God gives you the option: either you can be in control of your life or you can let God be in control of your life. God doesn’t co-pilot. If that was the case, you’d crash and He’d get blamed. But God made you, He knows what will bring you joy more than you do. You can live by His design or yours.. But it’s your option. If you are in control of your life you’re playing God. Every time you start playing God, you’re going to worry. Yet, deep down we all know that we don’t have it all together. Listen, if you’re running your own life without God’s direction, you ought to be worried. But if God is running your life and He’s your Lord and your Shepherd you know He can control anything so you don’t sweat it. Why?
Because you decide that Jesus has proved He is a qualified shepherd. We need to reach the point in our lives when we say. "Hey, I’ve lived all these years and I’ve always had enough to eat, I’ve gone all these years and I’ve always had enough to wear, I guess God is going to take care of me in the future, He’s done it in the past.” We need to remember that plaque that reads, "Lord help me to remember there is nothing that is going to happen today that You & I can’t handle together." Didn’t Jesus say, “Consider the birds?” Ever seen a sparrow starve to death? Didn’t Jesus say, “Consider the Lilies of the field?” Ever seen a flower needing clothes? And His point is, if God is going to care for birds and these flowers that are cut down and burned up how much more is He going to care for you?
One more thing we need to decide.. To live one day at a time. Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Jesus is saying, “Don’t open your umbrella until it starts raining.” Today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. When you worry you don’t do anything about yesterday, you don’t control tomorrow, you just mess up today. The future can seem overwhelming. Therefore, God has put it in little bite-size pieces - they’re called days - 24 hour increments at a time. When Jesus taught people to pray in Mt 6:11 he said, Pray: "Give us today our daily bread." Please understand, there is no pill that will make you stop worrying. There is no seminar, tape, or book that magically clears up worry. There is no one spiritual experience you can have and you will never worry again. Worry, and surviving it, is going to be a daily choice, sometimes hourly, sometimes a moment by moment choice in which you say, “I am going to believe that the Lord is my Shepherd and He’s in control.” Because If I’m in control, I’ve a lot to worry about. But if God’s in control, it’s His problem & He can handle it.
What’s got you worried this morning? What causes you to fuss & fume, toss & turn? What is it, when you think about it, gives you an awful feeling in the pit of your stomach? I don’t know what you’re going through right now, but that doesn’t matter. God does. And when you read Ps. 23, you can’t help but feel this is a personal psalm, all about a relationship with God. You see, that’s what surviving worry is all about. Religion won’t help you stop worrying. But a relationship with the Shepherd will. You need a Shepherd, one who provides, protects, guides & corrects.
Wilbur Chapman was asked to come cheer up a little 10 year old boy who was dying of cancer. He went to the home of the little boy. The little boy was worried about dying and Chapman said, "I want to teach you something. Let me have your hand. The Bible says, `The Lord is my Shepherd.’ Every time you start to get worried about what’s going to happen to you, you think, `The Lord is my Shepherd’ and you hold onto your index finger and picture God holding on to you." Two weeks later the little boy died in his sleep and the people at the funeral wondered why he was holding his index finger.
“The Lord is my SHEPHERD.” Is the Lord YOUR Shepherd? Is the Shepherd your Lord? If He is you can stop worrying and say, “I shall not be in want.”
PRAYER:
"Lord, I don’t understand it all, but I’ve seen from Your Word, that You’ve promised to take care of my needs if only I’ll trust You. Help me realize that worry is just a warning light that I’m trying to control everything. I don’t want to do that any more. I want you to be in control of my life. I want You to be my Lord. Because I know as my Lord you will shepherd me. Lord, I want to know You. I want to listen to You. I want to follow You in the life plan that You made me for. May those of us who know You as Shepherd and Lord re-commit ourselves to letting you have control of every aspect of our life. For we have learned truly how sweet it is to trust you. And Lord, for those who have never really given themselves to You, who have never really said, I’m a sheep.. helpless, defenseless.. And I need a Shepherd.. may they turn whatever it is that is keeping them from that complete surrender over to you even in these next few precious moments that You have given us. "
{All Scripture taken from the New International Version unless otherwise noted}
