Living the Worry Free Life
Turn to Matthew 6:25-34
Perhaps you’ve seen the little flyer that says, "So far today, God, I’ve done alright. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper. I haven’t been grumpy or nasty or selfish. I’m really glad of that. But in a few minutes God, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot of help.
Well we need a lot of help, and especially in the area that we will be talking about this morning. We are talking about living the worry-free life. And that sounds nearly impossible. And while we may not attain perfection, I do believe that we can go a long way towards reducing the amount of worry that we carry around.
Our text is found in Matthew.
READ MATTHEW 6:25-34
Well, let’s talk about worry. We all worry. Let’s just put that fact out there right away. We all worry from time to time. Some people worry over big things and some over little things. But we all worry.
And it’s hard to preach a sermon on not worrying because we’re all guilty of it. And I also find it difficult to preach on worry because I can look out here this morning and see some of you who have gone through things that I have never had to experience, and so it’s hard for me to simply say to you, “Don’t worry.”
I know that worry is relative to each of our situations and I also know that it’s not the easiest thing to just stop worrying. And while it may be easy to acknowledge that we need to worry less, it’s another thing to accomplish that.
The great comedian Carl Hurley tells the story about trying to throw a trash can away. He said it’s the one thing you can’t get the garbage man to pick up. He said, I set an old rusty garbage can out at the street one morning thinking the garbage man would understand that it needed to be thrown away. He said, when I came back that afternoon the can was stacked up with the rest of my empty trash cans.
Well the next week I put it out again and this time I turned it upside down so they could see that the bottom had several holes in it and it needed thrown away. When I cam home it was stacked up next to the empty cans again.
The next week I took a sledgehammer and I beat the can in pretty good and I left it out front and when I came home not only was it stacked up next to the other empty trash cans but the garbage man had actually tried to beat it back into shape.
And so he said finally I did the only thing I could do. I went to the hardware store and bought a heavy duty chain and a padlock and I chained the old can to a large tree in my front yard. And sure enough, that night somebody stole it.
Worry is a lot like that trash can. We know we need to get rid of it, but it’s not so easy to accomplish. And one of the worst realities about worry this morning is not just that it’s present but how we respond to it. When we worry, when we are upset over the latest setback, when we receive the notice that our job is being cut, when our child gets sick, when the bank forecloses, when our spouse leaves, when all of these happen, who is it that gets the blame? It’s God, the only one who can offer the cure for hurt and worry.
The only President to not use a Bible at his inauguration is Franklin Pierce. Two weeks prior to the inauguration, he and his wife and their only son were going to Concord, New Hampshire when their train car left the tracks. It went down a hill. They were unhurt but their only son was killed. He brooded about it and couldn’t understand why God would let something like that happen, and he refused to use a Bible at his inauguration.
Helen Hayes was a famous American actress for many, many years ago. She and her husband had only one daughter. That daughter died at the age of 18 from polio. A few years later Helen’s husband died at a young age, however Helen lived to be in her eighties. When asked why her husband died at such an early age, she said it was because he could not get over asking why. He worried about their daughter’s death until it killed him.
Now worry is not the same as concern. Concern says this is an issue and I’m gonna deal with it and with God’s help I can get through it. Worry says "I don’t know" I don’t know what’s gonna happen. I don’t know if I’ll get through. I just don’t know.
And I want to emphasize that worry is one of the Devils greatest weapons. It will steal your joy, steal your contentment, steal your happiness. And we become so wrapped up in worry about tomorrow, worry about yesterday, that we never find peace today.
And what’s ridiculous is that so often we worry about things that never happen.
(My wife had a dream the other night that there were traps set up all across the floor of our room. Ever had a dream like that. You dream there are snakes or spiders all over the floor….)
That’s what we do in life – we worry about things that aren’t even there or haven’t even taken place yet.
I’m not sure where this came from, but I saw the statistics that when it comes to worry:
40% of the time we worry about things that will never happen,
30% concern things that can’t be changed,
12% center in on criticism, mostly untrue, made by people who feel inferior,
10% relate to health which worsens when you worry,
And only 8% are legitimate concerns which you can do something about.
Most of the time we worry about things that never happen.
We’re like the patient in the mental hospital, holding his ear close to the wall, listening intently. The nurse finally approaches him and says “What are you doing.” “Shhh!" he says. And he keeps listening. And finally the patient beckons the nurse over and says, “Listen.” The nurse presses hers ear to the wall for a long time. And she finally says, "I can’t hear a thing," And the patient says, "Yea, and it’s been like that all day!"
Well, we worry about everything. And worry is like putting your car in neutral and revving the engine. It burns oil and gas and is hard on the engine and it really doesn’t get you anywhere. Worry is like that. And it’s very serious and very common.
Well, why is the Bible so strong in it’s warnings against worry. And there are several reasons.
#1 – WORRY EXHIBITS A LACK OF TRUST IN GOD
When we trust God we do not worry. And when we worry we do not trust God. Worry says, “I’ve got a problem and I don’t think God can take care of me through it.”
#2 WORRY AFFECTS OUR RELATIONSHIPS
I’ve noticed in my life that when I have a big upcoming event, I’m not the most pleasant person to be around. But after the sermon or the trip or the event is over I can be a lot of fun. But when we’re stressing over some upcoming event, when we’re feeling the pressure, it affects our relationships with each other.
#3 - WORRY DAMAGES OUR HEALTH
A great percentage of our illnesses is in some way related to worry and anxiety and stress. The number one killer in America is heart disease. 38% of all deaths are heart related and many of those are related to hypertension, high blood pressure and anxiety.
Not too long ago, there appeared in a leading medical journal an article entitled, "Is Stress the Cause of All Disease?" The author of the article says that at the beginning of the century, bacteria were considered to be the center of attention. Today, mental stress has replaced bacteria.
I have a book in my office called deadly emotions that says “Studies are linking more and more modern diseases to an epidemic of deadly emotions in our culture.” And stress and anxiety top that list.
The Bible says, “To worry yourself to death...would be a foolish, senseless thing to do” (Job 5:2, Today’s English Version). But how many people do that.
#4 - WORRY HINDERS YOUR WITNESS
Titus 2:10 says that in every way we need to make the teachings of Jesus more attractive to people. We don’t do that when we worry.
And we get so worried about things that they consume us and we miss opportunities that God has placed before us to impact people with our faith or we impact them negatively because our worries exhibit a lack of faith.
I mean think about it. What kind of faith does it reveal to someone when we are so worried about every little detail of life? Do you ever stop to think, “You know, I am really presenting a picture here that I don’t believe my God can handle this problem.” That’s what we’re presenting.
So what causes worry?
#1) THE AFFLUENCE OF OUR AGE
Ecc. 5:12 says the sleep of a laborer is sweet, but the abundance of a rich man provides him no rest.
We think the more we have, the more security there is. Not a chance. The more we have, the more we have to worry about.
It’s like the guy in the car wreck and he’s stumbling around moaning, my BMW, my BMW. And a policeman comes up and says buddy, that’s the least of your problems. Your arm’s been cut off. And he looks down and moans, My Rolex, My Rolex. Bad. But not far off.
Do you worry more about that new car, or about that old Junker sitting out in the back yard. Do you worry more about those new clothes or about those old jeans you use to clean out the garage.
And, you know the answer, that new car, those new clothes may be nice in some ways, but they certainly add a great deal of worry to our lives.
The more we have, the more we have to worry about. Things, possessions, cause many people to worry.
#2 - A SECOND CAUSE OF WORRY IS THE MEDIA
CNN, Headline News, Fox News, etc. We have global news brought into our house every day. We have Newspapers that bring to us the troubles of the world. What do we see in one day? Bombings, murder, war, Juvenile crime, political corruption. And that’s supplied to us daily. And everything is supplied from the negative viewpoint.
Think about the weather – what do they say, Do you know what today’s forecast calls for? It calls for a 10% chance of rain. – How come they never say 90% chance of sunshine. It’s always from the negative. And it’s good to be informed, but I think you also have to realize that the media has to sell. They have to make it crucial and important and embellish it.
You know what the 9:00 teaser is. They say, here’s what’s on at 10:00 and they say it in a way to get you to watch it. What if they came on at 9:00 and said nothing exciting happened today, we’re gonna run a cartoon at 10:00 we suggest you go to bed.
They don’t do that.
#3 - A THIRD CAUSE FOR WORRY IS SIMPLY LIFE EXPERIENCE. It seams the older you get the more you have to worry about.
I read an article the other day. It said, "My 88 year old grandfather was telling me about a date he had last week with a new lady friend he met in church. He said halfway through the service she had to slap him....But once he started breathing again they went ahead and sang the next hymn.”
Well, it seems we have more to worry about as we age. I see it in lives around me. I see it in my own life. You worry as your kids get older. You worry that they won’t get in college and then you finally get em in college than you worry they won’t graduate. If they don’t date you worry, if they do date you worry. They don’t marry or do and each way it brings worries.
Erma Bombeck wrote, "To be a parent is to worry.” But it’s not just parenting. It’s everything. You can’t afford to go on vacation but if you don’t you’ll be stressed out. If he doesn’t leave that job he’ll never get ahead, but if he does leave it, he’ll be unstable. Experience in life brings worries.
#4 - A FOURTH CAUSE OF WORRY IS OUR PACE OF LIFE.
Every thing is so fast. Fax machines, cellular phones, E-MAIL, everything is go, go, go. We seldom relax and I really doubt God intended our nervous systems to live at the kind of pace we put them through. That’s why he called for a mandatory day of rest.
Now the word for worry is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word which means to choke or to strangle. And that’s what worry does to our joy, to our spiritual life, to our friendships. Were talking about something very, very serious.
I heard about the golfer that was having a terrible day. first he sliced his ball into some bushes, then he hit it out of the bushes into a sand trap, then he hit it out of the sand trap and over the highway into a field, and then he hit it out of the field right into some woods. And he went looking for the ball, his friend said why don’t you just leave it. He said, “I can’t he said, that’s my lucky ball.”
Well we need more than luck, we need answers.
John 14:1 - Do not let your heart be troubled." Can I say my heart is never troubled? I can’t.
Phil.4:6 - Do not be anxious in anything." Can I say I’m never anxious. No i can’t. And so we need a solution. We need an answer.
How do I live the worry free life? And here are four clues.
#1 – SLOW DOWN
I think there is a correlation between hurry and worry. They are intertwined with each other. And maybe one of the reasons we worry so much is that we are part of a society that is more on the clock and in a hurry than ever before.
I read the story several years ago about a city that was having problems with their busses. Busses were driving right past passengers at the bus stops. It caused quite a stir in the newspapers. The Transit Authorities decided to answer the questions by putting out a press release in order to explain the situation. That press release has become infamous in public relations classes. Because what the transit authority press release said was this: “It is impossible for us to maintain our schedules if we are always having to stop and pick up passengers.”
When we’re in a hurry we sometimes miss the main things.
John Ortberg pinpoints this in his article, Taking Care of Busyness. He says, "For most of us, the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith. It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it. We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them."
And it’s relational that everyone hurries and everyone worries. And somewhere along the line we need to slow down so that can be reminded of what really matters. We need to slow down and reflect on the promises of God. We need to slow down and remember that:
God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine.
All things work together for the good of those that love the Lord.
Greater is he that is in me then he that is in the world.
Our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed
God created the heavens and the earth
In my father’s house are many mansions
The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not be in want
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
#2) LIVE ONE DAY AT A TIME
Don’t borrow tomorrow’s worries today. Worry is experiencing a crisis before it happens. Don’t do that. We spend great portions of our time fretting over future things that we can do nothing about. What if there is an earthquake, or cancer, or an accident. "What if" are worries favorite words.
I came across an interesting article some time back. It was a long-term study of nearly 4000 men. And they found that of the 4000 in the study 38 had died of sudden heart attacks on Monday while only 15 died on Friday. For men with no history of heart disease, Monday was particularly dangerous.
And I think there’s a very real lesson here. Why is Monday so bad, because were worrying about all the stuff piled up in the four days ahead. We’re borrowing tomorrow’s troubles. And by the time Friday gets here, we realize all those things weren’t so important after all and we begin to relax. The bible says don’t worry about tomorrow because you can’t control it.
#3 - KEEP A LONG TERM PERSPECTIVE
A third cure for worry is to keep a long-term perspective. Jesus said focus on heaven, seek first the kingdom. develop an eternal perspective.
If I knew my house was going to burn down tomorrow, how much time would I spend worrying about how to decorate it today? And 10 years from now, 50 years from now, certainly 100 years from now a lot of things we worry about won’t make a bit of difference.
It will not make any difference that you are five pounds overweight, or that your child didn’t make all stars, or that your spouse put a dent in the fender. What will count is your heart, your character, your generosity, and most importantly your salvation.
So slow down, don’t borrow tomorrow’s worries, keep a long term perspective.
#4) REMEMBER GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
Learn to trust the providence of God. Birds trust God to supply their needs however God does not come along and drop the worms in their mouths. Trusting God doesn’t mean we are lazy and indifferent, but it does mean we come to the point that we can know that God will provide what I really need.
And by worrying we actually are calling God a liar. We are saying to God, I know you can keep the sun in orbit. I know that you can sustain all life on earth. I know that you can answer prayers all over the world at once. I know that you have always been in control in the past...but I don’t believe you can take care of the problem I’m going through now.
God said in Prov.3:5-6 Trust the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. And worry says I don’t believe He can do it.
Said the robin to the sparrow, I would really like to know, Why those anxious human beings, rush and worry so.
Said the sparrow to the Robin, I think it must be, They have no heavenly father like the one that cares for you and me
Worry says, I don’t believe God can handle this one. And God says, try me.
Maybe this morning as we sing our invitation we can make a decision that you will give over that one thing that has really been worrying you. And you’re going to give that over to God and put your trust in Him and know that all things will work together for the good of those that love him.
