Worry And Trust Series

In What Do You Trust – Part 8 – Worry and Trust

1. Overview and Review

a. Trust – what is it? Trust is placing the full weight of your care on another without reserve.

b. What is the greatest evidence of trust in the Christian? (prayer)

c. Why can we trust God?

i. Because He is Big Enough to take care of our needs and because He cares enough to take care of our needs..

d. This morning I am going to talk about how worry and trust are polar opposites of one another.

2. What is Worry?

a. Def: To torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts

i. Worry is an EMOTION – it is a feeling, something that we experience.

1. What we feel is a result of what we think.

2. Our emotions are a direct result of what we believe.

3. If we believe something untrue as true, our emotions will respond to that belief.

ii. Worry is an ATTITUDE – it is a matter of our heart. It is a direction that we bend. Our actions are controlled by our attitudes.

1. Change your attitude and you change your actions.

2. A person can carry an attitude of worry around. We call them a worry-wart. That is because it is as if worry is growing on them.

iii. Worry is an ACT OF THE WILL – it is a choice. Either we make worry submit to us or we submit to it.

3. What does worry to do us?

a. Worry is damaging to us.

i. Being a parent, I have had my share of panic-stricken minutes as I waited anxiously to hear if my one of my children was okay following an incident, surgery or accident.

ii. There is a big difference between worry and concern. Some of us confuse the two so that when trouble strikes we worry because it feels like we’re doing something.

1. We don’t like feeling helpless, that our life is out of our control, so stewing about our problem gives us the false sense that we’re somehow helping the situation or our act of worrying tries to assure us that we care.

2. But worry accomplishes nothing positive.

b. Dangers of worry:

i. Worry will rot your teeth: A study by Northwestern University has discovered that worry restricts the flow of saliva. Then, because natural mouth acids are not properly neutralized, tooth decay occurs.

ii. A survey of 5,000 students in 21 different colleges showed that worriers get the lowest grades

iii. An average person’s anxiety is focused on: 40% -- things that will never happen, 30% -- things about the past that can’t be changed, 12% -- things about criticism by others, mostly untrue, 10% -- about health, which gets worse with worrying, ONLY 8% -- about real problems that will be faced

iv. Psychologists have even now defined worry as a psychological disease. It is called General Anxiety Disorder: you stay worried, fear the worst will happen, and cannot relax. Worry so controls the person that they cannot function.

v. I believe that God does not want us to worry. In fact, in the bible, we are told over and over again NOT TO WORRY!

vi. Illustration: Have you ever heard the phrase “Like a dog worrying a bone.” Its an old English phrase that contains the picture behind the word worry. A dog will shake, chew, gnaw and lick and bite on a bone for hours, trying to wear it down. It’s a compulsion. The dog will work and work on that bone unless something of great importance interrupts him. And even when he becomes exhausted of worrying the bone a dog will go and bury it, so he’ll know just where to find it later. Left unchecked a dog will work that bone until it is totally dissolved.

vii. Now when it comes to people, when we submit ourselves to worry –WE BECOME THE BONE. Through worry we allow ourselves to literally have the life shaken out of us.

4. Scripture:

a. Matthew 6:25 Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ``What shall we eat?’’ or ``What shall we drink?’’ or ``What shall we wear?’’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.