Stressed Out
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The General Social Survey asks people to rate their happiness levels. Between 1990 and 2018 the share of Americans who put themselves in the lowest happiness category increased by more than 50 percent. And that was before the pandemic.
The really bad news is abroad. Each year Gallup surveys roughly 150,000 people in over 140 countries about their emotional lives. Experiences of negative emotions—related to stress, sadness, anger, worry, and physical pain—hit a record high in (2021).
Gallup asks people in this survey to rate their lives on a scale from zero to 10, with zero meaning you’re living your worst possible life and 10 meaning you’re living your best. Sixteen years ago, only 1.6 percent of people worldwide rated their life as a zero. As of (2021), the share of people reporting the worst possible lives has more than quadrupled.
Stress is a reality for many of us today. Asking a person to stop stressing out is almost like telling them to stop breathing. Even buzz words like managing stress are starting to be used because the reality of stopping it is seen as an exercise in futility. And yet it is clear in the scriptures that this cannot be the posture of the christian in our culture today. Jesus tells us…
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Just like the Bible asks us in James can saltwater and fresh water flow from the same spring? Can we have a christian who’s heart is full of worry and worship? How is this possible? How can we acknowledge the wonder, power, grace, and unfailing love of our heavenly Father in worship and at the same time be worried about whether He is wonderful, powerful, gracious, and unfailing in His love for us? My earthly father still takes care of me today, am I to think that my heavenly Father is not as good or able to do the same and so much more?
What needs to happen in modern evangelicalism in this arena, is a clear paradigm shift. We need to understand what it is that we are fighting for and why we are actually here. Our only purpose in life is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Anytime we come out of this clear articulation of the chief end of man. Anytime we come to another conclusion other than fear God and keep His commandments… We are outside of the reason why we are here and why we were created and now living in a way that will cause a horrendous amount of stress.
(Jack bring up a chair) Now connect to the internet with it. Is that gonna stress you out and frustrate you? Then we turn our attention to the creator of this chair and threaten to sue. And their response is … this is a chair. The purpose of this chair is to sit on not to connect to the internet. If you need to connect to the internet we can’t help you there. The purpose of our product is to provide resting comfort you and your family for many years to come. And this is essentially what our Father reveals to us in the scriptures.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
And His purpose?
The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
We are not here for the purpose of providing for us all that we think we should have in accordance to our felt needs. But Shane God is to provide for us what my heart desires, no… because our heart is deceitful above all things who really know how evil it is. But I need Him to make me successful… as defined by you and the World or by Him? But since he created me and put me here on earth there are certain reasonable requirements and standards that I have that He is responsible in providing. There is a limit as to what I decide is acceptable suffering. Society has set the standard of what is acceptable living and God must provide that for us if He is to be worthy of worship. He said He would provide all of our needs… how are you defining needs. Sure God provides manna from heaven and quail, but we are not OK with eating the same thing everyday. Through in some steak or chicken, crab legs, sushi, a burrito filled with beans, carnitas, and chili verde. It is not acceptable to eat the same goop everyday. And all ya got is water? Mix in some sunny delight, a coca cola product, a red bull maybe for our long nights of wandering. Come on you are all powerful… you can make frozen margaritas come out of a rock.
And at the heart of the problem is that in our culture of a post post modernism influenced church, we cannot tell the difference between life and lifestyle. Or if we do we prefer the latter. It is not enough that we live, we gotta have the lifestyle that we want or else life is just not worth living. That’s the key. One more time. We believe that it is not enough to live, we gotta have the lifestyle that we want or else life is just not worth living. One of the main reasons for suicide today. But lifestyle is not a given for us christians today. We pray that God will keep us in the lifestyle that is comfortable, but that is just not the case.
Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering. Sometimes you were exposed to public ridicule and were beaten, and sometimes you helped others who were suffering the same things. You suffered along with those who were thrown into jail, and when all you owned was taken from you, you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.
God did not keep them from suffering injustice… even prison. They got beaten for their faith. Not just suffering but terrible suffering. Public ridicule and persecution, loos of their positions and reputations. God did not stop those who would take all that they had. They even loss their houses. God did not stop it. Now if that were to happen today how many of us would accept this with joy? How many will keep praising God? Do we have the clearness of mind to know that we have something better… something that will last forever? Do we hope in the future inheritance or do we only live in the here and now? So you see… an acceptable lifestyle as defied by the world is not what is promised. We are not of this world. Our goal is a heavenly one. We gotta stop aiming for the things of this world. In the end it will not bode well for us. If we think we want to get as many of the pleasures and comforts of this world as we can and still make sure we get into heaven. It will end badly. This is why Agur prayed for the Lord not to give him riches… lest He disown God and say who is the Lord. CS Lewis wrote… Aim at heaven and earth is thrown in… aim at earth and you get neither.
How do we get this paradigm shift Shane… where there is no stress and worry. Its called the Bible. Lets take a look.
Your justice is eternal,
and your instructions are perfectly true.
As pressure and stress bear down on me,
I find joy in your commands.
Your laws are always right;
help me to understand them so I may live.
The grass withers the flower fades but the word of our God stands forever.
The Justice of Scripture
The Joy of the Word
The Gospel of Life
The first thing we will look at today is the real justice and righteousness that is the scripture for life and godliness. Second, we will see how it is through the commands of God that we will find joy during the times of stress. Finally, we will see that it is the gospel of Jesus that will ultimately ensure that we will live eternally.
Thesis: Though sin and the pattern of this world cause us to be concerned and occupied for the things of this world, it is the power of the Holy Spirit and the power of the scriptures that will cause us to truly rejoice and again I say rejoice.
I. The Justice of Scripture
- God is good and all He does is good.
A. Our psalmist asserts the everlasting nature of the justice of God. Not only did we see before that the God is righteous and His justice is true, our Psalmist makes its also clear that this is not a momentary or temporary thing. His righteousness and justice is true not just now or for a time, but it is forever. It is eternal.
Spurgeon writes, “Having attributed righteousness to God in a previous verse, he now goes on to declare that the righteousness is unchanging and endures from age to age. This is the joy and glory of the saints. What God is, He always will be, and His method of dealing with the sons of men is unchanging. Both the righteousness and the unrighteousness of people come to an end, but the righteousness of God is without end.”
B. And this is important today. One of the reasons many people today are losing confidence in the scriptures is because we are embarrassed by what our culture deems to be unjust and immoral. A common response from modern evangelical leaders, is that all the “Awful” things that God allowed and regulated was just how God acted back then. Now he is nice and politically correct. This always backfires. Why? Because we are using unjust and faulty standards set up by man, to judge what is right and wrong in the scriptures. When all we gotta do is a careful reading apart from the arbitrary, inconsistent, and ignorant moral standards of the culture to realize that the Bible is the standard that is truly righteous.
C. I already shown you the justice and righteousness of God’s regulations concerning slavery as punishment for a crime to be more beneficial for the victims. In our culture today… our systems many times protect the rights of the criminal so much, that it ends up being unjust for the victim. I already shown how the regulation for rape victims protects the victim and provides a better deterrent. We saw how the imprecatory psalm about dashing babies against the rock was a picture of justice being done and how vengeance would be the Lord’s not ours. But Shane the Bible calls Bats Birds, yes and the Hebrew Word for that category translates to winged creature. Is a bat a winged creature? Yes. We can go on and on with this… just take some time this week to go over the laws and regulations of God in Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy … some of them, you will think, huh? How could God do that? Why does He allow that? What in the World? We think this because we are conditioned by the ways of the world and we are taking our cues from culture not the Scriptures. Then look a bit deeper or call me. You will see that the justice of God is supreme. Always All the time without fail. Without fail!
D. But Shane, the World is not going to like it. Of course they don’t like the laws of God. They don’t believe. They are rebelling. They will reject the things of God always with suppression of truth and a diamond hard heart. But this is not the case with a Christian. We love the laws of God. We trust the laws of God. We stand by the laws of God. And we can trust that the laws that God gives will be just and righteous now and forever. It will not change. It is eternal.
II. The Joy of the Word
- The real and lasting stress relief.
A. Now the psalmist is not judging us for being stressed and worried in anguish and trouble. It happens and it happens and will continue to happen. But the answer to the trouble. Is not a chemical. It is not in a bottle. It is not in friends or family. It is not on social media. It is not in entertainment. It is not money. It is not popularity and it is not in worldly power. The answer is the scriptures. Period. He finds joy in the the scriptures. The scriptures brings joy to his heart.
The commandments of the Lord are right,
bringing joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are clear,
giving insight for living.
Spurgeon writes, As a result, he became a riddle. He was troubled, and yet delighted; he was in anguish, and yet content. The child of God can understand this enigma, for he well knows that while he is cast down on account of what he sees within himself, he is all the more lifted up by what he sees in the Word.
B. God is telling us wha is our purpose and he tells us what we are to do as His creation. If you are needing to know the aim and point of life. Why are we not wanting to listen to the One who actually created us? He would be the one to tell us who we are and why we are here. It is when we are living in accordance to the will of God, that is when we will find true peace and joy. Not temporary relief… I remember talking to a church member who was a meth addict. When the meth wears off… He cares again. The relief only masks the problem.
C. The Bible brings the transformation that we need to know the will of God and to walk in it.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
D. And by the truth of the scriptures and the power of the Holy Spirit we come to the place when we know and we believe that the grace of Christ is all that we need. Are we there yet? Cant we confidently say that the grace of Christ is sufficient for us? His grace is enough for us. If that is all I have, that is all that I need? Do we believe it?
E. We stress out because we don’t know what to do, but the Bible tells us. We don’t have what we need, but the Bible declares that will have all that we need according to His riches in glory. We stress cause we feel like we are alone and abandoned, but the Bible say that He is with us always till the end of the age. We stress because there is injustice being done to me, but the Bible says vengeance is mine. We stress because of trials and suffering, but the Bible says take joy my brothers when you face trials of many kinds for the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Its making us stronger.
F. Do we believe it?
III. The Gospel of Life
- So I may live.
A. But that is kind of the problem right. Shane I do believe it to a point I guess. Or maybe more realistic … I want to believe it. Our continued struggle of telling the difference between believing it and wanting to believe it. We struggle with the unbelief of the Israelites in the wilderness. Its not that we don’t believe God exists, they did not believe God was good. I know God can help me, I just don’t think He will. Oh ye of little faith. Yes and faith continues to be a problem for us. Our greatest weakness.
B. And our greatest problem. The wrath of God. The judgement of God. There will be nothing more horrible than facing the judgement of the living God. It is real, it is coming and it will be terrible. It is a terrible thing fall into the hands of the living God. But why? Because of the wickedness, rebellion, and unbelief of mankind. Sin is real and it has fuel the fire of unbelief and rebellion. And it has affected all of us. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is no one righteous n not one. There is no one on earth who always does good and never sins. We are all by nature children of wrath. And the wrath of God is coming with the coming of the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.
C. Who also came to bring us salvation. And salvation is here. We can be saved today because Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried and he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.
D. And the promises continue all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your hearts that God raised Him from the dead you will be saved.
E. Understand this family. So we may live. This is the gospel of Jesus as given to us by the scriptures inspired by the God who cannot lie. This is how we get life more abundant today. It is in Christ and in Christ alone. Don’t stress today… H will be just and always just forever and ever. Amen.