When Worry Takes Over

Intro

[Thank worship team]

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “Connect” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out there or at the Welcome Center outside of the sanctuary. We even have a free gift for you if you are new to Bethel. We would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.

Announcements:

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Today we will be continuing our study called Summer on the Mount. If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 826. If you do not have a Bible, please stop by the Welcome Center and take one. It is our gift to you.

TRANS: Pray

Opening Hook

Today we are talking about worry, anxiety, and fear.

In the last 20 years, we have experienced quite the pendulum swing. But not everyone. i can’t say that the pendulum has swung broken down by generation.

There are two mindsets that exist:

Everyone needs a therapist

No one needs a therapist

For many years, going to “therapy” was something that was reserved for people who had “problems.” There was a strong stigma. It was something that, if you could, you would keep quiet.

Then the culture, and the church, started to challenge that view. There is a place for therapy. Probably more people need it than we realize. The advent of the smart phone increased mental health needs, and so the stigma was challenged and more people began getting help.

But then something happened — people began seeking therapy for what we could call “normal life problems.” These are things that are within the realm that would be better handled by seeking advice or support from family, friends, and the church. Now many people do not know how to be resilient through normal things, because we’ve “therapized” life so much that we run to it too quickly.

The other trend is that, as observed by journalist Abigail Schrieier, therapists are incentivized to keep relatively healthy people in therapy for as long as possible to maintain their income and not have to deal with more “difficult” issues. These relatively healthy people, though, become more psychologically sick by continually talkinb about their problems. This is called “rumination.” They ruminate about their issues for too long, and they actually become worse, not healthier.

I mention all of this because some people hear the word “anxiety” and think “just get over it.” Others are crushed by it. Both are in the room today.

I will not be able to solve the mental health crisis today, but I can tell you what Jesus said about it and what to do. This message will not suggest that there is no place for professional counciling. I believe that is a helpful tool that many have or are benefiting from. But this message will also not suggest that the answer to anxiety is “get over it.”

It turns out, Jesus had a pretty simple take on anxiety, and I will summarize it with today’s big idea:

Big Idea

Seek the Kingdom today. Trust your Father with tomorrow.

All of us have to wrestle with fear, worry, and anxiety. Whether you call it that or not, we can relate to the feeling of not knowing what will happen, being afraid that disaster will occur, and being deeply troubled by anticipated challenges that tomorrow will bring.

TRANS: With all of this context and set up in mind, let us be careful to listen to and receive the words of Jesus:

Matthew 6:25 ESV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Trusting With Tomorrow

When worry takes over, keep your troubles in perspective.

Matthew 6:25

6:25. Most people in antiquity had little beyond basic necessities—food, clothing and shelter. Because their acquisition of these necessities often depended—especially in rural areas—on seasonal rains or (in Egypt) the flooding of the Nile, they had plenty of cause for stress even about food and clothing.1

1 Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, Second Edition (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2014), 62.

Jesus is addressing a very real fear that people of the day had: fear of sudden or ongoing scarcity.

We may have similar problems, but we also have no idea what they went through. We may have financial troubles, but save for the great toilet-paper shortage of 2020, we have come to reasonably depend on our food supply chain. The ancient world couldn’t depend on there being groceries in the grocery store. Now we have options.

But we still have anxiety. Why? Because the anxiety Jesus is speaking about is when we foresee the problems of the future without the resources to address it.

We consider our own resources and limitations, and we assess (or we do not assess, we simply feel the crushing weight) that we cannot handle tomorrow. Tomorrow is too much. There are too many things that could, or might, go wrong.

The “coulds” and “mights” come from a sense of insecurity in ourselves. We imagine, reasonably or not, disaster striking that we do not have the resources to address. Jesus brings a few of those “what ifs” up — clothing and food. The basics.

Jesus responds

“Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

Jesus is asking a rhetorical question aimed at the assumption that life is only about meeting one’s material needs. “Is that really all that life is about?” Jesus challenges.

Jesus has been speaking about the Kingdom. It is one of our 10 key concepts:

Kingdom

The kingdom is not just where you go one day; it’s living under His rule today.

Matthew 5:3, 10, 19–20; 6:10, 33; 7:21

When we are consumed with worry, we often lose perspective on why we are here and what we are doing. Worry, fear, and anxiety are not just conclusions that we arrive to after careful analysis. They are something that grip us and put us in a state of priority-tunnel vision. We cannot see anything except the problems (that either exist or could exist), and the necessary (in our minds) steps to alleviate said problems.

But Jesus is saying, your life is about more than your material needs.

TRANS: Jesus illustrates his point by pointing to his creation:

Matthew 6:26–30 ESV

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

When worry takes over, rest in the Father’s provision.

Matthew 6:26-30

Jesus is saying, “look around! I care for all of this. Do you think I can’t care for you?”

Sidebar: Jesus says, “are you not of more value than they?” You are made in God’s image. Genesis 1:26-27 You hold a unique and important role and status in God’s universe. God cares about you, and he cares for you.

“Which by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Much energy is spent avoiding disaster that never comes. It leaves one weary and burdened.

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow—only today of its strength.

Charles Spurgeon

At bottom worry is lack of trust in the Father’s provision. But look at how Jesus clothes the lilli and cares for the bird. He will care for you as well. God provides for all of his creation. He cares for you too. Trust in that.

Notice that little line that Jesus closes with, “O you of little faith.” Why does he bring faith into this? It feels like a gut punch. But Jesus isn’t attacking or shaming, he is pointing out what is happening.

Let me illustrate. We would say that we hear with our ears, we see with our eyes. There is a part of our body that is responsible for a specific function. Like that, anxiety and fear comes from a certain muscle, and that muscle is also responsible for faith.

The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.

George Müller (Philanthropist and Preacher); Herschel H. Hobbs

To act in faith is to turn from worry, to live from worry is to be of little faith. We’ll talk about how to live from faith soon.

TRANS: [text]

Matthew 6:31–34 ESV

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

When worry takes over, seek the Kingdom of God.

Matthew 6:31-34

When we are crushed by fear, worry, and anxiety, that orients our lives. Jesus instructs that the gentiles, those who do not know God, operate from such fear. Their lives are consumed with tomorrow, because they believe *they* are responsible for meeting those needs.

But Jesus says, “your heavenly father knows them all.” Jesus is speaking to your heart. “He knows.” He sees, He hears. Be calmed by the knowledge that God in Heaven is looking out for you.

Seek first the Kingdom of God. When you are pulled away from the Kingdom because of tomorrow’s worry, you are living like those who do not know God. But you do know God. Ensure that your priority for today is to seek the Kingdom, and trust God to provide.

New Testament Scholar Michael Wilkins comments on the relationship between trust and tomorrow:

Matthew Choose Your Provider: God or Worry (6:25–34)

All the worry in the world today can do nothing about the cares and problems of tomorrow. As disciples learn to let God care for them today, including their “daily bread” (6:11), they will become increasingly secure in his care for them tomorrow, regardless of whatever evil may come.

Remember the Lord’s prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread” not our “yearly bread.” When we operate from trust in the King, we seek the things of the Kingdom.

Do you think God has the resources to deal with the troubles of tomorrow? What is at His disposal? Is God limited? Does God have only a certain amount of energy? Does God have scarce time or resources? Is he spread too thin? No! God has what you will need to deal with tomorrow’s troubles.

When you trust God with tomorrow, you are able to reset your priorities to His priorities.

TRANS: Seek the Kingdom today, trust your Father with tomorrow. So how do we trust the Father with tomorrow? This is a large area that could have considerable time spent on it. At the risk of oversimplifying, I will boil it down into two steps of application:

Application

Pay attention to heart issues.

Pain -> Wounds -> Vows -> Strongholds

We all experience pain.

Pain for the things done to us

Pain for the things done by us

We feel all kinds of pain: hurt, betrayed, lost, abandoned, blamed, didn’t belong, dirty, empty, failure, exposed, foolish, inadequate, manipulated, neglected, violated, vulnerable, worthless.

This leads to a wound being formed. Wounds are beliefs that come from how we talk to ourselves about our own pain:

“I deserved it.”

“I am not lovable.”

“I am bad.”

“If I were different, that wouldn’t have happened.”

“if I were more [fill in the blank], I could have prevented it.”

Vows are promisees we make to ourselves that sound like this, “I will never be hurt like that again.” Most of us are fearful, anxious, and worrisome because of vows we have made to ourselves. Pain is a teacher, and the lesson we learn as children or adults is to be hyper vigilant in order to avoid disaster.

Vows lead to strongholds. A heart level stronghold sounds like this:

“I must provide for myself.”

“If I am in control, I will flourish”

“No one (including God) is looking out for me, so I must look out for myself.”

“If I trust others, I will be let down or betrayed.”

This is what I mean by the “heart.” Way down in the wellsprings of your heart, there exists a lie that you have been operating from that has led to your behavior. The anxious, fearful, and worrisome place you have been operating from does not come from no where. There are strongholds.

A stronghold is a well-fortified belief, a lie, that operates in the background, like breathing. They are assumptions you make about others, God, and the world. They color your relationships, cause you to interpret interactions negatively, and make it difficult to trust in God. You cannot “try harder” to trust God if you are operating from a false belief (a stronghold).

In 2001, Bob Newhart was in a skit for MadTV where he played a therapist. In the skit, a woman was in his office lamenting all of her troubles, her worries, etc. Bob’s character, explained that he could cure her if she simply took her advice. And that her instinct, when hearing the advice, would be to be confused in some way. But he assured her that it was not confusing, it was simple — so simple it was only two words.

He asked her if she was ready to hear the two words, and she agreed, though skeptically. He said to her, shouting, “STOP IT.” She was confused. Stop it? Yes. Stop it.

This went on for several minutes, and it got increasingly ridiculous. But the live audience laughed at the advice because we all know how unhelpful such advice is. If we could stop it, we already would have!

TRANS: What are we supposed to do? I’m going to suggest a process that sounds simple but can be quite difficult:

Reject lies, receive truth.

Very often, we must be willing to face difficult and painful memories that was the origin of our strongholds. But most of us aren’t willing to do that. Pete Scazzero calls it “go back to go forward.” Dusty White calls it “story work.” Most of us don’t want to go there. We can’t bare the pain of remembering, so we try to burry it in the backyard of our minds. It may be buried, but it’s still operating.

Only when we are willing to go back to those memories are we able to see the foothold that has been set by the enemy in our hearts. If Satan can’t *have* us, he will settle for the next best thing: making us ineffective.

Why do you think Jesus’ solution to worry is to seek the Kingdom of God? (Matthew 6:33) Because whether we have reason to worry or not, don’t let the Enemy take you out from what God has called you to do.

That is the Enemy’s game plan. He hates your Heavenly Father, and therefore he hates you. If he can get you to believe something that is false about God so that you do not participate in the mission of making disciples, he’s happy.

When I say that it is the Enemy’s game plan, this is not “Richard Eng hyperbole.” it is what scripture tells you. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 ESV

3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

You must reject the lies that make you ineffective. And rejecting lies requires you to go back to when you began operating from them.

Here is what is true today, and I want you to practice receiving truth from Jesus.

“I reject the lie that I am on my own, and receive the truth that Jesus will meet my needs.”

“I reject the lie that I must be in control, and receive the truth that I can trust Jesus with tomorrow.”

“I reject the lie that my worries take priority, and receive the truth that I must pursue the things of the Kingdom with the help of my Savior.”

Conclusion : Worry, fear, and anxiety may be a part of life, but Jesus teaches us what to do when we experience it. When worry takes over, may we remember Jesus. He loves you. He cares about you. Do you trust Him today?

Pray

Heavenly Father, thank You for knowing our needs and caring for us. When worry takes over, help us see our troubles in light of Your goodness, rest in Your faithful provision, and seek Your Kingdom first. Reveal the fears and false beliefs within our hearts, and replace them with Your truth. Give us grace to be faithful today and to trust You with tomorrow. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Talk About It/Think About It

What worries are most likely to consume your attention?

How does remembering that life is more than food and the body more than clothing help put those concerns in perspective?

What do the birds and flowers teach us about God’s attentive care?

Where is God inviting you to trust His provision instead of trying to control the outcome?

How can worry reveal what we are seeking first?

What might your current worries reveal about what is happening in your heart?

What lie have you been tempted to believe, and what biblical truth can you receive in its place?