On Mountains and Molehills

What do you worry about?

There are so many things in this life about which we can worry. I have a few things that we can think through, but before we get to those, let’s just take a moment to think about or write down a couple of things. (pause for 30 sec. or more)

We can worry over basic things - food, clothing, shelter.

We can worry over big things - salvation for family members, job promotion/performance, children and their decisions.

We can worry over relationships - marriage, friends, parents/children, co-workers, neighbors.

We can worry about money - budgeting, emergencies, retirement, vacation...

Worry and Anxiety affect a lot of us. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (www.adaa.org) -

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.

Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9% of those suffering receive treatment.

People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders affect 25.1% of children between 13 and 18 years old.

Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.

Now, I think for purposes of our discussion, it’s important to note that there are anxiety related disorders that may require medical attention. I’m not sure that I’m fully equipped right now to address the seriousness of the bio-chemical make up of our bodies and our minds. Anxiety and Depression are serious issues - sometimes brought on by no fault of our own, and sometimes brought on by consequences of our actions.

My hope as we look at this issue today is to look practically and biblically at it.

So the next question I think we need to ask ourselves is...

How do you deal with anxiety?

Some people don’t do anything about it. Some people just keep on worrying.

According to an article in Psychology Today - worry can become a perpetuating cycle. “Each time we worry and nothing bad happens, our mind connects worry with preventing harm: worry → nothing bad happens. And the takeaway is, "It's a good thing I worried." (We probably aren't consciously aware of this thought process.) “https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/think-act-be/201610/5-reasons-we-worry-and-5-ways-worry-less

“Each time we worry and nothing bad happens, our mind connects worry with preventing harm:

worry → nothing bad happens.

And the takeaway is, "It's a good thing I worried." (We probably aren't consciously aware of this thought process.) “https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/think-act-be/201610/5-reasons-we-worry-and-5-ways-worry-less

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.

Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9% of those suffering receive treatment.

Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only 36.9% of those suffering receive treatment.People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.

People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders than those who do not suffer from anxiety disorders.

Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.

Anxiety disorders affect 25.1% of children between 13 and 18 years old.

Anxiety disorders develop from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality, and life events.

Now, I think for purposes of our discussion, it’s important to note that there are anxiety related disorders and

There are so many ways that we deal with it.

There are so many ways that we deal with it.

There are so many ways that we deal with it.

ignore it - which may cause further health concerns

medicate it -

with pharmaceuticals, or illicit drugs

alcohol,

shopping

fret over it

work like crazy to address it or mitigate it.

Be happy about it.

Several years ago, Bobby McFerrin wrote a song about worry that had a very simple solution.

Don't Worry Be Happy Bobby McFerrin

Here's a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note Don't worry, be happy

In every life we have some trouble But when you worry you make it double Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy now

don't worry (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy

Ain't got no place to lay your head Somebody came and took your bed Don't worry, be happy

Ain't got no place to lay your head Somebody came and took your bed Don't worry, be happy The landlord say your rent is late He may have to litigate Don't worry, be happy Oh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh don't worry, be happy Here I give you my phone number, when you worry, call me, I make you happy, don't worry, be happy) Don't worry, be happy Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style Ain't got no gal to make you smile Don't worry, be happy 'Cause when you worry your face will frown And that will bring everybody down So don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy now (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy

The landlord say your rent is late He may have to litigate Don't worry, be happy

Oh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh don't worry, be happy Here I give you my phone number, when you worry, call me, I make you happy, don't worry, be happy) Don't worry, be happy

Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style Ain't got no gal to make you smile Don't worry, be happy

'Cause when you worry your face will frown And that will bring everybody down So don't worry, be happy

Don't worry, be happy now (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy

Now there, is this song I wrote I hope you learned note for note Like good little children, don't worry, be happy Now listen to what I said, in your life expect some trouble When you worry you make it double But don't worry, be happy, be happy now

don't worry (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy don't worry

Now listen to what I said, in your life expect some trouble When you worry you make it double But don't worry, be happy, be happy now don't worry (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) be happy (Ooh, ooh ooh ooh oo-ooh ooh oo-ooh) don't worry, be happy don't worry

Source: Lyricfind Songwriters: Robert Jr. McFerrin Don't Worry Be Happy lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

Now Bobby McFerrin and our culture may have certain ways of dealing with worry and anxiety - these can help for a while, but ultimately, these won’t help forever. Is it enough to simply ignore the struggles and try to be happy?

If you have your copy of the Bible, please turn to . Jesus gives us His solution for worry. The ESV reads like this:

English Standard Version Chapter 6

“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? 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? 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.

As we continue our look at the sermon on the mount, we find that Jesus follows up the topic of money and slavery with this issue of worry. In many ways the two are closely tied together. If we are a slave to money and materialism, then we will constantly worry about having enough, getting the right stuff, making ends meet. If we submit to God as our master, then our actions and how we use money will be submitted to His way of doing things.

As we continue our look at the sermon on the mount, we find that Jesus follows up the topic of money and slavery with this issue of worry. In many ways the two are closely tied together. If we are a slave to money and materialism, then we will constantly worry about having enough, getting the right stuff. If we submit to God as our master, then we

The challenge we have to realize is that...

Worry Questions the Sovereignty of God

When we worry, we think that we take things out of God’s control and place it in ours. We have an illusion of control - when we really have no control at all. We make the issue that we’re facing so large that that we fail to remember that God is bigger than it. We make a mountain out of a molehill - and worry God out of the picture.

Let’s look at what Jesus says about this.

Back in the first century, when Jesus was walking on Earth, and in much of the Old Testament, people generally had more concern with some basic necessities. Food supplies were not as systematized as they are now. It would not be uncommon for soldiers to take from you (requiring your cloak or another garment) or for raiding armies to help themselves to your crops. People probably did not have more than a couple of outfits. With our ability to store food for long periods of time and acquire clothing around every bend, we lose a bit of the need to trust in God’s provision for these basic things.

Jesus uses two illustrations to help us to picture what God’s role is in meeting our needs.

God provides food for the birds who don’t do anything to prepare for it. Birds don’t really have a means of plowing, planting, harvesting, and storing food. They simply gather and eat, or give to their young to eat. They have to work for it by looking. There are birds who eat seeds and worms. God has blessed them with great eyes to be able to find what they need and the instincts to know exactly where to look. There are birds of prey who can soar high of above the earth and see clearly the smallest rodent. God allowed scavenger birds like vultures to roam the skies and clean up the messes that other animals leave behind. God knows what the birds need and so he put things in motion to supply for them.

He knows what you and I need - the food we need to eat, the liquids we need for refreshment. We have tended to add so many things to our lives that we may feel like something is a need when it’s really just a “nice to have.”

Jesus’ argument here is one of value - if God does this for the birds, will you trust him to do more for you because you are more valuable? Will worrying make the thing happen or add anything to your life? Jesus actually mixes a metaphor that some of our translations edit for us. He says - “

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? (Mt. 6:27)

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016. Print.

In the Greek - that phrase would be more literally rendered “a single cubit to his stature.” A cubit is about 18 inches or the distance from your elbow to your fingers. A cubit is a measure of length and yet the word that we read as life or stature can be read both as a measure of time or length. Most of us would not want to add 18” to our height - unless you were extremely vertically challenged. The whole point that Jesus is getting at is that worrying won’t add anything - so don’t worry.

When it comes to our needs - do we trust that God will supply? Sure, we need to work. We may also need to adjust our expectations. Like we discussed last week - Fletcher and Nancy had just moved into a big, beautiful house - did they need that? No - and so they were willing to let it go - trusting that God would provide.

Jesus uses a second illustration to help us keep a proper perspective on things...

God provides clothing for the flowers and grass of the fields - which are burned up. I wish I was a good gardener. I love how beautiful gardens look. I love the way that flowers and trees and grasses demonstrate God’s creativity and handiwork. When Danielle and I were in college, driving those long hours out to Indiana - she would point out so may of the wild flowers that grow along the side of the road. There is such beauty, variety, and mystery in what God does with these things. And yet each year, we see plants grow and flowers bloom. We see the pedals fall and the plants turn brown for winter. Some of the trimmings get burned, some of them get recycled. All of it goes away.

Jesus whole point here is that Solomon with all of his wealth was not adorned in the way that these plants are - and yet their adornment gets burned up and thrown away.

God will provide for you. Will you trust him? Will I trust him for these things? or would Jesus accuse us of being people of little faith?

As we read and study this, we need to keep in mind that Jesus is communicating what Kingdom people should live like - distinct from the rest of the world. In verse 32 - many translations say that “Gentiles seek after all these things.” “Gentiles” literally refers to people who are not the people of God. In many instances this referred to all non-jewish people. The Greek word is ethnos which is related to our word ethnicities. Said another way worrying and seeking material things is unbecoming of the people of God.

Listen to that again - worrying and seeking material things is unbecoming of the people of God.

When troubles come, do we trust that God is good and is working for our good? Do we trust that God is in control? Do we allow God to be on the throne of our lives and the situation, or do we feel like we need to take the illusion of control back by worrying.

As He walks through this argument on the topic of worry, we get to the point of this passage which is essentially,

Jesus’ Antidote to Anxiety

Throughout the sermon on the mount, Jesus has been talking to his followers about what it means to be a Kingdom person and how we should live as people who are subject to God’s authority in our lives. In this area of worry, Jesus introduces a very simple formula as a means of countering the tendency we have toward worry.

Jesus’ antidote to anxiety begins with the charge to...

Seek His Reign (33a)

New Living Translation Chapter 6

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else

His reign should be sought as our highest priority. In the beginning of the sermon on the mount, Jesus said that the poor in spirit are blessed. These are people who recognize their own poverty and yield to the Lordship of God. A few weeks ago we discussed the Lord’s prayer where Jesus seemed to urge us to pray - “Lord, let what’s up there, be down here.”

When it comes to seeking God’s reign, we seek him. We seek to understand how he rules and how he acts.

Let me illustrate this a different way. Have you ever seen the movie the Karate Kid (the old one or the new one)? In the movie, a teenager wants to learn Karate in order to be able to adequately defend himself. He gets connected with a karate master who has some very unconventional teaching methods. In the original karate kid, the master had the student wax his cars - saying “wax on, wax off.” He then has him paint a fence with very specific strokes. He has him paint a house and sand a floor. By themselves, all of these chores seemed like a waste of time. The trial of the work was only allowing the master to make his house and cars look better without any work himself. Eventually the boy had to come to a crisis of faith and lean into the master. While he was a bit disrespectful in how he approached it, he eventually learned that wax on and wax off was a way of defending himself against a punch. He learned that sanding the floor was a way of defending a kick. Each action played a role in his development. He could ultimately only learn the skill by leaning into the teacher.

As a highest priority.

In an even more significant way, when God allows challenges into our lives (the things that we might worry about), he gives us that as an opportunity to trust His methods. He gives us an opportunity to worry or to worship. We have an opportunity to elevate the problem or elevate God and lay the problem before Him. We could complain about the issue - (I can’t believe I’m going through…) or we can come before him and seek his will - (“God, thank you for this…, help me to understand your will in it and trust you in this process.) It’s almost as though we need to begin by asking - “Lord, this problem seems quite large to me, what are you doing in the midst of this?”

(eternity is in heaven)

Immediately on the heals of seeking His reign, Jesus urges us to...

Seek to live in His right ways (33b)

New Living Translation Chapter 6

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously

Not our righteousness or religious acts - but His ways, according to His priorities, trusting in His sovereignty. If in the first part we are praying “Lord what are you doing?” this part of the antidote is “Lord what do you want me to do?”

Not our righteousness or religious acts - but His ways, according to His priorities, trusting in His sovereignty.

Our solutions are often fraught with worry and working. God’s solution may involve waiting and watching. It may involve working. However God wants us to deal with the issue, it will be his way.

Last week, I told you about Fletcher. Let me use a bit of what I told you to explain this. Before Danielle and her younger sister went to college, Fletcher had been praying for a way of paying for school without going into debt. Rather than worrying and working in a variety of directions, he prayed and waited. God provided work for him to do leading diversity training in various corporations. Because his budget was already yielded to God’s plan, this extra income filled in the gap that was needed for college.

(Live according to His principles)

Closing Thoughts

Gospel - spiritual worry - worry over heaven - sin - pleasing God, etc.

God cares for you. He knows what you need, long before you realize you need it. God has already worked out the solution and has an eternal perspective on this.

Slow Down

Seek God

Submit to His leading and work accordingly.

Let Him handle what you’re worried about.

NLT

Philippians 4:6 ESV

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

New Living Translation Chapter 4

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

New Living Translation Chapter 4

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.