Sermon Tone Analysis

The Solution to It, Part 1

When The Upright Get Uptight

Ron Dunn

Psalm 37

 

        I want you to open your Bible today to Psalm 37.  I want to read the first seven verses.

During these days together we are going to be looking at Psalm 37 under what I have titled When the Upright Get Uptight.

1Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

2For they shall soon be cut down like the grass And wither as the green herb.

3Trust in the LORD and do good; So shall thou dwell in the land and verily thou shall be fed.

4Delight thyself also in the LORD; And He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

5Commit thy way unto the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

6He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light And thy judgment as the noonday.

7Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.

Not long ago I saw an article in the newspaper.

Actually, I had been looking for something like that for sometime.

I knew that it was bound to happen sooner or later.

The article was simply telling about a new government publication that had just been released entitled, Everything Doesn't Cause Cancer.

The article went on to explain that in the past several years there had been so many warnings issued about this that our country was being slowly gripped by cancer paranoia.

They said that not everything causes cancer.

Just about everything, but not everything.

I myself had begun to develop some of that paranoia.

I picked up a newspaper, and a front page article said: Tests Link Shampoo with Cancer.

This is not good news to someone who likes to wash their hair occasionally.

The article said they had fed these laboratory rats shampoo for six months, and they developed cancer.

Well, I figured anybody who drinks shampoo for six months deserves whatever they get.

That's the way these things are presented.

We become paranoid and are trying to create a risk-free society.

Lewis Thomas says there has never been a time when we are living longer, but enjoying it less because we are worrying more about it than ever before.

Man is living longer now than he ever has lived in the modern age.

Back during the days of the Roman Empire, the average age was 25 years.

Only one out of four men lived to be 50.

It was calculated that just to keep the Roman population maintained, every woman would have to have four babies.

Right now, we are living longer and healthier than ever  .Yet, at the same time, we are worrying more about it.

We live in a very fretful age.

I guess that is one of the things that caught my attention about Psalm 37.  The psalm opens with these words:  Fret not thyself.

I don't know of anything in the Bible that is anymore up-to-date and relevant than that.

If there is a message that you and I need to hear today, it is this:  fret not thyself.

In a number of the Psalms the very first phrase serves as a title or subject introduction, giving you an idea of  the subject or theme of the entire psalm.

Psalm 37 is one of these.

The very first phrase introduces the entire theme to us:  fret not thyself.

God knows that even though I'm saved, and even though I'm trying to walk with the Lord, I still find myself filled with fretfulness at times.

The Hebrew language is a very picturesque language full of images, and one way you could translate this phrase fret not would be "don't get all hot under the collar."

Don't allow yourself to get hot and bothered.

It is the idea of a person who is frustrated because of some situation.

We sometimes use this phrase:  this just burns me up.

Well, that's sort of the idea of what the Psalmist is saying.

But there are certain conditions or circumstances as the Psalmist writes that have a tendency to cause these believers to be a little bit uptight, to be filled with fretfulness and fear, and it also has the idea of anger in it.

The Psalmist's word is simply this:  whatever the situation is, don't allow yourself to become filled with fear, fretfulness, and frustration.

Don't allow yourself to be burned up to the point of fretfulness over the situations that you face.

That is significant to me because it indicates that even though I am saved, I still find myself in fretful situations.

There is a lot of teaching going around today that gives the idea that if you and I are filled with the Spirit, as we ought to be, and we are as full of faith as we ought to be, we'll be able to rise above everything..  Life will be smooth and easy for us.

God will take all of these barriers out of the way, and we will move through life without ever having a ripple.

The only thing wrong with that is that it is wrong.

The Bible doesn't necessarily teach that just because we trust the Lord, and just because we are his people, that we are exempt from the everyday trials of life.

We are not.

We are still part of this human situation.

As long as we live in this world--this flesh, no matter how saved or Spirit-filled we are, you and I are going to be faced with those situations in life just like anybody else.

Sometimes they tend to fill us with fear and anxiety and fretfulness.

I think it is important for us as Christians to understand this so we won't think something has gone wrong when we find ourselves in one of these situations.

I met an interesting fellow in Colorado a few years ago.

We talked for awhile.

When we left, his parting shot was:  keep loving God; keep hating sin; and watch out for trucks.

I appreciated that little bit of practical advice because to tell you the truth there have been times when I've thought that if you loved God and hated sin, you didn't have to watch out for trucks.

But the fact of the matter is you do have to watch out for trucks.

We do face situations in which our lives are filled with fear and anxiety.

So the Psalmist says fret not thyself.

What I want to do today is to look at some of the sources of this.

Then we'll look at the solutions--I hesitate to call it a solution—but the alternatives, what the Psalmist says for us to do in this situation.

Today I want us to examine what specifically it is that causes us as Christians to fear, or to be angry, or frustrated.

It is significant that  the Psalmist is talking about things that are peculiar to Christians.

In other words, there are some things that might anger a Christian or cause him to be fretful or worry that would not cause a lost person to fret and worry.

The moment you begin to believe in the Lord, and become a person of faith, you have certain problems that other people do not have.

We are going to be talking about  things that I think are peculiar to Christians, things that might make me fearful and fretful that would not make someone else fearful.

Let mention three.

1)     *THE INJUSTICES OR INEQUITIES OF LIFE.*

Notice what the Psalmist says in the very first verse:  Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

Here the Psalmist is saying there is the possibility that even though we are God's people, there is something about the wicked that frustrates us.

The frustration is that so many times they seem to be so successful.

He says don't be envious of the wicked.

He goes on in verse 7 and says:  Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.

The idea is that here is a godless man, and he is all the time scheming and planning strategies, and every one of them is successful.

And here you are, a child of God, striving to live for God and honor him, and it seems like everything in the world is coming apart at the seams.

Here is this fellow across the street from you that doesn't care about God, and lives as if there is no God, and everything seems to be going well for him.

His boy is the captain of the football team, and his daughter is the head cheerleader.

Don't you hate people like that?   Everything seems to be going well for them, and the fellow has no use for God whatsoever.

1.

*Life is not fair.*

Now, here is something that is peculiar to those of us who are saved.

We believe that God owes us special treatment, and that life ought to be fair, at least a little bit.

After all, if I am a child of God and if I am striving to live for and honor him, I think God ought to take that into consideration.

Really, when God starts passing out all the calamities of life, he ought to remember that I am his child.

I feel I should get special treatment.

Yet, the psalmist is saying that the truth of the matter is that we oftentimes will look at the wicked, and they seem to be getting along so well that we become envious of them.

That leads to frustration and fretfulness.

Here I am.

I'm praying.

I'm doing everything I know to do, and everything is coming apart but not for the wicked person.

The injustices of life--  the inequities of life--the fact that life is not fair.

I'm sure some of you are familiar with the book written several years ago by Rabbi Harold Kushner, called When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

It is a very interesting book, but not a Christian book, and he reaches some conclusions that you and I could not reach.

It became a best seller in 13 different countries and I saw the Rabbi interviewed on television.