Lesson 2
Why We Should Not Worry!
June 10, 2007
Bro. Gary Johnson
Adult Sunday School
Matthew 6:26-34
Introduction: The question we are asking is Why should we not worry?
Number one I find it impossible to point to a single benefit that comes from worry.
Number two have you ever thought that it could be injurious to your neighbors?
We all have friends and neighbors, who know us, that are not Christians and know we are. We may very well be the only example or picture or “sample” of what a Christian that they have. When we are all smiles and happiness when we are in sunshine and all maters are well with us, Our observers are not strongly impressed with our “Praise the Lords” They reason somewhat like Satan did when concerning Job that piety and prosperity are linked together. Anyone ought to smile and act the part under those circumstances.
But let any adversity come. A financial reversal, a death in the family, ill health, or loss of a job, Now your observers are all attention to see how your Christian faith will stand up to this test. If your alert observer see the light fade from your eyes, the joy depart from your heart, the corners of your mouth droop as the woe enters into your conversations replacing the “Praise the Lord. They will say “Its just as I thought. There is no reality in that Christian Faith. Those people go to pieces just like any one else. They have nothing that I do not have.
Just when you had the opportunity (that you may have been praying for) to bear a glowing testimony to a Savior who sustains and satisfies under all circumstances, you failed Him in the opportunity He gave you and by so doing you robbed your neighbor of seeing how your Savior can overcome all.
Concern for worldly things has been a hindrance for ages as in the parable of the great supper in Luke 14:15-24
Another reason we should not worry is hurts the heart of our Heavenly Father.
Imagine for a moment that you are the father of an 8 year old boy some of you will be some of us have been. Now let us suppose that we notice this boy looking weary instead of his normal joyous self. You ask him what is troubling him? His response is my clothes are wearing out and getting too small and he did not know where he was going to get the money to buy new ones. Your reaction would be one of hurt. The boy has stepped into his father’s province, robbing him of his fatherhood prerogative. Knowing you had always provided for him you can not understand his lack of trusting to continue your function as his father that of providing for him out of love.
This example may seem extreme, so extreme that you consider it unbelievable, but is it any different then us the children of God refusing to believe His promise in Hebrews 13;5, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”
Worrying on the part of a child of God is no less out of line or any less shameful then what we considered the actions of that 8 year old son we just talked about. I believe the evidence is in on what worry is and the fact that it is one of the sins (accepted or not) that most of us are prone to committing much more often than we would care to admit. I know it is a much too often used word around here.
What is the cure for worry? There are many: Believing, Christ, Faith God, Prayer, & Trust just to name a few in alphabetical order. We even have a How to Manual to learn how to use them, and it is not called “Worrying for Dummies”.
Let’s start with Psalms 55:22 Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
We have already read Matthew 6:25-34 so lets add Mathew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
We have 1,000’s of promises throughout the Word of God. Many of them would be a sure cure for worry if we were just to claim them I heard in and was amazed in an early Bible Study numbers as high as 7,000 and now I am sure that it is probably more.
God can cure worry through His Word.
Our escape from worry is in God, by bringing Him into the center of life’s living. This means a life of prayer (Just in case you have never heard that before around here) A life of trust that through prayer feeds upon the promises of His Word.
Judy just recently purchased a Greeting Card for our daughter in law that says everything this whole series is going to say. It reads on the cover: “Good Morning this is God” inside it reads:”I will be handling all of your problems today, I will not need any help, So have a Good Day” With the scripture reference of Romans 8:37 “We are more than conquers, through Him that loved us”
Where Gad and His Word are enthroned, worry can not crowd in. Probably the most quoted definition of worry is: Worrying is you doing the work that was intended for God”.
Scripture, studied in simple faith, assimilated into our Spiritual being, and turned back to God in trusting prayer, will produce peace in the soul.
The Holy Spirit knowing the proneness to worry as one of the consequences of sin, provided for this by giving many promises to cover this need.
Since I like participation in Sunday School I often have you read verses instead of me reading them all... If I assigned the correct verse from the first chapter of these I could assign 13 different books of the Bible and you could almost read them all in unison. Do the words “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ” sound familiar to you? Do you get the message that is being given to us? These recurrent words are far from being a mere formula. They describe the Christian Life. It is “Grace and Peace” never reversed Peace cannot be had apart from Grace, and Grace cannot be appropriated without Peace.
We have been given: Saving Grace, Keeping Grace, Sustaining Grace, Upholding Grace, Guiding Grace, and Teaching Grace. It is Grace to endure and Grace that covers every need. And we have Peace including Peace with God, Peace from God, and even the Peace of God. That last promise the Pease of God comes from a verse we just ought to read again right now. Phi 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Phi 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
I believe that may be as good of verse to quote as any now and any time that our present subject as a chance to restate a beautiful promise that we are given so that we should not worry.
These two verses make it clear that you can not worry and believe the promises of God at the same time. If you believe the promises of God you have peace and inter happiness. If you believe in the humanistic viewpoint and look at your circumstances form a human viewpoint, you are going to worry yourself into a state of terrible misery. Another cure for worry that is mentioned in these verses is prayer.
So we can now ask the question Why Worry, when you can Pray or is it Why Pray when you can always Worry.
I gave you a test (a take home test) last week and I am not going to ask how you did on it even though some of you have told me unsolicited that you worried more than you thought you did as a result of that little review, So from a completely non Biblical source the “Massachusetts General Hospital” publication “Mind, Mood & Memory”, let me give you some of the findings they reported in the June 2007 issue.
Treatment for Anxiety can Promote Healing. Anxiety can make a physical illness worse. By getting help to reduce stress and worry you can improve functioning and decrease disability. (We did give you the source of that help even though this article does not give the same solution the one we reported is better.) This article says Anxiety can make you ill. Untreated anxiety can have significant implications for the course of a physical disease and it’s outcome. Recognizing and getting treatment for anxiety along with other medical conditions is important to achieving faster healing, improved functioning and mood. and a better quality of life. Yet the connection between anxiety and physical illness is often overlooked.
The article begins “Anxiety can make you ill, and illness can make anxious: Aren’t you glad to hear that that the great minds of the medical world have figured that much out?
A survey of 965 patients in 15 primary care practices revealed that nearly one in five patients showed signs of anxiety as determined by a self administered questionnaire. (It does not say and I doubt it is the one you have that I passed out the first week of this study ).
This research says that of those surveyed 19.5% of the patients had at least one anxiety disorder.
This being a worldly medical report it of course says If you are feeling anxious it’s important to inform your doctor and indicate that you want to do something about it. Having an anxiety disorder is not the result of weakness or lack of will, It is a medical disorder that can have adverse effects on your functioning and your health, and there are treatments available to help you. We have just discussed the only one that will work.
The article goes on to say that an estimated 40 million American adults experience anxiety disorders according to the National Institute of Mental Health. The have several pages in this article naming the anxiety disorders which includes:
1. Panic Disorder: Periodic episodes of intense fear and physical sensations.
2. Post traumatic stress disorder: An anxiety that develops after witnessing events such as natural disasters, or acts of violence, and even nightmares.
3. Phobic anxiety: An extreme fear of a specific object or situation, like spiders.
4. Generalized anxiety disorder: I guess this covers all of the rest because in includes: Persistent and impairing worry, tension and feelings of apprehension about everyday problems.
They do say that all anxiety disorders are accompanied by physical symptoms, which may include sweating, trembling, difficulty breathing, dizziness, fatigue, accelerated heart rate, nausea, muscle tension, and aches. The article of course has a couple more columns of treatments but we have already covered the only one that will work.