Lesson 4
Worry Can Be Overcome
June 24, 2007
Bro. Gary Johnson
Adult Sunday School
Matthew 6:26-34
I had hoped to get to this subject as a closing last week, but time did not permit so we will start here today. We will go to scripture for the how to of this subject but just for comparison I thought I would share with you what the world is teaching on this subject and hopefully you will see how ridicules that teaching is. From the July issue of the same source that I quoted in an earlier lesson The Massachusetts General Hospital’s publication Mind, Mood, & Memory
Now let me preface these suggestions are NOT MINE and certainly NOT SCRIPTURE they say things like this:
They ask if worry is robbing you of precious sleep. And state that nearly 25% of adults complain that worries keep them tossing and turning at night. That is the problem but they think they have good news they just do not have the right source of good news so it is wrong news. They say: Fortunately there are steps you can take to ease your anxieties and get some restful sleep. We would agree with that statement but as you will see in a moment not with the steps they recommend
Six ways to banish your worries at bedtime.
1. Keep a diary in which you describe your preoccupation and tensions. Watch for signs that you are making your worries worse by such habits as emphasizing the worse aspects of these situations.
2. (This one really amused me) Set aside a worry time. Each day set aside a time to think about what is worrying you. Spend 10 to 20 minutes mulling over these problems and thinking of solutions. Then at night when the worry surfaces tell yourself that you have done your worrying for the day and postpone fretting about it until the next days worry time.
3. Make a list of your worries. Write down each problem along with what you plan to do to resolve it (remember they still think it is up to you) When you find yourself worrying at bedtime remind yourself that you have already made plans to do something about it at another time (We have now switched problems from worrying to procrastination..
4. List the worries that you can not do anything about. (I believe our scriptural answer to that was all of them). This is to remind you if you are worried about things like global warming at 2:00 AM your worrying is not going to make it go away. You have no control over that problem and therefore you can get the rest of the night’s sleep.
5. Keep a pad and pencil next to the bed to jot down reminders. This is to prevent you from worrying that you will forget something that you need to do the next day. That concept is not so bad but you could write it down before you went to bed.
6. (Hang on for this one) Use relaxation techniques. I am sure this is where your Yoga would come in handy. They are suggesting breathing exercises or progressively tensing and relaxing your muscles from head to toe to relax your body so that you can get some sleep.
These suggestions are for your entertainment only so do not take them seriously but sometimes it is fun to just hear what the world is teaching since they do not have the source of true remedies.
This may be the first time that a Sunday School teacher has ever said this but you can quote me as saying you may ignore, forget, and/or disregard what I just said (Referring to that information from Massachusetts ) Sorry Jeff
So since we are not suggesting that you try any of those methods we just covered, are you worrywarts doomed to be worry warts for the rest of your life like I said my mother was? Worried that she did not have anything to worry about.
By God’s grace the answer to that question is NO! The good news from God’s infallible Word is the problem can be overcome. Let us consider some of the verses that are the promises we can claim so that we can believe that card that I told you Judy had bought.
Remember it said on the cover “Good Morning this is God” and the inside read: “I will be handling all of your problems today, I will not need any help, So have a Good Day”
Well that card was cute but we have a much better source than a greeting card to rely on cast our cares on so that by our belief in the word of God we can chuckle about the messages in greeting cards
Before I go any further on that note let me take a moment or two for some answers to some questions that have been asked (in addition to are there going to be any more tests passed out)
I have been asked for a definition for what it means to worry, maybe they meant another word to use if I do not want to say I worry We have used several so far but if I have not used enough I looked a little further.. For the answer I am going to use a lesson taught at Lafayette in the Biblical Counseling Seminar ( I believe in tract two) on the subject of Worry & Fear: The Accepted Sins.
They do say that the reason that they consider them together for their study purposes is because of the similarities between both of these problems and their solutions.
They start out with a list of synonyms’ that many people will use to try and camouflage what they are saying or thinking instead of the word worry. Words that seem less severe like bothered, concerned, disturbed, interested, or troubled. They do add that regardless of the term one may use instead of worry, that worry saps your energy, drains your joy, destroys vision, curtails evangelism, and aggravates physical ailments. (Some things we have already said) and one more that I do know we have said (It is contagious – easily caught, and fearfully experienced).
Moving on they give the following definition of worry.
I. WORRY DEFINED
First of all I will tell you what worry is NOT. Worry is not the proper care and concern that causes you to attend to business in a responsible way.
And second Worry is NOT right planning. James 4:13 Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: (14) Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (15) For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
A. The Greek word for worry is (merimnao) a combination of two words (merizo) [to divide] and (nous) [mind] in other words not using Greek I would say to separate the mind and who wants to have schizophrenia?
B. Worry actually means “a divided mind”
C. In the Bible the word is usually translated either “worry” or “anxious”.Which we have been using regularly.
D. It is not to be confused with diligent care and concern toward your responsibilities. (which is on my list of items to cover later) from 2 Corinthians 11:28 “Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” Or Philippians 2:20 “For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.”
E. Planning that acknowledges God’s sovereignty is not worry. James 4:13 ( Which we just read) Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
F. Worry is an over-anxious concern regarding future things that keeps a person from fulfilling current biblical responsibilities.
Continuing with the counseling seminar definition of Worry
They say as we have said that Worry is Sinful:
That it causes you to neglect responsibilities and relationships.
Gives you thoughts that are unproductive
Controls your mind instead of you controlling it:
It accomplishes nothing.
It is a thief of time
It blurs your vision
It wastes energy
It damages the body
It often causes the worrier to stop functioning in many areas of their life
It is actually a form of laziness
In Matthew 6:19-34 (which we have read several times now) Jesus address worry and HE Forbids it three times in verses 25, 31, and 34.
And Paul commands believers “Be careful for nothing;” in Philippians’ 4:6
There definition of worry does include something that we had not covered (at least not until now)
II. Worry is Idolatry:
A. Idolatry means to worship someone or something other than the true and living God.
B. Giving yourself to some person, goal, idea, concern, or object, rather than Christ.
C. Putting your desires above God’s desires and commands for your life:
D. And allowing your concerns over the future and things to be more important than thinking and acting God’s way
E. Worry expresses idolatry in the heart, showing what we are really focusing on.
1. Things (verses 19-21)
2. Goals (verses 22-23)
3. People (verse 24)
F. The things you worry about reveal your idols, from health, or worldly success, to peoples’ opinion of you.
G. Jesus declared that we cannot serve God and anything else (two masters).(verse 24)again
H. A worrier needs to be called to repent of his false master, false gods, and false refuges, and renew his faith in Jesus Christ to be his Savior and Lord.
And finally it is described:
III. Worry is unbelief
A. Jesus described worriers as people of “little faith” (verse 30)
B. Worry is the fruit of remaining unbelief and doubt in a Christian. The presence of worry indicates that there is someone or something you are living for other than the Lord.
C. The worrier should be helped to identify the specific idols and lies that are ruling them and called to confess as sin.
D. The fruit of repentance for a worrier will be manifesting faith in God by disciplining his mind to focus on:
God’s care for mankind (verses 25-30)
God’s Omniscience: He knows your needs (verses 31-32)
God’s Promises (verse 33)
Pleasing God by caring for today’s responsibilities (verse 34)
Now that we have worry properly defined lets determine how it can be overcome
Let us begin in Jeremiah 17:7-8(7) Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. ( 8) For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
How about the promise of Psalm 29:11 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
Isaiah 26:3 tells us: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Galatians 5:22 Tells us where this peace comes from: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.
Repeating Philippians 4:6 where Paul commands: Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Paul has just told us that there is NEVER a situation in life that necessitates worry. Not a social situation, financial situation, medical situation, you fill in the blank there is NO conceivable circumstance in which we need to commit to worry. NONE. “Be anxious for nothing,”
We noted earlier that Jesus has commanded “Do not worry” and since we know He would not ask us let alone command us to do anything that He has not given us the power to do, we can be sure that it is possible to not be worried about anything. All of God’s people can overcome the problem of worry. Philippians 4:7 reveals to us four important aspects of defeating anxiety in our lives: And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
First: Real Peace is God’s Peace. It is not the peace of a happy-go-lucky disposition or a pleasant childhood. Overcoming anxiety requires the peace of God.
Second: Real Peace is Peace that surpasses all comprehension. In other words, we cannot fully understand or explain this kind of peace because it is not based on anything tangible. As David wrote in Psalms 3:5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. Remember the circumstances he was in when he wrote that, he was fleeing from his son Absalom, who had formed an insurrection party to throw David off the throne of Israel. Who can explain such a peace that would reign in the midst of such distressing circumstances?
In the same way, we cannot fully understand the peace of Peter in Acts 12. Think of the circumstances. Herod had arrested both James and Peter. James was immediately beheaded, and Peter was thrown into prison. In Acts 12:6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison.
In Acts 16 Paul and Silas are beaten and thrown into prison. While in prison we read in Acts 16:25 and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. Does sound like they were worried? This kind of peace truly passes understanding.
Thirdly real peace guards the heart and mind. That is to actually stand guard as a garrison would that was on duty as a sentential. The peace that guards the heart and mind is peace that stands as protection against an enemy. The enemy is anxiety. Anxiety is the enemy against which God’s peace which is beyond understanding, guards our hearts and minds –the inner man.
Who can experience this peace? The fourth important aspect is in its comprehensiveness. All believers can experience this peace. Yes Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” is for all believers. Paul said that this peace is through Christ Jesus Anyone who is in Christ Jesus, Who knows Him as Lord and Savior can experience this peace in their life if they will but believe and accept these promises. Anxiety can be defeated!!
Now this would be a good time to really analyze your responses on that Worry Quotient Inventory that I passes out the first week of this session and see where some of those 2’s were marked and the 3’s and yes you may have some 4’s to see if we can reduce our score on that first test so that we are ready to go on to the next one and the one after that they are called living the Christian Life in the world, this world that is not our home we are just a passing through.
Any of those marks above 2 are possible signs of the existence of anxiety in our lives. Just as a doctor considers the symptoms of a disease to help identify that disease, it is important for us to recognize any symptoms of anxiety in our lives so that we know that this is problem that we have to deal with. As we continue in this study we will consider some differences between legitimate concern and sinful anxiety so that we can better identify our own anxieties.