Coping With Worry and Anxiety

Matthew 6:25-34

INTRO: It's good to be together again. Today we're going to be talking about “worry and anxiety”. Coping with worry and anxiety. And our text for this morning is Matthew 6:25-34. Usually when you mention worry, I think of the old Mad magazine and it’s character Alfred E. Newman, the boy with misaligned eyes, a gap-toothed smile, and the perennial motto "What, me worry?" Perhaps you remember that as well.

Let’s take a look at some things the Bible says about our topic. One of the first passages I want to call your attention to is found in the book of Philippians. It's a familiar passage, Philippians 4:6-7 – “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

We live in an age of anxiety, and a lot of people suffer from it. The world has faced a pandemic. The COVID 19 virus was highly contagious, and still is. Of course, more are being protected with the vaccine, and we are taking care to follow the guidelines to curb the spread as much as we can.

The virus has spread literally all over the world. I believe I read that every country has been affected. Many congregations have had to cancel assemblies or greatly limit the assemblies out of safety concerns, for the members. We've heard a lot about that. Businesses have failed. People have lost their jobs. Many lives have ended. I think the world now has had 3 million people that have perished. Not as bad as the Spanish flu back over 100 years ago, but still bad.

Black lives have ended at the hands of police. Law enforcement is in jeopardy. Officers have been ambushed and killed. These things ought not to be.

Yet, they're happening in our country almost every day and we are seeing it in the news. Irrational hatred exists, racism persists, road rage is everywhere it seems. Riots and violence and burnings have threatened many cities. Political unrest and hatred is very prevalent today, and seems to permeate society. And war is always on the horizon.

Fear is the fare of the news cycle. Anything that can cause you to fear is good for the news industry. If they can keep people afraid and keep them watching the news to see what's going to happen next, it fuels interest in their product. People buy into that, and they actually become addicted to it in some ways.

This can make for an atmosphere of pervasive worry. We worry and worry. One worrier said to another, “I have so many troubles. If anything happened to me today, it will take me two weeks to get around to worrying about it.” So how can Christians (that's who we're interested in) avoid anxiety and remain faithful and overcome the evil of this world?

Can it be done? The Bible says it can. The Bible is very optimistic about that. We tend to be pessimistic about things. When you include the Lord in the scenario that changes things a lot, it turns the situation around.

Maybe we don't include Him enough. Jesus offers hope for our doubts and fears and anxieties and discouragements. Let's notice some things that Jesus said in Matthew six. Now let’s look at our text which is part of the Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 6:25-34 - “25. "Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27. "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28. "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29. "and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30. "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31. "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32. "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33. "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

That's what the Lord had to say about worry. Kind of simple, easily said, hard to practice. Many times we find ourselves having problems doing this, but He says, take no thought, that's one translation, or do not worry in another.

I. We read in Chapter 6:25. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink...” Then in Verse 31, He says “Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?'” take no thought for what you shall eat. Be not anxious about that. God is not talking about meal planning here. Verse 34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow” Take no thought for tomorrow. Does that mean don't think about it? No. What it means is don't be anxious about it. Naturally we think about it. We have to plan our days and our meals. We have to know that we've got to get up at a certain time to go to work or school or whatever.

A. What He's talking about is being anxious in the sense of worrying about things that we can't control or if we can, then we'll do something about them. Jesus is not saying that we shouldn't plan tomorrow’s menu. It's okay to plan your menu. He's saying don't worry and fret over it.

1. Don't worry about winter clothes in the summer or purchase of homes or health insurance. Yes, those are things that we have to be concerned about. There's a difference in genuine concern and what we may call real worry in the book of Romans.
2. In chapter 12:11, the Apostle Paul said, “not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;” We're to be diligent, willing to work.

B. We shouldn't be lazy, refusing to work. A man's to provide for his own household. Paul told Timothy in First Timothy 5:8 - “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

1. It means that we shouldn't be anxious about our food, winning it or putting it on the table. We shouldn't be worried about our clothes, choosing them or getting them to fit or affording them, or staying in fashion.
2. Don’t be worried about the things that the world is worried about, like keeping up with the neighbors, retirement, living long, those kinds of things, they're going to work themselves out.

C. What does the owner's manual say about the worry malfunction that we have? That's where we need to be looking. Look at verse 26 that we were reading a few moments ago.

1. “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
2. God thought so. He made us in His image. He thought we were more valuable than they. There are several things which prove that to us.
3. Jesus is telling us, that birds don't worry. Whoever said worrying is for the birds was off the mark, because they don't do that. Whoever heard of a bird taking ulcer medication or committing suicide or dying of a heart attack? Birds aren't concerned about tomorrow's meals.
4. They're not worried about tomorrow yet. They're not trying to figure it all out. God cares for them.
5. Someone has written: “Said the Robin to the Sparrow, I should really like to know, why these anxious human beings rush about and hurry so. Said the Sparrow to the Robin, Friend, I think that it must be, that they have no heavenly father such as cares for you and me.” I suspect the sparrow has a point.

D. I want us to notice something else. It’s senseless for us to think that God would care for the birds and neglect His children, because He doesn't do that. Any father would feed his boys and girls before he'd feed his parakeet or his chickens. God cares for the birds. He cares more for us.

1. Look what He said about birds in Matthew 10:29-31 - “29. "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will. 30. "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31. "Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
2. We shouldn't fear. God cares about them. There must be millions of sparrows. God is aware of every one of them and He cares about them.

E. We're told something in Romans 8:32 we should consider, “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

1. God cares for the birds. He cares more for us. How do we know He cares more for us? Because of that right there—He sent Jesus, that's how much He cares for us. We shouldn't be worried.
2. That's how much He cares. He cares for the birds. They don't have immortal souls, and yet He's aware of every one of them. The Bible tells us that.
3. Maybe we underestimate Him, and maybe that's why we worry. We're not giving God credit for the power and the knowledge and the intelligence that He has, and we ought to be doing that.
4. Does worry pay bills? No, it doesn't. Worry is kind of like a rocking chair, it's something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.

Somebody wrote a piece that said it this way.

Worry never climbed a Hill.
Worry never paid a bill.
Worry never dried a tear.
Worry never calmed a fear.
Worry never darned a heel.
Worry never cooked a meal.
Worry never composed a song to sing.
Actually, worry never did a worthwhile thing.

Yet, we worry all the time.

F. So why worry? While various factors and components are important, the Bible cuts deeper because it says that worry is a deeper spiritual issue. This is not to say that the Bible ignores or disputes the mental, physiological, historical, social, or environmental aspects of worry, but the Bible shows it as a part of a spiritual issue.
G. Worry ultimately is a response to a life lived in God's world. God's world--don't ever forget that. Worry, therefore, is a response to God Himself. If you trust the Lord with your eternal life, why would you not trust Him with your temporary situation? I find that thought provoking.

1. If we're going to trust Him with our eternal destination, why won't we trust Him with the everyday things, those challenges that we're facing?
2. God teaches us to trust Him. The birds trust Him. Why can't we? That's to be considered.
3. I suggest that too much worry falls into three categories. Let’s take a look at that.

II. Reruns - Most worries are reruns, so why worry? Things didn't happen like we thought they would the first time. Why are we worrying about that same thing again?

A. Eggs can't be unscrambled, toothpaste can't be put back in the tube. I suppose you could, by adding glue, make sawdust into something resembling wood. What we are saying is that the past is the past; past deeds cannot be undone. Past words cannot be unsaid. If it involves sin, then we need to take care of that quickly. Obey God's conditions for pardon.

1. Saul of Tarsus was told to arise and be baptized and wash away his sins, calling on the name of the Lord.
2. Simon, the sorcerer, who had already been baptized, was told to repent and pray that the thought of his heart might be forgiven him and none of those things would fall upon him.

B. James 5:16 says “... The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” In First John 1:7 we read “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Why worry?
C. In the book of Isaiah, the Bible tells us that He will abundantly forgive. If we're worried about God forgiving don't think that God is going to have to ponder and think “Do I want to forgive them?” No. He is eager to forgive. He wants that to happen. He wants us to ask for His forgiveness, and He's more than willing to give it.

1. Look at Isaiah 55:6-7 - “ Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
2. He's not willing that any should perish, but all come to repentance. He doesn't want anybody to be lost, so He is eager to forgive.
3. We shouldn't think that we've got to twist His arm and persuade Him. He just wants us to ask. When we repent and ask for forgiveness God forgives, and then we need to forgive ourselves. We need to do that.
4. Paul put the past behind him. He said, “one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,” I can't change it, but I need to start looking to the future and quit dwelling on the past.
5. Lloyd George, Prime Minister of England in 1916, said, “I have made it a practice of my life always to close the gate behind me.”

III. Things that happen - There's a second category in which these things fall. Things that will inevitably happen, we probably can't keep them from happening. All the worry in the world can't change some things.

A. Why do we think that we've got to do all the worrying for the world in order to try to change it? Some worry that the wrong party is going to be elected. Maybe a favorite candidate won’t be put in, and they worry about that. Not our job! We are to just pray and vote and take a stand with Jesus our King, no matter who's selected for an office. Remember that God is the only potentate. He is the one that really matters.
B. Some worry whether their children are going to marry or who they're going to marry. Marriage is honorable. The Bible says, men and women were made for marriage. The Bible says that it's not good for man to be alone in Genesis 2:24. We are to teach our children how to select a mate who will help them go to heaven and pray about it. Then nature takes its course because you can't do everything.
C. Some people worry about growing old and they fear wrinkles and pounds and gray hair. You can't avoid those things. The Bible talks about that. It talks about the fact that all humans age.

1. You've probably read the passage in Ecclesiastes 12. We will not go there now, but Ecclesiastes 12 is a very poetic writing about something, that if you were to just talk about it without the poetry, is not so pleasant. It's about the things that are happening to your body as you age and things start falling apart. Solomon talks about that in a very eloquent way.
2. Also consider what Paul said in Second Corinthians 4:16ff where he talks about it in a different way. “16. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18. while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 1. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
3. We don't need to worry about losing our Tabernacle, not having a place to dwell. God has a place prepared for us. When we're through with this Tabernacle here on the Earth, then we have the promise of a better one.
4. Worrying doesn't slow down our aging. In fact worry may hasten it. It could bring on your death sooner. Each stage and year of our life has its beauty, and we ought to enjoy that. We ought to enjoy life as it comes to us.

D. Some people worry about dying. You're going to die. You can't prevent that by worrying about it. It's going to happen—all die.

1. The Bible says that in Hebrews 9:27 – “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,” Nobody's going to escape that. It was never reported that worrying lengthened the life. Nobody said I worried, and my life was extended as a result of me worrying. That doesn't happen.
2. We need to keep our faith strong. We need to keep our hope real, and we need to look forward to going home to glory with the Lord. That's what Paul did. That's how he coped with some of the things in his life. If some of the things that happened to Paul happened to us, how would we cope with them?

E. If you recall, the things that happened to him were mentioned in Second Corinthians, chapter eleven. “24. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25. Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26. in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27. in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness 28. besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.”

1. Think about those things that happened to Paul. How did he cope? He remembered that Christ took the sting out of death, and Paul coped with those things exactly the way it ought to be done. We have his example, and as he said, in Philippians 4:9 – “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” We should follow Paul's example.
2. Somebody once said, Worry is the interest we pay on tomorrow's troubles. We're paying interest. We shouldn't want to do that. Why pay interest on something that's not due? We shouldn't be doing that.

IV. Things that never happen - The third category of things that we worry about, are things that will never happen. There are things that have already happened and can't be undone. There are things that will happen that you can't prevent, and there are things that will never happen.

A. Certainly imagination creates all kinds of terrors. Things that we're fearful of that never exist. Mark Twain said, “I'm an old man and have had a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” He spent a lot of time worried about things that never happened.

1. One person said, “I always feel bad, even when I feel good, because I know that it will not be long before I feel bad again.” Sometimes we get in that kind of rut, don't we? We don't need to do that.
2. People get locked into constant worries, and they continually fret about all of the things that are going on in the world, and then the things never happen. Yet, they worry, and we don't need to do that. That does not mean we are not to be prudent about what we do. We look at a situation, take any precautions we need and then don’t worry about it. Shakespeare wrote something about, Cowards die many times before their deaths
3. I don't know who did the studies, but I read one that said that 8% of worries happen. Our energy spent worrying is better spent elsewhere. Invest time in working instead of worrying. It would be a good idea if we spent our time working for the Lord instead of worrying. Think about what we could accomplish—that will not be accomplished by worrying.

B. Proverbs 6:6 – “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.”

1. We can learn a lot from the ants. They just work and look at how much they accomplish. Sometimes they accomplish more than we want them to. Nevertheless, the Bible teaches us to redeem the time because the days are evil.
2. Abraham Lincoln visited Horace Greeley, the famous newspaper editor in New York, as the President elect traveled to his inauguration. Lincoln told Greeley an anecdote about the question many asked him, “will we have a civil war?” - In his circuit riding days, Lincoln crossed many swollen Rivers. On one of these trips somebody asked him, “if these small streams give us trouble, how shall we get over the Fox River?” They stayed one night at a log Tavern where they met a Methodist presiding elder. He said he came from the other direction. So they asked him about the Fox River. He said, I have crossed it often and understand it well, but I have one fixed rule about the Fox River. I never cross it ‘till I reach it.
3. I never cross it ‘till I reach it. You can cross it in your mind a thousand times, but he said, I never cross it until I reach it. Lincoln was saying that he would worry about the Civil War when the time came. There wasn't anything he could do about it.

C. Things happen or not - Somebody once said, there are only two things we worry about...things that happen and things that do not... That pretty well says everything, doesn't it? We worry about things that happen and things that don't.

1. Things that don't happen we don't have to worry about because they don't happen. Those things that do happen fall into two categories. Things we can change and things we cannot change.
2. That brings us to what is often called the serenity prayer. God, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. If we can't change things, we shouldn't worry about it. If we can change them, we ought not worry. There really is no reason to worry, yet we do.

V. We've already learned from the ant to be wise. A day of worrying is more exhausting than a day of work. Let’s look back at Matthew 6:28 - “28. So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29. and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

A. “O you of little faith.” That stings. Worry indicates a lack of faith. I know we find ourselves in worry at times and that's when we really need to check on our faith.

1. Is this something that God can help me with? Is this something that I can't do anything about? If it's something I can change, then maybe I need to change it and not fuss about it.
2. Worry—wants a solution right now! Faith—trust God's timing in these things. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28. He's not saying everything is going to turn out like we want it to. He says “All things...” all sufferings, sorrows, infirmities, and everything else of a discouraging and calamitous nature which might happen to God's child on earth. "For good ..." does not mean earthly prosperity, success, bodily health, or any other purely mortal benefit, but is rather a reference to the eternal joy of the soul.
3. Worry focuses on problems and faith focuses on God. Too often we focus on our problems and worry about them instead of focusing on God. What does that say about us? Does God lie? Is God incapable of keeping His word?

B. We need to question our thinking because sometimes we act like we don't trust God. Romans 8:31 - “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” We know God is for us. We just read that in Isaiah. Faith believes promises despite the circumstances. Worry believes circumstances despite the promises.

1. Paul’s tells us - “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39.
2. No circumstance, not cancer, not a terrible accident, not a physical disability, not employment loss, not theft, not bankruptcy, not the death of a child, not unbearable sorrow—can cause Christians to sorrow as those who have no hope.
3. Faith obeys God one step at a time, one day at a time. Worry wants to examine each step it takes. We've got to have all the answers or we're not going to go. We know we can't see around corners, but God can. That's all we need. “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Paul said in Philippians 2:13. If we know God and His promise, we need not fear the tomorrows because we know He is more than capable.

C. Worry kind of insults God because it says, I don't trust my father to care for me. That's really what we're saying when we worry, I don't trust God to take care of me. Problems become smaller when we're in God's shadow.

1. As a child I thought that a knotted shoe string was an unsolvable dilemma. It was the end of the world. I could not get the knot out of my shoestring and was so frustrated before taking it to my father, who quickly untied the knot. Suddenly... the problem was over. Our difficulties are but knotted shoestrings to God. He's our Father, He's unlimited, He's Almighty, and we can trust Him for everything.
2. In the book of Ephesians 3:20-21 – “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” That's telling us that God is more than capable.
3. It shouldn't be a matter of trust on our part, but it often is. Paul says in Philippians 4:19 – “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Why should we get upset?

CONCLUSION:
As we conclude, I want us to consider the three keys to happiness. The first one is God loves you. John 13:1 – “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”

That's the kind of God we have. We should never fret whether God loves us or not. He loved them to the end. The cross shows how He loves us. Our coins say in God we trust. We put it on our coins but do we put that in our hearts? That is where it should be written.

In Proverbs 3:5-8 – “5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6. in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. 7. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. 8. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.”
In Proverbs 9:10 it says, “"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” If we haven't started there, we need to go back there and start fearing the Lord like we should.

God loves us and another key to happiness is that we should not worry because God keeps us. It's in Jude verse 24 it says “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,” He is more than able, and we need to trust him for that. We may not have much in this world, but we have the King, and we have His Kingdom, and our inheritance is yet to come.

God loves us, we are not to fear because God keeps us, and lastly we are not to lose heart because God holds us, He supports us. Second Corinthians 4:16 – “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” Our minds need to be on the things that are permanent, not the things that are temporary.

We dwell on those things above and are not anxious. The world has its problems, but Christians are not required to solve them all or to fix them on their own. Some of them we can't, and shouldn't even be worried about them because we can't fix them.

Sure whatever we can fix, we ought to fix, but if we can't, we need to quit worrying about it. It's God's world. He'll handle it. We are God's children and He will protect you in spite of what else may be going on. Why worry? We need to understand that the Lord doesn't want us to spend time doing that. When you're worrying, you're spinning your wheels. There are other activities that you could do that would be far more beneficial. If it's something you can change, get busy changing it. If you can't, quit worrying about it and go on to something else that you can do something about.

We have seen in this pandemic some people frozen by worry. Some do nothing to help themselves. God has provided help. Instead they do nothing for themselves and temp the Lord by saying to themselves I need to do nothing. God has provided for us but we need to obtain and provide for ourselves and others—not be frozen by worry.
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If anybody here needs to respond, either to dedicate themselves to Christ and be buried with Him in baptism, or to ask for prayers on their behalf, won’t you come forward as we stand and sing our Invitational song.

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Reference Sermon: Robert Blackford