Reverse Your Worry

In this series Counter Culture Christ, we've been talking about the cultural moment that we are in right now and how we're struggling with three things: materialism, anxiety, and incivility. It is remarkable that 2,000 years ago, Jesus addressed all three of those things in order in the heart of the Sermon on the Mount. We've been going verse by verse through that section of the Sermon on the Mount in this little three-week series. This morning, let's talk about anxiety, reverse your worry—very relevant on Mother's Day. Fifty-nine percent of moms say they really struggle with anxiety and worry; eighty-eight percent struggle with stress. Much of that stress comes from worrying about your kids. And it's not just moms; get this: fifty-five percent of Americans said that they felt anxious on most days of this last year.

You might have seen this story a couple of weeks ago: only three other countries on the planet right now have higher rates of anxiety than the United States of America. This was just out two days ago—Americans' anxiety levels experienced a sharp increase in the past year. Forty percent of people said that they feel more anxious and worried now than they did one year ago. This comes on the heels of a sharp increase the year before; there was a thirty-six percent jump in people who said they felt more anxious than they did the year before. In fact, right now, this weekend, today, Americans have higher levels of worry and anxiety than at any other time in our history, as far as the data shows. We are more worried about life than we were during the Great Depression. We are more worried about life than we were during World War II. We are more worried as a nation than we were during the turbulent sixties and the Vietnam War, and all those political assassinations, even though objectively, there are so many things that are not as bad as during those times. We feel like it's even worse. This is definitely a part of our cultural moment, and Jesus has something to say about it that is very counter-cultural.

Listen, this is one of those messages I'm definitely preaching to myself. I am a born worrier; I'm always thinking of the worst-case scenario. Then it got worse because I began having anxiety attacks. I had never even heard of anxiety attacks before I started having them. If you've never had one, here's what it's like: have you ever been in a situation in your car, driving along, where you almost get into a serious accident? I mean, there is a near collision, and you just barely escape. What happens to you? You tense up, you start crying, your heart beats fast, you sweat, your adrenaline just pumps, your hands are shaking. Even though you're safe, nothing happened, but when that happens, you understand; you have a context for it. You just narrowly missed an accident; no wonder you're kind of freaking out.

Well, what happens when you're having anxiety attacks is your body's hormones are pumping adrenaline and other ingredients into your bloodstream just like that, but nothing happened to you. Your mind looks around, and there's no context; there's no danger. But you feel terrible; you're shaking, you're sweating, you just feel like you're going to die. What's happened is your body has started to act worried; your body has started to freak out, to panic, without your mind being engaged. Listen, because you've trained it, it's become such a habit for your body to feel that way, to feel anxious, that now it's starting to do it without any direction. Your body's just starting to go, "Hey, we haven't panicked in a while; time to pump the adrenaline and stuff because that's what we're supposed to do." By your conscious, constant anxiety, you have trained your physical self to overreact to life's stimuli in that way. So you have to untrain it. You have to retrain your body and retrain your mind to be peaceful instead of anxious.

So how do you do that? Honestly, for me, this is a battle almost every single day. It's a daily conscious fight for me, but it is a battle that I am winning most days, thanks to God and thanks to the fact that I have had such great interactions with people who've helped me. I've learned that there are a lot of components that can help you when you fight this. Speaking personally, I've benefited from meds, exercise, and diet. Those are very important; I recommend them. See a doctor, see a dietitian, see a coach. However, I'm not a doctor; I'm not a dietitian; I'm not a coach, so I can't help you specifically with those things. But there is an area that I think I have personal experience with that I can assist you with: another crucial component to retraining yourself not to be anxious all the time, and that's relearning how to think.

Jesus talks about this in Matthew 6:27–34. This is part of the first major sermon by Jesus that's recorded, apparently in its complete form. This is very early in his ministry in the Gospel of Matthew, and Jesus says more about worry in this sermon than any other topic besides prayer. He identifies the problem with worry, and then he gives you the prescription, the solution for worry. So first, the problem with worry. He talks about four specific things, and I'm going to jump into what he says in verse 27. First, he says worry just doesn't work. It just doesn't work; it doesn't do anything for you. Jesus says, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?" Now, in this section, Jesus poses four straight questions about worry, and that's why this outline just unfolds so easily when you're preaching this, because it's four points he's making about worry and then the solution.

So I want to paraphrase every one of his questions here; I'll call it the RSV, the Revised Schlepfer Version. What he's saying in this question is this: Who of you by worrying has probably taken a year or so off your own life? Who of you by worrying is driving people in your life out of their minds? Who of you by worrying has upgraded your wardrobe or reduced your grocery bill? Who of you by worrying has added any value to what you value the most? In other words, what good has worry ever done you? Ever? Right? Nothing. Worry doesn't work. Second, worry distracts me; it distracts me from what's really important. There are things God has for you to do; there are people around you that God wants you to notice today, and you're being distracted from those things that are real life today by worries about an imagined tomorrow.

Worries distract you from real life by this dark fantasy about tomorrow. That's why Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear." By the way, in his audience, when he says this, there were people literally worried about these things. They did not know what they were going to eat the next day, or they didn't know what they were going to wear. Their clothes were wearing out, and they didn't know how they were going to get money to get another set of clothes. This is why he says these specific examples. Now imagine those people from 2,000 years ago coming into your house and my house and seeing what we've got in our fridge, what we've got in our pantries, what we've got in our closets. They would say this: "Wow, you don't have anything to worry about. You're set for life." What that shows is overcoming worry is not about getting what you think you need to get to overcome worry, because we have now everything that they thought they needed. Most of us have those things, and yet we still worry probably more than they did. Worry isn't about what you've got; worry is about how you choose to respond to life, right?

Jesus says, "Is not life more important than food and the body more important than clothes?" That is so great to paraphrase his question. He's saying, "Isn't life much more important than whatever it is you're worried about?" Worry distracts me from what's important in life. For example, personally, I feel like I haven't shown enough pictures of my grandkids lately, so today I'm just going to use them to illustrate nearly every point in my sermon. When I'm worried, I tend to forget that one of the best uses of my time is to spend time with these boys. Just the other day, I felt so busy; I had so much to do, but Kelly, our daughter-in-law, said, "Hey, can I drop the boys off for a while to keep an appointment?" I got to watch them for about three hours, and I had so much fun. I made little pieces of fake garbage out of colored paper, and Freddie was busy for the better part of the morning moving the fake garbage around with his construction vehicles. As you can see, Danny was just riveted. Yes, I realized Freddie's probably telling somebody right now, "I like going to grandpa's because he lets me play with garbage." But these are treasures; these are treasures that I always have access to today.

Worry often keeps me from thinking about, praying about, being with these real treasures. Worry pushes me out of the present and into the future, and what happens is I fret and I stew, and I have anxiety over something that I can do nothing about, and I miss the treasures God has for me in the present. Then third, worry devalues me; it devalues me. It's very interesting; Jesus says, "Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them." Then here's the third question: "Are you not much more valuable than they?" Now think about this: much more valuable to who? Who are you more valuable to? To God. To paraphrase this question, he's asking, "Do you realize how much your heavenly Father loves you?" God loves you like a father loves his son or a mama loves her baby. For example, my grandbabies, and this is why Jesus keeps calling God your heavenly Father, so that you learn to see God like a loving parent who loves you so much that he sent his one and only Son to save you. That's a lot of value he's given you, so don't let worry devalue you by telling you that God doesn't care.

Then fourth, worry actually dishonors God. It dishonors God because somebody said worry is practical atheism. You say you believe in God, but when you worry, you're living like a practical atheist because you're acting like God doesn't exist. Jesus says, "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow; they do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, here's the question: will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?" You could paraphrase this fourth question this way: "Don't you know God will provide?"

You know, on Mother's Day, of course, I think of my own mom. I mentioned last weekend when my little sister Heidi and I were very young, there was suddenly an empty space on the couch—Dad's spot—when he died suddenly of cancer. This is probably the earliest photograph I have after Dad died of our little three-person family, and for me, this picture evokes so many memories: hard memories, but also really, really good memories because Mom raised us alone for most of our childhood and did such a great job. By the way, let me say this loud and clear: this is why I have such a huge spot in my heart for all you single moms and why I want to honor you. Single moms and single dads, please never doubt that no matter how hard it is for you, you can give your kids a great childhood because my sister and I say this all the time: we feel like we had an awesome childhood and that Mom did a great job. So can we just, as an encouragement, applaud all the single moms and dads that are here today? Hang in there; we're glad you're here. We honor you; you're welcome here.

Well, much later, Mom was remarried, but after only a few years, she was alone again, widowed again. Then, to top it all off, after many other hardships, she had Alzheimer's disease, and there were many, many, many other tough times that I can't even go into. But I often looked at her, and I thought, "Man, it's like this woman just got punched in the face by life." So I asked her on one of her walks—she loved to walk around here and see the beauty. I was going through my own time of anxiety at the time, and I asked her, "Mom, when you look back on your life, what do you think about it all? You went through some tough times; do you have any words of wisdom for me?" Now, she'd already started to have difficulty speaking due to the Alzheimer's, and after I asked the question, she stopped and paused for a long time. I thought maybe she didn't understand me, and then she looked at me, and she grabbed my arm. She looked me right in the eye, and I could tell she was mustering all of her ability to concentrate past the fog of her disease. It was like, "If it kills me, I'm going to get this sentence out." And in her Swiss accent, she said, "The Lord will provide." The Lord will provide.

I will never forget it because after being widowed twice and struck by a fatal disease and suffering a lot, that was the way she summarized her life. Isn't that incredible? This was her last word, really, on life. I know I went through a lot of tough times, but the Lord will provide. She knew that didn't mean you would never go through tough times, but what that meant—and she knew this from experience—was that the Lord will provide for you. I mean, life is tough; whether you're a believer or an unbeliever, life's just life; it has ups and downs no matter who you are. But through all the ups and downs, the Lord will provide. She carried that message to people all the time, to neighbors and to people here in the church. Listen, I don't know what you're worried about today, but I know this: if God gave my mom five more minutes on earth and he said, "You can come down and just spend five more minutes with somebody," and she knew that you were going through a tough time right now, I know that she would approach you, and she would muster all her ability, and she would concentrate past the fog of her disease, and she would grab your arm, and she would look at you in the eye, too, and she would say to you, from heartfelt personal experience, "The Lord will provide. He will provide for you." So don't worry unnecessarily.

The root of all worry really is doubting God's goodness, isn't it? Worry chips away at your faith. It chips away at your ability to relate to the idea of a good God, and this is why it is so insidious. Worry is as insidious as heroin or alcoholism or anything else that you think is a scourge. It's insidious. So how do you stop it? Well, Jesus next goes into the prevention of worry. I summarized what he said with three phrases that are kind of a poem I heard once. The first phrase is this: live one day at a time. Live one day at a time. In verse 34, Jesus says, "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Live one day; don't worry about tomorrow. Now, does this mean never plan ahead? Of course not. The Bible says you reap what you sow; plant seeds, make plans. But listen, you can plan for tomorrow but not worry about tomorrow. You can plan for tomorrow, but you have to live in today.

In fact, you see what Jesus is doing in this verse? This is so good. He is summarizing anything you could ever worry about: do not worry about—now you fill in the blank in your own mind; fill it with anything that you're worried about right now. Jesus is relabeling that worry as worry about tomorrow. He's saying anything you could worry about is really worry about tomorrow. You know there is nothing you can do about tomorrow. You can't travel into the future; you can only live in today. So here's a little mental exercise for you that has helped me: relabel your worry tomorrow. Whatever's eating at you, just relabel it tomorrow. That's tomorrow, and I know there's nothing I can do about tomorrow. This is so clarifying because what I do when I worry is I reach out and I grab tomorrow's concerns, and I add all kinds of emotion to it, and I can't do anything about tomorrow. It just ruins today; it ruins my sleep; it drains my joy.

So live one day at a time. And then second, do one thing at a time. Do one thing at a time. Did you know that the word for worry in Greek—the language the New Testament was written in—literally means a divided mind? Because worry divides your attention; it makes you scattered. There was an old guy that told me once, "You know, René, you can't chase two jackrabbits at the same time," and I've never forgotten that because that's what worry's like. It's like you're chasing this thing down, then you're chasing another thing, then you're chasing that thing. You're just scattered all the time, and all this divided attention leads to what psychologists call a loss of the power to will. You lose your ability to make executive decisions because you're so distracted by so many of your worries. So do one thing at a time. Jesus says here's the best one thing: "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Now, what does this mean? What does it mean to seek first his kingdom?

I heard somebody put it this way: here's the point of what Jesus is saying. When you are tempted to borrow from tomorrow, look for a way to get into what God is doing today. Does that make sense? When you're tempted to borrow from tomorrow, look for ways to participate in what God is doing today. Like call that person up who you suspect needs a call and contact them, or bring that person a meal, or have a chat with your neighbor. Anything like that is actually better in the long run for building the kingdom of God than worrying about anything. And that means, please don't miss this, that means a cure for worry is serving. A cure for worry is generosity of your time and of your resources and of your attention. Let me just give you a very practical example that you can be a part of this weekend. You know, Mother's Day, we always love to have an organization that supports mothers that, as a church, we can get behind.

Do you ever find yourself worried about the direction that this country is headed? Do you ever find yourself worried about, "Wow, the nuclear family just seems to be collapsing?" Do you ever find yourself concerned here in Santa Cruz about the homeless situation, particularly when you realize that some of the homeless people are women who are expecting babies? And you think, "What can I possibly do about that?" It seems like such an overwhelming problem that all you do is worry and fret. Well, why not not worry and instead participate in what God is doing? Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. A very practical way that we're offering to do that this weekend is to pick up one of the baby bottles that are out there in the baby buggies as you leave this morning and support Sienna House. Sienna House is a home for at-risk young moms and moms-to-be, and they do an amazing job. I want to read you something that one woman wrote here locally about this the other day: "Before Sienna House, I was pregnant, living on the streets, on the edge of relapsing into drug use, and now I have a place where I can be healthy. I can enjoy my sobriety." This is a Christian home for these women and for their babies. I can't think of a better thing to do: grab a bottle, bring it back in a few weeks with change so that we can support Sienna House, or look for other ways to participate in what God is doing about stuff instead of worrying about it. Does that make sense?

So you live one day at a time; you choose one thing to do at a time. Then number three: trust God all the time. Trust God all the time. Worry stems from a sense of powerlessness, and so you focus on the one being who has all power. Jesus says, "So don't worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them." Your heavenly Father knows. Can you say that phrase out loud with me? Your heavenly Father knows. Just rest in that. I love the old hymn that says, "Many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand." There's a brand new song that expresses a similar idea, and we're going to sing it in a minute. It says, "My fear doesn't stand a chance when I stand in your love." So live one day at a time, do one thing at a time, and trust God all the time.

Now, I want you to see something. Here's how important this idea was to our faith. This was one of the earliest teachings of Jesus, as we've seen this morning in the Sermon on the Mount. It was also one of the very last teachings of Jesus. The night before he's crucified, the disciples are kind of confused and upset, and he tells them this: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I don't give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid." So Jesus teaches this early; Jesus teaches this late, and it was also one of the main teachings and one of the final teachings of the whole New Testament. Decades later, the Apostle Paul is in a Roman prison; he's maybe weeks away from his own execution, and the little Christian movement is understandably upset. He picks up a pen and he writes, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." What I'm trying to establish here is the command, "Do not worry," is a major instruction in our faith. It is a major emphasis of Jesus; it is a major emphasis of the New Testament.

Yet people like me and maybe like you worry all the time in ways that maybe we would never repeatedly commit some other sin that the Bible tells us not to do, and we don't even see it as a transgression. We're just like, "Oh, well, you know, it's no big deal; I'm just kind of a born worrier." It's not some minor command. To Jesus, this was not a light issue. Why? Well, first, because worry erodes your faith and your health, as we've seen, and you're just healthier when you don't worry. But it's even bigger than that. When you and I go counter-cultural on this one and we don't worry, you become, especially in our culture, so unusual that people notice. So here's a couple of questions for you. First, what if you actually believed this? Jesus says, "Your heavenly Father knows, so don't worry. God's got you." What if you were absolutely confident? What if you were totally sure God's got it? Imagine what kind of person you'd be; imagine what kind of life you'd live; imagine what kind of a witness you'd bear.

So the next question is this: why not believe it? In fact, why not start this morning? Let me propose something even as an experiment: why not just for a week see what life would feel like if you even pretended to believe this? To believe God's got it; I don't have to worry. For the next week, I'll be very specific: try this. For the next week, begin every day by declaring your thanks. Think of five things you're thankful for and trust. Every morning, say things like, "Lord, I'm facing this challenge, but I trust you." Think of all specific things: "I trust you for that test; I trust you for the finances; I trust you about this disease; I trust that you're going to take care of the kids." Do this first thing because if you can get ahead of worry, you can usually stay ahead of worry. I've discovered that. Begin your day by declaring your thanks and your trust, and see what life can be like when you live as a counter-culture Christian.

Let's pray together. Would you bow your heads with me? With our heads bowed, what's got you worried? Worrying isn't going to solve it, right? So whatever it is, would you just silently ask God to take that worry now? Pray this in your heart: "Lord, thank you that you're my Heavenly Father, and thank you that you care for me. Today I declare my trust in you. I thank you for your provision and for your love for us, and we stand in your love today as our Heavenly Father." In Jesus' name, Amen.