OPEN: An elderly mountain farmer had been involved in an accident between his mule-drawn wagon and an car driven by another man. Now, the farmer was suing the driver, claiming personal injuries as a result of the accident.
When the farmer was on the stand, the attorney for the driver of the car "Tell me sir, isn’t it true that after the accident, you said that you never felt better in your life?"
"Well," the farmer began, "that morning I got up, hitched up my mule to the wagon, and put my hound dog in the seat beside me and I started on down the road…”
The lawyer interrupted "Please, just give me a simple yes or no answer to the question"
At this point the judge stepped in and directed the lawyer to let the farmer have his way in answering the question.
"Well," the farmer began again, "that morning I got up, hitched up my mule to the wagon, put my hound dog in the seat beside me and I started on down the road… and I jest got over the rise of the road when this big car barreled into my rear end. My mule was knocked to one side of the road, my dog to the other and I was pinned under the seat.
Directly, a policeman came along, seen my mule had its leg broke, pulled out his pistol and shot him dead. He went over to my dog, seen it was hurt real bad, and shot it in the head."
"Then, he came over to me and asked, ’Well, how are you feeling?’ and, shore nuff, I said I never felt better in my whole life."
APPLY: Anxiety has an effect on how we view life and how we respond to the stresses of life. That gun in the policeman’s hand made the farmer an anxious man and he responded accordingly. Now, what we’re going to talk about today is anxiety and worry, and the stress that usually accompanies it.
I. Stress …
Question: How many of you have ever experienced stress? (the majority of hands shot up). Stress is something that happens to just about all of us. It kind of sneaks up on you, but you know when you’ve got it. There’s a tenseness in your body… the muscles tighten up and you are not in a peaceful state of mind. If this keeps up long enough, you can become irritable and possibly even experienced fatigue and sleeplessness.
Stress comes onto us whenever we feel that we’ve lost control of a situation. Whenever we get in a hurry - worried we can’t get where we want, when we want to. Or whenever we’re under a deadline, and we just know that if we don’t put an immense amount of effort into meeting that deadline, we won’t get it done. Or when we’re threatened with the loss of something we regard as valuable and we’re not sure we can avoid the loss.
Stress comes naturally to all of us. But if we repeatedly experience anxieties & worry and get stressed out, these emotions can have a terrible effect upon us.
Proverbs 12:25 “An anxious heart weighs a man down…”
ILLUS: According to a medical report back in 1998, Dr. Herbert Benson at the Harvard Medical School believed that “60 to 90 % of doctor visits are for stress related diseases – including hypertension, infertility, insomnia, and cardiovascular disease.”
ILLUS: Dr. Charles Mayo once observed: "Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, the whole nervous system. I have never known a man who died from overwork, but many who died from doubt."
II. SO, what does the Bible tell us to do about stress & anxiety?
· Paul writes: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God Philippians 4:6
· Peter wrote: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
· And, of course, Jesus said: I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? (Matthew 6:25)
· Jesus goes on to say “do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:31-33)
Anxiety and worry come naturally to us. But as Christians God says that this attitude should not be allowed to control us. AND SO, God commands us to recognize the sources of stress & anxiety in our lives and deal with them - His way.
In fact, NOT ONLY does God command us not to be controlled by stress in our lives…
III. He gives us (in Matthew 8) an example of how Jesus dealt with stress
If anyone ever had the right to be overcome with anxiety and stress – it was Jesus.
He was constantly surrounded by crowds. Wherever He went, they were always pressing in close around Him. Have you ever been in a crowd and had so much contact with them that it began to get to you? You just wanted to get away from them? And here these people are always seeking Him and crowding Him, listening to His teaching and preaching.
And He didn’t just teach them… he healed them. And that was no small thing for Jesus. In Luke 8:46 when a woman w/ a disease touched Jesus “Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.’” In other words, whenever Jesus healed someone it took away from His reserves and added to His fatigue.
And, so Jesus was constantly exposed to fatigue and tiredness from the press of crowds, and because of the healings…and we’re told that Jesus had no home, not even a place to lay His head. There was no place for him to retreat to. To close the door and shut people out.
Add to this, the fact that the Pharisees & Saducees are always picking at Him. And if that weren’t enough, His disciples were probably no fun to be around sometimes either. They are always competing for His attention, or arguing amongst themselves about who the greatest is.
AND then, there is the ever present shadow of His ultimate destiny. His arrest… the beatings that would come with it… & the crucifixion.
Yes, Jesus had every reason to be anxious. Every reason to be burdened with care.
And yet, for the most part, we find that Jesus almost never appears to be "stressed out." He is never worried, never anxious. Jesus ALWAYS seems to be totally confident. Totally in control.
IV. How did He do that?
Well, there are certain principles taught here in Matthew 8 that can help us understand what Jesus did. And… what we can do to be in control of our lives – no matter what our circumstances
What are these principles?
#1 – If you are stressed out – get away for awhile
"When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake." (Matthew 8:18)
When the crowds got to be much for Him, Jesus got in a boat and went out to sea. He found a place where the pressures of His life couldn’t get at Him for awhile.
Several times in His ministry, we find Jesus going off by Himself to rest or pray or just be alone. And we need to do that too.
Now, I’m not talking here about getting alone to entertain ourselves. Too often, we draw off by ourselves.. NOT to rest and pray but to entertain ourselves. To fill our time with TV programs, or turn on the radio and listen to music or talk radio. Or to play games on our computers or Nintendo or Play-Stations.
Now, there isn’t anything wrong with doing those type of things… but we shouldn’t fool ourselves into thinking that this will ultimately help us relieve the stresses in our lives. If all we do is "get away" to entertain ourselves, we’re not giving ourselves the time we need to rest. And if we focus on entertainment … we don’t give ourselves time to pray. Time to “be still and know that He is God."
As Philippians 4 tells us "Do not be anxious about anything…"
But I am anxious… how do I deal with anxiety?
Well, Paul continues "but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" Philippians 4:6
Dr. Herbert Benson of Harvard Medical School (we him mentioned earlier) showed through his studies that the relaxed state brought on by prayer reduced the impact of stress hormones in a person’s body. He said: "Repetitive prayer slows a person’s heart and breathing rates. It lowers blood pressure and even slows brain waves, all without drugs or surgery.”
Time alone with God in prayer and thanksgiving is the best way to deal with stress.
#2 - If we find ourselves filled with stress… we should realize that this is usually a sign that our priorities are out of whack.
In Matthew 8, we find one man approaching Jesus, saying he wants to follow Him, but needs to do something else 1st.
LOOK AT Matthew 8:21-22
"Let me go and bury my dad…" he says.
Now, that’s kind of an odd comment. In that society when somebody died, you usually buried them immediately. You couldn’t wait around 2 or 3 days because there was no way to preserve the body.
But here (in Matthew 8) we find this man is in the crowd listening to Jesus. He’s spending his time (as the kids would say) down in the Mosh pit, as close as he can get to Jesus. And I get the impression he’s been there ALL DAY.
Do you really think his dad is dead? Not likely. In fact, many scholars get the impression that the father is still alive, and that this man is saying “let me wait until dad dies… THEN I’ll follow you.”
In other words - “I want to follow you…but there’s something more important I have to take care of 1st.
You see, this man had priorities, and those priorities were to address his own needs 1st, THEN God would get his attention.
And if this is how we live our lives, it’s a guaranteed recipe for a life filled with stress.
Jesus taught (on the Sermon on the Mount) that anxiety comes from having the wrong kinds of priorities. He said… are you worried about where you’re going to get your food, or your clothes? Don’t worry about those things - pagans worry and they run all over the place seeking their food and clothing. BUT NOT YOU. You should be different. You should “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33)
HOW can I do that in my life? How can I set my priorities right? How will I know if my priorities are in the right place?
Well, the best way to tell is if - when faced with situations we can’t handle - whether I focus on myself and try to handle it myself resulting in stress, anxiety and even anger… or if I turn to God and ask for His help to deal with my frustration.
ILLUS: It just so happens that God gave me an illustration just this last week of this very principle. I had an appointment in Kokomo (about 1/2 hour away) to have something done to my car that I was told was going to take about 3 hours. I got there at 8:30 in the morning. That means the car should have been done at 11:30.
I also had an appointment at 1pm here at the church and I told the man at the counter that I had an appointment at 1 and asked if he was sure the car would be done in time for me to make it back for my appointment.
"No problem," he says.
Because it was a miserable day outside they drove me down to a fast food restaurant about 6 blocks away where I sat down to work on this very sermon. They were going to come and get me when the car was done.
I settled down in a booth, bought something to drink and worked happily for the next 3 hours.
11:30 came… but they didn’t. But that was no problem. I simply bought something to eat and worked some more on the sermon.
12 noon came but they didn’t. Now I was getting a little concerned, but I still had a half hour window.
12:15… now I’m getting anxious. I’m becoming stressed. The muscles in my body are beginning to tense. I’m not happy.
12:20… now I’m getting angry and I’m becoming fully aware of the stress in my mind and body… and I’m also becoming aware that the sermon for Sunday is on - stress! Maybe I should look at what I’m going to preach and figure out how to handle this stress. So, I follow Paul’s command to put the issue in prayer, giving thanks to God and trusting that He’s close at hand. And slowly, I can begin to sense the tension begin to ebb out of my muscles and a calmness begin to take over my mind.
12:30… the stress comes back as I pack up my books and computer, but once again I pray and the tension backs off - maybe not completely, but mostly. I finally made my appointment, a half hour late. But it was ok. God had taken care of things… but even if He hadn’t, by obeying His command to deal with my anxiety by making Him my 1st priority - helped me to deal with a situation I could not change. And which would NOT change no matter how much I worried about it.
So, to deal with stress, we need to (1st) get off by ourselves to rest and pray and (2ndly) we need to make God our first priority in dealing with the problems.
3rd - when we are stressed, it’s usually a sign that we’ve tried solving all of our problems by ourselves, on our own initiative.
When that’s how we deal with difficulties in our lives and a problem comes along that’s too big for us to handle, or is not going to be changed by our strength and will, we often don’t exercise our faith. We do what I 1st did when I was stranded in Kokomo… we exercise our anxiety and worry. When faced with overwhelming difficulties things we can’t handle ourselves, we STILL look to ourselves… but not to Him.
That’s what Jesus told the disciples when they were caught in that raging storm.
"A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, ’Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?’ He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, ’Quiet! Be still!’ Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, ’Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’" Mark 4:37-40
You see, these men had seen Jesus do many miraculous things. But they were men of the sea. They were accustomed to facing fierce storms. BUT this storm was different… they COULDN’T handle THIS storm. So they became anxious, worried, filled with fear. And I don’t get the impression that they were asking Jesus to calm the storm. After Jesus calmed the seas, we’re told "They were terrified and asked each other, ’Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!’" Mark 4:41
They didn’t expect him to solve their problem
They were asking Him - why are you asleep!!!
They were rebuking him for not getting up and worrying along with them
And so, when Jesus DID solve their problem He asks them:
Why were you afraid?
Why were you anxious?
Why were you overcome with stress and worry?
WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?
That’s a hard question. And if He asked it of these men who He obviously loved so dearly, don’t think that He loves you less if you realize He might ask the same question of you.
Faith… we’re not just talking about what we believe here. This isn’t an issue of where you and I stand doctrinally. When we’re talking about this kind of faith we’re talking about how we ACT on what say we believe.
The disciples in the boat believed in Jesus… but they weren’t acting on that belief
Jesus is telling these men "I’ve been here all along"
"And you’re acting like I’m just another person to man the oars."
I’m here, lean on me… because I care for you/ I care what happens to you.
Like Peter wrote: Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
There will always be times when you will be faced with situations you can’t control, you can’t change and which will cause you to be overwhelmed with fear, worry and anxiety. In those times it’s critical for you to remember that - even if the situation itself never changes - God still understands. He still cares for you.
CLOSE: During an evangelistic meeting in Ireland the speaker was explaining what it means to abide in Christ and to trust Him completely in every trial. Concluding his message, he repeated several times, "To abide in Christ & trust Him completely means that in every circumstance you can keep on saying,
’For this I have Jesus.’
’For this I have Jesus.’
’For this I have Jesus.’"
At the end of the meeting, this was a church that allowed time for testimonies. The young lady who had been at the piano stood up and said, "I have to leave shortly so I’d like to be the first to testify. Just a few minutes ago I was handed this telegram. It reads, ’Mother is very ill; take train home immediately.’ When I saw those words, I knew that tonight’s message was meant just for me. My heart looked up and said, ’For this I have Jesus.’ Instantly a peace and strength flooded my soul."
After pausing a moment, she continued, "I have never traveled very far alone, but for this I have Jesus. And for all the strain and suspense that goes with the thought of Mother’s severe illness, I praise God that for this too I have Jesus."
SERMONS IN THE “RX FOR THE SOUL” SERIES
Healing For Depression - 1 Kings 19:1-19:18
Relieving Stress - Matthew 8:14-8:27
The Cure for Loneliness - Genesis 2:18-2:25
Peace For The Mind - Isaiah 26:1-26:12
