"Facing Our Fears: Paralyzing What-Ifs"
Sermon Transcript for August 24, 2003Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:25-34
By Rev. Mike Beck
What if I lose my job? What if I come down with cancer or have a heart attack? What if my spouse decides they don’t love me anymore? And you know, children ask “what-if” questions too. I’ve had children ask me, “What if my parents get a divorce?” What if the steady stream of unexpected expenses we’ve incurred causes us to lose our home? What if the biopsy they just performed turns up positive? What if my health fails and I would have to enter a nursing home? And youth ask these same kinds of questions. We think they are more trivial; they are not trivial to them having only lived a short time. What if I don’t make the team or the cheerleading squad? What if I don’t get invited to the prom? What if I fail the big exam? What if I’m not accepted to the college that I want to attend? What if the scholarship applications don’t pan out like I hoped they would? If left unchecked, the “what-if” questions of life can lead us down a road of worry and fear that ends up resulting in paralysis that keeps us from knowing the joy and peace that God wants us to have. And this squeaky but powerful little tool of the enemy of our soul has an equally infectious first cousin. Do you know what his name is? “If only”!
Before going any further, I want to bring this message right down to what’s going on in your life at the present time. So I want to ask you now to close your eyes; all of you. Close your eyes for a moment, get focused to eliminate distractions, and answer these questions: What if ________? Fill in the blank with what’s going on in your life. If only I had _______? And then one more question in your mind before you open your eyes. Here’s the question, “What are some things that I worried excessively about in the past few months that never happened? Now you can open your eyes.
Worry and fear are very closely related. In fact, I discovered that the word “worry” is derived from an old English word…I hope I am pronouncing it correctly. Beulah, welcome back from your trip. If it’s not pronounced “wyrgan” you come up and see me afterwards; you’ll know. “wyrgan”. (Tara, before the next service, I think we left out an “r” in that word.) But here’s the definition of the old English word. It means to choke, to strangle, or to tear at the throat with the teeth! It’s not a pretty picture is it? But yet that root meaning accurately describes what happens to us when the “what-ifs” and the “if only’s” of life begin to dominate our thinking.
Allow me one quick detour before we look at some passages from God’s Word that can help us to “stand tall” against the “what ifs” and the “if only’s” of life. As we’ve worked through this series on fear, I hope you aren’t thinking that they are simplistic answers to those fears. They are not. We are human. We’re going to be afraid; we are going to worry from time to time. I suppose that’s the reason the Bible says so often, “Do not be afraid for I am with you.” In 1988 I was in Israel at the Jerusalem Center for Holy Land Studies taking a class. During the evening class a person came down the stairs and said there was a phone call for Mike Beck. Boy, when I walked in that stairs I knew it wasn’t good news. My mom was on the phone and she said, “Adam was in a sledding accident.” (He was nine years old at the time.) “He’s in intensive care at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis but the doctors feel pretty sure he’s going to be okay. We didn’t want you to worry but we thought you ought to know what’s going on.” Now, that was the day and age before cell phones kept you connected around the world. It was 36 hours from the time I got that message to the plane landing at the airport in Indianapolis. Did I worry? Sure I did!
But when we worry, we gain comfort because of the uniqueness of the Christian faith, which is not a philosophy; it’s not a set of rules and regulations. It is a personal relationship with God. A God, who the writer of Hebrew says, “Therefore since we have a great High Priest who has gone through the Heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let’s hold firmly to the faith that we profess.” Here’s the part I want you to realize. “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. But we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so we may receive mercy and find help in our time of need.” I’m not saying it’s easy to stand tall against our fears. And the bumps of life will make us say, those of us who are believers; “Thank God I don’t have to bring only my energy alone to that task.” For if we have entered in to a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit whispers often in my ear and in your ear “fear not, for I am with you.” And His power and strength will enable us to be “more than conquerors through Him who loves us.”
I said in a sermon a couple of months ago and it is appropriate to say it again, “Excessive worry is a sin”. And here’s why—it’s a sin because it indicates a lack of trust in God. It is also a sin because when we—notice the adjective—excessively worry, we are not being good stewards of what God gave us because we are expending God-given energy in non-helpful ways. Sin always has its price tag. Here are some of the costs connected with excessive worry.
· It robs us of joy because we are constantly, instead of experiencing the moment, thinking “what-if”.
· It can lead to illness and disease, and
· It has a paralyzing effect that prevents us from experiencing the present moment because we are obsessed by either looking back saying “if only” or looking ahead saying “what if” at the expense of not living today in the moment.
So let me read with you again those words form Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6. Jesus said, “Therefore 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?” And then Jesus did most of His preaching in the outdoors. Perhaps he saw a flock of birds going overhead and He said, “Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet Your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you much more valuable then they? And then make sure we see this quote. “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?”
Now, excessive worrying can cause you to lose hours of your life, but your worry will never, as Jesus said, add hours to it. “And why do you worry about clothes” I’m going to post that on Mickey’s closet door. “See how the lilies of the field grow. They cannot labor or spin. And yet I tell you the body of Solomon in all its splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass and the field which is here today and tomorrow is gone in the fire, will he not much more clothe you?” And then, focus on these words. “Oh, you of little faith!” For excessive worry is the opposite of trust in God. “So do not worry saying, ‘What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear?’ For the pagans ran after all these things. And your Heavenly Father…” I tell you, I’ve got one of the world’s best dads. But he couldn’t hold a candle to the love of my Heavenly Father. And Jesus said, “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.” That was one of your versus we hoped you put to memory. “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself.” And my gosh, this is what Jesus closed with, “Treat each day as enough trouble of its own.”
The fact that Jesus said that, the fact that in the Upper Room to His disciples He promised them, “In this world you will have trouble”, is why the prosperity gospel that some people want to preach, I don’t think squares with the Holy Scripture. But Jesus said, “Fear not, I have overcome the world and I am with you.” And we need to claim that.
Now, does this mean that we don’t plan for the future? Absolutely not! God gave us a brain; he wants us to use it. But there is a huge difference between productive planning and destructive worry. So let us think for a moment about this passage in James, Chapter 4 when starting with verse 13 he writes, “Now listen, you who say today or tomorrow we will go to visit that city. We will spend a year there. We will carry on business to make money. Why you do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? It is a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If this is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this and that.’”
Grace Church has received a grant from the Lilly Foundation that will allow me next summer to take a clergy renewal leave. It comes at a wonderful point in my ministry—twenty years of ministry behind me, twelve to fifteen years of ministry ahead of me. Renewal leave will allow me time and resources for travel, for reading, for study, for rest. But I’ve been having a good time planning for those days. It’s been exciting to try to think how to use them most productively. But when I do that I always say to people, “A lot of things could happen between now and then.” And so I say, “If it’s the Lord’s will, that’s what I will do during those weeks.” And then I try not to spend too much time thinking about it. For today is the day I’m there at work and ministry.
One of the greatest versus I think in the Psalms is Psalm 91, Verse 12. It’s a simple little verse that says, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we might gain a heart of wisdom.” What’s the Psalmist trying to say in that verse? He’s trying to remind us your days on this earth are limited. And friends it is very true that it is only when we begin to accept that death is a part of life, it’s only then that we truly begin to live when we realize our days here are limited.
A little Gaither chorus goes through my mind so often. It’s so filled with truth. “We have this moment to hold in our hand and to touch while it slips through our fingers like sand. Yesterday’s gone, and tomorrow may never come, but we have this moment today.” So just a quick word about the “if only’s” in life where we look back and wish we had done things differently. In the Gaither chorus it said, “Yesterday’s gone”, but I love Revelation 21:5 where the disciple John hears Jesus saying, “Behold, I am making all things new.” We all look to our past. There are some if-only’s; things we would change. But how wonderful it is that we serve a God who is constantly making things new. Romans 8:28 speaks to that. You’ve heard me say over and over again, “God is not the author of everything that happens in life”. But Romans 8:28 tells us that even the worse things in life for the child of God, good can come from them.
Worry has so much to do with what we feed what’s between these two ears, on where our focus is. Gerald Sittser in his book, The Will of God as a Way of Life, penned these words, “Worry makes the imagination run wild as we turn remote possibilities into raging realities. It erodes the spirit, distracts the mind, dulls our creativity, and wastes our energy. It prevents us from living fully in the present.” And this quote by Roche pictures in such a graphic way what worry does to us. He says, “Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.” And that’s worth repeating. Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. But if encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.
And so we need to allow the Holy Spirit to accomplish in us what the Apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 12 when he says, “Do not be conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And I want to stop and ask you, “Is that taking place in your life?” It won’t happen unless you are spending time in the Word. If you don’t take time to pray, if your participation in worship is haphazard, if you are not connected in some meaningful way with other believers, your mind will not be transformed. Some of you might have gotten them in the mail yesterday. If you didn’t, they will be in your mailbox early this week. Three brochures listing a variety of ministries that are beginning that can help you renew your mind.
And then the last passage I want to share with you is that great passage from Philippians 4 where it says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice!” Rejoice doesn’t necessarily mean happiness. I can rejoice when the tears are rolling down my cheek. Linda, you can still rejoice on the inside when those chemotherapy treatments are doing a number on you. Rejoice in the Lord always. Let your gentleness be a tool for the Lord to steer. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” By prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. That’s a command! But there is a promise connected to it. “And the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Now I’ve already told you it’s natural to worry. Worry will come. What you’ve got to do is put a “No Trespassing” sign up in your brain or bring to mind this kind of image when it talks about the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds. I put a mental picture in my mind of that guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery who is walking back and forth. And I picture in my times of worry my Heavenly Father in the person of Jesus Christ walking back and forth across the entrance to my soul guarding it.
And then this part of Philippians 4 goes with Romans 12, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things. Whatever you have heard from me, or seen in me – put it into practice.” Take those steps. I see Doug Amick down there. He’s a busy guy—two young kids, a full-time job, but he’s going to be in my Disciple Bible Study group for 34 weeks starting the first Sunday of September. Doug, God’s going to bless that in ways you can’t even imagine yet because you are going to fill your mind with the word of God. And once in the promise is repeated and the God of peace will be with you.
Our closing hymn speaks to that so beautifully.
“I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day.
I don’t borrow from its sunshine, for it’s skies may turn to gray.
I don’t worry o’er the future, for I know what Jesus said.
And today, I’ll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead.
Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know He holds my hand.”
Let’s stand and sing those great words together.
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