“Do not worry… easier said than done” March 22, 2020 online only

“Do not worry… easier said than done”

March 22, 2020 online only

Imagine the densest fog you can. You can hardly see the end of your nose let alone your hand in front of your face. It covers your house, your block and the three blocks to the right and to the left. The fog is one hundred feet deep.

That dense fog covering 7 city blocks is made of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops. Really, there isn’t much there, but it can paralyze anyone within its grip 

Isn’t that the way worry is? It is estimated that the average worrier- worries 40% about things that will never happen …30% -- about the past that can't be changed… 12% -- about criticism by others which is mostly untrue… 10% -- about health, which gets worse with stress … and only 8% of our worry is about real problems that we will actually face.

In this current environment, maybe those percentages are modified a little, but I suspect that these days most of us have worst case scenarios in our minds that scare us.

When we are scared, a little part of our brain called the amygdala kicks into overdrive. It is the part of our brain that at one time kept us from chasing after that saber tooth tiger. We rarely run into a saber tooth tiger anymore, but there are things that activate the amygdala: strange new viruses, the thought of running out of toilet paper, sneezes, and doorknobs come to mind. We listen to all the signals in our environment including the 24hour cycle of COVID-19 news updates and our brain flashes danger, danger, danger!!

When our amygdala sounds the alarm, our bodies go into hyperdrive; adrenaline, cortisone, neurotransmitters, and hormones start rushing to their battle stations. That’s how a 100-pound grandmother can lift a car off her grandchild who is pinned underneath. We are endowed with what seems like superpowers, extra energy, an even heightened awareness of the dangers around us so we can defend ourselves.

What happens when the danger is invisible? Well, our natural response is either fight or flight. There isn’t much we can do to fight an invisible enemy. So, we

choose flight deeper and deeper into our own homes, fears, anxieties, and isolation. I don’t know about you, but the dark of the night is the time when worry seems to overpower me. So the more we practice social distancing, the more we stay home, the more we are alone with our dark thoughts, the more we retreat into the quiet dark places that keep us safe from the COVID-19 virus the more time we have time to listen to our fears and worries.

A retired police chief friend of mine talks about the effect that rollercoaster anxiety has on police officers. The radio squawks and their adrenaline pumps sky high, which is important for the officer’s safety and performance. They deal with the situation and the amygdala relaxes. Then there is another call and the adrenaline, goes back up again and the cycle starts all over. My friend says research shows that this adrenaline rollercoaster is a major contributor to PTSD, mental illness, and physical problems.

Today, we are kind of in that same place and although caution is the magic word of the week, worry will not make us safer or healthier. Many listen to the news and their anxiety goes up. Many see a stranger and their anxiety goes up. Others stay on high alert. This hypervigilance takes a toll on us as well. For me, it was walking through the grocery store and seeing empty shelves. I had everything I needed, but it makes me feel insecure and a little worried.

 A story is told about a man who came face to face with the dangers of worry: Death was walking toward a city one morning and a man asked, ''What are you going to do?''

''I'm going to take 100 people,'' Death replied.

''That's horrible!'' the man said.

''That's the way it is,'' Death said. ''That's what I do.''

The man hurried to warn everyone he could about Death's plan. As evening fell, he met Death again. ''You told me you were going to take 100 people,'' the man said. ''Why did 1,000 die?''

''I kept my word,'' Death responded. ''I only took 100 people. Worry took the rest.''

Paul addresses worry straight on in the 4th chapter of Philippians. Paul writes, “Do not worry about anything.” My first reaction is to say, “That’s silly. That’s like telling a cat to not lick itself. It is part of who I am. It is part of who we are. Don’t worry? Easier said than done. What do we look like a warthog singing hakuna matata in the lion king?”

Yet It is hard to write Paul off as a kook because Jesus says virtually the same thing. “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? 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? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

Jesus stops there, but Paul goes on to help us a little in Philippians 4.

It helps to know a little of the story. Paul was in Philippi to start a church. This was the first church in Europe and Philippi was a large city. The ruins of the city include the main highway of the Roman Empire, the Egnatia (ig nashia), and an outdoor theater that once held 3,000 or more spectators. Paul and his companions met Lydia and some other God-fearing women, and a new church is born. All was good, until Paul healed a child in the name of Jesus, and her “owners” trump up charges against Paul because he had ruined their primary source of income, having their own private side show with this child as the star.

The three preachers were subsequently imprisoned. At midnight in the dark of the night, when most of us would be worrying into our pillows these three started singing praise songs. The Bible says an earthquake opened the doors of the prison for them. That happened right before the Philippians own eye and probably made quite an impression on him.

In addition, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians about his suffering.   Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked

Now think about this…the man who wrote that … is the same man who wrote, “Do not worry about anything.”  To know that the person saying that has suffered in every way imaginable makes me look at it just a little differently. It gives that teaching a lot more credibility. On the one hand that Paul has suffered all these hardships. On the other hand, he says, “worry about nothing.” Let’s dig into that a little more.

Paul starts before our key passage writing, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” I know that seems like an unlikely place to start when we are talking about worry. Who can rejoice and worry at the same time… Ah… that is exactly the point?

Yes, it is serious. COVID-19 has killed 10,000 and infected a quarter million people world-wide. “Rejoice” seems like an unlikely place to start when we are isolated in our homes,

if we are constantly worried about losing our job, we can’t rejoice

if we are afraid of every little sneeze and sniffle, we can’t rejoice

if we are obsessed with the 24-hour corona updates on the TV, we can’t rejoice

            Worry is a persistent enemy. It is almost like an addiction. It is hard to stop worrying and start rejoicing but we must try.

You see worry is as bad as unforgiveness that I was talking about 2 weeks ago. Worry can kill you too; physically, emotionally, and spiritually just like unforgiveness. Worry has a very interesting word history.

''The word 'worry' is derived from an Old Anglo-Saxon word meaning to “strangle” or “to choke.” In worry the off switch is broken on that amygdala that I talked about. We are always in that heightened state of defensiveness. The amygdala “chokes” the brain until the brain looks at a sunrise and only perceives the darkness, worry chokes the heart until fearfulness is normal. Worry chokes the spirit until faith dies.

Worry is not the opposite of hakuna matata or be happy.  Worry is the opposite of trust, which is part of faith.

And when we begin to give up our faith and replace it with worry, we are choosing to trust in ourselves and our abilities, and as we trust more in ourselves and less in God we slip further and further away from God. Not by God’s choice but ours. The first thing Paul teaches us is to make the intentional choice for joy rather than fear, anxiety, darkness, and worry…  CHOSE TO REJOICE INSTEAD OF WORRY.

The second step on Paul’s list as we battle worry is in direct answer to the question “How do we not worry about anything?” The passage reads

*Do not worry about anything, but (instead, alternatively, here’s another option for you) *instead everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Do you see the three-fold directions Paul gives us? We could spend a whole sermon series just unpacking those. But Here is a very simple way to think of it.

We make our requests to God by prayer, which has a major component of praise. This is the WOW prayer. Wow you are awesome God. Wow you are infinite God. Wow you are pure love God. This is the kind of prayer that we experience when we see a sunrise or a sunset and the only thing we can think to do is to fall on our knees and praise God.

The second component in the list is supplication. Supplication is a big word for begging or pleading. This is where we come before God humbly, let me say that word again humbly asking God for whatever it is that we need, we don't come with pride, we don't come with arrogance, we don't come with the assumption that God is going to give us everything we ask for, we come humbly before the almighty God and we place our needs before God. We trust God with those needs and God has never failed us.

WE CHOSE TO GIVE EVERYTHING TO God AND NOT TAKE IT BACK

The final act of prayer is Thanksgiving. It's perfectly natural to thank God at the end of our prayers. We teach our children to say thank you. I don't think God is going to stop us on our way to bed and say, “now what do you say?” but thanksgiving is an essential part of our prayers. Our prayers of praise, our prayers of supplication or asking, and our prayers of Thanksgiving all carry the needs and make them known before God. We can trust completely that God hears and answers every single one of those prayers. Now we might not be looking for the answer that we receive the answer might be no or not yet or it might come in a form that we don't expect. But God never ignores us.

Remember the children’s time and the paper bag? Well, that’s the idea. We give all our worries up to God by prayer supplication and thanksgiving and leave them there. Sure, we can climb up and arm wrestle God to get our prayers back. But I really don't recommend that.

WE CHOSE TO GIVE EVERYTHING TO God AND NOT TAKE IT BACK

And as we come to the end of this passage from Philippians a wonderful image comes to us. Paul says and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” The image here is of God’s protection. The Greek word translated guard, as in “he will GUARD your hearts and minds,” That Greek word is used to describe the way a garrison of soldiers might guard the city walls. He'll guard your hearts and minds like a detachment guards the city. Get inside God's city walls, so to speak, in Christ Jesus. and God's peace will march like a sentry around your potential anxieties.

So, Paul’s formula is to CHOOSE TO REJOICE, CHOOSE TO OFFER EVERYTHING TO GOD… and all the things we worried about, all the that have troubled us, all the things that make out nights long and sleepless, all the little worries that have ruined a day, all the things that that we cannot change that make us anxious, all the worries about tomorrow, all the uncontrollable, unpredictable, unimaginable things… will become a little smaller leaving room for our faith to become a little bigger.

This is not nearly as complicated as we've often made it out to be. If you're anxious about an issue, you've been thinking about the thing that makes you anxious. If you'd like to stop worrying, you'll have to intentionally choose to give up worry and take on rejoicing. You have to intentionally choose to give up all the things you're worrying about and think about other things. Paul writes "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. . .. And (then) the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8, 9, emphasis added)

This will take a great amount of discipline, but Paul was crystal clear. CHOOSE TO SET OUR MINDS ON THE BLESSINGS OF FAITH.

When we give our coronavirus anxieties over to God and OUR minds will be protected in Christ Jesus.

When we give over our economic anxiety to God, God will protect our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

When we give up our mistrust and paranoia about everyone and everything around us, God will protect our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I hope that you have typed in some of the things that worry you the most because I'm going to go to those answers now and say,

When we give up our worry about ------------------------God will protect our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus

Give all your worries to God and let God protect your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. May your anxious moments be rare, may your sleepless nights be few, may you be protected from Fear of what may happen tomorrow, may you be sustained and strengthened and protected in Christ Jesus. AMEN