Downloading Our Stress

As some of you know, I have not written in my blog in a while. I have not thought of anything original to write in some time so, for now, I want to write a series based on a sermon series that our church is currently undertaking regarding stress. The following represents a transcript of the sermon presented by Devin Lebay on the 15th of March based on Matthew 6 25-33.

Being maxed out prevents us from investing ourselves in the most important and lasting things in life. Maxed out people run through their day and then at the end of the day wonder if they've accomplished anything of value. Accordingly, anytime you begin a conversation about being maxed out, you can't get through the conversation without someone mentioning stress. According to the American Institute of Stress, four out of five Americans reported that they are overloaded with stress and stress related illnesses cost the American economy over $100 billion annually. There are a lot of things that can increase our stress level; stress can be induced by changes in life or routine, from the expectations others have of us, from relationships, and from the frustration of physical illness and many other causes. We are going to examine the words of Jesus and see what he tells us about downloading stress from our life.
First, we learn that stress is a natural part of life. Jesus tells us, "Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear." That's what Jesus says, notice what he doesn't say. He doesn't say, "don't worry because you're not going to have difficult times as a believer."
Jesus doesn't tell us to avoid stress. The reason is that stress is a natural part of living in this world. What he does tell us is that we shouldn't respond to the natural stress in our lives by worrying or becoming anxious about it. His words "don't worry" are not words of encouragement nor are they words of friendly advice. In the Greek they are written in the imperative tense, meaning that this is a command from Jesus, not a request.
In verse 32, Jesus tells his listeners that when we worry about the things of the world we are no different than pagans. When we allow ourselves to constantly worry, in essence we are acting like someone who has no faith. When we allow ourselves to become maxed out with life, it is evidence that we've taken our eyes off of the Lord. The problem is this: you and I have a hard time seeing it that way. It's one thing to say, "don't worry" and another thing entirely to actually try and do it! We have been conditioned to think we don't have any choice of how we respond and deal with the stressful things in life. We have been conditioned by society to respond to these situations with anger, anxiety, depression, and distress.
Based upon the words in this passage we have a clear choice as to how we respond to the stressful things in life. We can either respond with worry, or we can respond with faith. Jesus' imperative and loving command to us is "don't worry."
Second, downloading our stress means that we understand and accept that some things are out of our control.
In verse 27, Jesus asks a profound question, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Only Jesus could ask that question. In this question Jesus reminds us that all of our stress and all of our worrying is unproductive. It's a waste of time and energy. Sure, we can minimize the stress in some areas of life but there will always be some things in life that are beyond our control. We can't control the weather or the choices that others make. We can't control how others respond to us or the circumstances of life that deal with our employment or health. We throw away too much of our life with worry and with trying to change the things that are beyond our control. When we begin to focus on the things that are beyond our control we need to re-direct our focus on the things that we can control and lay those things that we can't control at the feet of Jesus.
Third, we can learn a lot from God's creation about downloading stress. In verse 26 Jesus says, "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 you not much more valuable than they?" When life becomes a little too complicated, and we find ourselves more at worry that at peace, we need to got out and get away. Remember that is what Jesus did. We need to stop and smell the flowers and listen to the birds for a little while. When we do this we will realize that God takes care of his world and he does a pretty good job of it! When we soak all of this up and then read Jesus' words in verse 26, "Are you not much more valuable than they?" it puts things back in perspective and reaffirms Jesus' loving imperative command-"Don't worry."
Finally, downloading our stress means re-directing our stress from stressful situations to God's providential promises. In verse 33 Jesus gives us his alternative to dealing with the stressful times of life. This is what he says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Jesus tells us that in times of stress we need to re-direct our focus. That means that we need to focus on His sufficiency rather than our problem. It means that we should focus on His love for us rather than our insecurity. It means that we should trust His providence and His plan for our life rather than our ability to solve the things that are beyond our control, trusting in His working in all situations for our good, in spite of the pain we feel and the fear that God isn't working at all.
Psalm 77 is an example of what we've been looking at. This is a psalm of Asaph. Asaph was a skilled musician and song leader in the tabernacle.
"1 I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted. 3 I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint. 4 You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. 5 I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; 6 I remembered my songs in the night. My heart mused and my spirit inquired: 7 "Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? 8 Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?"10 Then I thought, "To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High." 11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. 12 I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. 13 Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God?14 You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples. 15 With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. 16 The waters saw you, O God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. 17 The clouds poured down water, the skies resounded with thunder; your arrows flashed back and forth. 18 Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. 19 Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen.
20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron."
In this psalm we really don't know what's going on in the life of Asaph. We are not privy to the circumstances that have brought him to this point in life but we do know how he feels. His soul refuses comfort, he's groaning in pain, he's not sleeping, he didn't know how to adequately express his feelings, his thoughts are focused on the past and he feels forgotten by God. Have you ever felt like that? Asaph is maxed out by the circumstances and stress of life and it feels like God is miles away. Life can do that to us, one day things are great and life is good and the next it feels like the ladder has been kicked out from under us; the doctor calls with test results you don't want to hear. You find a pink slip on you desk. Your child is in trouble with the law. The IRS decides you need to be audited. Suddenly, just like that, you're maxed out.
That is the way Asaph feels in verses 1-9. But when you read verses 10-15 you see that Asaph's attitude transitions from overload to overjoyed. Notice the text, in the first twelve verses the subject is the pronoun "I". In verse 13 the focus shifts and Asaph re-directs his focus from himself to God. Asaph does what so many of us need to do and re-directs his focus from his own problems and his own insufficiency toward the all-sufficiency of God. In this Asaph rediscovers three characteristics of God that we should never forget.
First, we should never forget that God is Holy. James tells us in chapter 1:13&17 "God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone...Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows" What James is emphasising here is that God is consistent with His goodness. We have days when we're in a good mood and days when we're in a bad mood but God never has a bad day. Every day, God is good for His promises to us.
Second, we should never forget that God is Great. The circumstances that cause us the most problems are no big deal for God. God is never handcuffed by any circumstance. He has never been in any situation where He was helpless, even on the cross.
Do you remember God's question to Abraham? God had promised him so many children that the sands of the seashore would run out before counting them all. After several years of waiting, Abraham is an old man and his wife Sarah is well beyond the years of giving birth to a child. God comes to Abraham in Genesis 18:14 and asks him, "Is there anything too hard for God?"
Third, we should never forget that God is loving. Thomas Jefferson and some of the founding fathers held the Deist view in which God simply wound up the world and we're waiting for it to unwind. Their view was that God is not involved in the daily lives of his creation. This is false! God isn't an indifferent bystander in our lives. Our God has redeemed us by his involvement in our lives in the most intimate and sacrificial way through His death on the cross. He never turns a deaf or unconcerned ear to our cries of pain. God loves us and in the times that we are maxed out with the stress of life, like a child running to a parent, we need to run to God's greatness and fullness.
Stress is part of life, and Jesus never promised us a stress-free life. There are five things that we can do to download the stress that we do have.
First, we can be thankful. We can re-direct our focus on the things being done FOR us rather than the things being done TO us. Counting our blessings makes us feel a lot better than counting our struggles.
Second, we can focus on others. When we get involved in the lives of others we realize that we're not the only ones who have trouble. In fact, we realize pretty quickly that a lot of people have more to worry about than we do.
Third, we need to laugh. Laughter eases the pressure, helps us to release tension and helps put things into perspective. Find someone who makes you laugh and ask them to fill your prescription!
Fourth, we need to pray, pray, pray. We need to bear our heart to God. When our life is maxed out and our soul is overloaded, we need to unload our soul though time shared in prayer with God. God can handle our tears, God can handle our frustration, and God can handle our anger. But God can't handle anything we don't place into his hands.
Fifth, we need to be in the word. Conversation with God is a two way street. We're free to unload our soul's frustration, fear, and anger on the Lord through prayer. It's only fair that we listen to what He has to say to us through His word. We need to begin to see our worries and stress as opportunities for God rather than problems for us. What would happen in our lives if we minimized the stress that we could and turned the rest of it over to the Lord? What would happen if we re-directed our focus from seeing these things as being beyond our control to being totally controlled by Him? Our faith would increase exponentially! We say that God is great, but we often don't give him the space and opportunity to show us His greatness in our life.
We are going to have stress in our life, it's part of living, but what we choose to do with that stress determines whether it will destroy us or deepen us.