Scripture: Philippians 4:6-7
Sermon Series: Stormproof – Sermon 01

Poor Chippie the Parakeet. He never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage singing, the next he’s sucked in, washed up, and blown over. His problem began when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum. She stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers at the bottom of the cage. Then the phone rang. Instinctively she turned to pick it up. She’d barely said “hello” and then whoosh! Chippie got sucked in. His owner gasped, dropped the phone and snapped off the vacuum. She unzipped the bag and there was Chippie alive but stunned; covered with heavy black dust. She grabbed Chippie and rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast and held him under a torrent of ice-cold water, power-washing him clean. Then she did what any compassionate pet owner would do. She grabbed the hairdryer and blasted the wet, shivering little parakeet with hot air…Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore.

Have you ever felt like Chippie? We don’t know if we’re coming or going. It seems that life’s storms beat us up…steal our song. The Bible tells us that we shouldn’t think it’s weird when waves of trials hit us. In other words, we must understand that God hasn’t abandoned us just because we have storms in our life.  

God promised that He’d give us peace beyond understanding. Jesus told His disciples not to let the world get them down because He’d overcome the world and was leaving them His peace. All these teachings and many others let us know that Christians will face storms, yet the way to get through them is with an attitude of faithfully trusting in our loving Father.

We’re beginning a seven-week series: Stormproof. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a biblical outlook at some of life’s storms that we all face. Storms like loneliness, depression, being misunderstood, waiting, etc. Often when we go through stuff, we get a case of the “poor me’s.” I know I do. We think we’re the only one, yet God’s Word says, No test or temptation that comes your way is beyond the course of what others have had to face… (1 Corinthians 10:13, The Message).

Today we want to talk about the Storm of Stress. For most of us, stress is a way of life. It eats away at our joy and peace.  

For those who want a reason to sleep in, did you know the most stressful time of the day is 7:23 am? On average we will experience three dramas each day, with the first one typically happening by around 8:18 am. Stressful situations can be anything from being stuck in traffic, oversleeping, spilling things on our clothing or a dead battery.

Are you a Cubs fan? A Brewers fan? Take it easy. Cardiologists say that stress kicked off by the intensity of nail-biting plays, eating too many brats, or downing epic amounts of alcohol can tax your heart.  

Dr. James O’Keefe noted, “Nobody will be surprised to see people within 24 hours of the game with cardiovascular emergencies. When you are emotionally invested in a game, your body prepares as if for battle.”

Because stress can be so devastating, dealing with it has become big business. Stores stock everything from anti-stress drugs, herbal remedies and vitamins formulated to countering the damage stress causes. But these only deal with the symptoms, not the cause or more importantly, the cure.

To learn how to counter stress, you and I must go to the Designer’s instruction manual for life. We must go to the Bible for God’s guidelines to find wisdom to deal with the problems we face, including stress.

Turn to Philippians 4:6-7 (p. 923): “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” In other words, “Don’t be STRESSED about anything.” If you’re taking notes…

1. What is stress? 

The phrase, all shook up, was made popular by Elvis Presley. Born dirt poor in a little town in Mississippi, he was an only child. He had little encouragement and no special skills. At the age of 18, making $14 a week as a truck driver, he decided to make a recording…the rest is history. He became one of the best paid entertainers of all time. But shortly before his death in 1977, Elvis said that he’d pay $1 million for one week of a normal life of peace.

The dictionary defines stress as “physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension.” Some stress is necessary, even good—such as the physical strain we put on our muscles in order to make them stronger.

But when we talk about stress, we’re usually referring to excessive or negative mental or emotional strain or tension. While stress is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, Scripture does speak to things such as anxiety, worry, and trouble—things we often associate with stress.

In 1967 Dr. Thomas H. Holmes and his colleagues at the University of Washington did considerable research in the area of human stress. They measured stress in terms of life change units. According to what’s known as the Holmes Stress Scale, the death of spouse rated 100 life change units. Divorce-73 units. Pregnancy-40. Remodeling a home-25, and Christmas-12 units…though I think it should be higher.

Their conclusion is that no person in their own strength can handle 300 or more units in a 12-month period without suffering, physically or emotionally. Yet, we’re constantly faced with stress producing situations.

Stress comes in two main types: acute and chronic. Acute stress results from short-term problems, like deadlines or personal conflicts. Chronic stress lasts longer, often caused by ongoing issues like job stress or family conflicts.  

Short-term stress goes away after the problem is over. It can make people more alert and energetic. Long-term stress can lead to serious issues. The impact of stress is significant. It’s important to notice signs of too much stress, like irritability, mood swings, or fatigue.

Stress can result in anger.

Ours is a pressure cooker world. When I was a little guy my mom made jam with a thing called a pressure cooker. Some of you remember those things. She’d put in fruit, crank the lid down, water inside, and somehow the pressure helped it cook. Every now and then one of those things wasn’t cranked down tight enough and would explode.

Maybe you feel like a pressure-cooker. Did you explode last week? You’re overcooked and over pressurized. That’s stress. It’s too much pressure. There are many serious kinds of stress. Often just the daily dripping of life, the vice-like pressures that come against us, and we explode. How many of you have feelings of frustration, fear and even anger about your job, about your future, about your education, whatever? Stress is epidemic in America.

Many times, pressure is self-inflicted. It’s not necessarily the circumstances in our lives; it’s the internal combustion. Somebody lit a match and we’re boiling over, stewing in our own juices.

The relationship between stress and anger isn’t unusual. The more overwhelmed we feel, the more anger lies in wait, ready to explode. A key to lessening anger is our ability to reduce stress. The more stress, the more likely that we’ll give in to sinful anger. With overwhelming stress, it’s either acted out with anger…or we swallow it. That’s when…

Stress can result in anxiety.

Anxiety is usually internal whereas anger is often external. Sometimes we swallow our anger, internalizing it. You see that when all of a sudden someone explodes over something insignificant. It   can happen if we swallow our anger. We become overstressed and explode.

People deal with various stressors daily. Stress responds to perceived threats and can trigger anxiety. Stress turns on parts of the brain that deal with emotions. This increases feelings of anxiety.   

It can result in anxiety when the demands placed on you feel overwhelming, causing feelings of fear and unease. Stress and anxiety share similar symptoms, like trouble sleeping, difficulty concentrating, and can significantly impact your life.

2. Jesus’ diagnosis of the problem of stress. 

Superficial problems call for superficial solutions. Stress though isn’t superficial.

A man went to his doctor, complaining of constant headaches. The doctor asked if he smoked. “Yes, I do,” said the fellow. “Well, stop smoking,” said the physician. So, the man stopped but still had headaches. He went back. “Do you drink?” “Yes, I do. I drink considerably.” Then, stop it.” So, he stopped drinking but still had headaches. “Are you engaged in physical labor that puts pressure on your back?” “Yes, I am.” “Quit your job.”

So, he quit his job and took another one, but his headaches still persisted. Every day, the pain pulsed through his head. Finally, they discovered that he was wearing a size 15 collar on a size 16 neck. No wonder he had headaches.

Superficial problems call for superficial solutions. Real life isn’t like that. It’s headache and stresses go deeper right to the heart.

Jesus as the Great Physician diagnoses the problem of stress. We find His diagnosis in Matthew 11:28–30. ^“Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” These are some of the most loved of Jesus’ words. We find ourselves described by them.

According to Jesus, people are weary. Weary here means to work to the point of exhaustion. It’s emotional and physical exhaustion that comes from dealing with the demands of life. We’re stretched to the limit with the hectic pace and incessant demands of marriage, family, job…and just life.

Jesus saw people who were harassed and helpless. He uses a term that describes a thrown sheep. That’s a sheep that’s gotten in a position where no matter how much it struggles, it can’t get back on its feet by itself. Emotionally, we can reach the same place. We feel stuck, unable to get away from where we are.

Those who aren’t Christ-followers have a weariness of spirit, an inner awareness that comes from a misguided attempt to somehow in themselves gain peace and earn favor with God. It’s like being a competitor in a high jump competition. Every success only means the level is raised. No matter how high they go, they knock the barrier down. God feels like an unpleasant parent, always demanding and commanding, never satisfied. That’s not God. 

Jesus also tells us, people are burdened. We carry a burden of failure, times when we fall in short of our own expectations or those of others. Some find themselves staggering under the past and memories. Things we’ve done wrong or the wrongs that have been done to us.

We can carry a load of habits, Individual threads that have been woven into a heavy rope strangling our lives. We easily develop poor habits and addictive patterns. Our own bad habits and addictions bring stress. We often load ourselves up with more socially acceptable addictions – social media, work, sports, TV, etc. Instead of bringing peace, they bring more stress.

Jesus also indicates that, people are restless. He offers rest for your souls. At the core of our being, we often feel striving and turmoil. We’ve been hurt, even betrayed and are distrustful of relationships. Instead of healthy relationships, we wear masks and become consumers of relationships. We hope to find someone who we can trust, someone who will fill the emptiness and calm restlessness. It’s easier to believe the problem lies with others or my circumstances than with me. But the stress is often internal. We carry it with us wherever we go or with whomever we are with.

All of these are effects of the Fall in Genesis 3 and the source of toxic stress. Wounds from the past, whether self-inflicted or others inflicted, are a given. We can’t change them, though we can overcome them. Our choice is to be controlled by them or to deal with them. Too often we keep doing the same cycle, the same bad habits yet expect different results.

There’s an old story of two men who’d flown into a remote lake in northern Canada for some hunting and fishing. On the day the trip ended, the float plane arrived, and the men loaded up their gear and trophies. The pilot told them they were overloaded: “We can’t take off. We’ll crash.” “Sure, you can. We’ve done it before. What if we give you an extra $5000?” So, the pilot revved up the engine, barely lifted off the water, then crashed back into the water. As the two guys swam ashore, one turned to the other and said, “Well, we made it 1000 feet farther than last year.” If you keep doing the same approach to stress, you’ll have the same outcome. People are weary, burdened, and restless. If we don’t deal with these, the source of stress, then we’re destined to be overstressed, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

3. Jesus’ solution for the problem of stress. 

The Lord offers relief from stress. He framed it in terms of a prayer, a claim and a promise. We need to recognize how important this is to the Lord. He saw His mission in terms of the manifesto He proclaimed in the synagogue in Nazareth. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19). Long before recovery groups existed, Jesus announced hope for the hopeless and release for the captives.  

Relief is a secret the Lord reveals to the humble.

Search the gospels. Jesus didn’t help the independent or proud. He can’t help the self-satisfied or self-content, who believe they can resolve life’s problems with their own power.

Jesus helps the helpless, often described as “little children.” He declared a fundamental principle in Matthew 18:3-4, ^“[Jesus] said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven’.” In other words, unless we change and become like little children we can never enter the kingdom of heaven. Little children are the dependent and humble who declare their dependence on God the Father.

The Lord blesses the humble who admit their need, the teachable who acknowledge their ignorance, the hurt who expose their wounds. One of the greatest things I can do to get relief from stress is to open myself before the Lord, honestly admit my needs and seek His help. Until I reach this point, I’ll go on with my self-deception even laying burdens on others they can’t bear.

Some Indian tribes of South America have devised an ingenious monkey trap. They place a desired tidbit in a jar with a narrow neck and a wide bottom. The entrance is wide enough to allow the monkey’s hand to enter, but too narrow for the withdrawal of his clenched fist. The secret to the trap’s success is a monkey’s nature. Very few monkeys are willing to release what they’ve grabbed, so they’re trapped by what they hold onto.

The same principle applies to us. What we hold holds us. If we try to tough it out, hold onto our burdens, they hold us. We are, the 12-step people tell us wisely, only as sick as our secrets. Relief is a gift the Lord gives the humble, to those who confess their need and come to Him for help.

Relief is a truth taught by God’s Son.

Embedded in the words of Jesus, is one of the greatest claims to come from His lips. The more we understand of Christ, the more solidly we’ve established the foundation of our lives.

Listen to His words in the verse prior to His promise: All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him (Matthew 11:27). In other words, Jesus is the all-powerful One, the sovereign Lord. No problem is too much for Him or circumstance beyond His control. No stress beyond His ability to handle it.

One of the greatest prophecies about Jesus is found in Isaiah 9:6, where He’s called Wonderful Counselor. There’s a crucial connection between the two names. It’s a great blessing to find a counselor who’s wise and skilled. These words point to the Wonderful Counselor who gives us insight and direction. Human counselors, no matter how skilled, are limited. They may point out the path, encourage, and motivate but they can’t empower us.

According to Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is not only the Wonderful Counselor, but He is also the Mighty God, full of power. He provides insight and empowers transformation. He can help us deal with our problems and stresses.

Relief is a gift given to believers.

At the heart of the Lord’s words is a promise of exchange. Come unto Me all who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest. The invitation is to bring our burdens to the Lord and accept His gift of rest. We need to stop carrying and start resting. Jesus knows all there is to know about us, and cares for us infinitely, graciously forgives us, and wisely empowers us. 

But the gift of rest is only one part of the process. There’s also the gift of Christ’s rule: take my yoke upon you. A yoke is a bar frame farmers use to link two animals together, so they work together. Jesus was a carpenter and would’ve made many yokes. In the ancient world, they weren’t factory made but custom-made to fit the animal comfortably and maximize his energy.

Usually, the yoke is a symbol of bondage in the Bible. To be yoked puts terrible pressure on an animal. But the paradox of Christ’s yoke is that what might seem to bind us in fact, sets us free. The yoke of Christ represents His authority and rule. It’s only His rule that brings freedom and peace. To change the picture, a kite is bound to the earth by the string, but the string is what sets it free to fly. Cut the string and the kite can’t soar.

The rest of Christ is only found in the rule of Christ. To stretch the image, His purpose is to plow something in our lives. He doesn’t want to merely give us rest, but to give us purpose. He doesn’t want to just ease our pain, but to accomplish His plan. The yoke of Christ means replacing stress with peace, hurtful habits with holy habits. The synergy of being in harness with Him means we accomplish far more, have more peace, more grace than we could ever imagine.

The point is that we all carry burdens; we all wear a yoke. Stress is our burden. It’s a reality in our lives. If it’s not recognized, owned and dealt with, we’ll drag it around like a ball and chain. We can have relief by trusting God’s grace, so we have His peace both now and in our future.

Good intentions aren’t enough. I must choose to take His yoke. Choosing the yoke of Christ means, owning my stress, my weariness, my soul restlessness and humbly come to Jesus. It means not only accepting His rest, but yielding to His rule as He gently, but firmly begins to plow His purposes into my life. He causes me to relearn His way of thinking, to reframe my view of life and reality, to renew my patterns of behavior. Jesus is my model. His yoke is easy, and His burden light.

Conclusion

Stress is part of life. The solution is not to bear your stress alone. Jesus is the answer to ALL of our needs, including stress. He carries our burdens with us, if we surrender them to Him. In exchange He will give us the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7). Because God is God, all powerful and wise, He uses even stress for our good and His glory.

John Ortberg wisely argues that sometimes stressful and painful situations help us grow. He then creates the following scenario:

Imagine you’re handed a script of your newborn child’s entire life. Better yet, you’re given an eraser and five minutes to edit out whatever you want. You read that she will have a learning disability in grade school. Reading, which comes easily for some kids, will be laborious for her. In high school, she will make a great circle of friends, then one of them will die of cancer. After high school, she will get into her preferred college, but while there, she will lose a leg in a car accident. Following that, she will go through a difficult depression. A few years later she’ll get a great job, then lose that job in an economic downturn. She’ll get married but then go through the grief of separation.

With this script of your child’s life and five minutes to edit it, what would you erase? Wouldn’t you want to take out all the stuff that would cause them pain? If you could erase every failure, disappointment, and period of suffering, would that be a good idea? Would that cause them to grow into the best version of themselves? Is it possible that we actually need adversity and setbacks—maybe even crises and trauma—to reach the fullest potential of development and growth?”

Then, Ortberg points out God doesn’t always erase our stress and pain before it starts. Instead, God can use the failures, disappointments, the stress and periods of suffering to help us grow spiritually. He writes, God isn’t at work producing the circumstances I want. God is at work in bad circumstances to produce the me He wants.

Stress isn’t bad when God has His hand on the temperature gage of the heat of my stress. He uses stress to cause us to trust Him and to grow in grace.

Let me end with a quote that I believe was first said when he was President by Jimmy Carter, I don’t have stress. I’m a carrier.

That’s the solution, be a carrier. Carry it all the way to Jesus and give all your stress to Him. 1 Peter 5:7, Casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.