“Paul said: ‘Do not be anxious about anything’”
Philippians 4:6
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Born in Manhattan in March of 1950, Bobby McFerrin is a famous American singer and songwriter. And after attending schools in Illinois and California, he began to develop his own musical style, a blend between singing and vocal percussion. Then just as soon as he found his own particular style, that’s when his career in music began to take off.
You’ve probably heard him sometime before. Not only has he both written and performed a wide-variety of songs, he’s served as a guest conductor for symphony orchestras all around the world.
But a little over thirty years ago, back in 1988, he happened to see a poster hanging up on the wall of a friend’s apartment, a fellow jazz musician in San Francisco. All it said was, “Don’t worry, be happy.” And that gave him an idea for a song.
This is how it goes: “Ain’t got no place to lay your head? Somebody came and took your bed? Don’t worry, be happy. The landlord say your rent is late. He may have to litigate. Don’t worry, be happy. Ain’t got no cash, ain’t got no style. Ain’t got no gal to make you smile. Don’t worry, be happy. ‘Cause when you worry your face will frown, and that will bring everybody down. So don’t worry, be happy.”
A year later, in 1989, it was the most popular song in the world.
“Don’t worry, be happy.” Though it might sound easy, it’s often the most difficult thing we could ever do. But that’s exactly what the apostle Paul encourages us to do in his letter to the Philippians chapter 4. Please turn in your Bible to page 1250.
Philippians chapter 4, beginning at verse 4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; 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” (Philippians 4:4-7).
If you’ve been with us for the past few weeks, you’ll probably remember that Paul’s letter to the Philippians is one of his four “prison epistles.” Along with his letters to the Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon, he wrote them and sent them while he was a prisoner in Rome.
But this letter, the one to the Philippians, is different from all the rest. While he wrote to teach the faith to the Ephesians, to condemn heresy among the Colossians, and to beg Philemon to forgive his servant Onesimus, Paul’s letter to the Philippians is one filled with joy.
He wrote: “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy”...”Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith”...”Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind”...and ”My brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.”
Now here in chapter 4, verse 4, he says it again: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.”
And among this series of concluding remarks and commands comes one more. Verse 6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
“Don’t be anxious,” he said. “Don’t worry.”
Easier said, than done.
According to the American Psychological Association, here in our United States, about eighteen percent of adults, (that’s nearly one in every five), and twenty-five percent of youth, (that’s one in every four), experience anxiety. Even more, they say that four out of every one hundred adults and six out of every one hundred teens have severe anxiety disorders. Thanks to cell phones, social media, mobs, riots, shootings, terrorism, and news reports that are getting worse all the time, it’s not surprising at all.
And not only do we experience such stress and anxiety, we experience different kinds. Think, for example, of “General Anxiety Disorder,” where you constantly worry and feel anxious, or “Panic Disorder,” where you sweat, shake, have shortness of breath and feelings of dread. Think of phobias of all kinds--fear of rats or snakes or spiders or closed places or thunder and lightning. There’s “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder,” where thoughts, images or impulses threaten you over and over again. And there’s “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” where flashbacks constantly intrude on your waking thoughts and even your dreams.
And what do we worry about? You name it, and we probably worry about it!
We worry about finances--will we have enough money to pay this month’s bills? What if I lose my job? What if my car breaks down? Will I have enough for retirement? Or how about my medical bills?
We worry about our health--what if I get cancer or Alzheimer’s? If we’re older, we worry if we’ll become disabled and have to go into a nursing home. If we’re younger, we worry about our aging parents.
We worry about our children--will they be safe in this sin-sick world? Will they marry a Christian and have a happy home? And what kind of world will their children have to live in?
Day after day after day, fear, worry, and anxiety build up and spill over--big things and little things--constantly gnawing away at our insides. Like a thin stream, they trickle through our minds, cutting a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.
You’ve heard of Howard Hughes? He was a twentieth-century businessman, investor, pilot, film director, and engineer. In today’s money, he was worth nearly seven billion dollars.
Now you’d think that anyone with that much money would be the picture of ease and tranquility--sitting beside a pool with his feet up, sipping drinks with little umbrellas.
Not Howard Hughes! For the last twenty-five years of his life, he was the poster child for worry and anxiety. Overwhelmed by fear that people were out to get him, he spent his last years living in hotels, where he would rent out entire floors. Those closest to him said he was so afraid, he would sit in a pitch-black room for days at a time, refusing to allow anyone to see him.
And if, for some reason, someone had to see him, there were certain things they had to do. They had to take several tissues, cover the door knob, knock, and open the door ever-so-slightly, all because he was so very afraid of germs. Even worse, his worry caused such physical problems that he once sat in the bathroom for twenty-seven hours in a row!
And if he ever did venture out, his driver had strict instructions--take only smooth roads, and don’t drive any faster than thirty-five miles an hour. And on the chance they had to cross railroad tracks or bumps in the road, he was to slow down to two miles an hour. Hughes was that afraid of having an accident.
When he died in April of 1976 of kidney failure and malnutrition, even though he was six-foot, four inches tall, he weighed only ninety pounds. The FBI had to use fingerprints to identify his body.
Automobile tycoon Henry Ford once said, “I was happier when I was doing a mechanic’s job.” Multimillionaire W. H. Vanderbilt said, “The care of two hundred million dollars is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it.” And multimillionaire, Andrew Carnegie, said, “Millionaires seldom smile.”
Or think of King Solomon, who was likely one of the richest men in history. He wrote in his book of Ecclesiastes, “I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well--the delights of the heart of man. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me.” Then he said, “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done, and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
And that’s the great paradox of America. While on the one hand we’re regarded as one of the richest nations on earth, our lives are overwhelmed with fear, anxiety, and worry.
So what’s the solution? Jesus said in the book of Matthew: “Do not be anxious 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 clothes?” In the book of John, He said: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” And Paul wrote to the Philippians: “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 times of stress and anxiety, no matter how severe, we need to cast our fears at the feet of Jesus. We rest in Him, and find our strength in Him. His roof of grace protects us from storms of guilt. His walls of providence secure us from destructive winds. And His fireplace warms us through life’s lonely winters.
This is not the time for fear. It’s the time for faith and hope that rests on God.
As Peter once wrote in his first epistle: “Cast all your anxiety, all your worry, all your fear on Him, because He cares for you.”
One author put it like this--”In some parts of my lawn, the grass is thick and green. In other areas, it’s sparse and dry. There are even a few places where the grass is missing entirely.
“And when I mow the lawn, I notice that where the grass is healthy, there are no weeds. Where the lawn is sparse, there are a few. And where there’s no grass, the weeds flourish.
“Then one day it hit me--I don’t have to pull weeds where the grass is thick. The more grass I have, the fewer weeds I have to pull.”
The same is true of worry. Worry is like the weeds. God’s peace is the grass. And instead of focusing on all the worries that surround us, we need to rest on the unchanging, unrelenting, and unending peace and grace of God.
And that’s the genius of biblical Christianity--God cares for you. And not only did He show it, He proved it by sending His own Son to die for you. And any God who would sacrifice His own Son for people like us, must care for you and me.
Dear Father, in times of doubt and fear and worry, grant that Your peace, which surpasses all understanding, may guard our hearts and minds in Christ, and Christ alone, for His sake. Amen