Weekly Sermon: How to Stop Being Stressed Out - Solace When Stress Surges: 10-05-2025

All right, has anyone out here today ever figured out how to take care of stress?

Who never feels a single day of stress in their life?

Anybody here? I see no hands. I expected at least one. And I was going to call

them up here to do the sermon.

No, I don't think any of us have, whether it's here in the sanctuary or online.

And we've all felt it, haven't we? like that overbearing stress,

that day that just weighs on us and keeps pressing on us on our shoulders or

on our hearts until it feels like we can't even breathe. We've all had those days.

And it shows up in all kinds of ways. It shows up in that stack of bills that

is sitting in that special place in the kitchen. You know where it's at?

Which you avoid looking at until that

dreaded time of the month comes and then you're like

reluctantly like okay i'm gonna go

take care of those bills it shows up through that late night email from your

boss that keeps you up all night just wondering how the how am i going to get

this over with tomorrow well am i ever going to finish this to-do list that

my boss given to me and check it all off.

And then if you do, is it the next day, all those to-do lists check marks are

going to come back, aren't they? Right?

And then there's that waistband stress around your stomach.

And it becomes tighter each day, right? Like, you know, I lose some weight and

then I do, I think I'm doing really good.

And then a couple weeks later, I step on the scale. I'm like, really?

And then I put on my pants and I'm like just shimmying in them.

I'm like, these fit yesterday. What's going on?

And then there's the opposite stress of you do really good. You work out every

day and you have to fit in that gym time in that tiny little moment between task A and task B.

And so you're hurrying to get to the gym and so you can lose that way and do

really good and then uh just adds to the stress you think that going to the

gym makes things easier but it doesn't always does it.

And then the endless calendar of doctor's appointments, kids' sports practices or band practices,

and the countless obligations that we have on our life, which makes our daily

to-do list so full we don't even know how to begin.

And then we're all doing this together in the possible-to-navigate DFW traffic.

And we spend all day navigating that nightmare so we can check things off our

to-do list. And we think that checking things off our to-do list is good.

And we think that time in the car is good.

But then that Honda Civic drives by and cuts us off. And it makes us even angrier.

And at the end of the day, we're so tired and so drained from everything.

We just want to go numb, shut down, open up our phone or turn on our TV.

So we can forget everything for just a second. and we all had that mind-numbing TV show, right?

Like for James and I, a survivor in this afternoon, he's going to watch Cowboys

football and I'm going to read a dystopian sci-fi novel,

which is, you know, which makes me love all these different characters and it's

going to kill them off by the end of the book.

And somehow that's more mind-numbing and easier to handle than the everyday stress in my life.

Whatever the stress looks like for you, we all know that weight.

And it bears down on us, draining us of everything we have. And we live in a

world that celebrates the weight of stress.

But it doesn't call it stress. It's tricky, right? It calls it success, ambition.

It calls it the American dream. And it tells us if we can't carry it all, that we are failing.

And it reinforces this idea through media and advertisements,

which all try to convince us what a perfect life looks like.

And social media feeds us people living flawlessly while looking effortlessly put together.

And I'm like, how do you do that? How do you make your makeup look good?

I did everything you did, and yet I'm looking like this today.

And so i'm striving to put my makeup like this person over here but i never could and,

i just keep scrolling and comparing and

feeling that pressure to measure up and to be successful we feel that's stress

to be attractive to be accomplished and if we can be honest with ourselves if

i can be honest with myself and if we can be honest with each other for just a little bit,

we might all say that we are just exhausted.

And research confirms what we already know. Studies show that anxiety and financial

stress is rising amongst our young adults.

About a third of young adults have anxiety, which is crazy.

Heavy stress has been shown to shorten life expectancy.

And overworking can actually lead to structural changes in the brain. Okay, well, great.

And if you.

And if you're wondering if the world offers a solution,

it does it says ignore it it says pull yourself up by your own bootstraps to

work harder to consume more to turn it off like a light switch to take the kobe method and just do it,

these solutions tell us that the weight of our stress is ours alone to bear

and you're the only one who can fix your problems and yet no matter how hard

we try that stress never seems to lighten.

Even those with more money than most of the world

still have money problems some even get

a bigger house thinking it would solve their problems and yet

now they have bigger bills and then

we do

all these things thinking we can make our life better make

it easier all these solutions to

our stress it just

keeps sitting there right it's just keeps gnawing at the center of our chest

and weighing on our shoulders silently eating away at us and this stress isn't

new and people living during the time of the gospel of matthew face stresses very much like our own.

The empire of Rome carried its own heavy expectations. It demanded taxes. It seized land.

It built its vast wealth on the backs of peasants and slaves,

and survival was precarious because during this time, many worried about food

and clothing, and because the empire's society made life insecure,

and people depended on obedience to the systems.

And if you play by the rules, you might make it through another day.

But if you stepped out even just a little, like Jesus and his followers did.

You risk persecution or even death at the hand of the state.

And it's this very stress of living under the demands of empire that Jesus calls

out in verse 32 of our passage.

He says, for it's the Gentiles who strive for all these things.

And indeed, your heavenly father knows that you need all these things.

Now, when Jesus says Gentiles, he isn't condemning a ethnicity or people group. He's naming a culture.

This culture is shaped by empire.

It's a system that rewards conformity, punishes those that don't fit,

and teaches people to measure up their worth by their obedience to external

pressures rather than by God's care.

It is in this world of stress and expectation during Jesus' time that he offers

an alternative vision for the world.

Not built on stress and fear, but rather one built on mutual trust in God and trust in each other.

He calls, he begins by calling out something that if you really think about is a little bit absurd.

Look at the birds of the air, he says. They don't sow, reap,

or stow in barns, and yet God feeds them.

Consider the lilies of the field, he continues. They neither toil nor spin.

And yet even Solomon in all of his glory was not dressed like one of these.

This absurdity isn't just humor, it's a challenge.

Jesus is asking us to consider how deeply we bought into a system of anxiety and striving.

Why are we freaking out

about food and clothing and all these things when nature has it provided for

them are we not more special than they are does god not love us just as much

as the rest of creation you know i think about my dog a lot and if you haven't met Boo.

Now, Pastor Linda met her, and she survived.

But she was a mess.

She's a mess of a dog, and she has everything given to her.

You know, we give her the best food, right? Boo gets spoiled with her food.

We give her hugs and kisses, and we take her on long walks.

You all have no idea. This dog is spoiled.

And yet, you know, she has all these things given to her in her life.

She's just like lives flawlessly and easily.

And I look at her and I'm like, I'm stressing out about all these different things.

And yeah, my dog, who's honestly kind of living under the same stresses,

because if we don't eat, she's not going to eat.

And yeah, she's just living freely. What's going on here?

What nature shows us is that life does not have to be defined by endless striving,

and taking from one another, but by being dependent on the creator,

our creator God that sustains all of us.

Now, this passage isn't saying, don't worry and just ignore your problems.

I've heard it before. You're feeling stressful, stressed out.

Well, you know, just smile, move on, be happy. Everything's okay. It's not saying this.

Jesus knows life is messy. Jesus knows that people are going hungry,

that people don't have access to clothing, and that things need to be done.

Just like today, bills need to be paid. Wounds need to be healed.

People need to be served in our community.

What Jesus isn't calling for is not passivity,

or pretending that everything is fine, but rather what Jesus is calling us to

do in this passage is to move towards mutual love and care built on relationship,

a relationship with our God who provides for all that we need,

and a mutual loving community with our neighbors.

At the end of the passage, Jesus reminds us to strive first for the kingdom

of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I've talked about this phrase before, and you've heard it throughout.

You know, every day you come to church, the kingdom of God, that is big. And what that is.

Is knowing that we are under God's care and love,

and that God's care and love is abundant and

available for everyone all of creation and it's

also not just a call to be dependent on

god but also to be dependent on each other to recognize your neighbor to reach

out across the aisle to the stranger to be helping each other carry each other's burdens.

It is, that is what the church is, is the institution that lives out the example

of the kingdom of God here in the world.

The kingdom is a community where the weight of our stress doesn't have to be carried alone.

It is a place where we can share our burdens with each other and where generosity

and trust replace fear and competition.

It isn't about perfection or achieving everything on your own.

It's about noticing each other and even

noticing the person in the back of the room or the

new person who walks through those front doors it's about

saying i see you and i can help you carry what you cannot carry alone the kingdom

of god is a messy and beautiful work comprised of living together revealing

god's abundance to ourselves and each other rather than struggling alone that,

in a world that prizes individual success.

And I think that's amazing because when I go out there and the Honda Civic cuts

me off and I feel that stress in the middle of my heart,

I look forward to the fact that I know that I can come here on Sunday morning

and I get to see your smiles.

We get to share smiles with each other. We get to ask each other, how are you doing?

Yesterday, we handed out burritos to people in our community free of charge

with nothing required of them at all except just show your wonderful being to

us. Just be here. That was it.

We get to help people in our community with their stress, and we get to help

each other with their stress.

And that is a beautiful, wonderful thing, because we are the community of God's children.

We can trust in God's provision for ourselves and others.

We can participate with God in shared care and responsibility,

and we can live with confidence that our value isn't measured by wealth status or achievement,

but rather by the love and care we share with one another, our neighbors and

the stranger in our neighborhoods so i ask you today to look back on your baptism,

whether you were three days old or 92 years old because in that moment you were

initiated into the body of christ and you became a member a part of this community,

and this community strives to be a reflection of the kingdom of god in the world,

and it is a table this community is where god sits at the head of the table,

and we are surrounded by the saints that laid the path before us and the saints here with us today,

and every time you witness a baptism you invited somebody else to that table

to let them know that we you get to be a part of this community that helps you

share your burdens with somebody else.

And we get to handle our burdens together because a burden on itself weighs a lot by burdens shared.

Wait, just a little bit. Have you tried to lift up a car by yourself? It's really hard.

Okay. But I guarantee you, if I can pick out 10 of us here, and I might do that

after service, just be prepared.

10 of us here can probably lift a car pretty easily.

So remember your baptism and that you are part of this wonderful community That

is a reflection of God's kingdom.

We are the hands and feet of mutual love and support for one another.

And for every new person that walks through these doors seeking hope and care.

And yes, there are some among us who are carrying more than they can give in return.

There are those among us who are struggling with loss, who are just a paycheck

away from becoming homeless.

And others toiling under the stress of Bill's life and struggles we will never understand.

But that's exactly why we are here. We are here to help shoulder their burden,

to help guide them, to walk beside them and to share the weight of the world's

burdens together as a community.

And we may not be able to solve all their problems, but I guarantee you together

we can provide the hope and support that they need to know that they don't have

to do this thing called life alone.

And who knows, one day they may be able to give back and return more than they can give.

And that's awesome. But if not, God's love and abundance is too much for us

to even fathom. So that's okay.

So the best antidote to stress and weight we carry in our lives isn't working

hard or shouldering it alone. It's knowing we do not have to face it alone.

We are reminded that life's burdens are shared and that love flows abundantly.

And that we are held together by God's grace and love for one another.

And so let us commit today and every day after to remind ourselves in the morning

or in the evening before we go to bed to do one extra thing to help carry one another's burdens.

Whether that is reaching out to a neighbor you haven't heard from in a while

and asking, how are you doing?

Think, is there somebody here you haven't talked to in a moment for a while?

Ask them, how are they doing?

How can I help you? Can I pray with you? Something like that.

Because you never know. Sometimes a phone call goes such a long way.

And they may not tell you everything that's going on in their life,

but that phone call, they're going to remember it.

So call out to somebody you haven't spoken to in a while and check on them.

Help with something small and meaningful, like picking up groceries for somebody

who's struggling or offering a ride to a neighbor who can't drive.

We're sitting and listening to somebody who needs to be heard.

And then also consider the things you say before you say them.

You know, so much of the time with stress, it bears on us so much that we put

it on other people through the words that we say.

And so before bursting out and saying something you're going to regret later,

remember to take a moment, breathe, and remember that by remember what you're

saying and try not to add to somebody else's burdens by saying something that

might bring them down or be rude.

And also consider taking a moment this week and every week to thank your great

staff, our great volunteers. There's so many here who give so much of their time.

And our leaders and thank them for the work they quietly do every day.

And if we act like this, if we can bear one another's burdens and we offer presence

and care for one another, We can embody the kingdom of God in the world.

We can show what it looks like to live in trust and abundance in the world that

tells us to compete and do it alone.

And we have already planted the seeds of doing this in this church.

We're doing these things already that I've mentioned. And there may be an idea

I didn't think of that we're already doing, and that's great.

Let's keep doing that. but let's also water these seeds so we can continue to

grow and become the best church that God has called us to be.

So let's be that community. Let's receive the invitation from God to build this thing together.

And that begins when we take one simple step and we notice somebody reach out

and say to them, you are not alone. I will help you carry these burdens with you. Thank you.

Go in peace, unstuck from stress, and anchored in God's love.

Carry Christ's compassion into a world that longs for hope, as you love, serve, and welcome all.

Thanks be to God, and we will love you.