Freedom From Worry – Who Will Your God Be? Series

FREEDOM FROM WORRY – Who will your God be?

Matthew 6:24-34 (NIV)

[24] "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

[25] "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? [26] 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? [27] Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

[28] "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. [29] Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. [30] If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31] So do not worry, saying, ’What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ [32] For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. [33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. [34] Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

INTRODUCTION:

Comedian Carl Hurley tells the story about trying to throw a trash can away. He said it’s the one thing you can’t get the garbage man to pick up. He said, I set an old rusty garbage can out at the street one morning thinking the garbage man would understand that it needed to be thrown away. He said, when I came back that afternoon the can was stacked up with the rest of my empty trash cans.

Well the next week I put it out again and this time I turned it upside down so they could see that the bottom had several holes in it and it needed thrown away. When I came home it was stacked up next to the empty cans again.

The next week I took a sledgehammer and I beat the can in pretty good and I left it out front and when I came home not only was it stacked up next to the other empty trash cans but the garbage man had actually tried to beat it back into shape.

And so he said finally I did the only thing I could do. I went to the hardware store and bought a heavy duty chain and a padlock and I chained the old can to a large tree in my front yard. And sure enough, that night somebody stole it.

Worry is a lot like that trash can.

Jesus wants us to get rid of the worry that so often fills our lives. What does it take for us to be set free from worry?

I. WHO WILL BE YOUR GOD?

1. Freedom from worry begins with the answer to the question, “Who is your God?”

a) Most sermons that talk about worry may reference what Jesus says here in Matthew 6. However most will begin with verse 25, which begins with “Therefore,” and when you see ‘therefore’ you need to stop and ask, “What is ‘therefore’ there for?”

b) Everything Jesus says about worry is connected to and dependant upon what He says in verse 24!

• Matthew 6:24-25 (NIV)

[24] "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

[25] "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.

c) I really like how the Message Bible makes this connection.

• Matthew 6:24-25, 31-34 (MsgB)

[24] "You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.

[25] "If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body . . . [31] What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. [32] People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. [33] Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.