High Anxiety

Sermon Title: High Anxiety

Sermon Text: Matthew 6:25-34

Sunday Evening, July 9, 2000

Scripture Introduction:

In his Gospel just prior to this particular section of Scripture, Matthew relays what Jesus said about giving to the poor, the way and why of our prayers, fasting, and just what we consider important. In this prior section, Jesus tells of what our motivation is to give, to pray, and to fast. Do we make ourselves look sacrificial when we do the things that we do? Are we sure that the next door neighbors is seeing us give to the person canvassing for a certain charity? Do we make a dramatic presentation of how we are affected by what we give up? Are we certain to make sure that the congregation hears us pray and that they are impressed with the way our petitions roll off of our lips? Just what do we consider important? More important than what we consider as important is the question of what God considers important.

Please join me in reading God’s Holy Word?

Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:25-34

25 "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! 31 "Do not worry then, saying, ’What will we eat?’ or ’What will we drink?’ or ’What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Introduction: Looking at the Scripture that we just read brings three things to my mind

1. Just how much should we worry about our physical needs?

2. Where are we on God’s scale of importance in regards to the rest of His glorious creation?

3. We spend so much time on our priorities, what does God consider important?

As a member of the ME generation it becomes difficult to look at where we were at in the past and pinpoint where we began to seriously deviate from God’s plan for our lives as far as what is important. The “keeping up with the Jones’” mentality has been around far longer then I can remember and I think if we trace it back we will probably end up in the garden at the fall of man.

We look at the fashion trends and we are driven to be in style with the rest of the civilized world. Does fashion dictate utility in regards to what the clothes were designed for in the first place? I’m sorry, but if it becomes extremely cold outside and all I can find is a 1970’s polyester leisure suit, I’ll wear it gladly. I would much rather be comfortable then in style and most of the people that know me will attest to that.

With all the different things that we spend time fretting over, the things in the world around us, the things that our magnificent Creator has made, how do we rate in comparison with all of those things? If we go back to the account of the creation, perhaps we can see how God felt about us and I think most of us while we were living in sin find it is quite surprising that He still loves us just the same, although our behavior leaves a lot to be desired.

We all have our lists of things to accomplish, I know many men with spouses are familiar with what is called the honey-do list. It is an itemized list of things that are important to the women, according to her priorities. We all have lists and we usually list them from what needs doing the most to that task which is least crucial. The order of priority is based on the outlook of the person preparing the list. Multiple lists of things to do are also a fact of life, and we find ourselves prioritizing the persons that authored the list. Does this sound familiar to anyone? When we find ourselves in this position do we often pick and choose off of the different lists in an attempt to please everyone? Where on order of doing these things do we put the contents of the list that God has laid upon our hearts?