How To Win Over Worry

How to Win Over Worry

Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon by Rick Crandall

McClendon Baptist Church - March 18, 2007

*Tonight we are going to look into the Word of God to see how to win over worry. God wants you to have this victory in your life. We know that because three times in these verses Jesus says, “Do not worry. Do not worry. Do not worry.”

*But what is worry? It helps to know what it is not. “Don’t worry” does not mean “don’t plan.” Yes the KJV says “take no thought” in these verses. But “thought” is one of the words that have changed meaning in the 400 years since the KJV was translated. The old English word “thought” meant “anxiety” or “worry.” And today, of course, “a thought” means “any mental activity.” Our God is a thinker and a planner. He had a plan to save you before the dawn of creation. So “don’t worry” doesn’t mean “don’t plan.” And it doesn’t mean “don’t care.” Jesus Christ was full of compassion for every hurting person He ever met. And He wants us to care too. (1)

*So what is worry? The word in these verses has a word picture of something being divided or cut into pieces. Worry then is a thought pattern that tears us apart. It distracts and divides. Worry turns our focus from our Provider to our problem. But Jesus wants you to overcome worry in your life. Let’s read what He has to say in vs. 25-34:

25. “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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 clothing?

26. Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

27. Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28. "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;

29. and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31. Therefore do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’

32. For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

34. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

*Have you been worried about anything lately? Most of us have. If I were to ask for a show of hands from everyone who worried about something this week, probably most of us would raise our hands. (2)

*Mike Fogerson says, “I know people who live in the city of Worryville. They stay worried with a ‘What if this; what if that?’ worst case scenario running through their minds.” (1)

*But God doesn’t want us to live in the city of “Worryville,” because there are serious side-effects from worry. It hurts us. It gives us headaches, stomach aches, high blood pressure and other health problems. And worry is a thief. It robs us of the joy that belongs to us if we belong to Jesus. And it steals the time we could be spending focusing on the good things in life.

*On top of that, worry is a sin. In these verses the Lord specifically tells us three times not to worry. That’s because we can’t be trusting the Lord and worrying at the same time. Think about it. It’s either one or the other. We need to stop worrying. So how can we get out of the city of Worryville?

1. First: Get God’s view on the value of your life.

*The Lord helps us do this in vs. 25-26, where He says, “Do not worry 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 clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”

*Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Are you not of more value than the birds of the air? God wants you to focus on the true meaning and value of your life. So, what is life anyway? Here Jesus says that life is not just about what we can put in our bodies or what we can put on our bodies.