Series: Demands of Christ
DO NOT WORRY
Matt 6:25-34
(Stephen Sheane, Sermon: Worry; Matt 6:25-34, SermonCental)
Death was walking toward a city one morning and a man asked, "What are you going to do?" "I’m going to take 100 people," Death replied. "That’s horrible!" the man said. "That’s just the way it is," Death said. "That’s what I do." The man hurried to warn everyone he could about Death’s plan. As evening fell the man saw a newspaper that said 1000 had died that day in the city. Just as he arrived at his home he met Death again. "You told me you were going to take 100 people," the man said. "Why did 1,000 die?" "I kept my word," Death responded. "I only took 100 people. Worry took the others."
Are you worried about anything this morning? Odds are that someone is. Worry seems to be an epidemic in the world in which we live.. Many experts say that coping with stress is the #1 health priority of our day
I. WORRY IS AN EXPENSIVE CONSEQUENCE OF CHOOSING
SELF AS MY MASTER (6:24)
Jesus says clearly, No man can serve two masters. In this world the greatest taskmaster whom we serve is self. We are all born with self on the throne of our hearts. Self demands to be number one and it is self that leads us to idolatry, disobedience, adultery, lying, and covetousness. Serving self will lead to many destructive consequences and one of the greatest of these is WORRY/ANXIETY. Self makes many demands on our lives and places many desires in our hearts, but self is limited in its power and is incapable of fulfilling those demands and as a result worry follows.
A. Worry will cost you much spiritually.
Worry is in direct opposition to the fruit of the Spirit. There is no way one can experience and exhibit the first four (love, joy, peace, longsuffering/patience) when worry is present.
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost, July 4)
Worrying always results in sin. We tend to think that a little anxiety and worry are simply an indication of how wise we really are, yet it is actually a much better indication of just how wicked we are. Fretting rises from our determination to have our own way. Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans. Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.
Have you been propping up that foolish soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God to handle? Set all your opinions and speculations aside and "abide under the shadow of the Almighty" ( Psalm 91:1 ). Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about whatever concerns you. All our fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God.
B. Worry will cost you much emotionally.
Drs. Minirth and Meier)Anxiety is the
underlying cause of most psychiatric
problems.
C. Worry will cost you much physically.
Dr. Charles Mayo)Worry affects the
circulation, the heart, the glands, and
the whole nervous system. I have never met
a man or known a man to die of overwork,
but I have known a lot who died of worry.
According to John MacArthur, some years ago, the Mayo Clinic stated that statistically 80 percent to 85 percent of their total case load were ill either in reality or artificially due directly to mental stress. Also according to MacArthur, not too long ago, there appeared an article in a leading medical journal entitled, "Is Stress the Cause of All Disease?" The author of the article says that at the beginning of the century, bacteria were considered to be the center of attention. Today, mental stress has replaced bacteria.
One leading physician has stated that, in his opinion, 70% of all medical patients could cure themselves if only they got rid of their worries and fears. Medical science has closely tied worry to heart trouble, blood pressure problems, ulcers, thyroid malfunction, migraine headaches, and a host of stomach disorders. An estimated 25 mill Americans have high blood pressure due to stress/anxiety. 8 million have stomach ulcers. Every week 112 million people take medication for stress related symptoms.”
II. WE ARE COMMANDED BY CHRIST NOT TO WORRY
AND THEREFORE WORRY IS SIN (6:25)
"Take no thought for your life"
(NAS)do not be anxious for your life; (NIV)do not worry about your life
(merimnao: Imperative)
-to be anxious or troubled with cares
(A.W. Pink)Worry is as definitely forbidden
as theft.
**Since Jesus commands us not to worry, then we must understand that we choose to worry or choose not to worry.
**Outside Circumstances do not cause a person to worry.
Worry comes from within. Worry is a choice.
A. Worry Reveals ones Lack of Trust
(McArthur, p419)Worry is the sin of distrusting
the promise and providence of God, and yet it is
a sin that Christians commit perhaps more
frequently than any other.
(Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest,
May 23, 2007)
". . . do not worry about your life . . . ." Don’t take the pressure of your provision upon yourself. It is not only wrong to worry, it is unbelief; worrying means we do not believe that God can look after the practical details of our lives, and it is never anything but those details that worry us. Have you ever noticed what Jesus said would choke the Word He puts in us? Is it the devil? No— "the cares of this world" (Matthew 13:22 ). It is always our little worries. We say, "I will not trust when I cannot see"— and that is where unbelief begins. The only cure for unbelief is obedience to the Spirit.
The greatest word of Jesus to His disciples is abandon.
B. Worry is Destructive
"Is not the life more than meat, and the body
than raiment?"
(psuche: comprehensive term for life that
encompasses all of a person’s being:
physical, mental, emotional, spiritual)
C. Worry is Futile (6:26-30)
To worry is to go against the most basic of Biblical Principles that Our body/existance is a gift from God and therefore we can be quite certain that He will take care of our needs
III. WORRY IS A MIGHTY FOE BUT CAN BE OVERCOME
THROUGH THE POWER OF CHRIST (6:31-34)
A. Refocus Your Faith (32)
(Chambers, July 4) Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances at all, but on your relationship with God Himself.
1. World places their faith in materials
(things which can be seen and touched)
2. Christians should place their faith in
their Heavenly Father
(Jer 17:7-8) 7Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
B. Reset Your Priorities (33)
C. Restrict Your Thoughts (34)
(George McDonald, BI)No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today, that the weight is more than a man can bear.
CONCLUSION -- (Phi 4:6-7) Be careful/anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be known to God. And the peace of God which passeth all understanding will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
