Title: No Worries…
Text: Matthew 6:24-34
Thesis: We can fully trust God who created us and cares for us.
Introduction
Let’s look at a clip to start us thinking as we begin.
(Play Clip: worshiphousemedia.com Clip: Matthew 6: Do Not Worry)
That clip is a powerful reminder that God wants us to know that he cares for us and does not want us to be worriers.
Our text begins with strong statement about worry.
1. Worry is verboten!
“Don’t worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Look at the birds. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing?” Matthew 6:25-29
Commentator William Barclay says there is a difference between being careful and being full of care. Prudence is a good and necessary part of life. Having foresight is a good thing… planning ahead for the unforeseen is wise. Being careful is not what concerns Jesus. Jesus is concerned that we not be full of care or worry anxiously. (Wiliam Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, P. 255)
Jesus specifically tells his followers that “worry” does not reflect the mindset he desires of his followers. He uses strong language… he says, “Don’t worry.” Worry is forbidden.
• In English we would say worry is forbidden.
• In Spanish we would say worry is prohibido.
• In Italian we would say that worry is severo.
• When I looked up forbidden in the English to Swedish, there was no direct translation, suggesting that nothing is forbidden in Sweden. However, in all fairness, the Swedes do have a word for forbid, which is forbjuda.
Jesus spoke directly to the issue of worrying about the things of everyday life, then he poses the question: Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing? What does he mean? What does Jesus mean by “life consisting of more than food and clothing?”
Do you suppose that the God who gives the great gift of life is somehow incapable of also giving the things necessary for life? Can we not trust the giver of life to also be the sustainer of life? There is more to life than worrying about the cares of life… there is the living of a life of trust.
We are not to worry because God, the giver of life is also the sustainer of life. God will take care of us.
2. God will take care of us… We are more precious to God than birds and flowers.
“They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are more valuable than they are.” Matthew 6:26
Wild birds don’t worry. This photo happens to be of a “Flicker” at a backyard feeder but it could be a Hummingbird drinking nectar from bright flower or of the familiar Canadian Geese who graze in our lawns.
(Project slide of wild birds feeding.)
Even the most detached of bird watchers knows that birds hustle for their food. Neither the red nor the yellow finch lies around all day waiting for God to drop a sack of thistle seed into the nest. Birds hustle for their food. Sparrows are relentless in their efforts to find food. Pigeons gather around park benches in search of peanuts. Hummingbirds never stop in their relentless flutter for the nectar of wild flowers. The point is this: Birds don’t worry.
Flowers don’t worry either.
“And if God cares about so wonderfully about flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!” Matthew 6:27 and 30
What wild flower ever worried about anything?
(Project a slide of wild flowers.)
The flowers we are looking at today are goners… we are seeing them in all their glory but in fact, they are long dead and gone now.
Bonnie and I once had an electronic ignition gas stove. When we turned on the burner the gas, an electronic ignition system would begin to spark as the gas escaped through the jets on the burner… almost instantaneously there would be a whoosh and the burner was lit. Such conveniences were not part of life in the kitchen of the ordinary person who listened to Jesus speak about wild flowers being here today and gone tomorrow.
When Jesus spoke of the flowers and grasses of the field, his listeners could imagine hillsides of wildflowers and grasses in bloom. They could also imagine how quickly they died and dried up. The women of Jesus’ day would gather those grasses and when they lit the fires beneath their clay baking ovens, they would place a tuft of dried flowers and grasses under the kindling to provide a very hot start to get the fire going. The dried wildflowers and grasses were the spark to get the burner going, so to speak.
If God cares about wild flowers and grasses that are here one day and in the fire the next… how much more does he care for us? We are to be encouraged to trust God who cares for birds and wild flowers… but if that is not sufficient reason to stop being worriers, worrying is a waste.
3. Worrying is a waste.
Can all your worry about life add a single moment to your life span? Of course not!” Matthew 6: 27
Some versions question whether worry can add a single cubit to one’s height. A cubit is 18 inches so the question Jesus poses is really intended to illustrate how preposterous it is to worry. A person who is 5’6” can worry all he or she wants but that person will never worry himself or herself into being a 7’ tall person. It is an exercise in futility. Worrying is an exercise in futility and it does absolutely no good.
A few years ago, in the storyline of the Seinfeld sitcom, the character played by Elaine was a book editor who was meeting with a Russian author. Whether in jest or blatant ignorance she related that Tolstoy’s original title for War and Peace was actually, War: What Good Is It? The Russian author was not amused.
The message today could be titled, Worry: What Good Is It? Worry serves no good purpose and it is the antithesis of trust.
4. Worry reflects a lack of trust.
And if God cares so wonderfully about flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!” Matthew 6:30
Jesus says worrying is a reflection of little faith and also a reflection of a pagan mindset.
5. Worry reflects a pagan mindset.
“So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Matthew 6:31-32
In the BBC broadcast of Monarch of the Glen Series 6, Disc 2, there is a conversation between a wealthy entrepreneur who is trying to dissuade a woman who has a cottage industry marketing her homemade relish under the Glenbogle Estate name. He said, “My father always managed to make a living, but I made money.” He wanted her sacrifice her friendship and agreement with her partner in order to make more money. After all, making a living is not sufficient, one must make money.
So what are we to do? How are we to contend with that within us that drives us well beyond the desire to make a prudent and sufficient living to being consumed with the worry that our pile of money may not be large enough? How is it that we are to reverse this lack of faith that is reflected by worrying.
The first thing we can do is begin to seek the Kingdom of God.
7. Seeking God’s Kingdom is the secret to worry free living.
Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” Matthew 6:32-33
The solution to worry free living is to seek God’s Kingdom. But what does it mean to seek the Kingdom of God in your life.
We are all familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. It begins, “Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven…”
That prayer is an expression of a person’s desire for what God wills in
heaven, to be done here on earth, in and through his or her life. When we speak of the Kingdom of God, we mean the reign or rule or leadership of God. Seeking first the Kingdom of God means the most important thing in our lives is that God’s will is done… not worrying about the this’, the that’s, or the other things of this life.
James Michener, in his book The Source, tells the story of a man named Urbaal, who was a farmer living about 2200 B.C. He worships two gods: one, a god of death; the other, a goddess of fertility. One day, the temple priests tell Urbaal and a several other men in the community to bring their youngest sons the temple to be offered as sacrifices if they want good crops that year.
After the sacrifice of the sons, the priests announce one of the fathers will spend the next week in the temple, with a new temple prostitute. Urbaal’s wife is stunned when her husband is chosen… and even more so as he eagerly lunged forward when his name was called.
When she left the temple, her head swimming with confusion, she thought, "If he had different gods, he would have been a different man." (Pat Cook, SermonCentral newsletter.)
We are shaped by the God we serve. Do we serve a trustworthy God or an untrustworthy God?
• One God inspires confidence and the other, concern.
• One God inspires trust and the other, worry.
And the second thing we can do to be less worrisome is this:
6. Learn to live one day at a time.
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s troubles are enough for today.” Matthew 6:34
The Rabbis, in speaking of anxious people said, “He who has a loaf of bread in his basket and says, ‘What will I eat tomorrow?’ is a man of little faith.” (Wiliam Barclay, The Gospel of Matthew, P. 256)
We were surprised to learn this week that Senator Kennedy from Massachusetts was suddenly diagnosed as having an inoperable malignant brain tumor. One of the things Ted Kennedy will do is learn to live one day at a time. The concerns of this day are sufficient for today… tomorrow will bring its own worries.
And so it is, we continue to offer up advice on how to live each day.
Conclusion:
In 1992 Mary Schmich, who was a columnist for the Chicago Tribune published a column titled: Advice to Graduates which made her famous. (www.who2,com/maryschmich.html) Here it is in part and not necessarily in order of importance:
Advice to Graduates by Mary Schmich
Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded… Do one thing every day that scares you. Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss. Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long and, in the end, it’s only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how. Stretch. Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t. Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone. Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly. Get to know your parents. You never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They’re your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future. Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old, and when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
And finally, don’t worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.
People like Mary Schmich offer us some pretty sage, albeit tongue-in-cheek advice, even on the subject of worry. But nothing anyone can suggest tops the wisdom of Jesus Christ who says:
Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added to you… Make the Kingdom of God the primary focus of our life and God will give you all that you need for your day to day living. Make knowing and doing God’s will your everyday goal and the other stuff will fall into place. Don’t worry. Trust God the giver and sustainer of life.
