INTRODUCTION
• PC VIDEO CLIP
• SLIDE #1
• How many of you here today live a life without anxiety or worry? Please raise your hand. Don’t be embarrassed to raise your hand.
• What are some of the things that you worry about in life? Do you have something that sends chills up your spine when you think about it?
• People worry about everything under the sun. We worry about things ranging from what we will wear to worrying if we will have a job to pay the bills next month.
• Worry consumes the lives of many people. Worry is something that even affects the health of people. Folks who are in a constant state of worry can hurt themselves health wise.
• 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.
• One man said, “Don’t tell me that worrying does not help. The things I worry about never happen.”
• Worry and anxiety can drain the very life out of you.
• One man found a unique way to take care of worrying about money.
• I have a mountain of credit card debt”, one man told another. “I have lost my job. My car is being repossessed and our house is in foreclosure, but I am not worried about it”, exclaimed his friend. “No, I’ve hired a professional worrier. He does all my worrying for me, and that way I don’t have to think about it.”
“That’s fantastic! How much does your professional worrier charge for his services?”
“$50,000 a year”, he replied.
“$50,000 a year? Where are you going to get that kind of money?”
“I don’t know”, comes the reply. “That’s his worry
• SLIDE #2
• Let’s begin our examination as to why spending time worrying is a waste of time.
• Matthew 6:25 ( ESV ) “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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?
• Worry is a waste of time because:
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. WORRYING IS A WASTE OF TIME BECAUSE OF OUR FATHER.
• Verse 25 is the beginning of a challenge to lean on God in our times of need.
• Jesus is telling us that since we are not to serve two masters we are to not be a people drained by anxiety.
• Let’s examine a few things concerning our Father in heaven!
• SLIDE #4
A. Our Father owns everything
• The root cause of our anxiety is the fact that we do not think that our God is big enough to help in our time of need.
• The Psalmist reminds us that our master owns everything.
• SLIDE #5
• Psalms 104:24 ( ESV ) O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.
• How many of us have had a lot of worry over money. How many times have you wondered if there was going to be enough money left at the end of the month?
• Doesn’t it seem that just about the time you think you are about to get your head above water, something goes wrong? The refrigerator goes out, a medical emergency happens. It always seems like something.
• What do we do when these things happen? Many times we start on the path to worry. We start to be consumed by the problem. We get to the point that we lose focus on everything except the problem.
• It is almost as if we have a weight on our chest that we just cannot get rid of.
• The English term worry comes from an old German word meaning to strangle, or choke. That is exactly what worry does; it is a kind of mental and emotional strangulation, which probably causes more mental and physical afflictions than any other single cause. (MacArthur)
• In a similar way, the substance of worry is nearly always extremely small compared to the size it forms in our minds and the damage it does in our lives. Someone has said, “Worry is a thin stream of fear that trickles through the mind, which, if encouraged, will cut a channel so wide that all other thoughts will be drained out.” (MacArthur)
• If we have a need, our Father who is in heaven knows the need and will take care of us.
• SLIDE #6
B. Our Father oversees everything (1 Chronicles 29:12)
• When you start to be consumed by worry or anxiety, remember that the God you serve controls all things.
• SLIDE #7
• 1 Chronicles 29:12 ( ESV ) Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
• The God who loves you does not want your life to be drained away by anxiety.
• If God controls all things, then…
• SLIDE #8
C. Our Father provides everything we need (Philippians 4:19)
• The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety. -- George Muller in Signs of the Times. Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 1.
• When we let anxiety and worry run our lives we are really displaying a lack of faith in the great God that we serve.
• SLIDE #9
• Philippians 4:19 ( ESV ) And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
• Always remember that trials and tough times can make us or break us. Each trial that comes our way is an opportunity for God to show Himself in our lives.
• EXAMPLES OF GOD’S PROVISION
• In verses 26-30 we can see some examples of what God does for us.
• The basic thrust of these verses is that a believer has absolutely no reason to worry, because God is his heavenly Father. “Have you forgotten who your Father is?” He asks. To illustrate His point Jesus shows how unnecessary and foolish it is to worry about food, about life expectancy, or about clothing.
• He begins with food in verse 26.
• SLIDE #10
• Matthew 6:26 ( ESV ) Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
• When we look at this part of the passage we have to remember how difficult it was for the people to get food. It was not like they could not go to Fry’s or Food City. Food was an everyday worry.
• Jesus is reminding and encouraging His listeners to “look” which implies, to “look and learn” or learn carefully from the example.
• God loves the birds of the air, He loves us more and we are more valuable to God than the birds that He cares for.
• Jesus is not telling us to quit working, but that we should not be consumed with worry about food.
• Jolene Horn in Today’s Christian Woman gave the following story: While putting my 4-year-old daughter to bed one evening, I read her the story of the Prodigal Son. We discussed how the young son had taken his inheritance and left home, living it up until he had nothing left. Finally, when he couldn’t even eat as well as pigs, he went home to his father, who welcomed him. When we finished the story, I asked my daughter what she had learned. After thinking a moment, she quipped, "Never leave home without your credit card!"
• When Jesus is your Lord, you do not have to rely on your credit card.
• Life span (27) READ
• SLIDE #11
• Matthew 6:27 ( ESV ) And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
• How many of you worry about how long you will live? Our society is obsessed with prolonging life.
• There are people who have bought into having their bodies put into deep freeze with the hopes of reviving them one day when a cure for their disease is found.
• Other than taking care of ourselves, we do not have control over how long we live. I have seen some very healthy people die. As a matter of fact, all of us will die at some point.
• Life was hard and life spans were not very long in Jesus day. This must have been something that people spent a lot of time worrying about or Jesus would not have mentioned it.
• Do you want to spend your life worrying about it or do you want to make the most of your life? Clothing (28-30) READ
• SLIDE #12
• Matthew 6:28-30 ( ESV ) And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
• How much time did you spend worrying about what you were going to were to church today?
• In Jesus day clothing was something that people would worry about since you could not go to the mall or Penney’s to buy your clothing.
• In verse 29 Jesus says that Solomon in all his glory was not as well dressed as the fields. The Jews considered Solomon to be the richest person who ever lived. We might say that even Bill Gates could not dress himself as well as God has dressed the fields.
• Jesus finishes this little section by saying that God will take care of us and to think otherwise indicates a lack of faith.
• Remember who your God is!
• SLIDE #13
II. WORRYING IS A WASTE OF TIME BECAUSE OF OUR FAITH
• Jesus tells us that those who are lost are focused on the material things of life.
• For the Christian, we must have a different focus.
• SLIDE #14
• Matthew 6:31-33 ( ESV ) Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
• How can we be the salt and light of the world if we are spending our times pursuing the values and things of the world.
• Those who have no hope in God naturally put their hope and expectations in things they can enjoy now. They have nothing to live for but the present, and their materialism is perfectly consistent with their religion.
• Do you have more to live for than the present? How many of us waste our lives worrying about getting material things only to get them and find out that they do make us happy?
• In MARK 8:36 Jesus asks, "For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?
• If our faith is what our lives are all about, then we should not allow anxiety to consume us. Jesus wants us to lay our burdens at His feet. Anxiety is not of God.
• Jesus tells us to seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness and God will make sure that you have what you need in life.
• So many times we seek everything else, then we seek God and then we wonder why things do not go better. Make God your life and 1st priority and see what He does with you!
• I have seen this so many times in my own life, but still at times I struggle with anxiety. When this happens, we must get our focus back on God.
• SLIDE #15
III. WORRYING IS A WASTE OF TIME BECAUSE OF OUR FUTURE
• When do you see your future? Is your future based in heaven or is it based on your bank account?
• SLIDE #16
• Matthew 6:34 ( ESV ) “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
• Jesus tells us that each day has enough trouble of its own without adding the burdens of another day to it.
• If your future is with Jesus, then there is no reason to let the cares of the world to get us down.
• God will take care of you. Never forget that!
CONCLUSION
• Is it easy not to worry about things? Not for many. Should we be consumed by anxiety and worry? When you think about it, how many times has worrying about something helped you or fixed the problem?
• SLIDE #17
• Philippians 4:6 ( ESV ) do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
• When you belong to Jesus, you will find that there is no problem too large for Jesus to handle, there is not burden too heavy for Him to carry!
• Stop trying to worry yourself into a solution, give it to our Great GOD!
