Quiet That Dog!
Scripture: Matthew 6:24-34 Date: Evening Service 6 December 2009
Purpose: To help us hush the mouth of worry!
Have you ever spent the evening with a barking dog? I sure have. Just as I drifted off to sleep, I heard it. It started out in a low tone but soon it was a loud tone that never came down. A dog in the neighborhood was barking out of control.
Soon all of the dogs in the neighborhood could be heard answering this loud, annoying bark. I tried to pretend I could not hear it; I tried to focus my thoughts on other things hoping to drift away to sleep. I even tried to focus on the noise of the ceiling fan, but nothing seemed to work.
I finally jumped up out of bed and shut the window, satisfied that I had taken care of my sleep deprivation. But as I lay my head on my pillow I realized I had only turned the volume down, but I had not eliminated the noise.
All I could hear was that constant bark! It was driving me crazy. In desperation I went to the closet and retrieved a box fan, and turning it on high I lay my head on the pillow. I paused to listen and to my utter joy I could not hear a thing. Peace at last. As I drifted off to sleep, I was not counting sheep but I was thinking of all the ways I could strangle that dog.
All of us are familiar with the irritation and frustration of a dog barking. Some years ago I was visiting with someone on the phone and their dog was barking in the background. The person kept apologizing for the noise and scolding Fido and telling him to be quiet. My ear was hurting from the noise. The barking was so persistent that the person asked to be excused in order to take care of Fido and he said he would call me back. As I got off the phone I said to myself, maybe the next time he takes Fido to be groomed they can cut his hair and sew his mouth!
I think that you will agree with me that out of the top ten things that drive us crazy - a loud, obnoxious barking dog is one of those ten things. It’s enough for even an animal rights supporter to question his/her membership.
But I know something else that is as annoying and as troublesome for many of us as that barking dog – worry.
We read in Matthew 6: 24-34 a little about worry. Would you please stand as we read His Holy Word.
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
One of the greatest robbers of joy, peace and fulfillment for us is worry. It is like a barking dog; hounding us and pursing us. It is always there, sometimes it is in plain view but most often it can only be heard in the distance.
But why does a barking dog drive us crazy?
I. Because for one thing, we cannot control it!
A. You and I worry and are anxious over the things that we cannot control. That is what Jesus was emphasizing in our text for today when he spoke of our need for food and clothing.
1. Can you imagine the tremendous load that would be lifted from our shoulders if our need for food and clothing was simply eliminated?
2. Isn’t that one of the blessings of being a little kid? I cannot ever remember as a child wondering if we were going to have enough food to eat or if I would have clothes to wear.
3. I may have wondered what we were having to eat, but coming from a middle class family, the concept of no food to eat was not even a thought.
4. Worry is like a barking dog, we cannot control it. Worry can only be given to a higher authority, a higher power – to God!
5. All of the provisions of life are the result of God’s goodness to us and His blessings upon us. God already knows that we have need of these things, and the only thing we can do, the only logical response we can make is to trust God to supply them for us.
6. But this is an uncomfortable place because that means we are not the one who is in control. Much of the worry of life for us as Americans in not will I have enough to get by, but how can I increase what I have.
7. Worry is the result of us not being in control, and we allow worry to bark its head off. We can hear it constantly in the background of our life.
8. Would you like to be free from worry this morning? The answer is not to stay poor, to avoid riches. The answer is to recognize that all that we have is a gift from God so use it according to God’s plans and purposes and not your own.
II. But a barking dog also drives us crazy because it drowns out all other noises.
VIDEO: “Chef Boyardee Commercial”
A. When we allow worry to lead us it becomes a constant, consistent and obnoxious noise that distracts us from the greater things in life.
1. The power of distraction can end a marriage, ruin a career, dissolve a parent - child relationship.
2. Distraction is a subtle ploy of the Enemy. Few of us would give up a relationship with Jesus in an outright denial, so the devil devised a more cunning and deceitful way – he uses the power of distraction to take us away.
3. Worry keeps us focused on what is wrong, or what could go wrong. It is always causing us to lean in the wrong direction and any time you lean it is always easier to fall!
4. This evening, what’s got your attention? Where is your focus? If you find yourself anxious and worrying over the things of life, you need to try and listen to another noise. Sometimes you just have to block it out of your mind.
- How can we connect with God when we surround ourselves with all sorts of noise and distractions? Think for a moment about all the noise that we place between us and God.
VIDEO: “Silence and Solitude”
-Are we making that quiet time to not only hear God but to listen to Him as well? Is the worries of this world so LOUD that we have lost our focus on God’s guidance during times of trouble?
5. I don’t know if worry can ever be completely defeated in my life, but I do know I don’t have to listen to it!
6. Jesus asks us to seek first His kingdom and His righteous. (verse 33) In other words listen to a different voice besides that of worry.
7. Yes, a hundred things could go wrong between now and the time this service is over. Why who knows, any one of us could fall over dead right now. When we spend our time worrying about these things and a multitude of other things, we are dead already, because our worry has robbed us of the joy of living.
8. What do you listen to and thus live your life by? In John 12 Jesus is speaking to the multitude and in verse 28 it says that God spoke from the heavens. But in verse 29 we read, “The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him.”
9. I want to be one of those who hear the voice God and not thunder. I want to live my life to its fullest and the only way I can do that is not listen to the noise around me but to the voice of God.
III. But a barking dog also drives us crazy because we do not want to deal with what is causing the problem.
A. Most of us usually get mad at the dog. But few dogs bark just for the fun of it. They bark for a reason. We’re really not interested in the reason – just the result.
1. If we want to find lasting peace and fulfillment, then we need to get to the real reason of why they are eluding us. Someone may need to come in for counseling and seek help for the worry that grips you.
2. Christian counseling is a spiritual discipline, exercise and a must for some people. I have usually discovered that the person who has such a great aversion to counseling is the one who has much to hide.
Illustration: Station at Schofield Barracks I remember a friend of mine. Everyone in his family got sick. As the weeks dragged into months they began to wonder what bug they had and could not shake. No one dreamed that it was anything else but a stubborn virus and then it was discovered. Being in a tropical environment he found out that mold had invaded their home and they were all sick as a result of it. As soon as it was cleaned up everyone in the family got better.
3. Worry is only a mask for the real issues that ail us. It is the consequence of a life that is listening to the wrong voice.
4. Some of us need to go deeper this evening and find the mold that is making us sick with worry. It may be that we lack faith. Faith is not hard to come by but it sure is difficult to put into practice.
5. In I Corinthians we are told that faith is one of the gifts that the Holy Spirit offers every believer. Do you need more faith tonight to shut the mouth of worry in your life?
6. I have discovered that worry often times attacks me when I feel insecure about something. Perhaps your walk with Jesus is a little strained tonight.
7. The insecurities of your walk with Jesus are producing a bumper crop of worry and anxiety. Then I invite you to get you life to there in Him and move forward.
8. Give up whatever sin you are holding on to; whatever mask you are wearing or game you are playing and get real with Jesus.
Conclusion:
I don’t think I will ever be worry free but I know that I don’t have to let it lead my life, drive me crazy!
I was wondering if anyone here is a card carrying member of the Worriers Anonymous club and if you would like to cancel your membership? You can – if you want!
Can you hear it? It’s faint but I can hear it. It’s a barking dog! Somebody hear hasn’t heard a word I have said this morning cause all you can hear is that dog – worry is your middle name.
