What to Do with Life’s Cares!
Chuck Sligh
March 26, 2017
NOTE: PowerPoint and ProPresenter 6 presentations are available of this sermon upon request to chucksligh@hotmail.com.
Adapted from a skeletal outline in Preach for a Year, by Roger Campbell, pp. 31-32.
TEXT: 1 Peter 5:7 – “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
INTRODUCTION
The popular 19th century American preacher, poet and theologian, Joseph Parker, had a good word of advice to preachers: He used to say, “Preach often to those with troubled hearts”
I’m taking Parker’s advice today. I want to speak to you today on the subject, “What to Do with Life’s Cares!”
Our text today, 1 Peter 5:7, a verse for troubled believers. Let me read it again: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Read it out loud together with me: “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
I would like for you to notice three things that are in this verse, and what this means for you and me:
I. FIRST, NOTICE THAT YOU ARE IN THIS VERSE. – Peter says, “Casting all YOUR care upon Him for he careth for YOU…”
So much in this world is impersonal. This is the age of bigness and numbers. When you call about your bank or credit card accounts or a utility company, your name is only secondary—the first thing they ask for is your account number is. You’re not a person to them; you’re a number. You have a Social Security number, insurance policy numbers, credit card numbers, bank card numbers, debit card numbers, driver’s license number. We live in a world of bar codes, scanners, computers, user names and passwords. Sometimes our world that loses sight of the individual.
But God knows you personally as an individual! God doesn’t keep track of His own by cosmic computers! In fact, He knows His own by name.
In John 10:2-3 the saved are called sheep and Jesus is the Shepherd and we read: “To him [speaking of Jesus] the porter [i.e., “gatekeeper”] openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.”
Though Jesus taught large groups of people, the Gospels record many examples of Jesus’ knowledge of and personal care for individuals:
* In Luke 19:1-10, Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see Jesus pass by, apparently because he was so short, and Jesus knew who he was, knew he was up in that tree, knew his name, knew his shortcomings and why he needed Jesus’s forgiveness and then called him to come down for he was going to his house to stay that day!
* In Matthew 9:20-22, a woman who had had a discharge of blood for 12 years thought that if she could just touch the hem of His garment, she might be healed, and as soon as she did, Jesus immediately recognized her, knew what she had done, knew why she had done it, and lovingly gave her this encouraging word: “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.”
* In Matthew 19:13-15, the disciples tried to keep the children from coming to Jessus, and Jesus said to allow them to come to him, whereupon he lovingly took them in his arms and laid hands of blessing on them one-by-one.
* The woman at the well in John 4 thought Jesus was just another Jew, but realized that He knew who she was, what she had been through in her life, what she needed to find fulfillment and lovingly led her to Him.
Jesus cares about individuals. In our text, Peter said, “Casting all YOUR care upon Him for he careth for YOU.” Praise God!—God has time for YOU; YOUR cares are important to Him; God cares for YOU. If you are beset by care and worry and anxiety today, YOU are in 1 Peter 5:7.
II. SECOND, NOTICE THAT ALL YOUR CARES ARE IN THIS VERSE TOO. – Peter said, “Casting ALL YOUR CARE upon Him…”
There are many kinds of cares in this life—many things you can allow to get you down if you don’t keep your eyes on Jesus—
* Cares about your family, your children, your wife, or your husband.
* Cares about your finances, your future, your job, your security.
* Cares about your health, the health of your family members, your mental health.
* Cares about politics, the president, Congress, the economy, the next recession.
* Cares about world conditions, war and ISIS, Iran, Russia, China, North Korea.
There’s no end to the number of cares that can weigh us down in this life. But let me share with you something that ought to thrill your soul: EVERY CARE THAT YOU ARE CARRYING IS IN THIS VERSE.
Peter didn’t say, “casting SOME of your cares upon Jesus.” He didn’t say, “casting the really BIG cares on Jesus.” Nor did he say, “casting just the LITTLE cares on Jesus.”
No, He emphatically: “Casting ALL your care upon Him…”
There’s no reason in the world a believer should be weighed down by the cares of this life. Cares are roadblocks to the blessings of God. With cares removed, we can experience the joy of the Lord.
Nehemiah said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh. 8:10) and there’s nothing I know that can sap you of joy and strength like worrying over cares and trials.
A. So first, YOU are in this verse and second, ALL YOUR CARES are in this verse.…
III. THIRD, AND MOST IMPORTANT, JESUS IS IN THIS VERSE. – Peter said, “Casting all your care upon HIM, for HE careth for you.”
This is one of the most joyous thoughts in the world. Think about it: JESUS, the king of the universe cares for little old you and me! That thought, to me, is mind-boggling!
Not only does Jesus care for you, but no one understands your cares like Jesus does. In fact, He understands you in a way that no one on earth could understand you. There is no one in the universe who is both God and human at the same time….
* As GOD, He has infinite love and care for you and infinite knowledge of your particular situation.
* As MAN, He knows what you’re going through because He’s been where you’be been and has experienced all the same kinds of trials and problems and struggles as you and I have.
I love that song, “No One Understands like Jesus”:
No one understands like Jesus, He’s a friend beyond compare;
Meet Him at the throne of mercy, He is waiting for you there.
No one understands like Jesus, Every woe He sees and feels;
Tenderly He whispers comfort, And the broken heart He heals.
No one understands like Jesus When the foes of life assail;
You should never be discouraged, Jesus cares and will not fail.
The chorus like this:
No one understands like Jesus When the days are dark and grim;
No one is so near, so dear as Jesus—Cast your ev’ry care on Him
CONCLUSION
Dear brother or sister, are you under a load of care today? Are you weighed down because of some great, weighty burden? If so, then go to Jesus. If so, cast your care upon HIM, because He cares for you.
Well, you might ask, What does it mean to “cast” our cares on Jesus? and HOW can we cast our cares on Him? Let’s answer those questions before we close.
1) First, what does it mean to “cast” your care upon Jesus?
“Casting” is the Greek verb epirípto (?p???pt?), which literally means to fling, throw, toss or hurl something on something or someone.”
* Are you distressed? ...Fling your cares upon the Lord!
* Are you discouraged? ...Throw your discouragement upon the Lord!
* Are you in despair? ...Toss your desperation upon the Lord!
* Are you hurting? ...Hurl your pain upon the Lord!
* Are you fearful? ...Cast your fear upon the Lord!
Psalms 55:22 says, “Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”
We cast our burdens on they Lord by transferring our cares over to God in prayer, by disciplining ourselves to stop worrying about them, and by trusting God to take care of them. It means you stop the struggle and turmoil because you’re trusting in Jesus. It means you enter through the door of faith into the house of peace.
Illus. – A few years ago, our church experienced its worst year ever. Some of you remember it. We had our normal PCS group go out of our military community and they were a great bunch—faithful givers and workers in our many ministries. The group that PCSed here just weren’t givers and few were willing to volunteer for ministry.
I began see a precipitous, dangerous decline in our reserves as our outgo vastly outstripped our income. We cut back to the bare bones on our outgo side and then began to challenge the newcomers to join with us in giving and ministry.
No interest; in fact, things began to become desperate quickly. I calculated that we would run completely out of money within 6 months if there was not a drastic uptick in giving, and Susan was struggling as never before to get people to join the ministry team. I began to worry and fret and carry this heavy burden, and without realizing it, fear and desperation began to be perceptible in my preaching and constant appeals to get people on board.
Nothing worked and I was beginning to lose sleep over it. Finally, one night after tossing and turning for an hour, worrying what we were going to do, I said the God, “Lord, I can’t take this anymore. You can just HAVE this church! YOU take over this church from now on.” The Lord whispered softly in my heart, “Chuck it always WAS my church, and I never surrendered it to you to begin with. Give it back and just leave it to me. I know what to do with my church.”
That night I cast our church back to the Lord and said, “You’re right. God, I take my hands off. If you want it to go under, hey, it’s your church. Do with it whatever you want.” Suddenly I was at peace and I just trusted in God to take care of it, and I honestly was okay with whatever God wanted to do with His church.
Almost instantly, the whole dynamic of the church changed. Offerings shot up, ministry involvement shot up, people began being saved, new members joined and God was being glorified. No more appeals for money or for ministry participation; no more desperation; no more worry; no more loss of sleep; no more fear. All God wanted was for his preacher to take his cold, clammy hands off of HIS church and cast it upon Him. The worst year in our church’s history was followed by the BEST EVER!
It’s interesting that in the Greek, the tense used for the word cast means to do it once-and-for-all, not the tense that means to repeat something repeatedly. As we’ve discussed in other sermons. It’s a one-time casting.
Illus. – I talked to a lady a while back who said that she doesn’t have any problem casting her burdens on the Lord. Her problem is that she keeps picking them back up!
That’s not the answer to your troubles...the answer is to “Cast your cares upon the Lord” and leave them there!
Each time a new burden arises, you must by faith cast it on to Him and LEAVE IT with Him. He has big shoulders; He can handle it! It takes faith in God and His plan and His goodness and wisdom to be able to cast our cares on Jesus.
George Mueller said, “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.” (George Mueller, “Signs of the Times,” Christianity Today, Vol. 35, no. 1.)
Sometimes we give God the little cares of life, but we worry about and fret about and fear the BIG things of life. Oh, listen, God specializes in handling the big things in our lives as well as the little things. I like was Corrie Ten Boom wrote….
Somebody said to me, “When I worry I go to the mirror and say to myself, ‘This tremendous thing which is worrying me is beyond a solution. It is especially too hard for Jesus Christ to handle.’ After I have said that, I smile and I am ashamed.” (Corrie Ten Boom, “Each New Day,” Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no. 13.)
And when we worry instead of give our cares to Jesus, we ought to be ashamed too.
2) THE second question I want to answer is this: HOW exactly do we give our cares to Jesus?
Go with me to Philippians 4, where Paul answers that question.
Look with me at verses 6-7 of Philippians 4 – “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Here Paul gives three steps for casting our cares on Jesus and finding peace:
a) First, he says, “Be careful for nothing.”
The word careful simply means “filled with care,” that is, to worry. Paul is saying, “Don’t worry about ANYTHING.” STOP it!—It’s a sin!
b) Second, Paul says to pray about your cares. – “…but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
John Guest said,
When Scripture encourages us to pray without ceasing, and to cast all our care upon him, it is literally saying redirect those restless, energetic minds into a positive stream of communication with God. Turn it all into prayer!
Instead of nursing our wounds of self-pity, pray for the grace to forgive. Instead of worrying about those for whom we are responsible, ask God to intervene and lift the burden from our shoulders.…
When I lived in England, my landlady had a little wall plaque that read, “Why pray when you can worry?” I always saw the humor of it—and the reverse psychology was good for me. It always drove me to really say, “Why worry when you can pray?” (John Guest, “Only a Prayer Away,” Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 2.)
3) Third, Paul says to pray with a thankful spirit – “…in every thing by prayer and supplication WITH THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known unto God.”
Now that’s the hard part—thanking God for your problem or trial. And yet, if you do not thank Him for the trial, you’re failing to exercise faith in God, for Romans 8:28 promises “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
If you REALLY believe that, then by faith you can thank God ahead of time for how He is going to use this problem for your good, and when we take that final step and thank God for our trouble or care, it leads to the promise in verse 7 – “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Brethren, let Jesus have your cares today! Give them to Jesus in prayer with a grateful, trusting spirit. The one who cared enough to save us will care for all your cares.
Illus. – Charles Weigle was an evangelist and singer/songwriter. One night, after a revival meeting, he returned home to find a note from his wife saying she no longer wanted to be a preacher’s wife, and she left him with their small daughter. He became so despondent during the next several years that there were even times when he contemplated suicide. He felt a terrible despair that no one really cared for him anymore.
One day he was walking by the ocean in Florida and the enemy inside his head said, “No one cares for you Not your wife, not God no one. Why don’t you just end it all.” Suddenly the Holy Spirit broke in and told him that no one cared for you like Jesus.
He turned around and rushed back to his room.
He sat down at his piano and within minutes had the music and lyrics to his song, “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus.” (From http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/no-one-ever-cared-for-me-like-jesus-11530600.html.)
The chorus goes like this:
No one ever cared for me like Jesus,
There’s no other friend so kind as He.
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me,
Oh how much he cared for me.
“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”
