NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
› Engagement
Five hundred years ago, Michel de Montaigne said: "My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened."
A number of recent studies prove that what he said is true. One study found that 85% of the things people worried about never happened. And for the events that actually did occur, nearly 80% found that they could handle the worry better than they expected or that they learned a positive lesson from the experience.
› Tension
While many of us may be familiar with those statistics, it obviously doesn’t keep up from worrying. The CDC reported that between August of 2020 and February of 2021, over 40% of adults in this country had symptoms of an anxiety or depressive disorder. So that means that it’s likely that not only do most of worry, but a significant number of us worry a lot.
› Truth
This Christmas, we have been talking about The Great Gift Exchange that is possible because Jesus came to be Emmanuel, God with us, on that very first Christmas. So far we have seen that if we’ll give Jesus our despair, our hurt and our grief that Jesus will exchange those things for His hope, love and joy. Today, we’ll wrap up that series by focusing on the last exchange - my worry for His peace. And based on both my own personal life as well as what I’ve observed in the lives of others, this is probably the most needed exchange of all.
This morning, we’ll be looking at a passage that is probably familiar to us since it is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. So go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6 and follow along as I begin reading in verse 25.
Matthew 6:25–34 ESV
25 “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?
26 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?
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 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?
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
It’s pretty easy to pick out the main idea in this passage since Jesus repeats it three times - in verse 25, in verse 31 and again in verse 34:
...do not be anxious...
If you’re using a different translation, that command might be worded a bit differently:
NIV: ...do not worry...
KJV: ...take no thought...
Unfortunately, this translation can be a bit misleading. As I think we’ll see this morning, Jesus isn’t saying we are not to think at all about our needs, which is how this phrase would be taken today. That seems to be why the NKJV has changed this to:
NKJV: ...do not worry...
NASB: ...do not be worried...
So if we’re going to understand this command, it is obviously crucial that we understand what Jesus meant here by worry or anxiety.
Here is the best definition I’ve found that captures the way Jesus would have used this word is:
worry =
“a self-concern relative to the future”
We certainly see this right away in verse 25 where Jesus is speaking to His audience about what they will eat or drink or wear or their future health. So right away He points out that this is about the future, not the past or the present. This is what distinguishes anxiety or worry from fear, which is about what has already happened or is happening right now. Anxiety is about what we perceive to be potential future threats.
Although this definition does contain the word “concern”, we also need to distinguish between worry and healthy concern. Sometimes that difference can be quite subtle, but basically it boils down to whether or not I can let that concern go once I’ve prayed about it.
Before we look at our main idea and develop it by studying Jesus’ words here, let me ask you one more question, one that was brought up in our Bible Roundtable last week:
Is worry sin?
The first thing to note is that all three times Jesus says “do not be anxious” in this passage, it is an imperative, or a command. And if you look at the verb tenses used there, that command is all-inclusive. Basically Jesus says, “Quit being anxious if you’re already doing that, don’t be anxious now, and don’t be anxious in the future”.
We’ll see this more as we develop our main idea, but at its core, worry is essentially a lack of confidence in God’s sovereignty. It is failing to trust in God and His promises. It basically denies the faithfulness of God. So I think it’s pretty clear that worry is indeed a sin.
Before we proceed, it’s also a good idea for us to define “peace”. Most dictionary definitions of “peace” revolve around an absence of conflict. But the Biblical concept of peace, both in the Old and New Testaments, is much broader that that. It includes harmony, wholeness, completeness, health and prosperity. It is both external and internal and it comes only from God. It is the opposite of worry.
So what does this passage teach us about how to receive that peace in exchange for our worry?
Jesus gives me peace in exchange for my worry when I obsess over His kingdom rather than the things of this world
Many times in life we find that the best way to conquer a harmful passion is to focus on a greater and healthier one. Focusing too much on earthly matters like food and drink and clothing and health will always breed anxiety and worry. Focusing on the eternal matters of God’s kingdom instead delivers us from those worries and brings us peace.
Jesus begins this part of His sermon with this command:
…do not be anxious about your life...
The word translated “life” literally means “breath”. In the New Testament, that word primarily refers to a person’s physical life. And we see that here as Jesus uses three illustrations that all deal with our physical life, or as we’ve put it in our main idea, the things of this world. It is important to note here that these are not bad things. In fact, it is good to eat and drink, to wear clothes and be healthy. And it is certainly okay to think about those things and have a healthy concern for them. The problem occurs when that concern turns into an obsession.
And then near the end of this section, Jesus gives us the antidote with these familiar words:
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness...
And the promise is that when we do that, God will provide for our needs without us having to obsess over them.
› Application
Fortunately for us, this passage, along with a few other places in the Bible provide us with some very practical insight on how we can do what Jesus has commanded here.
HOW TO DEVELOP THE RIGHT OBSESSION
• Trust that God loves me and knows what is best for me
Everything else I’m going to share with you this morning depends on developing this mindset. If you don’t genuinely believe that God loves you and knows what is best for you, you will keep worrying, even if you try everything else I’m going to suggest today.
Jesus basically argues from the lesser to the greater here. He talks about how God feeds the birds of the air and clothes the fields because they are part of His creation and He cares for them. But God loves us and cares for us to a much greater extent. So if He provides for the needs of birds and fields, we can be confident that He is certainly going to provide for our needs.
Not only that, God knows far better than we do exactly what we need. Because He is all-knowing and all-seeing and all-powerful, He knows exactly what is best for us and He has the power and authority to make sure that is what we receive.
One word of caution here. This is not an excuse for idleness or laziness. Even though the birds are fed by God they don’t just sit on a branch waiting for food to fall into their beak, except for when they are first born and are dependent on their parents to feed them. Although God provides the food, they still have to search for it and gather it.
The Bible is full of verses that warn against laziness and praise the value of hard work. But we are to do that within the context of knowing that ultimately all we have is from the hand of God.
• Cultivate contentment
I ran across this Greek saying this week that I think summarizes this principle really well:
He who has no possessions is free of many worries.
The idea here is that the more stuff we own, the more stuff we have to worry about. I would also say that the more expensive stuff we have, the more we worry.
I drive a 14 year old vehicle that still runs very well, at least in part because I’ve done my best to take care of it. Over the last 14 years, that car has accumulated some pits in the windshield from flying rocks as well as a few scratches and dings. So while, I try to do my best to avoid them, I don’t really worry about incurring a few more. But if I were to go out and purchase an expensive brand new car, I’m pretty sure that I would be worried about those same dings, dents, and scratches.
I think that a lot of worry is generated because the things we possess tend to possess us. We would do well to heed Paul’s exhortation in his letter to Timothy:
1 Timothy 6:6–8 ESV
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain,
7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.
8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
The writer of Hebrews penned some similar advice:
Hebrews 13:5 ESV
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
If we really believe that God loves us and knows what is best for us then we will be content with what we have.
The next principle is closely related to this idea of being content.
• Hang on to my possessions loosely
In the late 1900’s a number of people, including Mary and me, had money invested in the Baptist Foundation of Arizona. Due to fraudulent activities of some board members, the organization collapsed. When they filed bankruptcy in 1999, they had $530 million in liabilities and only $70 million in assets. When that happened, all the money that people had invested was frozen and eventually those investors only received pennies on the dollar several years later.
Most of the people had invested their money there because they believed it was being used to finance the building of new churches, so presumably most of them were Christians. But when everything fell apart I remember how angry so many of those people were. And I think a lot of that anger was due to worry.
I learned a good lesson from that experience that is still very valuable to me today. I understand that everything I possess is owned by God and that He has the right to take it away from me any time He wants. So that means that I am going to hang on to it loosely, so that if that ever happens, I won’t be surprised or angry. And that certainly lessens the tendency for me to worry about those things now.
• Remember that worry is unproductive
Probably my all time favorite quote about worry comes from Pastor Rick Warren:
It’s like sitting in a rocking chair—a lot of activity, energy, and motion, but no progress. Worry doesn’t change anything except you. It makes you miserable!
That is the idea that Jesus is expressing in verse 27. The underlying Greek is a bit ambiguous here, so it’s hard to know for sure whether Jesus is asking whether worry can add one cubit to one’s stature, as the KJV translates it, or whether it can add one hour to one’s span of life, as most other translations render it. I think the context certainly favors the latter, but either way the point is the same - worry is unproductive. It can’t change anything!
• Live in the moment
Jesus ends this section of His sermon by urging His audience to live for today. There is enough for us to concern ourselves with right this moment, that we shouldn’t waste our time worrying about what might happen tomorrow.
Unfortunately, I have witnessed a number of Christians who never have peace in their lives because they can’t just live in the moment and enjoy it. Instead they are always worrying about what might happen tomorrow or the next day or a month from now or a year from now.
If you’re a vegetarian or a vegan, please don’t be offended, but if you are a meat eater like me, there is a lot of truth in this meme. [Vegetarians live up to 9 years longer than meat-eaters. Nine horrible, worthless, baconless years.]
Obviously, I’m not suggesting that we don’t take care of our bodies or eat healthy. But as we saw just a moment ago, Jesus makes it really clear here that there is nothing any of us can do that will add even one moment to our life here on earth beyond what God has ordained. So let’s not let worry about the future keep us from enjoying the present.
• Release my worry to God
Perhaps the apostle Paul was thinking of these words of Jesus when He wrote this to the church in Philippi:
Philippians 4:6–7 ESV
6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Here we see the direct link between giving up our worry to Jesus and receiving His peace in return. As I said earlier, the distinction between genuine concern, which is healthy, and worry, which is not, is whether we can take that concern to Jesus and release it in prayer or whether we continue to hang on to it after we have prayed.
Jesus gives me peace in exchange for my worry when I obsess over His kingdom rather than the things of this world
› Action
Worry, like despair, hurt, and grief, belongs to the people who have not committed their lives to Jesus. As we see in verse 32, Gentiles, which is a term Jesus used to describe those who were not His disciples, are always focused on the things of this world, and so they worry. So just like we’ve seen with the previous three gift exchanges, if you want to exchange your worry for God’s peace, then you must begin by putting your faith in Jesus and becoming His disciple.
If you’ve never done that, then I want to say to you this morning, that Jesus loves you more than you will ever understand. He loves you so much that He willingly left the glory of heaven to come here to earth to be born a baby in the most humble of circumstances, to live a life here on earth where He was ridiculed and persecuted and tortured and ultimately died the most horrible death possible. He did that knowing that the majority of people would not accept what He has done for them and that they would refuse to put their faith in Him. No one has ever loved you like that. And all He asks in return is that you would quit trusting in your own good works and trust in what He has done for you. And there is no time like today for you to make that decision.
If that is something you would like to do, or even if it is something that you’re just considering or would like to know more about, would you allow us the privilege of helping you take that next step? At the end of the message, I’ll tell you how you can let us know you’re interested in that.
For those of you who already have a personal relationship with Jesus, my guess is that you still struggle with worry. I certainly know that I do. If that’s the case, then next time when you’re tempted to worry, would you apply the principles that we’ve talked about this morning? I promise that if you’ll do that, Jesus would love to take that worry and give you His peace in return.
› Inspiration
This coming week many of you will participate in a number of gift exchanges, maybe at work, or with your neighbors or friends, almost certainly with family. Some, if not most of you, will receive some really nice gifts. But I can assure you that none of those gift exchanges will be as meaningful and lasting as the ones Jesus wants to give to you this year. If you’ll allow Him, He’ll give you
• His hope for your despair
• His love for your hurt
• His joy for your grief
• His peace for your worry
