WORRY RESISTENT LIVING
Series: A Declaration of Dependence
Matthew 6:25-34
July 18, 2004
Introduction:
There is a deadly disease that is running rampant in our society today. Every year millions are infected and hundreds of thousands die from its deadly symptoms. No, it is not AIDS or the West Nile virus. It is a disease that causes blood vessels to constrict and hearts to shutdown. It results in the lining of the stomach being eaten away and cause intense pain in the brain. No, it is not anthrax or some other chemical or biological weapon. It is the disease of stress and anxiety.
The fact is, the Mayo Clinic claims 80-85% of their total caseload is due directly to worry and anxiety. Many experts say that coping with stress is the #1 health priority of our day.
One leading physician has stated that, in his opinion, 70% of all medical patients could cure themselves if only they got rid of their worries and fears. We know that medical science has closely tied worry to heart trouble, blood pressure problems, ulcers, thyroid malfunction, migraine headaches, and a host of stomach disorders, amongst others. For example 25 million Americans have high blood pressure due to stress and anxiety; 1 million more develop high blood pressure each year; 8 million have stomach ulcers; and every week 112 million people take medication for stress related symptoms. (Craig Simonian – SermonCental)
Clearly we are a nation of worriers and it is literally killing us. With all of these stress related disorders can you imagine what a toll that is taking on the health insurance industry and therefore on our economy. This disease is literally destroying us. It is destroying us financially. It is destroying us physically. It is destroying us mentally and emotionally. It is even destroying many people spiritually.
This is why we need so desperately to hear and heed Jesus teaching found in today’s passage – Matthew 6:25-34. Jesus central message in this passage is this: “Do not worry.” He says:
25Therefore 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?
31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow.
Three times in those three verses Jesus commands us: “Do not worry.” Go back and find those three times and circle those words – “Do not worry.” Then I want you to circle the things that we are commanded to not worry about. In verse 25 circle the words “life” and “body.” Then in verse 31 circle the words “eat,” “drink,” and “wear.” Finally in verse 34 circle the word “tomorrow.” And what is tomorrow? It is the future. He is telling us not to worry about the future. Jesus tells us not to worry about our lives or our bodies or what we will eat or drink or wear or about the future. Basically he is telling us not to worry about anything. Why? Because worry doesn’t work. That is the fundamental problem with all our worrying. Worry doesn’t work. Look at verse 27:
27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Worry doesn’t work! Will all of your worrying add even an hour to your life? No! In fact the opposite is true. Worrying will actually subtract not only hours, but also years from your life. Worrying can make you sick and even kill you as we have already seen. So worrying doesn’t work because instead of adding to your life it subtracts from your life.
Not only can worrying kill you but it also has the power to greatly hinder your life while you are still living. For example, during the building of the Golden Gate Bridge over San Francisco Bay, construction fell badly behind schedule because several workers had accidentally fallen from the scaffolding to their deaths.
Engineers and administrators could find no solution to the costly delays. Finally, someone suggested a gigantic net be hung under the bridge to catch any who fell. Finally in spite of the enormous cost, the engineers opted for the net. After it was installed, progress was hardly interrupted. A worker or two fell, but the net saved their lives. The net allowed them to move on in their work with out fear and worry. (Erik Estep – SermonCentral) Stress and worry are like debilitating diseases that leave you disabled and dysfunctional. So again, worry doesn’t work because instead of adding to your life it subtracts from your life.
Another problem with worry is that we often worry too much about the wrong things. 40% of all things that we worry about never come to pass.
30% of all our worries involve past decisions that cannot be changed.
12% focus on criticism from others who spoke because they felt inferior.
10% are related to our health, which gets worse when we worry.
8% of our worries could be described as “legitimate” causes for concern.
(Kevin Taylor – SermonCentral)
That means that 92% of everything that we worry about is either out of our control or in the past or imagined. 92% of the things that we worry about are in reality unnecessary worries. We are literally wasting years of our lives worrying over things that will never happen. So once again, worry doesn’t work because instead of adding to your life it subtracts from your life.
Before we get into the main points of today’s message I want to share with you an article written by an 85 year-old woman. Here is what she wrote,
If you live to be 75 years old you will live over 657,000 hours. If I had my life to live over, I would relax and ramble around and be sillier than I had been on this trip. I would take fewer things so seriously, and I would take more chances. I would take more trips and I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and fewer prunes. I would perhaps have some actual troubles but I’m sure I would have fewer imaginary ones. You see I’m one of those people who have lived sensibly and safely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I have had my moments. And if I had it all to do over again I would have more of them. Just moments one after another instead of living so many years in a big chair, acting like all those persons who never go anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat, or a parachute. If I had it to do over again I would worry less. I would laugh more, and I would pick a lot more daisies. (Melvin Newland – SermonCentral)
It sounds like a good way to live, but is it practically possible in this life to live with less stress? Yes it is! That is the truth of the teaching of Jesus in our passage today. You can live a worry resistant life if you will put a few simple principles into practice in your life. Here are Jesus’ four principles for Worry Resistant Living:
Four Principles for Worry Resistant Living:
1. Accept God’s Appraisal.
26Look 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?
28And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If 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?
In verse 26 I want you to circle the phrase “much more valuable.” You are much more valuable than some dumb old bird. You are certainly much more valuable than common prairie grass. If God takes such good care of those relatively unimportant things, how much more will he take good care of you who are so valuable?
The problem is found in the last phrase in verse 30: “you of little faith.” We don’t have enough faith to accept God’s appraisal of our lives. We have trouble believing that we are really that valuable to God, but we are. We find it difficult to accept God’s appraisal of our value because so many people have devalued us and we come to think they must be right. Maybe you’ve been told all your life that you aren’t smart enough, pretty enough, athletic enough – you name it. Maybe you’ve been told that you will never amount to much. You need to stop accepting the appraisal of others. Stop believing the lie that you are worthless or good for nothing.
Once, at a horse auction in New Mexico...one rancher bragged to his buddies that he had gotten the full asking price of $2,500 for his two-year-old filly - - selling her to some kid before the auction even started. The rancher got rather gloomy, however, one hour later when that same ’kid’ ran the filly through the same auction and sold her for $4,200!!
It was evident that the rancher had not recognized his horse’s truth worth.
However...Jesus recognizes true worth!
When Jesus looked at Mary Magdalene - He did not see an adulteress, but He saw a human being capable of profound love. When Jesus looked at Peter - He did not see a fisherman, but He saw a leader with tremendous potential. When Jesus looked at people - He did not see them as defined by their economic level or job descriptions, but He sees something much different.
How does He appraise our true worth?
Look again at the words from 1 Samuel 16:7, “People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts.” (CEV)
Have you ever heard the story of Saint Lawrence? Saint Lawrence was a humble priest (in the third century) who happened to be captured by one of the many bands of thieves that were attacking villages and towns. Wanting money, his captors demanded that he bring out the treasures of the church. Saint Lawrence quietly went about the village and gathered up the children and the elderly and stood them in front of the thieves. "These are the treasures of the church," he said, "but you can have the gold."
Let’s take note of Jesus’ words found in John 7:24, “Stop judging by external standards, and judge by true standards” (GN).
’The Central Point’ Copyright 2002-2004 © Dennis Wheeler. http://www.studylight.org/col/cp/
What are true standards? Are the standards of others true standards? No. And thank goodness they are not. You don’t have to live up to or down to the standards that others set for you. Are your standards the true standards? No they are not either. We often misjudge ourselves just as badly as others do
The May 17, 1987 edition of The Atlanta Journal Constitution contained the following story:
A rock hound named Rob Cutshaw owns a little roadside shop outside Andrews, North Carolina. Like many in the trade, he hunts for rocks, and then sells them to collectors or jewelry makers. He knows enough about rocks to decide which to pick up and sell, but he’s no expert. He leaves the appraising of his rocks to other people. As much as he enjoys the work, it doesn’t always pay the bills. He occasionally moonlights, cutting wood to help put bread on the table.
While on a dig twenty years ago, Rob found a rock he described as "purdy and big." He tried unsuccessfully to sell the specimen, and according to the Constitution, kept the rock under his bed or in his closet.
He guessed the blue chunk could bring as much as $500 dollars, but he would have taken less if something urgent came up like paying his power bill. That’s how close Rob came to hawking for a few hundred dollars what turned out to be the largest, most valuable sapphire ever found. The blue rock that Rob had abandoned to the darkness of a closet two decades ago -- now known as "The Star of David" sapphire -- weighs nearly a pound, and could easily sell for $2.75 million. (John MacArthur, Grace to You Newsletter, April 15, 1993 - SermonCentral PRO)
You see the paper said that Rob usually left the appraising of his rocks to the experts and he should have stuck with that strategy. What he personally appraised at $500 the experts later appraised at $2.75 million. His appraisal was way off the mark. And because he mistakenly devalued that chunk of “blue rock” he nearly sold himself short. Who is the expert appraiser of the value of human life? Not others. Not me or another pastor. Not even you, but God. So please accept his appraisal of your value this morning.
But why is God’s appraisal of your life so high? Let me answer that with another story.
NEW YORK (AP) — A man who paid $5 for a 19th-century painting he bought at a garage sale has sold it to a museum for $1 million, an art publication reported.
The unidentified 29-year-old actor found Joseph Decker’s "Ripening Pears" wrapped in a blanket at a Los Angeles garage sale three years ago, the report in ARTnewsletter said.
The woman who sold him the painting said it had been sitting in her garage for more than 60 years, the publication said. Decker painted it around 1884 or 1885.
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., bought the painting in February for $1 million, said Meredith E. Ward, who served as the man’s broker. The painting hung on the man’s kitchen wall for two years before he decided to do an Internet search on Decker, according to ARTnewsletter. Once he realized Decker’s fame, the man e-mailed a digital photo of the picture to the Manhattan-based Richard York Gallery, which specializes in 19th- and 20th-century American art.
"I looked at the e-mail, and I said, ’It’s too good to be true,’" said Ward, executive vice president of the gallery.
The painting was not valuable because of where it was located (it was in a garage). It was not valuable because of who owned it (a 29-year-old actor). It was valuable because of its creator. That is true with you and me. It is NOT who we are, nor where we live, nor who our parents are, our job or education that make us valuable – it is our Creator, and his work in our lives. (Michael Biolsi – SermonCentral)
It is as Max Lucado said, “You are valuable because you exist. Not because of what you do or what you have done, but simply because you are.” (SermonCentral Pro)
Why have I spent so much time this morning trying to help you to understand the value that God sees in you? Because accepting God’s appraisal is absolutely foundational to worry resistant living.
If you have something that is of great value you protect it. You take good care of it. Have you observed people who highly value their cars? They are taking excellent care of them. They are always washing and waxing them. They make sure that they change their oil regularly.
Their was an elderly man from my last church that finally was able to purchase the car he had dreamed of for years – A Lincoln Town Car – I believe. He had the oil changed every 1,000 miles. A bit obsessive I think, but he took excellent care of that car because it was valuable to him. His family told me they once found him washing the engine and complaining about how dusty it got under the hood.
I also remember a kid from High School who would change his shoes every time he got in or out of his car. You see he had a special pair of shoes that were only worn inside of his car. When he went to get into the car he would open the door, sit down, take off his shoes on the ground, swing his feet into the car, and put of the special shoes. He would do just the opposite when he got back out. He would first take of his special shoes inside the car and then put his feet out and put on his regular shoes. Sounds crazy, but he treasured his car and he was determined to keep it clean.
Maybe for you it’s not your car. If your garden is important to you, you will make sure that it is fertilized and well watered and weeded. If your lawn is important to you, you will make sure that it is mowed and looking nice. The point is whatever you value you take care of. Whatever you value you protect. Whatever you value you look out for.
God is the same way. He takes care of that which he values and there is nothing he values more than you. If you accept God’s appraisal, then you understand that you are very, very important to him. You understand that as his dear treasure he will take care of you and protect you. And the assurance that God will take care of you and your needs is the basis of worry resistant living. If you know in the depths of your being that God will take care of you, you don’t have anything to worry about. So accept God’s appraisal and begin today to experience worry resistant living.
2. Pursue God’s Purpose.
33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…
Seek his kingdom. Pursue God’s purpose.
Notice again the illustrations Jesus used of the birds and the lilies. He said the birds “do not sow or reap or store away in barns” (v. 26). Of the lilies he said, “They do not labor or spin” (v. 28). They weren’t working on their own agenda. They weren’t pursuing their own dreams. The birds were simply doing what God created birds to do and the lilies were doing what God created lilies to do. Are you doing what God created you to do?
Rick Warren wrote:
It’s not about you.
The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, your must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 17.
Again he writes:
Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. It defines what you do and what you don’t do. Without a clear purpose you have no foundation on which you base decisions, allocate your time, and use your resources … and that causes stress, fatigue, and conflict.
Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 31.
I will ask you again. Are you doing what God created you to do? Seeking God’s kingdom or pursuing God’s purpose is a vital part of worry resistant living. If you were to take a tool and use it for something other than what it was designed for, what would happen? Imagine trying to use a jackhammer to drive a nail in your wall to hang a picture on. What would happen? Or imagine trying to saw through a board using a screwdriver. What would happen? That is a picture of what happens when you try to live a life that you weren’t designed to live. It causes frustration, stress, worry and anxiety. So seek God’s kingdom and pursue God’s purpose.
Let me assure you that it will not always be easy. There will always be other things that will try to distract you from God’s purpose for your life. There will be other opportunities or options that will look enticing. But the end result of pursuing those things will always be worry and stress, anxiety and frustration.
Ken Walker writes in Christian Reader that in the 1995 college football season 6-foot-2-inch, 280-pound Clay Shiver, who played center for the Florida State Seminoles, was regarded as one of the best in the nation. In fact, one magazine wanted to name him to their preseason All-American football team. But that was a problem, because the magazine was Playboy, and Clay Shiver is a dedicated Christian.
Shiver and the team chaplain suspected that Playboy would select him, and so he had time to prepare his response. Shiver knew well what a boon this could be for his career. Being chosen for this All-American team meant that sportswriters regarded him as the best in the nation at his position. Such publicity never hurts athletes who aspire to the pros and to multimillion-dollar contracts.
But Shiver had higher values and priorities. When informed that Playboy had made their selection, Clay Shiver simply said, ‘No thanks.’ That’s right, he flatly turned down the honor. ‘Clay didn’t want to embarrass his mother and grandmother by appearing in the magazine or giving old high school friends an excuse to buy that issue,’ writes Walker. Shiver further explained by quoting Luke 12:48: ‘To whom much is given, of him much is required.’”
“I don’t want to let anyone down,” said Shiver, “and number one on that list is God” (Larson, p. 53). (Tony Miano – SermonCentral)
Here is a rare example of an athlete who was willing to put God’s purpose ahead of his own popularity or prestige. He was willing to put God’s plan ahead of his own dreams and ambitions. Are you? If not you will never experience worry resistant living.
3. Consider God’s Care.
32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
If we pursue God’s purpose, he promises to care for our needs. “All these things” is a reference to the needs of daily life mentioned earlier that so many worry about – things like food and drink and clothing. God is aware and he cares. He is aware of the needs that we have in life and he cares enough about us to make sure that those needs will be met.
Notice once more the illustrations of the birds and the lilies. Jesus said that the birds don’t plant or harvest and yet he says, “your heavenly Father feeds them.” Circle the word “your.” I think that is a very important word here. He doesn’t say “their” heavenly father feeds them, but “your” heavenly father does. If he is not their Father, and yet he takes care of them how much more is he going to take care of you since he is your father?
Then of the lilies he says that they don’t labor or spin making clothes for themselves. Yet Jesus says, “Not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these … that is how God clothes the grass of the field…” If God will take care of birds and lilies and grass, he will certainly take care of you. You can count on that. Consider God’s care.
Two important points need to be made here. First, this promise is a conditional promise. God doesn’t promise to automatically take care of all of the needs of every person in the world. This promise is valid only if we meet the criteria. The criteria are that we must live for God and make his kingdom our primary purpose. That means that if we aren’t doing the previous point – pursuing God’s purpose – he is under no obligation to provide for our needs.
Second, this promise is not to meet all of our wants and wishes. He does not guarantee that all of our dreams and desires will be fulfilled. Rather he promises to provide what we “need.” There are lots of things in life that we really want, but don’t really need. God doesn’t promise to provide these things. So don’t think of this as some magic formula to get a fancier car or a more luxurious house or a fatter wallet. If you do, you’ll be disappointed.
There was an elderly woman, who resided next to an affirmed atheist, in an older suburb. This woman received a meager social security survivor’s benefit. Although, her finances only afforded her not even the most basic meal plans, daily she would open her windows to give thanks and prayer unto God. Finally one day, the middle of the month arrived and she had not received her check. Instead of complaining, she opened her windows, fell on her knees and began to thank God and pray.
The neighbor was sitting on his porch and overheard her praying "Lord although I don’t have any food in my home, I know you will provide!" The neighbor thought to himself, this is a great opportunity to prove to her there is no god. So he hurriedly went to the store, purchased a carload of groceries. Upon arriving home he placed them on her porch, rang her doorbell and hid in the bushes to spring his surprise.
Finally, the elderly woman made her way to the door. She opened the door, saw all the groceries and rejoiced in the Lord! About that time the neighbor jumped out from behind the bushes and exclaimed. God is not real. I bought those groceries there. To this the old woman exclaimed, "I knew my God would supply my needs, but I didn’t know he would make the devil pay for them!" (Kevin Shelton – SermonCentral)
God does work in mysterious and often times humorous ways.
If you will begin to consider God’s care for you, you will begin to experience worry resistant living. When you take into consideration the fact that God knows everything that you need and promises to take care of these needs if you pursue his purpose you no longer have anything to worry about. That is worry resistant living.
4. Trust God’s Timing.
34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Here Jesus is basically saying that we need to take it one day at a time. Just live one day at a time and don’t get ahead of yourself. Elsewhere in scripture God promises that he will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able. There is something similar to that going on here. I don’t believe that God will allow us to have more trouble in one day that we can handle in that day. He says that each day has enough trouble, not too much trouble. But if we get ahead of ourselves and start worrying about all the potential troubles that we might face this week or month or year, we will soon be overwhelmed. That is more trouble than we can handle at once. We need to trust God’s timing. We need to believe that he will time our troubles in such a way that we will be able to cope with them.
Notice again the illustration of the birds. Jesus says that they don’t store away food in barns. In other words, they don’t go out and gather up a bunch of food and store it in a tree some place to last them through the winter. They just go out every day and find enough worms or berries or seeds to get them through the day. And then they do the same thing the next day. They are living one day at a time.
One day a wealthy businessman was disturbed to find a fisherman sitting lazily beside his boat. "Why aren’t you out there fishing?" he asked.
"Because I’ve caught enough fish for today," said the fisherman.
"Why don’t you catch more fish than you need?’ the rich man asked.
"What would I do with them?"
"You could earn more money," came the impatient reply.
“What do I need more money for?” questioned the fisherman.
“You could buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. You could purchase nylon nets, catch even more fish, and make more money. Soon you’d have a fleet of boats and be rich like me."
The fisherman asked, "Then what would I do?"
"Then you could sit down and enjoy life," said the rich man.
The fisherman said, "What do you think I’m doing right now?"
(Marc Acelrod – SermonCentral)
This simple fisherman had mastered the secret of worry resistant living. He knew that he didn’t need to worry about catching more fish or worry about making more money or worry about buying a bigger boat in order to enjoy life. All he had to do was to take one day at a time. If you will begin to do that, you too will begin to experience worry resistant living.
Conclusion:
There we have Jesus four principles for worry resistant living.
(1) Accept God’s Appraisal
(2) Pursue God’s Purpose
(3) Consider God’s Care
(4) Trust God’s Timing
Here we have the secret to worry resistant living and the conclusion to our series “A Declaration of Dependence.” Everything we have been talking about today could be summarized as depending upon God. If we are depending upon God to meet our needs, we have nothing to worry about. If we are depending upon ourselves, we have everything to worry about.
Will you make a declaration of dependence upon God this morning? Will you bring your burdens and worries and concerns to him today? He invites you to do so. Can you hear him? He is saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).
