What? Me, Worry?

What? Me Worry?

Text: Matthew 6:25-34

(GIVE THANKS)

So last Monday one of my family members sent me a video of an interview with a man named Victor Davis Hanson. Now for those of you who don’t know, Victor Davis Hanson is a political commentator, a classicist and historian, and basically a pretty smart and educated guy. And in this interview, Hanson was talking about the state of our nation, and the things that we may soon see happen. Things like SUPER HIGH INFLATION, and Stagflation (Imagine paying $30 for a loaf of bread, and $150 to fill up your cars tank with gas). Things like continued loss of freedom and free speech. And he talked about things like Oprah (who’s a billionaire) can talk to Lebron James (who’s a multi-millionaire) about how oppressed they are by people like you and me who are barely squeaking by on less than 40K a year. He talked about how China basically controls our Presidency and is aggressively building its military and influence all over the world. He talked a lot of things… and if I’m being honest; none of it sounded very good.

After watching that video (which was good by the way… don’t misunderstand me… it was very informative and insightful)… but after watching it, I turned on the TV and it was on One America News, and they were talking about the crisis at our southern border. Which is again, a very frustrating and messed up situation, and unless things change, it doesn’t look very hopeful.

Now I don’t know about you all, but often times, when I read these things, or hear these things, I am moved to pray and seek the Lord’s perspective on such issues. So that’s what I did… and the passage we’re going to be looking at today is what was impressed on me from that time in prayer.

So let’s go ahead and open our Bibles to Matthew’s telling of the Gospel… Matthew 6:25-34 (READ).

So we’re given a command here right? DO NOT BE ANXIOUS!

Now the Greek Word for “Anxious” is the word “merimnáo” and it literally means to be torn in two directions due to opposing concerns. Have you ever heard someone say, “My life is falling to pieces”? This is where that comes from! It means to have a lot of concerns, fears, worries, anxiety, about a lot of different things. Specifically for your own future needs.

But Jesus here in verse 25 very clearly says, “Do not be merimnáo.” – DO NOT BE ANXIOUS! So the question I immediately ask, after reading this is: HOW? How do I not worry? How do I not worry about the state of my nation? I don’t want my kids, or future grandkids growing up in a socialist, Marxist country. I’m a history guy… and let me just tell you, Marxist countries are hellish. They never have and never will bring about some utopia on earth. They’re Satanic and evil and wicked. But even closer to home… how do I not worry? I’ve got two daughters in college, who are daily being assailed by a wicked world view… How do I not worry about providing for my wife and kids? And even as believers – we have a certain set of worries that come up that the unbelieving world doesn’t… We worry about the salvation of our loved ones… we worry about our progress in our faith…

So how do we keep this command?

Well… Jesus actually tells us how right here in this passage we just read. So let’s walk though it again and I want to show you how Jesus reassures us along with the command.

First… in verse 25, He says, “… Don’t be anxious about your life… what you’ll eat or drink, or wear…” And then He says, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” And that’s true isn’t it? Life is more than what you eat and wear. Life is experiencing things. It’s learning things. It’s growing and finding joy, and love, and relationships with friends and family. It’s also going through different things… sometimes they’re good, sometimes they’re bad… sometimes they’re hard or difficult. But all of that is life, in the human sense of the word.

And those things aren’t necessarily bad, or wrong… I would even say they’re good things, but eventually we die… and like the quote from the movie Braveheart says, “Every man dies, but not every man truly lives.”. But when this body returns to dust, we don’t cease to exist. And so Jesus is saying here, “Do you have true life?” He’s saying, “GET THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE! Life is more than just eating and drinking and it’s way more than the clothes you wear.” Those things are your livelihood, not your life… and of course, TRUE, ETERNAL LIFE is found ONLY in CHRIST! Sometimes we substitute all of those other things for the true life that’s found in Christ, and we’ll find in the end that we confused our livelihood for real, true, eternal, life. And so Jesus is saying, “You need to trust the God who gave you life in the first place. He is your Source. He is your Provider. He will give you what you need.”