Worry
Matthew 6:25-34
Preacher: David Williams
Matthew 6:25-34. Worry. Sermon by Pastor David Williams.
Strathalbyn Church of Christ. 26 Feb 2023.
Worry. We all do it. All the time. Should I wear a tie today. Does anyone still wear ties? Is the knot right? Is it too long? Is it too formal? Is this one too flippant? What hidden messages do these laughing faces send out? Do dots go with checks? Does it match my shirt? Or maybe my shoes at least? Let’s get rid of it or you’ll all be worrying about your pastor’s fashion sense for the rest of the sermon! Maybe I should tell you it was Margy’s suggestion, but if I did then I’d really have something to worry about!
But we worry about more serious things too – are the kids ok? Are they abandoning God? Are they with the wrong crowd? What about those test results? Could it be cancer? And if you don’t have enough worries, 5 minutes of the telly will keep you awake half the night. Talking of that, I woke up worrying about something and then realised it was just a dream.
The Greek word “to worry” is also the word for “divide”. That is what worry does, it divides the mind. It distracts us from other things. Worry has spawned huge industries that promise to sooth or heal our anxieties – drug companies, therapists, masseurs, the entertainment and tourist industries. At its worst, worry can lead to fear, depression, neuroses, heart attacks and death.
Is it a sin to worry? That gives Christians something else to worry about! Should I worry about worrying? I spent the last week worrying about how to preach on worry. Even Paul was worried.
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches, 2 Cor 11:28
Was Jesus worried? He was certainly under enormous stress.
And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground, Lk 22:44
Perhaps, like anger, there is a godly form of anxiety. But in general we should avoid worry. But how? How should we deal with worry. Listen to Jesus: Don’t do it! Three times Jesus said,
25 do not be anxious
31 Therefore do not be anxious
34 Therefore do not be anxious
And three more times, the word anxiety appears. But he doesn’t leave it there. He gives us seven reasons why we should not worry.
1. Life is too important
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?
Food, drink, covering & protecting our bodies. These are basic needs. But is that all life is about? Are we no different from animals? To a cat, life is all about eating, drinking and being comfortable – and making sure your pet human is trained to do all these things for you.
In Jesus’ time, food, drink, clothes – these were life and death concerns. Surely it was ok to worry about where their next meal came from, and whether the drinking water was safe, and whether they would have enough clothes to last them through the winter. But Jesus warned that life is too important to worry about even these essentials of life.
Today, we ask, not “will I get to eat a chicken?”, but, “what did the chicken get to eat?” It is important to treat animals with kindness, but we live in an age where food, drink and clothing have all become luxuries we obsess about. Aussies spend more on their pets than on helping fellow humans in poor nations. Out of every 9 cups of coffee we drink, only one cup’s worth goes to foreign aid.[i]
2. You are too important
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?
If God feeds the animals, will he not also feed us? Humans made in his image. He loved us so much as to send his son to die for us. Will he not also give us what we need if we ask him?
John Stott was a great bible teacher but also an avid bird watcher. Friends thought of him as a harmless eccentric. But Stott pointed out that Jesus commands us to “watch birds!” (Look at the birds …). Stott also pointed out that birds don’t just sit around and wait for God to provide but work very hard for their meals. Some even store their food, spiking insect larvae on thorn bushes for eating later. So it is with us – we shouldn’t expect God to provide if we are not willing to work (cf., 2 Thes 3:10).
3. It doesn’t do any good
I failed English in year 11. If only I’d worried more! And what about that crook knee. I need to worry about it more – that will fix it. Such thoughts are ridiculous! Who wished they had spent more time worrying? It does nothing. We humans are so powerless. I can’t even stop the weeds growing in my lawn. How can worry help us with anything – let alone help us with the big issues of life.
27 Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying?
27 Can any of you add a single hour to his life by worrying?
This is one of those passages that can be read two ways – and both might be correct. Worry will add nothing to your heath, height or life span. Worry may not increase our height or our lifespan but worry can certainly decrease both – as we are bent over with the cares of life, and suffer an early death.
If all the worry in the world can do nothing for life or body, why do we worry over things of even less importance? Why not trust all to God. He knows when our lives will end. All our worries will not add a milimeter. Yet God grows us by 3 or 4 cubits (1.5 to 2 meters) without us doing anything.
4. God cares about you
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?
God cares about his creation. He cares about the flowers because he is a creative God. He likes beauty. He likes us to have beautiful things to enjoy. He even cares about the grass which will die tomorrow. If he cares about such little things, will he not care for us? Or is our faith so small that we doubt this? What does worry say about us? It says to God, I don’t trust you. So I’d better worry about my own life because you won’t care for me.
5. Pagans worry
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,
What do the Gentiles seek after in 2023? Let’s look around us. Liquor stores and coffee shops are thriving. TV is awash with cooking shows. The papers are full of clothing ads. And look at the money and energy that goes into furniture, home renovation, cars and health. Are we any different? Are Christians any different to pagans. Or are we practical pagans in what we seek?
But let’s ask some hard questions of God. What if God won’t provide despite my faith? What about starving Christians? What about suffering Christians in Syria, in Ukraine? Where is God when they didn’t get even their daily bread today? God has determined when the time comes for each of us to die. He warns us that suffering is expected for Christians. For some, that time may come with illness, hardship and even starvation. But in Christ, death is not the end. What shall we fear? What do we need to worry about – not famine or hardship or sword says Paul:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall … famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, Rom 8:35, 37.
6. The kingdom matters more
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
What is life about? Food and clothing, or God’s honour and glory? Tomorrow’s little crisis or God’s eternal plan? My pitiful efforts or God’s certain promises? Don’t be half hearted. Don’t try and put your trust in God and money. Don’t fret over life’s issues while pretending to follow the king. No Christian! Go in boots and all. Set your mind, heart and energies on his purposes. Throw caution to the wind. Trust him with your whole heart. Make his goals your goals. Go for it! Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness!
_
and all these things will be added to you._
Really? What are all these things? The prosperity gospel preachers say this is the promise of health and wealth. We can have all the blessings of God’s kingdom here and now. Pray for health, for wealth, and God will give it. But Jesus had no place to lay his head. Where does Jesus fit in their preaching? Paul spent his last years in a cold prison cell. Faithful Timothy didn’t have a trouble-free life but a weak stomach and frequent ailments (1 Tim 5:23).
God will give us all we need to fulfill his plan, not ours. In most cases, what we really need is not health or money or stuff, but a generous dose of humility and trust. Suffering may bring these. Poverty and hunger and illness can bring these.
Where is your heart today? If your heart is set on getting healthier and wealthier, then anything getting in the way of that will make you worry. But if your heart is set on God’s plan, you will laugh when disasters strike. For even in such disasters, God is carrying out his wise and sovereign plan.
The peoples work so hard, but all in vain! For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, Hab 2:13-14.
That is where we are heading. That is our goal, our concern, our future, our hope. What a glorious vision compared with my petty worries and concerns.
7. Tomorrow will be anxious for itself
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Worry is living out the future before it arrives. And it may never arrive. How many times have you worried about something only to find that the disaster never happened? Each new day is God’s kind gift to us. But we can be so anxious about tomorrow that we miss the opportunities and blessings that today brings us.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness, Lam 3:22-23
Live in the joys and challenges of today. Let tomorrow worry about itself. Noone can predict tomorrow. But if you and I live until tomorrow, we can be certain of one thing – the Lord’s new mercies will meet us there just as they have carried us through every other day. The Lord who will never leave us nor forsake us.
Conclusion
Do not be anxious!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you told us, Do not be anxious. Do not be anxious for the life or for the body. But seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. Help us Lord Jesus to do that today. Amen.
Sources:
· https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/the-cure-for-worry/
· Stott J. R. W. (2020). The message of the Sermon on the Mount: Christian Counter-Culture (Revised). IVP Academic
[i] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-11/fact-check-pet-spending-foreign-aid/8849294
Series: Matthew