Learning to be Grateful

DON’T WORRY ABOUT YOUR LIFE

Matthew 6:25-34

INTRODUCTION A man went to a psychologist and said, "Doctor, sometimes I feel like a Teepee and at other times I feel like a Wigwam." The doctor thought about it for a moment and then he said, "I better treat you for anxiety. You're two tents!" One person wrote, “I don't know about you, but I’ve been a worrier. In fact, when I'm not worried, I'm really worried. Every headache is a brain tumor, every letter from a lawyer is a notice of a lawsuit, and every noise on an airplane is the precursor to a wing falling off. Of course, I've never had a tumor, been sued, or been in a plane accident. But that doesn't mean that I won't, and that worries me.” Most of us worry sometimes, some of us worry a lot of the time, and there's a small elite group of worriers who worry all the time. There is even a group of people who worry so much that when they run out of something to worry about they worry about that! They have in their mind a reserve list of things to worry about, and if on occasion during the day they find that they're not worrying, they're not chewing something over, there's not something gnawing at their soul, they will just recall from their subconscious this list of things to worry about, and start from the top and go down them all. So many people are filled with worry about so many things. What do we worry about? What do we worry about? If we don't have a job we worry about that, if we have a job, we worry about losing it- if we have no money we worry about that, if we do, we worry about losing it, not having enough, and where it goes - if we have no car we worry about that, if we do, we worry about it breaking down if we are sick, we worry, if we are well we worry about getting sick. Of course, we are not the first people to experience stress and anxiety, although we may think that ours is greater than anyone else's. Worry however, has been around for a long time. And it has been afflicting us for centuries. In Jesus' day, anxiety was everywhere, as it is today. The people standing on that mountainside when He delivered the Sermon on the Mount were no different than you or me. They had to deal with the problems of paying their bills, feeding their families, pleasing their employers, raising their children, paying their taxes and saving for the future just like we do. What would Jesus say to them to help them deal with the pressures and fears of living? One of the greatest things about Jesus is that he does not want his people to worry. Clearly, Jesus wants his disciples to be free from enslaving anxiety. That’s why he gives seven promises to help us fight the fight of faith. If you are born again; if you have turned away from sin and are following Jesus as Lord in the obedience of faith, his will for you this morning is that you not be anxious about anything, but that you enjoy deep serenity and peace and security. Jesus spoke these words in Mt. 6:24-34 precisely for you—to help you overcome whatever is making you anxious this morning.

I. THE COMMAND: STOP WORRYING ABOUT YOUR LIFE verses 25a, 31, 34a Jesus makes a strong demand upon us. When Jesus says, "Do not be anxious" he is demanding the kind of life that everybody and anybody would want—a worry free life. He repeats the command “do not be anxious” three times in three areas: Your life, v.25; your needs, v.31; tomorrow, v.34. This has the force of "Stop being anxious. Cut it out!" So one thing should ring in your ears when you leave today, namely, "Jesus the king of king and Lord of Lords, to whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, demands that we do not worry. So how does King Jesus expect this demand to come true when we see things all around us that make us anxious? This would be like a doctor telling me I have terminal cancer yet not to worry about it. You would probably react, “I’ll tell you what doc; you find the cure and then I’ll stop worrying.” It is one thing to be told to not worry; it’s another thing to not worry! So the great physician Jesus gives us help even as He commands us and sustains our ability to press on joyfully when we can't see how all our needs will be met by giving us seven promises as an antidote to keep up from worry..

II. SEVEN PROMISES FROM JESUS AGAINST WORRY Let us look at seven promises that will help us fight against worry. Are you worrying? Stop it because:

1. PROMISE- God is our life v.25, ^"Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life is more than food, and the body more than clothing?" Why do we worry about these things? What are most advertisements in all the media about? What we eat, what we drink and what we wear. What status we attach to these things. And the Lord Jesus says life is more than those things. And the advertisements are saying, "Life is these things. If you get more of them, you have more life." When we buy into that and our anxiety is about what we eat, drink, and wear, we get caught up in a vicious circle. It is not long before your whole life and your happiness depends upon these things. These basic servants of life become your master. And the Lord Jesus is saying don’t be fooled by that lie. Life is more than that; your priorities are misplaced if you find your trust in those things and if you have put your hopes and your trusts in those things, you’ll always worry and you’ll wonder. When are you going to lose them or if you’re going to get them. To this fear Jesus responds: If you are gripped by anxiety over these things, you have lost sight of the greatness of life. Life was not given primarily for physical pleasures, but for something greater, the enjoyment of God (John 10:10). Life was not given primarily for the approval of man, but for something greater, the approval of God (John 5:44). Life was not even given primarily for extension on this earth, but for something greater, eternity with God in the age to come (John 3:16). We ought not to be anxious about food and clothing because food and clothing can not provide the things of life; the enjoyment of God, the pursuit of his gracious favor, and the hope of eternity in his presence. We get anxious about food and clothing to the same degree that we lose sight of the great purposes of a God-centered life.

2. PROMISE- You are valuable to God verse 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?" Here the argument not to be anxious has two massive premises leading to the conclusion. Premise one: God is so completely in control of the natural universe that he may be said to feed the birds of the air. Every berry eaten or insect snatched form the air or worm pulled from the ground is provided by God. He does that for birds. Look at and observe nature. If we would observe nature we would learn more about God than we currently know, and we just might worry less. But most of us don't look at life theologically. That is, we don't look at the world around us in the context of the truth about God. Especially birds Jesus says. Birds never worry about what they are going to eat tomorrow. They assume that if they get up tomorrow, there is going to be a worm tomorrow. So robins go out hunting for a worm without stopping to worry whether God might have run out of worms. I'm not sure that you have noticed or not, but birds don't have tractors. They don't have planters, with which to sow the seed. They don't have combines, with which to harvest the crop. They don't have barns, with which to store the crop away. Do you realize that when birds begin their chirping early in the morning, they look to their cupboards and find them completely empty? This happens every day! They don't have anything in their pantries. They have absolutely nothing to put on the table to eat. They have no money in their pocket to purchase their food. When each morning dawns, they begin with nothing. They arise and go find the food that God has provided for them. God does indeed provide for them. Have you ever seen a skinny, sickly bird, who looks like he hasn't eaten in days? “Said the Robin to the Sparrow I should really like to know Why these anxious human beings Rush about, and worry so? Said the Sparrow to the Robin, Friend, I think that it must be. They have no heavenly Father Such as cares for you and me” Poem by Elizabeth Cheyney Premise two: you are of more value to God than they. God values more and is more committed to his people who glorify him with their minds and wills than he is to animals who have no ability to consciously glorify God. As Peter says in 1 Peter 5:7, "Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." Vastly more than for the birds whom he feeds. So don’t be anxious.

Jesus is not just teaching us a form of positive thinking. The problem for anxious people is not just that they think negatively about life. It is more radical than that. Anxious people think untheologically about life. The person who observes life theologically, who understands the sovereignty and the sufficiency of God, says, "Lord, things look bad economically. But I know you are my heavenly Father. And you told me that as long as you keep me here, You would provide for me. I don't know how you are going to do it, but thank You in advance for the food that I'm about to receive." So we ought not to be anxious, because the birds have taught us that God can be counted on to work for us tomorrow just as much as today.

3. PROMISE- I can trust in him who holds the future verse 27, "And which of you by being anxious can add one single hour to his span of life?" The argument is very pragmatic: anxiety doesn't get you anywhere. It doesn't do you any good. The essence of worry is that we exert mental and emotional energy for things outside our control. Whatever problem is causing you to feel anxious, you can be sure your anxiety will not lessen the problem. It will only make you miserable while you try to deal with it. Preach this to yourself: I am accomplishing nothing helpful by this anxiety. It is only making a hard situation harder. I will listen to Jesus and say no to this useless emotion. I refuse to be mastered by a useless emotion! So don't be anxious. It's useless.

4. PROMISE - I can trust in the Father’s loving provision verses 28-30, "And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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, 0 you of little faith?" The word translated "observe" is the Greek word, (katamathete) which means "consider with great intensity" or "study" or "examine closely." Earlier Jesus exhorted us to be zoologists, who would study the birds of the air. Now, we are exhorted to become botanists, who study the flowers. This is almost the same as the argument from the birds of the air. But not quite. The point there was that you are more valuable than the birds that God feeds. The point here is that you are eternal, and the grass and the lilies last for a day. Yet God clothes them more beautifully than Solomon. Again the most amazing truth for us is the truth that Jesus virtually takes for granted: God’s sovereign rule over the world of nature extends to the seemingly insignificant color of a lily and the white puff-ball of a clover patch. These are not mere natural laws that God put in motion and set loose to do good or bad things with no control over them. These are his doing. And the inference for our souls is: if God is so intimately and lavishly involved with grass and flowers which are like a vapor, then how shall he not care for his children who are eternal? So trust him! Trust him! "

5. PROMISE- We can relax where others worry because we are God’s children verses 31-32, “so do not be anxious saying ‘what shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” Anxiety about the things of this world puts us on the same level with the world of unbelievers. Anxiety shows that we are too close to the world and too far from God. Gentiles are consumed with these things in their lives. Gentiles can’t think about other things other than this. You shouldn’t be that way. Don’t give into that trap." You see, Gentiles - they really do have something to worry about. They are apart from God and they have only the anticipation of eternal condemnation. You, however, have nothing to worry about," the Lord Jesus Christ said. "For your life is hidden with Christ in God." Again in the end of verse 32, He gives us this argument that we are to use against worry when we it attacks us. This again is a pointing to the providence of God, but now it’s God’s fatherly providence - His paternal providence. And He says, "For your heavenly Father knows the things that you need." "Father" means he loves you and you are on his heart as a child. "Heavenly" means he is sovereign over all the earth and nothing can stop him from doing good to you. "He knows that you need them" means that he is never at a loss to know what is good for you and he has all the wisdom it takes to meet your need. The very nature of the Christians life is that your life is in the hands of a heavenly king, each step of the way to fulfill his purpose through you and for you, and when that is accomplished, will take you home to be with Him forever. So why worry when your times and your life is in His hands. I find that I worry when I want to take my life into my hands and have it under my control. That is why I am learning from Jesus that the secret of freedom from worry is freedom from ourselves and abandonment of my own plans. Our heavenly Father knows what we need better than we know what we need. He provides it for us - fully and graciously. So don't be anxious—the world has nothing eternal to offer, and your loving heavenly Father knows your needs now and forever.

6. PROMISE - Put God first and He’ll take care of the rest verse 33, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” Anxiety is never cured by getting more of what we have already, anxiety can only be cured by the assurance that all of our needs will be met by our precious sovereign king. For this reason the chief goal of our lives should be to live under the authority of Jesus and to see His Kingdom extended in every possibly way. When our hearts are set in the right place, our priorities will be set in the right place, and we will discover two things. First, all that we need He will provide. He has never failed His children. Secondly, we will discover that many of the things that we once thought that we needed, now we discover we don’t really need them at all, and even better, we don’t want them at all! The more primary and central his king-ship becomes in our lives, the less anxiety we will have.

7. PROMISE - The God of today will be the same God of tomorrow verse 34, "Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day” With this verse, we get to the core of worry, which is an improper concern for the future. Jesus made it clear that what is wrong with worry is that it is wrong to let tomorrow's possible problem tear you apart today.when today you have enogh to deal with. In other words God has appointed to each day its portion of pleasure and trouble as the old Swedish hymn says, especially in the last two lines of this verse. Day by day, and with each passing moment, Strength I find, to meet my trials here; trusting in my Father^'s wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear. He Whose heart is kind beyond all measure Gives unto each day what He deems best—Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest.' 'Karolina Sandell-Berg Deuteronomy 32:25 says, “As your days so shall your strength be.” So don't misappropriate God's allotted troubles for tomorrow. Don't bring them forward into today in the form of worry. Believe that God will be God tomorrow. He doesn't give us tomorrow's help today. But He does give today’s help today! Lamentations 3:22-23, “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Todays mercies are for todays troubles! Tommorows mercies are for tommorrows troubles. The manna in the wilderness waas given one day at a time. There was no storing up. That is the way we depend upon God’s grace and mercy. God will not give you the strength today for tommorrow, you are given what you need today for today. Tommorrows mercies will be new and fresh and timely. So don't worry about what you are going to do tomorrow, because when you get to tomorrow, God's grace will be there to meet you and give what you need.

Closing thoughts The main point of all this is clear and unmistakable: Jesus does not want his followers to be anxious. He does not secure his kingdom by keeping his subjects in a state of worry. On the contrary, according to verse 33, the more primary, and the more central his kingship becomes in our lives, the less anxiety we will have. Jesus came, lived, died, and rose from the dead, in order that he might reign as King over an anxiety-free people. When I worry about something I can battle it with the promises of Jesus. 1. God is our life;2. You are valuable to God.;3. I can trust in him who holds the future 4.I can trust in the Father’s loving provision 5.We can relax where others worry because we are God’s children 6. Put God first and He’ll take care of the rest 7. The God of today will be the same God of tomorrow Receive them. Believe them. Make them the means by which you fight the good fight of faith every day.