How much would you pay to have someone else do all your worrying for you? One fellow worried so much that
he figured it cost him $250,000 per year. Stress. Sickness. Insomnia. Lost
productivity. So he decided to hire someone to do his worrying for him. He
found a man who agreed to be his hired worrier for a salary of $200,000 per
year. After the man accepted the job, his first question to his boss was,
“Where are you going to get $200,000 per year?” The man responded,
“You should have asked me that before I hired you! That’s for you to worry about now!”
We could title this
lesson, “Worry.” But that’s not a key to the kingdom! In fact, anxiety is what
keeps us from the keys to the kingdom. Worry puts our problems in our own
hands. Worry fills us with uncertainty, fear, and stress.
We’ve all heard and
said, “Don’t worry about it!” Yet we often struggle with anxiety about many
things. We become preoccupied with the uncertainties of life, over which we
have no control. We let less important concerns distract us from what matters
most. Jesus’ answer? Confident trust in the Father above, and an all-out
pursuit of His kingdom and righteousness.
A recently licensed
pilot was flying his private plane in a cloudy day. He was not very experienced
in instrument landing. When the control tower was to bring him in, he began to
get panicky. Then a stern voice came over the radio, “You just obey
instructions, we’ll take care of the obstructions.”
Reading: Matt 6:25-34
“Sorrow looks back,
Worry looks around, Faith looks up.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance
of disaster and belief in defeat...worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up
tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles. A dense fog that covers a
seven-city-block area one hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass
of water divided into sixty thousand million drops. Not much is there but it
can cripple an entire city. When I don’t have anything to worry about, I
begin to worry about that. Walter Kelly.
The first thing is to IDENTIFY the main thing. Only then can we
keep the main thing the main thing.
The main thing is to
keep the main thing the main thing.
But the first thing
is to know what the main thing is!
If you had a 3 x 5
card, and you wrote the three most important things …
At first called this
text, “Precoccupation.”
Priorities – your top
three. The first will be God.
“Therefore I say to you …”
Because of the Vault
– 6:19-21.
Where you choose
(not) to invest.
Because of the Lens
– 6:22-23.
How you choose (not)
to focus.
Because of the Throne
– 6:24.
Whom you choose
(not) to serve.
Luke 12:22-34
“Do not worry …”
“Take no thought or
forethought?” Of course not!
“Do not be anxious,
preoccupied, obsessed, consumed, distracted, or paralyzed …”
“… as if you had no
Father to care for you, or as if you lacked faith in Him to care and provide.”
Luke 8:14
Luke 10:38-42
Phil 4:6-7
Such worry… majors in minors.
Mt 6:25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be
worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor
for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the
body more than clothing?”
Such worry… confuses source and means.
Mt 6:26a “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not
sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.”
Such worry… misses our value to God.
Mt 6:26b “Are you not worth much more than they?”
Such worry… cannot change the
outcome.
Mt 6:27 “And who of you by being worried can add a
single hour to his life?”
An exasperated
husband asked his wife, “Why are you always worrying when it doesn’t do any
good?” She quickly piped back, “Oh yes it does! Ninety percent of the things I
worry about never happen.”
An average person’s
anxiety is focused on: Source Unknown.
40% -- things that will
never happen
30% -- things about the
past that can’t be changed
12% -- things about
criticism by others, mostly untrue
10% -- about health, which
gets worse with stress
8% -- about real
problems that will be faced
J. Arthur Rank, an
English executive, decided to do all his worrying on one day each week. He
chose Wednesdays. When anything happened that gave him anxiety and annoyed his
ulcer, he would write it down and put it in his worry box and forget about it
until next Wednesday. The interesting thing was that on the following Wednesday
when he opened his worry box, he found that most of the things that had
disturbed him the past six days were already settled. It would have been
useless to have worried about them. Source Unknown.
Worry actually keeps us
from solving the problems that we CAN solve.
Why worry when you can
trust. It is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but doesn’t get
you anywhere. Source Unknown.
Such worry… overlooks the
flowers.
Mt 6:28 “And why are you worried about clothing?
Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29
yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like
one of these.”
As a child I remember
singing, “Consider the Lilies of the Field.” My favorite line was sung by the
men: “How they grow.” I couldn’t wait to get a bass voice low enough to sing
that part!
Such worry… denies God’s
providence.
Mt 6:30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much
more clothe you?”
Worry often gives a
small thing a big shadow. Swedish
proverb.
Such worry… reflects doubt, not
trust.
Mt 6:30 “… You of little faith!”
Every evening I turn
worries over to God. He’s going to be up all night anyway. Mary C. Crowley, Be Somebody.
David Mackenzie, Still Married, Still Sober,
IVP, 1991, p. 117.
To act out the
principle of turning prayers over to God, we took a paper bag, wrote “God” on
it, and taped it up high on the back of our kitchen door. As I prayed about
matters such as my career, my role as a father, my abilities to be a good husband,
I would write down each concern on a piece of paper. Then those pieces of paper
would go in the bag. The rule was that if you start worrying about a matter of
prayer that you’ve turned over to God, you have to climb up on a chair and fish
it out of the bag. I don’t want to admit how much time I spent sifting through
those scraps of paper.
Such worry… befits Gentiles, not
children.
Mt 6:31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’
or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the
Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you
need all these things.”
When I was young, I did
not worry about food, clothing, or shelter.
Such worry… distracts us from
what’s first.
Mt 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His
righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
God’s kingdom is His
rule. Remember the phrase in Jesus’ prayer, “Your kingdom come.”
Our highest aim, that supersedes
all others, is to be a subject of the King of Kings. A genuine disciple submits
to God as Lord of all – self, education, marriage, family, career, finances,
time, etc.
God’s righteousness is
that which is right in His sight. Right faith, right thinking, right behavior,
right relationships, and so forth.
It’s been said, “Either
God is Lord of all, or He’s not Lord at all.”
Earlier Jesus said, “Gentiles
seek these things (food, drink, clothing, etc.).”
Now He says, “You are to
seek these things (God’s rule and righteousness).”
What a contrast! What we
are to seek is completely opposite to what the people of the world seek.
So here’s a test of
discipleship. Who and what are you seeking as your top, no-matter-what, first
priority? Is it to please God, to live under His authority, and live His way?
Or are you seeking
Gentile things – food, drink, clothing, etc.?
How clear is the
distinction between your priority and the priorities of others around you? Can
they see and detect the difference?
Having the right
priority is a key to the kingdom. It’s also the key to everything else in life.
That’s because Jesus says, “And all these things shall be added to you.” Whatever
you may truly need, within the will and providence of God, He will supply.
Such worry… borrows tomorrow’s
troubles.
Mt 6:34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow
will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Worry pulls tomorrow’s
cloud over today’s sunshine. C.
Swindoll,
Worry is wasting today’s
time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles. Source Unknown.
What does your anxiety
do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it does empty today of its
strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with
it when it comes. God gives us the power to bear all the sorrow of His making,
but He does not guarantee to give us strength to bear the burdens of our own
making such as worry induces. Ian Maclaren.
Jesus’ teaching on worry …
Does not prevent us from working to earn our own living,
planning ahead, providing for others, and experiencing want and trouble.
Does place our focus where it should be, so that we
can accomplish …
God’s goals in God’s way
to God’s glory.
Define your anxiety.
Its cause.
Its worth.
Its effects.
Your responsibility.
Your options.
Your faith.
T-R-U-S-T G-O-D.
T ake quiet time to pray, read.
R est, recreate, and reconcile.
U se your talents to glorify God.
S top and stretch.
T alk with a godly friend.
G o to God, who is in control.
O rganize, prioritize, and lessen.
D on’t resort to fake, temporary fixes.
Possible hymns:
I Know Who Holds
Tomorrow
Seek Ye First
Consider the Lilies
of the Field
All Hail the Power
of Jesus’ Name
Lest I Forget
Gethsemane (perhaps before the Lord’s Supper)
Above All Powers
O Worship the King
Lord, Take Control
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