Why Worry?
Notes
Transcript
Intro; This morning as we looked at “What’s Your Treasure”, we saw that Jesus was challenging His disciples [and us] to make a choice to whom we will trust. Is Christ our priority or are material possessions. Whatever becomes our treasure is what we will seek after.
If we are laying up treasure in heaven we will not worry about possessions here on earth. But if we are not laying up treasures in heaven, we will always worry if we will have enough while here on earth.
My message tonight is “Why Worry?”
Text; Mt. 6:25-34
Matthew 6:25–34 (NKJV)
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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?
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin;
29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
1. What is Worry?; 25
1. What is Worry?; 25
Worry- [merim-nao]; (merim) to divide, (nao) mind.
Worry is anxiety that divides the mind and causes a distraction from our true treasures in Jesus Christ.
Worry splits our energy between todays priorities and tomorrows problems
Warren Wiersbe on Worry
Worrying about tomorrow does not help either tomorrow or today. If anything, it robs us of our effectiveness today - which means we will be even less effective tomorrow. Someone has said that the average person is crucifying himself between two thieves; the regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow. It’s okay to plan for the future, but it’s sin to worry about the future and allow tomorrow to rob today of its blessings.
Jesus tells us not to worry about life, nor the necessities that we will need in life because he cares for us! He’s not telling us to be lazy, but not to waste every minute being preoccupied with material possessions of life.
32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
We don’t need to be distracted from our purpose in life by worrying about our provisions for life!
2. Compare our Value to Birds & Lilly’s; 26-30
2. Compare our Value to Birds & Lilly’s; 26-30
[26] Birds don’t plant, harvest or store up food, yet God continually provides for them.
What do birds do? They fly, re-produce, fill the earth with song and build little mud nests in the corner of our porches that aggravate us. And God loves and takes care of them.
Matthew 10:29–31 (NKJV)
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Our value is worth more than 2 copper coins to Christ! He died for us and rose again!!
God has given us the ability and means to sow and reap His blessings.
Luke 6:38 (NKJV)
38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
[28-30] Lilies have a short life span of 2-3 weeks of bloom. But the Lord takes interest to dress them in greater grandeur than Solomon could through his personal means.
Solomon was not only a wise man but a man of great wealth from the Lord. People form all over the world came to hear of Solomons wisdom and brought gifts of gold, silver, ivory, jewels and the finest lines for clothes and robes.
5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet.
6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.
[27] Worry will not add anything to your life.
Cubit- measurement of 18”, stature
Worrying about necessities/luxuries will not make you more prominent in the eyes of the world. Trying to keep up with the Jones makes one a fool!
24 Wisdom is in the sight of him who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
Worry will rob one of the joys of life through bad health, consuming our thoughts, disrupting productivity, destroy relationships, and negatively affect our trust in God!
3. Compare Our Faith to that of Pagans; 31-32
3. Compare Our Faith to that of Pagans; 31-32
Do we only live for food in our stomach and for clothes on our back?
Is that what your life consists of?
What a terrible testimony of our God if we live like the lost!
Lost people have no sense of God’s care for them, no reason to focus their energies elsewhere except on food, clothing and shelter. But Christians have kingdom priorities, a favored relationship with King Jesus, and a promise that our heavenly Father knows that we need all these things.
Our priority is giving not getting;
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
9 As it is written: “He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.”
10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness,
11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God.
12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God,
13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men,
14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you.
15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
4. Seek Him First; 33-34
4. Seek Him First; 33-34
Jesus is telling us that kingdom work needs to be our priority in life, not material possessions.
[33] We need to seek God and not mammon, have our eyes focused on righteousness not racking up more personal possessions, laying up treasures in heaven through good works not working for earthly things.
Matthew 16:26 (NKJV)
26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
[34] We don’t need to get distracted about tomorrow, it hasn’t got here yet and you may not get there at all! And if you do get to tomorrow, God is already there!
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;
14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
Close;
Read pages, [29-30 marked] in Traveling Light by Max Lucado
“The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want”