"don't Worry - Be Happy"
#18 Sermon on the Mount 10/28/90
Text: Matt. 6:25-34 E.B.C.
"DON'T WORRY - BE HAPPY"
INTRODUCTION
A. Someone has called anxiety "fear in search of a cause." I think this person is right. People today are swamped with worry and anxiety. We worry about anything and almost everything. Example: When I have to get up for our men's breakfast I set, not one, but two alarms. It borders on paranoia.
B. But worry is not merely a humorous sociological fact. For many, worry is like a deep dark pit out of which they seldom escape. The philosopher Kierkegaard once wrote, "No Grand Inquisitor has in readiness such terrible tortures as anxiety." Friends, worry is destroying many people's lives, yes, even Christian's lives. Jesus says it should not be so. In Matt. 6:25-34 He tells us what is wrong with worry and anxiety and why it should not be part of the Christian's life.
I. WORRY IS UNFAITHFUL (24-25).
A. If we, as verse 24 implores us to, have made God our master, it is an act of unfaithfulness to doubt His ability to provide.
B. The basis for the word "worry" is to strangle, or choke. While the sin of worry refers to distrusting the promise and providence of God.
1. It has been reported that a dense fog extensive enough to cover seven city blocks a hundred feet deep is composed of less than a glass of water -- divided into sixty thousand million droplets. In the right form, a few gallons could cover an entire city. So too, worry is nearly always extremely small compared to the size it forms in our minds and the damage it does in our lives.
C. Contentment, the opposite of worry, is what should be the believer's normal and consistent state of mind and this contentment can only be found in our master.
1. After all, God owns everything. "The earth is the Lord's and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it" (Ps. 24:1).
a) One day when he was away from his home someone came running up to John Wesley saying, "Your house has burned down! Your house has burned down!" To which Wesley replied, "No, it hasn't because I don't own a house. The one I have been living in belongs to the Lord, and if it has burned down, that is one less responsibility for me to worry about."
2. For God controls everything. Daniel said, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. And it is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to men of understanding" (Dan. 2:20-21).
3. For God provides everything. "And my God shall supply our your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19).
a) It was Abraham who, after God miraculously provided the lamb for the sacrifice in place of his son Isaac, called God "Jehovah - Jireh" meaning "The Lord who provides".
II. WORRY IS UNNECESSARY (26-30).
A. Worry is unnecessary because of who our heavenly Father is. Sometimes we are let down and disappointed by the care which our earthly fathers, or parents, give to us and we may have reason to
doubt their ability to provide for us, but we should have no need to doubt our spiritual father.
B. Jesus offers three illustrations of the care which our heavenly Father gives.
1. The worry about food (26).
a) In verse 26 we are told that God feeds the birds of the sky. Surely, then, He will provide food for those who are born in His image.
b) Yes, God provides, but that is not to say that the birds need not work for their food. Paul warns, "if anyone will not work, neither let him eat" (2 Thess. 3:10).
c) What about the starving, has he provided for them? According to statistics tabulated since 1960 world food grain production has never dropped below a hundred and three percent of minimum requirement. In other words God has provided the food. Where the problem comes in is not with the provider but with the consumer.
2. Worry about longevity of life (27).
a) Did you know that you can worry yourself to death but not to life? Dr. Charles Mayo, of the famous Mayo Clinic, wrote, "Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands and the whole nervous system. I have never met a man or known a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry."
b) Our concern should be to obey, honor, please, and glorify.
3. Worry about clothing (28-30).
a) God covers the grass with a beautiful blanket of flowers surely he will cloth his own children.
b) Our worries are seldom over necessary clothing - but clothing that enhance our appearance. If Jesus
told those who had but one simple garment not to
worry about clothing, what will he say to us?
c) God bothers to array the grass of the field, which withers and dies, with beautiful but short-lived flowers, how much more is he concerned to clothe and care for His very own children who are destined for eternal life?
C. To say we have faith for God's provision of salvation but worry about His ability to provide is to have little faith.
III. WORRY IS UNREASONABLE (31-33).
A. Worry is unreasonable because it is not in keeping with our Christian faith. To worry about one's physical welfare is the mark of a worldly mind. But the Christian's mind is to "be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God" (Phil. 4:6).
B. The cause of worry is seeking the things of this world, and the cause of contentment is seeking the things of God's kingdom and righteousness.
1. Seeking God's Kingdom.
a) Means to seek God's sovereign rule over our lives. Would you describe your life this way? "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24).
2. Seeking God's Righteousness.
a) Means to hunger and thirst for God's perfect holiness.
IV. WORRY IS UNWISE (34).
A. Worrying is unwise because we, unlike the world, have a future. Making provision for tomorrow is sensible, but to be anxious for tomorrow is foolish and unfaithful. "The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness" (Lam. 3;22-23).
B. The Christian who knows his future need not worry about today. "The steadfast of mind thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in Thee. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock" (Isa. 26:3-4).
CONCLUSION
A. Friends, if I didn't know from my own life how besetting and debilitating worry can be I wouldn't bother to preach a sermon on this topic. But I know it is true.
B. But friends, I also know that according to what Jesus has just told us, worry is sin and is from our old life without Christ. I plead with you, if you are still being dragged down by worry and you seldom experience real contentment, why don't you
cast all your cares upon Him for He cares for you.
C. As you all know I've lost quite a bit of weight. But before I lost it I was carrying 30 extra pounds wherever I was going. I thought that this was normal for me and necessary. But now I know that 250 pounds is not normal, necessary, or right for me. What Jesus is telling us this morning is that, as Christians, our carrying our burdens on our own shoulders also is not normal, necessary, or right. If you climbed upon the salvation train for a ride to glory, why don't you also let them carry your belongings in the baggage car?