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This sermon is part XI of a series of messages on the Sermon on the Mount and is based on Matthew 6:25-34.
Written Excerpts:
Introduction:
Worry - to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret; to be or cause to be anxious or uneasy, especially about something uncertain or potentially dangerous (Dictionary.com)
Worry… is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do but doesn't get you anywhere. (Source Unknown.)
Worry pulls tomorrow's cloud over today's sunshine. (C. Swindoll, Questions Christians Ask, p. 18.)
Worry is wasting today's time to clutter up tomorrow's opportunities with yesterday's troubles. (Source Unknown.)
Worry often gives a small thing a big shadow. Swedish proverb.
During this series of messages we’ve been talking about laying a foundation for our lives that will provide stability even in the midst of the severest storms or circumstances. Today we are examining the next subject that Jesus presented in His Sermon on the Mount – worry, or its opposite concept – confidence and trust.
Let me start off by giving you the three main points that I wish to discuss in this message.
I. The Lord forbids His disciples to worry.
II. The Lord exposes worry with rhetorical questions.
III. The Lord explains how worry is conquered.
I. The Lord forbids His disciples to worry.
First of all, let’s talk about what Jesus means and does not mean when He gives the command “do not worry.”
Worry – KJV, “take no thought;” Gk. merimnan, worry anxiously; some older translations (pre-KJV) use the word “careful,” meaning to be full of care.
(Barclay) Jesus is not advocating a shiftless, thriftless, reckless, thoughtless, improvident attitude toward life; he is forbidding a care-worn, worried fear, which takes all the joy out of life.
There are three places in our text where Jesus says, “Do not worry…” (v. 25, 31, 34)
All three occurrences include the word, “therefore;” linking the commands to previous points He had made.
v.25 – therefore, if you are a slave to God and not to money or material possessions (v.24), then do not worry about material possessions.
v.31 – therefore, if God takes care of the animals and the plants (v.30), He will also take care of me.
v.34 – therefore, if your heavenly father knows your needs and your heart is seeking God’s kingdom priorities first (v.32,33), then He will take care of everything else.
II. The Lord exposes worry with rhetorical questions.
If you remember, a rhetorical question is the kind of question that doesn’t need to be answered because the answer is so obvious. These are the kind of questions Jesus asks His disciples about worry.
A. Is not life more valuable than that which sustains it? (v. 25b)
Some writers believe that this question focuses on the truth that since God has granted life, isn’t it logical to conclude that He will also sustain it?
B. Do not humans have higher value than animals or plants? (vv. 26b, 28a, 30)
There is no way that anyone can agree with the point Jesus is making here and still believe all the propaganda that we are currently being fed in our society about the environment.
There are laws being written these days and regulations being enforced in our nation that explicitly promote the idea that the environment has equal or more value than human beings.
If we have more value, and God takes care of them, will He not take care of us?
This passage of scripture is illustrated beautifully with the song: “Consider the Lilies”
C. Can anxious worry add length to one’s stature (life)? (v.27)
Now here’s a point I can relate to! (Since I'm only 5'4")
“Stature” – this Grk word is also translated “age.” The meaning seems to be “length of life.”
Some writer has pointed out... In relation to one’s life a cubit would be a little measure, but in relation to one’s height, a cubit (18 in) would be a huge addition.
Actually, anxious worry has the opposite effect. Physicians and health researchers repeatedly have told us that worry, anxiety etc will cause adverse consequences to our health. Worry doesn't extend life; it shortens it.
III. The Lord explains how worry is conquered.
A. Seek first; concentrate upon the kingdom of God
What does that mean?
Romans 14:17 …kingdom of God
In other words, the kingdom is not made up of tangible, material things, but spiritual realities.
v.31-32 Why be so focused on the material needs. When we are, we act like the Greeks (the unbelievers, those who have no faith).
In contrast to those who have no faith, we should demonstrate our faith by seeking His kingdom first and trusting Him for our needs.
When the Psalmist was prone to fret and worry, he remembered what God had already done for him.
Ps.42:6 “O my God, my soul is cast down within me.” And then he goes on: “Therefore I remember thee, from the land of Jordan , and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar
When he was up against it, he comforted himself in the memory of what God had done. (Barclay)
B. Live one day at a time. (v.34)
There are enough concerns today to occupy our thought without worrying about the future.
Conclusion:
It is impossible for confidence and trust in God to co-exist with anxious worrying. The real solution then, is to take all steps necessary to increase our faith and trust and confidence in God. When we do, then worry will be driven out of our minds and hearts.
This point is illustrated by this story…
(I had heard this before, but not as it is applied here.)
GETTING RID OF THE RODENT Years ago, in the pioneer days of aviation, a pilot was making a flight around the world. After he had been gone for some two hours from his last landing field, he heard a noise in his plane, which he recognized as the gnawing of a rat. He realized that while his plane had been on the ground a rat had gotten in. For all he knew the rat could be gnawing through a vital cable or control of the plane. It was a very serious situation. He was both concerned and anxious. At first he did not know what to do. It was two hours back to the landing field from which he had taken off and more than two hours to the next field ahead. Then he remembered that the rat is a rodent. It is not made for the heights; it is made to live on the ground and under the ground. Therefore the pilot began to climb. He went up a thousand feet, then another thousand and another until he was more than twenty thousand feet up. The gnawing ceased. The rat was dead. He could not survive in the atmosphere of those heights. More than two hours later the pilot brought the plane safely to the next landing field and found the dead rat.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, worry is a rodent. It cannot live in the secret place of the Most High. It cannot breathe in the atmosphere made vital by prayer and familiarity with the Scripture. Worry dies when we ascend to the Lord through prayer and His Word. -- Clovis Chappell, Questions Jesus Asked
How does one increase in faith? According to Romans 10:17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Let us conclude the service today by singing a hymn of trust and faith… ‘Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus
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