Prater- Rev20

Message Twenty:

Worried? Why?

Matthew 6:25-34

How many of you know how to play Jeopardy? I’m going to give you the answer, you give me the question. It is sometimes carved into our bodies by sores we call ulcers. Sometimes it’s etched into our faces by lines we call wrinkles. It can manifest itself in a frown. It can be heard in footsteps pacing back and forth across a floor late at night. Sometimes it is muffled by the silence of someone lying in bed staring at the ceiling without being able to go to sleep. The answer is, “What is worry.” Believe it or not, worry and anxiety and fear were as much a problem in Jesus’ day as they are today.

I read about a man who was supposed to leave on a certain flight, but the flight was delayed by a bad storm. The guy spent hours walking all around the terminal, worrying about having to fly in bad weather. While he was walking around worrying, he came across one of those life insurance machines. The machine offered $100,000.00 worth of life insurance for anyone who was killed as the result of an airplane crash, and it only cost $3.00. The guy stood there looking out the window at all of the threatening clouds, thinking of his wife and children back home, and figured that for $3.00, it would be a good investment.

Following his purchase, he started looking for a place to eat. He hadn’t walked very far when he saw a restaurant that served Chinese food. The guy loved Chinese food so he went in and sat down. Everything was great until he opened his fortune cookie. It read, “Your recent investment will soon pay big dividends.”

I read about another guy who approached a friend of his and said, “I want to hire you to do my worrying for me, and I’m going to pay you $100,000.00 a year.” The man’s friend looked at him and said, “Where are you going to get $100,000.00 to pay my salary?” The man said, “That’s your first worry.”

Some of you may be able to relate to the woman who had been having trouble getting to sleep at night because she was worried about burglars. One night her husband heard a noise in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there, sure enough, he found a burglar. He looked at the guy and said, “Good evening. I am so glad to see you. Would you please come upstairs and meet my wife. She’s been waiting 10 years to meet you.”

It has been found that:

• 40% of things we worry about are things that will never happen.

Mark Twain once said, “I am an old man and have known many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

• 30% of the things we worry about are in the past and can’t be changed.

• 12% of our worry is dedicated to the criticism we receive from others, most of which is untrue.

• 10% of worry is over our health which only gets worse with stress.

• 8% of worry is related to real problems that will happen.

Join me in Matthew 6.

Matthew 6:25-34

a. In verses 25 and 31 we are told, in no uncertain terms, that we are not to worry about what we’re going to eat, drink, or wear.

b. Jesus used the fowls of the air to illustrate why it is not necessary for us to worry (verse 26).

c. The point He makes is simple. Man is better than the birds. Man is the crown jewel of God’s creation. It was man, not the birds, who was made in the image and likeness of God.

d. Granted, God is the Creator of birds, but He is the Father of man. Only man has the capability of having a personal relationship with God.

e. In addition to the fowls of the air, Jesus also made mention of the flowers of the field. Jesus pointed to their beauty and how effortlessly they grow and adorn the fields. Then He makes this point.

f. If God is going to look out for, and take care of, the fowls of the air and the flowers of the field, don’t you think it’s safe to say that He’s going to take of man? Of course He is.

a. Someone has said that worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.

b. Worrying never solved a problem, never calmed a troubled heart, never dried a tear, never lifted a burden, never removed an obstacle.

d. As someone has said, “Worry simply pulls tomorrow’s clouds over today’s sunshine.”

e. Or, if you please, worry is wasting today’s time to clutter up tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles.

g. Is there anyone here who could honestly say that they are better off today because of yesterday’s worry?

i. A cubit is the distance between the elbow and the extremity of the middle finger. It’s somewhere between 18 and 21 inches.

j. The word “stature” does not refer to our height, it has to do with one’s age or life span.

k. The point that Jesus makes is that worry does nothing to add to either the quality or the quantity of life. As a matter of fact, it has been proven that worry is detrimental to both.

l. Dr. Charles Mayo, founder of the Mayo Clinic said, “Worry affects the circulation, heart, glands, the whole nervous system, and profoundly affects the health. I’ve never known anyone who died of overwork, but I know many who died of worry. You can worry yourself to death, but you’ll never worry yourself to a long life.”

m. “Well Pastor, what am I supposed to do?” How about this, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Or this, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6).

a. Jesus made reference to the “Gentiles” in verse 30. He’s contrasting them with the Jews, who were the people of God. Today, the contrast would be between a saved person and a lost person — someone who knows the Lord as the their Savior and someone who doesn’t — a Christian and a non-Christian — a believer and an unbeliever.

b. It’s one thing for an unbeliever to worry about what they’re going to eat and drink and wear, after all, their provision is totally up to them. But that’s not the case with someone who has placed their faith in Christ and has become a child of God. Our heavenly Father has promised to take care of us, and it is very uncharacteristic for us to being worrying about the basic necessities of life.

c. The truth of the matter is that worry is a denial of God. Worry denies the sovereignty of God. Worry denies the authority of God. And worry denies the integrity of God.

d. Worry has no place in the life of a child of God. Instead of worry we should have faith.

2. George Mueller, who himself was a man of great faith, once said that “The beginning of worry is the end of faith. The beginning of faith is the end of worry.”

4. What we’re saying when we worry is that God can’t be trusted. What we’re saying is that our situation is too big for Him to handle — our load is too heavy for Him to carry — our problems are too great for Him to solve.

a. The “kingdom of God” speaks of the realm of God’s rule. When we’re seeking God’s kingdom, we’re seeking for His will to be done in our lives.

b. The best cure for worry is to totally submit yourself to the rule and reign of God in your life, and trust Him.

c. As long as you insist on being in charge of your life, you will have reason to worry, and rightfully so. You don’t know what’s best for your life, God does.

f. Psalm 9:10, “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.”

g. Psalm 37:5, “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.”

b. If you and I want to get uptight about something, let’s get uptight with whether or not our lives are pleasing to the Lord.

d. We’re going to give an answer one day for how we lived our lives. That ought to concern us a whole lot more than what we’re going to eat or drink or wear.

e. Food and clothes are temporal things. We will live with the results of the judgement seat for eternity.

2. When you’re more concerned about how you appear to, and what you accomplish in, and how you’re accepted by the world, your priorities are messed up.

3. What ought to be first in our hearts and minds is how we appear to, what we accomplish for, and how we are accepted by the Lord.

1. If we are willing to concern ourselves with God and how we can best serve Him, He will concern Himself with us and how He can best meet our needs.

2. Note that I said our “needs,” not our wants. God doesn’t promise to give us everything we want, but He does promise to give us what we need if we are willing to make His rule and His righteousness a priority in our lives.

CLOSING: I’ve spoken primarily to those who are saved, so let me speak for a moment to those who do not know Christ as their Savior. I’m speaking to those who do not know for sure that if they died today they’d go to heaven. There are two things you should fear . . . death and judgement.

Hebrews 9:27 says this, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

Regarding the judgement of the lost, Revelation 20 records these words, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”