Fear Not Week 2

Fear Not

Week 2 - Focused On Today

Big Idea - Our concern and energy need to be focused on the day in front of us.

Think - Consider how freeing it is to only be concerned with one day at a time, rather than feeling the pressure to manage your entire future all at once.

Feel - Be encouraged. Even Christ prayed for daily bread (sustenance) and told his followers not to spend time worrying about tomorrow (the future).

Do - Be released from future fear, worry, and anxiety and focus your energy on today.

Main Scripture - Matthew 6:11, 6:34

Supplemental Scripture - Isaiah 41:10, 43:1, Matthew 6:25-34

Introduction

Today is our 2nd week in our Fear Not series. So far we’ve talked about the difference between healthy and unhealthy fear. We know that God does not give us a spirit of fear but rather a spirit of power, of love, and of self-control. We also learned that fear has a proper place. Can anyone here today tell me where fear, anxiety, worry, doubt, etc… belong?

Today you are in for a treat as we’re going to look at one of the most important lessons Jesus taught his original followers. This is a teaching that we cannot miss and it’s lifelong importance cannot be understated.

Simply put, as followers of Christ we are called to be focused on today.

Main Teaching

Let’s be honest about something; The opportunities for fear, for anxiety, for worry, for doubt, etc…are at historically high levels. It’s well documented that people are struggling in these areas as much right now as they ever have. The current climate only makes Jesus’ words more wonderful to hear when he says, “...do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34)

One more time, the Saviour of mankind said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow.”

And what does that leave us with? It leaves us with the day at hand. It allows us to be focused on today, to be present, and to deal appropriately with every circumstance and situation that comes up. I don’t know about you, but I find this reality to be incredibly freeing. Let’s take a moment to read together more of what Jesus said about worry in Matthew chapter 6;

(Matthew 6:25-27, 31-34)

Matthew 6:25–27 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?

Matthew 6:31–34 NKJV

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.

Your value in Christ

To begin, let’s collectively remember that life is more important than the food you eat, the clothes you wear, the vacation you might take next month, the size of your retirement account, your zip code, or most anything else you might currently be concerned with. In fact, God believes you are of so much value that He sent His one and only son to die and suffer in your place so that you might spend eternity with Him.

The Father doesn’t want you wasting one second of this precious life paralyzed by unhealthy fear, worry, anxiety or doubt. He’s willing to take it all on, and if you remember back to last week’s sermon, that’s the secret that Paul learned. The secret about fear, anxiety, and worry is that they belong in the hands of God - not yours. Paul said,

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

And Jesus says in Matthew that you don’t need to worry. It’s a waste of your eternally valuable time and energy.

We often spend much time focused on things and worrying about things because we draw some of our value/self worth from them! Think about that!!

Why do we worry? Why do we focus on stuff? Comes from a focus on self and the fact that we get some value or sense of self worth from those things we focus/worry about!

However In Christ we are a new creation. Our value and worth if found entirely in Jesus Christ! He is to be our all in all! Our main focus and upon Him are we to cast our burdens, cares, anxieties, worries, etc…

Your Daily Bread

You may remember that the command fear not appears in one form or another 365 times from Genesis to Revelation. Many commentators marvel that God gave us this specific exhortation for every single day of the year. You could literally make a calendar with a different fear not verse just to remind yourself throughout the year. Here are a couple examples;

Isaiah 43:1 NKJV

1 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

Isaiah 41:10 NKJV

10 Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

I want to turn your attention now to something Jesus says in the Lord’s Prayer also found in Matthew chapter 6. In regards to prayer he says,

Matthew 6:9–11 NKJV

9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread.

Jesus reminds us of a couple key things here. First, our God in heaven is holy and worthy of our reverence. His will on earth is what we need. And secondly, we need Him to give us our daily “bread,” our daily nourishment and sustenance.

Many of us consume a daily portion of fear. Add to that anxiety, worry, doubt, etc… and we’re filling ourselves with “junk food” instead of the divine sustenance we really need. And we all know where a steady diet of junk food leaves us.

We also fill our self with the junk food of worldliness and spiritual adultry (idolatry) almost daily!

So before we move on, catch hold of what Jesus is saying in Matthew 6. He’s telling you not to worry about tomorrow, it has enough trouble of its own. He’s also telling you to pray and specifically ask God for the daily food and nourishment that you need. Even His advice on prayer is focused on your practical everyday needs.

You see, God is not only the eternally divine creator of the entire cosmos, He’s also your heavenly Father and He cares for your well-being. He knows that every single day brings along with it an ample amount of trouble. This includes things to be scared of, worried about, and anxious over.

This is why He’s given us a daily reminder to fear not. I believe that this is why He’s reminded us to ask specifically for our daily bread, and I believe this is why we’re told to stay focused on today. God in heaven knows that a single day at a time is enough of a challenge for you and I.

Your Responsibility

I said earlier that I thought this was all incredibly freeing and I want to elaborate on that a bit here. To do that I need to call your attention back to what we learned about fear this past Sunday. First, we talked about the difference between healthy and unhealthy fear. Second we talked about putting fear in its proper place. When you add that to what we’re learning from Jesus today you begin to see how fear can be overcome.

With some self-discipline and confidence in the process you can take fear, worry, anxiety, doubt, etc.... and put them in their proper place knowing that your responsibility is to be focused on today.

You don’t have to be consumed with what might happen tomorrow, or next month, or when the kids go off to college. You’re too valuable and your time on earth is too precious to be lost to future fear that truly, you don’t have control of anyhow.

Personal story- food for food truck/bills/etc…

As people of God we live and walk by faith. We trust God even in the face of fear.

We must identify fear and give it to God. This is our daily responsibility.

I’m reminded of the story in Numbers 13 & 14 where the twelve spies went to explore the promised land. They returned with a fear-filled report about the giants who lived in fortified cities throughout the land. Caleb and Joshua were the only spies who trusted that God would deliver His people into the land as he had promised. The rest of the spies and all the people rebelled against God and Moses and decided it would be better to return to slavery in Egypt. In this instance, it cost God’s people 40 additional years of wandering in the desert. (griping, complaining, giving into fear and not trusting God).

The people of God allowed fear to rob them of the promise of God and steal their precious time. For most, it meant the rest of their lives.

Obviously, the story I just shared is an intense one. In fact, it is one of the most painful stories in the history of Gods people being set free from slavery and entering the promised land. Some of the main points of the story however, are still applicable in our lives today.

Is fear robbing you of the promises of God in your life?

Is fear stealing your precious time?

Are you feeling paralyzed by the potential trouble that the future may or may not bring?

I could go on and on here as there are a multitude of ways fear affects and redirects our lives. At the conclusion of the first sermon in our series I said, “It speaks to just how destructive unhealthy fear can be in our lives that we need power, love, and self discipline to help us overcome it. We desperately need the discipline to check ourselves throughout the day. We need discipline to form new habits in identifying healthy fear from unhealthy fear and we need abundant power and love in our responses.”

And today I want to add an important addendum to that statement. We only need to exercise that spirit filled self-discipline one day at a time. In harmony with our Matthew 6 passages from earlier, we just need to be focused on today. Tomorrow has enough trouble of its own.

We have enough spiritual battles that we are in today, no need to start tomorrow war before we have conquered today’s!