Don't Worry // Matthew 6:19-34

Intro:

I want to read for you a short portion of an article titled “The Anatomy of Anxiety” from Time Magazine:

[We are in] an era that is almost universally regarded as the “Age of Anxiety”.

Anxiety seems to be the dominant fact and is threatening to become the dominant cliche of modern life. It shouts in the headlines, laughs nervously at [parties], nags from advertisements, speaks suavely in the board room, whines from the stage, clatters from the Wall Street ticker, jokes with fake youthfulness on the golf course and whispers in privacy each day before the [our] mirror... Not merely [do] the [dark] statistics of murder, suicide, alcoholism and divorce [create] anxiety (or that special form of anxiety which is guilt), but almost any innocent, everyday act: the limp or over-hearty handshake, the second pack of cigarettes or the third martini, the forgotten appointment, the stammer in mid-sentence, the wasted hour before the TV, the spanked child, the new car unpaid for.

There is general agreement among psychiatrists, theologians, sociologists and even poets that in this era, anxiety is indeed different both in quantity and quality.

Psychologists report that 30 years ago the U.S. was in an “age of covert anxiety.” It is now in an age of “overt anxiety.” People tend to believe that it is wrong and “sick” to feel anxious or guilty; they are beset by guilt about guilt, by anxiety about anxiety.

After decades of debate psychologists and psychiatrists are at last substantially agreed that anxiety arises from feelings of helplessness.

“The Anatomy of Anxiety,” Time Magazine, Vol. LXXVII No. 14: “Guilt and Anxiety,” March 31, 1961.

How is it, that over 60 years later, that we have still not found a solution to the issue of “anxiety” (or “worry” as I’ll refer to it primarily throughout most of our lesson)? Aren’t we more sophisticated or evolved than people in the past who didn’t have the science or the coping strategies to solve the problem of our anxiety?

The secular world may advise us to medicate. Anti-depressants, alcohol, drugs, “self-care”, or some other remedy that seeks to comfort us and tell us that we are not the problem.

There is a place for medicine, and there is certainly some good psychology that can be a tremendous help in some circumstances.

By-and-large the majority of things that cause us to worry are the things that are ultimately out of our control. It’s part of the fallen human condition.

It is such a part of the human experience, in fact, that Jesus is going to spend the next 16 verses of the Sermon on the Mount discussing our natural inclination to worry.

You could summarize our problem in this portion of Jesus’ teaching this way:

FCF: We worry ourselves to death attempting to provide things on our own that God promises to give us.

Counselors today would define anxiety as the anticipation of a future threat.

We think into the future and we foresee one of these four messages, and the result is that we worry:

“I am in danger.”

“I am vulnerable”

“I need _____, and I may not get it.”

“I may lose ______ that is valuable to me.” (love, respect, people, possessions, etc.)

Anxious thoughts always take place looking into the future.

But, what Jesus is going to communicate to us in this passage is this, and this will also be our main idea:

Main Idea: A proper perspective of God’s care for you removes unnecessary worry.

So, I will read the text and pray for us, and as we read the text together, let’s be reminded that God does care for us and He will draw near to us as we bring all of our worries before Him.

*READ Matt. 6:19-34 and Pray*

As we begin to look deeper into this text, I think there are 3 “placements” we can do to position ourselves to worry less.

1. Place less value on earthly things (v. 19-24)

Jesus is first going to discuss storing up things that we value.

Quickly, I don’t think is a verse telling us that it’s wrong to have a savings or retirement account.

The biggest rub here is the heart posture behind storing things up. Jesus says in Matt. 6:21

Matthew 6:21 CSB

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Reformer John Calvin makes a helpful statement to address this idea in saying:

“The evil in our desires typically does not lie in what we want but in that we want it too much.” - John Calvin

What is the primary motive behind saving?

Preparation, security, or fear of not having enough.

Jesus is saying here, you cannot have your entire sense of security in earthly possessions, because they will become worthless, in either this life or the next.

Rather, invest in His Kingdom. And He will explain what that looks like using 2 descriptions in verses 22-24.

Good vs. Bad Eye Riddle (v. 22-23)

Let’s work backwards: a to have a bad eye is a figure of speech that means to be greedy or very stingy with money

Parable of the Vineyard Workers in Matthew 20

- Some were hired at the beginning of the day, some in the middle, some at the end.

- All were paid the same wage at the end of the day. Those who had been there longer were upset.

- The vineyard owner in the story says this at the end of the parable in Matthew 20:15:

“15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what is mine? Are you jealous because I’m generous?’”

- That phrase “are you jealous” is literally “is your eye evil”

A “good/healthy” eye then has this connotation of generosity when compared to the bad eye

Another meaning of this word, however, is expressed in the King James translation of the Bible that reads:

Matthew 6:22 KJV 1900

22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

So I think both meanings of this word are in play here (intentional double-meaning), because of what Jesus says next...

Explaining Singular Service (v. 24)

“No one can serve two masters” - if we have our attention focused on anything else (particularly money) we will be devoted to that thing.

We will find our security there. Our hope, our sense of identity, our purpose in life.

Back to v. 22, “the eye is the lamp of the body” - or even a window to the body // lamps are lit by something outside of themselves

If our eye is set on darkness, it will fill our body with darkness.

But if our eye is set unwavering on the Lord who (1 John 1:5) “is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him,” then our whole body is filled with light.

What we set our attention on determines the condition of our inner-being.

*So, what are we tempted to set our hearts on that cause us to worry, and what is the solution Jesus offers?

2. Place your trust in God’s promised provision (v. 25-30)

There are 3 areas that Jesus addresses in which we may be prone to worry, and interestingly He uses an illustration from nature to make His point.

a. What will we eat? - Consider the birds (v. 25-26)

Does God not value people more than the animals?

b. What will wear? - Observe the flowers (v. 28-29)

Does God not care for people even more than the rest of creation?

c. What about my life? - Think about the grass (v. 27,30)

Your life is in the hands of a God who loves you. Will He not treat you with even greater care than the earth that He tends to each and every day?

“You of little faith”

Worry is energized by little faith… Call it what you want: tension, anxiety, worry. But we need to call it what God calls it: unbelief.

Danny Akin, CCE: Sermon on the Mount, 115.

*How does this transformation happen? Must change our perspective. Instead of becoming consumed with the things around us that cause us to worry, you must...

3. Place your hope in God’s Kingdom (v. 31-34)

Worry is not as much of the issue as is misplaced trust. Rather than simply, “not worrying,” we must shift our trust from the things that we cannot control and will not satisfy to the One who is in control and is totally satisfying.

Perhaps one of the greatest examples of this is the Apostle Peter, because he certainly lived out a roller coaster of trusting in Jesus over the course of his life.

James Boice makes these observations:

“Walking on the water toward Jesus, he worried he might sink.

He was worried that Jesus might not pay taxes.

He was worried who might betray Jesus.

He was worried Jesus might have to suffer and so rebuked Him on one occasion

He was worried at His arrest and sought to defend Him with a sword on another.

After he came to know Jesus better, he learned that Jesus was able not only to take care of himself, but also to take care of Peter. Thus toward the end of his life in his first letter that he wrote to other Christians, he told them how to live saying, “Cast all your care upon him; because He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).