Worry or Faith
Notes
Transcript
How many of us have ever solved any of our problems by worrying about them?
What are some of the things that might worry you?
Yet worry is something that seems to occupy our minds, especially as kids get older, become more independent, and start to make decisions that will influence their future.
So, what is wrong with worry?
Worry is defined by Webster as “mental distress or agitation resulting from concern usually for something impending or anticipated.” In other words, worry is about things that have not happened. Worry is not an emotion; it is a mental exercise.
Worry allows our minds to overtake our emotions and our knowledge and turns it into a mind game - we play the 101 levels of “what if”? So, what if? Can we truly change it? Do we have the level of ability (or even faith) to change the future?
Now, when we look at these decision that are to be made by ourselves, or our families, we cannot allow ourselves to develop the attitude of “well, the Lord will take care of it” and become lazy and uncaring. God does not indulge the lazy who lack initiative, effort, and planning, He expects us to be responsible!
23 Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds,
28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
20 For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.
He expects us to work in order to eat.
10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
He expects us to work so that we have extra to give to others in need.
28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
What Jesus addresses in the following verses is something different though. He addresses the material possessions, and the thought that we have to have everything … perfect. Right education, right job, right car, right house… Many fall into the trap of centering their mind and thoughts, energy and efforts on the necessities and luxuries of life. A believer is not to be wrapped up and entangled in the affairs of this world.
Likewise, as we view our teens who are growing up, becoming independent individuals, with… “personalities” … that may or may not clash with ours, we should also view this as a time for them to seek God’s Will and direction for their lives and what He wants for their future also.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Here, Jesus tells us to
not worry about your life and body. The point is clear and striking: a person’s life and body are of more value—much more value—than the food he eats and the clothes he puts on. Why then should a person allow these things, secondary things, to consume and dominate his life? So many are controlled by the necessities and luxuries, the material things of the world.
A person can eat and wear only so much at one time. Enough is enough; more than enough is too much; too much means that a person is consuming it upon his lusts. If we focus on these things, then our lives are dominated by the things of this world instead of dominating the things of the world.
He tells us to not worry - trust God for the necessities of life - food and clothing. We should instead place our mind on our life, on our body, and on the things God desires for us. Life means more than just things, even more than food and clothing.
The basic problem of man is setting priorities and determining what is to be first in his life. The first priority of every man should be to take care of his life—eternally. Why should a man be concerned about a few short years when he has the opportunity to sustain life forever? Why seek the things that only sustain and adorn his physical body for a brief time and then fade away? Why would he not seek first that which can sustain and adorn his life forever? Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness should be the first priority of every man.
Jesus goes on to say we should not worry about our food and shelter. If God takes care of the birds of the air by supplying them with both food and shelter, we should learn something from this. If He cares that much about them, then how much MORE does God think of us an dour needs? Remember, God spoke birds into existence, but His hands formed and made us into His likeness and image, and we have His breath that brought us to life.
The last thing here Jesus points out is we should not worry about our position, our stature, or our age. Worry is senseless—just as senseless as trying to add to one’s height or lengthen a minute to one’s life span (when it is time for one to die). Everyone does not have a normal body. All bodies are not perfectly formed, not in this world. The world is corruptible and imperfect due to original sin, but there is hope, a glorious hope in God—a hope that acknowledges that God loves and cares and has promised a new heavens and earth that will be perfect.
Jesus is talking about being so wrapped up in securing things that we become anxious, disturbed, and sleepless. Being focused upon the things of the world keeps a person from walking in the fulness and enjoyment of life. Worry and anxiety can cause serious health problems ranging from sleepless nights and headaches to ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart attacks.
28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Jesus then reminds us it is futile to worry over clothing. Now, I don’t know about you all, but I surely think we have enough clothes to last us the rest of our lifetime. I mean, have you ever cleaned out your closets and found clothes you HAVEN’T worn in years??? Even so, when seasons change, or when a holiday or special occasion comes up what do we say we have to do? We have to get a new outfit, and it has to have shoes to match!
We are told not to worry about our clothing! Does it “really” matter whether it came from Louis Vuitton, Gucci, or Prada or whether its Wrangler, Levis, or Old Navy? The point is, we worry over things that are futile, fleeting, and frivolous. Jesus points out the lily - one of the prettiest flowers to bloom.
Lilies grow from a deep root. The roots are where they belong, in the soil to receive nourishment. The roots of believers are not to be in the material things of this earth. In order to receive their nourishment and fulfill their purpose on earth, believers are to put their roots where they belong, in God and His righteousness.
Lilies do not toil or spin at spinning wheels to adorn themselves with beauty. Their beauty comes naturally as they go about their purpose in the world. Believers are not to be consumed with toiling after material things in order to adorn themselves with the artificial and superficial coverings of appearance. They are to be laboring after God and His righteousness, letting their natural beauty shine.
Lilies die from the weather. They drop to the ground, decay, pass out of existence, and are gone forever. Clothing fades, wears out, goes out of fashion, and is laid down. Clothing just ceases to exist, but not man. Unlike the lilies and his clothing, man is immortal; he exists forever. Therefore, he is to center his life on God and His righteousness, not on material clothing and physical beauty. God will provide necessary clothing to the person who diligently goes about life putting his priorities in order: seeking God and His righteousness first.
The words “O ye of little faith” can mean at least two things.
1. It can be a challenge to strengthen a person’s faith. Christ could be saying, “Your faith is small right now. Believe, trust, strengthen, and enlarge your faith. God cares and will provide. You can trust Him. Just believe.”
2. It can be a rebuke because a person’s faith is terribly weak: “You are worrying, overly anxious; therefore, you are displeasing and disappointing God. God knows you need these things. Quit being distrustful and going through so much anxiety and so many sleepless nights. Turn from the world and trust God.”
31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
Christ says, “Do not worry: do not be thinking and talking about food, drink and clothing.” There are two reasons why such things are not to occupy our thoughts and conversation.
The believer is different from those lost. “After all these things do the Gentiles [the heathen, the lost] seek.” Do not be like them, for the genuine believer is to be different.
The lost are wrapped up in the world and in the things of the world. They know nothing else. All they know is seeking and securing all they can of what the world has to offer. They seek the good life that comes from possessions. Life to them is money, houses, furnishings, food, cars, televisions, toys, clothing, recreation, property—all the material things of the world that give comfort, pride, power, fame, and recognition.
The believer has a heavenly Father who knows his needs. The believer is different from the Gentiles (the lost) in that he has a heavenly Father and he lives for heaven. He does not live for the earth.
Therefore, the believer is to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He is to leave the cares of this world up to God as he diligently goes about his affairs upon earth. He makes his contribution to life as God has called him to do, and while so doing, he knows that God will take care of all the necessities of life.
As believers, we should be more concerned about God’s direction in our lives that we are about what we are going to eat, what others think of us, and what we are going to wear.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Again, the believer is told to not worry, but “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” The word seek (zeteo) means to go after; to strive; to pursue; to desire; to aim at; to search for; to endeavor to get. The believer’s life is not to be preoccupied with material things, as necessary as some things are. The believer is first of all to be seeking after the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
We are to seek to become a citizen of God’s kingdom, and we are to seek others, encouraging them to become citizens of God’s kingdom. This is to be the first pursuit of his life.
We are to seek after God’s righteousness for himself and for others and the only way man can ever be satisfied is to seek God and His righteousness first.
The believer is not to be preoccupied with tomorrow and its affairs. He is to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness today, leaving tomorrow and its needs in God’s hands.
Christ is not forbidding a man to take care of tomorrow. He is striking at man’s obsession with getting more and more and ignoring and neglecting God and His righteousness.
We can either have a no-care, worldly attitude, we can be anxious and worry over everything, we can be paranoid and fearful, we can be self-assured thinking “we” can take care of anything, or we can live a calm, God-centered life assured and confident that He will care for us and take care of His believers.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Often times, we allow the things of this world to come between our relationship with God. Doubt, fear, uncertainty, concern, all these things can cause us to momentarily take our eyes off of Him. It seems as though when we take our eyes off Him, that we then become a target for all these things. I think that is why Jesus reminds us over and over to “seek first the kingdom of God and HIS righteousness”. The first thing we must do is turn back to Him, put our faith and trust back in Him, and then we have to keep our eyes ON Him so that we don’t become distracted by the things of this world.
