God and Anxiety

Introduction

Story of anxiety and rollercoasters

Anxiousness of getting onto the rollercoaster, even my heart rate before and after

Titan rollercoaster, 255 foot drop at a speed of 85 mph

This anxiousness is more of nervousness, what about worry?

Anxiousness from watching the news as it seems the world gets into worse shape every single day

The screen flashed to life - 1202

A program alarm, as Neil’s eye darted from the window on his left where he saw the moon getting closer and closer, to his right where he saw the abort button

Neil and Buzz had traveled a quarter of a million miles from earth to the moon, and in the final 60-mile, 12-minute long descent to the moon, 1202 flashed on their computer program

Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins (who was in the command and service module) did not travel this far to the moon to just abort their mission, turn around, and come back to earth so close to fulfilling the mission: to land on the moon

This code - 1202, almost sent these three astronauts home with their heads hung low

We know how the story ends, they all came back heroes as the first persons to land on the moon on July 20, 1969

In this moment, the three astronauts and all those back at NASA headquarters panicked with anxiety and worry

As no one knew what this code was, Neil, Buzz, Michael did not know whether or not to abort the mission as they waited to hear from Houston on the answer

This certain code - 1202, had not appeared in any of the simulations the astronauts flew, and only one man knew what to do

11 days before Apollo 11 took flight, there was a similar code, different than a 1202 but similar, that triggered an abort in a simulation

The chief flight director then ordered the Apollo 11 guidance officer to memorize and study “impossible alarm codes” to know which ones they could fly with, and which ones they could not

By the grace of God, one man, Jack Garman, on the guidance officer’s team, knew all of the codes like the back of his hand

There on his desk, a cheat sheet of all the codes, the flyable ones, and the un-flyable ones,

This 1202 code, was the computer communicating that is was overloaded and was going to restart itself without unnecessary tasks

No need to abort

Neil, Buzz, Michael, and all NASA employees could catch their breath and land on the moon

They could release their anxiety and worry about failure, but this computer, technology communicating that it was overwhelmed

I think we often get like this too

We put many things on our plates, we go from one place to another, we have busy lives, but also, we may have nothing going on sometimes and we just let the day pass

In both of these areas we may feel overwhelmed, whether it is too much and we feel we are about to crash, as if we have our own 1202 code, or we have nothing going on and we sit in our anxiety about what is going to come next

Jesus knows this like the back of His hand, He knows our worries, our cares, our anxieties, and He tells us not to worry

Why should we not worry? Because we have a Father who will care for us and provide these needs as long as we seek Him first

Recap

We have made it so far through the introduction and part of the body of the Sermon on the Mount

            The introduction is all about our Kingdom Identity

He starts by portraying the essential elements of Christian character in the Beatitudes

He then moves to describe the influence of good we have if we exhibit this character in the metaphors of salt, light, a city

The first section in the body of the Sermon is how we are to have a Greater Righteousness than the Pharisees and Scribes

This righteousness is to be focused inwardly, not externally, and it is to penetrate our mind, motives and even the secret places of our hearts

We then moved into the second section of the body of the sermon where Jesus describes our inner righteousness towards God the Father in the ways we express our devotion to Him

We express our devotion to God out of love for Him that brings a real reward of knowing Him and being known by Him

We continue into the last part of the body of Jesus’ sermon that teaches of our relationships with God and with others

First, we need to understand our relationship with God

Are we serving God and are we doing so in a healthy manner?

Today, we will take another step in understanding our relationship with God this morning

Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34

Matthew 6:25–30 ESV

- “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? - 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? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? - And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. - 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?

Faith

V. 25-30

Trust God to meet our needs, also with our life

Command from Jesus: not be anxious

Sounds pretty difficult right?

How can we go through life without worrying? Seems impossible

Jesus excels in the impossible

Luke 1:37 “For nothing will be impossible with God.””

Look at our finances, God did the impossible and we had a positive month

God is working, we need to see it

When it is impossible with us, God comes in and shows us how He can do the impossible - we need to let Him

As teaching, He has physical real examples as He looks around Him

Jesus sees these birds, sees flowers, and turns them into lessons

As most Hebrew teachers would do, they would teach in parables

We know Jesus to do this too, and He does this here

He takes the real life birds and flowers, that Jesus is standing around, and turns this real life example into a spiritual lesson about how God provides all needs for us

It is not material that provides for ourselves, money cannot solve our problems

If we look at the first word in this passage, “therefore,” points back to what Jesus just taught us on treasures, on our eyes, and money

Jesus continues His teaching telling us not to place our trust in material possessions or money, but to place our trust in God

We see the birds and the flowers

God provides food and clothing for them

Flower has to take in the sunlight and water and soil to grow, photosynthesis

Bird has to search for food, has to nurse its babies, has to make a nest

They both have to work for what God has provided, so we don’t sit around and be lazy and expect everything to fall into our lap, but we too, are to work and that is seen as co-operating with God

Not as if we have earned a living, but we live according to God’s original plan, working, just as Adam worked in the Garden of Eden before the fall

Birds and flowers as a visual help to remember to trust God

Do not worry, we are of more value than birds and flowers

If we are of more value, how much more will God provide for us, His children?

Don’t worry, have faith, if we worry that will lead to anxiousness and we will be distracted

We will be distracted from God, His Kingdom, His face, His hands, we will be focused on what we don’t have and on the uncertainty of the future

Worry is only negative, worry can only take our time and life away, it can’t give our life or add hours to our life, so why worry?

If we live our life by worry, we are living like a Gentile, or a pagan

A pagan is someone who does not know God

Scripture: Matthew 6:31-32

Matthew 6:31–32 ESV

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

Father

V. 31-32

Don’t worry about food, drink, or clothing

God is a Heavenly Father who knows that we need these things

This is something we pray too!

Matthew 6:8 “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

Jesus tells us again to not be like the Gentiles in v. 7

We have been called by Jesus to follow Him, to be His apprentice, His disciple, to imitate and mimic what He does, say, thinks, acts, His whole way of life

We are to be different, we are not to be like the Gentiles or the Pagans, like those who don’t know God

Rather, our God, the God we know, the God who knows us, our Father in Heaven, knows all about us, knows us better than we know ourselves, so we can trust Him

If He knows all of us, all of our inside, all of our sins, all of our thoughts and words and deeds, yet He removed all barriers to have a relationship with us

He took OUR sin, He took OUR death, He took OUR punishment so we can have a relationship with Him and live of life on earth with Him

Our Heavenly Father did this, so we can trust Him

He will not let us down, He will not hurt us, He knows our needs

Understand He cares for you

He loves you

He sees you as His most prized, cherished, and valuable creation

We don’t have to seek after all the treasures of earth

We don’t have to seek after all the money of the world

We don’t have to seek after the newest car, the biggest house, the next best thing

We have a Heavenly Father who knows our needs, who knows the needs of the community around us and our Heavenly Father has strategically placed this church here to help meet the needs of the community

We can partner with God to help meet the needs of others

If our Heavenly Father is a Generous Father, who has poured out His blessings on us, He has meet our every need in abundance, we now have the opportunity to use that abundance for the blessing of those around us

When we do this we are loving God and loving our neighbor

That is how we can be a part of God’s will, glorify His name, and see His Kingdom come, is by prioritizing the love of God and neighbor

We prioritize that, we will see our needs met, and we will have the chance to bless those in this town

We are receivers of God’s blessing, and we are vessels of God’s blessings as we hand out

We receive, we give

When we do this, we follow Jesus’ command in the next verses

Scripture: Matthew 6:33-34

Matthew 6:33–34 ESV

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

First

V. 33-34

But seek first the Kingdom of God

Jesus gives another command, to seek out God’s Kingdom

Illustration of trying to find something in the fridge and pantry vs. mom looking

That is how we are to seek it

Or how we seek to find our car keys or our phone whenever we lose them or misplace them

We look for it, and we don’t stop until we find it

How does this happen?

God’s Kingdom is the reign and rule of God in the hearts of His people

Jesus is not just our Savior, He is also our Lord, our King, our Master, we follow Him, we listen to Him, He sits on the thrones of our hearts, He rules our life

That is God’s Kingdom

God’s Righteousness is doing God’s will and being in right standing with God

Jesus has given us His righteousness, because of Jesus’ willful sacrifice, we are now in right standing before God and no longer subject to God’s wrath because Jesus took that wrath on the cross

And we do His will to glorify His name

Does this all sound familiar?

Jesus just told us to pray that God’s name would be glorified, His Kingdom would come and His will would be done

When we seek to put God first in our lives we are walking in His will, we are living according to His Word, to His commands

As we live this way we will experience the Kingdom of God in our hearts as He rules, and we can see His Kingdom come closer to earth everyday

As we live this way, His name is glorified in how we live, how we talk, how we act because we live according to the Kingdom, not according to the world

When we live this way with God first, we won’t be worried about the day, we won’t be worry about tomorrow

We will come to this place of faith and of trust that we know and understand that today, tomorrow, the next day, the future, is all in God’s hands

He knows what is coming, and as the future draws closer, as we wake up tomorrow, what He is doing today is preparing us for what is to come tomorrow, the next day, the future

We don’t have to be anxious, we don’t have to be worried

The whole world is in God’s hands

Our church is in God’s hands

Your everyday life is in God’s hands

Conclusion

Through our days, if we receive a 1202 code, we feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, feeling like we do not know what the future holds we sit in our beds, in our chairs, on our couches, worrying about it - what do we do?

We restart

We take this code, we take this feeling of anxiety and worry as a sign to draw near to God

Jesus has given us a cheat sheet, and it is not filled with flyable or un-flyable codes, but tells us where we should draw our attention

To creation

We look outside, see the sun, the trees, the birds, remember our faith, remember how Jesus has not once failed us, how we have a Father who cares for us, and a kingdom to place first at the forefront of our lives

Let us not worry, rather, let us see the signs of creation that God is our caretaker, God is our Father, and God will never stop caring for us until He calls us home

PRAY