Anxiety

Intro

Matthew 6:25–30 ““Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”

Matthew 6:31–34 “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Our text this morning gives us the same command 3 times.

DO NOT WORRY!

The word worry

Greek word is Merimnao

It is in it’s verb form meaning -To be anxious, concerned, or worried

In our culture we tend to categorize “worry” less than “anxiety”

But to be clear, the words are interchangeable here.

And Jesus is very clear we are not to worry, we are not to be anxiety.

In fact I can say with absolute certainty and absolute authority on the word of God. your Father in Heaven who loves you, who cares for you, wants you to be worry free, anxiety free.

He wants free, hopeful, joyful, resting, confident, people

He wants anxiety cast on Him, not carried by you

Nothing Jesus ever taught was designed to increase anxiety in your life, but rather the opposite, to help you conquer anxiety, the worries of this life.

Which there are many

If we look at the different places the word worry is used throughout the bible we can clearly see there is an appropriate way to worry and a sinful way worry. What’s the difference?

Here’s a definition to help us navigate what Jesus is talking about in this text.

Appropriate worry refers to having a healthy concern or prudence about a situation, or person

Sinful worry is excessive, unproductive, and rooted in a lack of trust in God's provision and care. 

It's the difference between acknowledging a problem and being consumed by it

I have worries vs I am worried

If you are an English guru - Noun vs Verb

Jesus is talking about the verb, sinful worry. It’s an unhealthy action or emotion in our life

Where do these worries come from?

I believe our text this morning gives us the root of our sinful worries in verse 30

Matthew 6:30 “If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”

The last statement is the key - Little faith

sinful worry is rooted in a lack of faith

the battle of anxiety is the battle of unbelief

big anxiety, little faith

Big faith, little anxiety

as faith increases anxiety decreases

They work in opposites. There is never a large amount of both at the same time. one is always above the other

The root cause of sinful worry is not difficult situations or an unclear future, the root is unbelief, lack of faith. Not necessarily no faith, but little faith

My worry essentially advertises that I do not trust God

That’s not what I’m telling you this morning, but that is what the word of God has revealed to us here in Matthew ch. 6

My worry is in direct correlation to my faith in God

sinful worry is a symptom of the root problem of unbelief

Now if you have never placed your faith in Jesus that makes total sense. If someone isn’t a part of my family I don’t expect them to trust in my father to provide everything they need.

If I didn’t know the one true God, I would carry worries with me almost everywhere I went.

But because I do know God, I should not have sinful worries

My goal is not to discourage anyone in this room so...

I want to address 2 dis heartening responses to what I just said

That’s not good news, in fact it’s very discouraging to learn that what I thought was a mere wrestling with my tendency towards anxiety is really a far deeper problem rooted in my lack of faith, unbelief

That’s not good news- I agree....and I disagree

suppose you have a pain in your chest, day after day. This pain continues months and years and gets worse. You’ve tried all the medicines and diets friends and doctors recommend to alleviate or take care of the problem to no end. you’re discouraged and probably even depressed. Then at a routine visit to the doctor, they discover you have lung cancer.

Now at that moment when the doctor tells you the news you have cancer, is that good news?

No, cancer is bad news

Now let me pose this question to you, are you glad they found it, identified it, while it’s still treatable?

Yes, I’m glad, that’s good news

So the diagnosis is both bad news and good news

Cancer is not good, in the same way a lack of faith is not good news

If you think you just are a worrier and anxious person and it’s who you are, can I tell you, that’s a lie and it’s robbing you of the fullness God has for you in Jesus. It’s also falsely advertising how good God is

Anxiety, which has it’s root in unbelief only draws us and others away from the living God, where life is found, where joy is found where peace that surpasses all understanding is found, where true rest is found

But there is good news here, unbelief is treatable

My response to this 1st concern that while my anxiety is rooted in a lack of faith is bad news, it’s good news that it’s treatable by the great physician and this book, the bible has been written on how to cure this disease of unbelief

2. Now disheartening response number two sounds like this

“I deal with feelings of anxiety almost everyday. You tell me now that my anxiety is rooted in unbelief and that everyday I am disbelieving God. I just feel like giving up cause I don’t know how I can have any assurance I even believe in God.”

Suppose your a racecar driver and you’re in a big race. Now there is an opponent who doesn’t want you to win so he slings mud on your windshield and you all of a sudden cannot see your course and you begin to swerve.

The mud that has hit the windshield is not proof you won’t finish this race

The mud also doesn’t prove you are on the wrong course either, in fact it proves you are on the right course. It reminds you there is an opponent on this track.

The right response to the mud is to turn your windshield wipers on and use your little squirter, so you can see clearly

Do Something! Set in motion a process of resistance against what is blanking out the glorious future of victory in the race. Don’t let it take you to the ditch when you have wipers at your disposal

In the Christian life it’s not whether Satin slings mud on your windshield, fills you with anxiety, but the issue is how are you going to deal with it?

Are you gonna fight or are you gonna pull into the ditch

So in response to the person that says “I wake up with anxiety everyday” You’re not telling me anything I don’t already face myself.

I wake up everyday with the pressures of life, with pains, with problems all that could grow in sinful worry

In fact your not dealing with anything new those in the Bible didn’t face. Those that went before us didn’t face

You think they didn’t have things to worry about when they woke up everyday

Psalm 56:3 “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Trust in an action of faith

David had fears anxieties, but He trusted them to God

1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Peter, Paul, the early church had much to worry about as they were being constantly persecuted, but they too knew how do deal with it.

The issue isn’t whether we deal with anxiety everyday, but how we deal with anxiety everyday,

what we do with Satan’s attacks, the rising of our own remaining corrupted flesh, or the corruption in the world.

To the 2nd dis heartening response I say - To have an abundance of things to be anxious about is natural to trust them to God takes faith

On a trip, I always pack way too much stuff, so before I get on a plane I check a bag of luggage. It’s all my stuff, but it’s too heavy to carry. It’s too bulky to sit with. It would make people around me very uncomfortable if I carried everywhere with me. So I trust it to the airline. When I show up to my destination, it’s there waiting for me. Usually....

So now that we hopefully understand what it is to be anxious to sinfully worry, and that it’s rooted in a lack of faith,

Lets start back at the beginning of our text and even look back at Jared’s sermon from last week.

Our verse today starts out with the word Therefore, which means it’s looking back at the verses before. The verses Jared preached on last week.

Matthew 6:21–23 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”

Jared told us, your treasure determines your heart

your heart determines your gaze

I will add, your gaze determines the health of your body. Don’t look at the wrong things!

Anxiety is stirred up and grown through what we are gazing upon

This verse points out that both our problems and solutions are found in where we fix our eyes

Whether I am healthy or unhealthy is dependent on my gaze.

If my eyes are healthy the whole body is healthy. If my eyes are unhealthy, the whole body is full of darkness

As we look at verses 25-34 we can see 4 healthy places to fix our eyes.

I love when the Bible gives me something to look at rather than just what not to look at. That’s what these next verses do.

first healthy place to fix my eyes

Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

Look at the Birds - Jesus is sitting on a hillside with His disciples and the crowds. I imagine there were birds for them to look at

They must trust in God each day for their provisions

Birds do not sow, nor reap

They do not store food for tomorrow, yet they have been around for thousands of years since this verse was written.

When I look at the birds, I honestly don’t process the miracle of their life, nor do I process how joyful they are every morning as they wake up to a new day only to be taken care of again and again. They don’t wake up worried for the needs they have for the day. They are making joyful noises enjoying what the day holds

But it’s who takes care of them that this first draws my eyes to

My Heavenly Father feeds them. It’s not at random, My Father feeds them

My heavenly Father cares for me even more so than He cares for them. They don’t have the promises God has given to me. They were not made in His image.

Do you know how valuable you are? Do you know how loved by the Heavenly Father you are? Did you know, that you’ve never been more loved than you are right now.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Bring Pyper or Zeke on stage.

This is my daughter or son. As much as I would like to say I love all of you, I don’t love you enough to give up her/his life for you.

God does. He cares for you like crazy!

You are of great value!

2. second look at the fields

Matthew 6:28–30 ““And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?”

Jesus again points us into creation, first at the birds of the air, now to the fields and how he adorns them with the lilies

What is it in a flower that’s so important for me to see here?

first, They do not labor or spin, yet God dresses them in beauty

How often do I find myself over working because I am worried about providing enough for my family? And really what is enough? 1 more dollar.

When I was young I remember a season when I didn’t see my dad much. He worked so much to provide for us clothes, a home, food, and whatever extras we could afford, yet not much of dad was left to go around for 3 kids

I’m not sure how it came about, but he ended up quitting his job that kept him from us and taking a humble position managing Merry Maids cleaning service. I know he took a huge pay cut and our family had to make sacrifices, but I got my dad.

I can tell you my family had all of our physical needs taken care of and God clothed us in something more beautiful than any physical clothing can provide. We are clothed in love for one another.

My dad had to trust that his Heavenly Father would take care of his families physical needs while my dad made himself available to love his family and take care of our relational needs.

Do not labor and spin at the cost of relationships in your life.

I’m not saying to be lazy, We were created to work, but take time everyday to stop and smell the roses.

God is going to take care of all of your needs, and your family’s needs

He’s a really good Father.

Look to the birds

Look to the fields

Look to today

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Matthew 6:27 “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Our culture is obsessed with the future

So much of our anxiety comes from me overthinking or trying to control the future

The future of the stock market, future of my life, who will I marry, where will I live, When is Jesus coming back,

None of these things are by themselves wrong or even a bad idea to think about and consider, but if they begin to consume you and stir up worry in your heart, stop it.

Look to today

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it only empties today of its strength

Don’t cripple the present by worrying about the future

I will even say, don’t cripple the future, by not focusing on the present

My strength I will need tomorrow will come from me focusing on today

My muscles don’t get stronger by thinking of how hard they will have to work tomorrow, they get stronger by small rips and tears today. Our body repairs them bigger and stronger than they were before.

In the same way our focus on the problems of today strengthens us to handle the worries of tomorrow.

God will give you what you need today to handle the day.

I don’t know what tomorrow will hold, but I know and trust the one who holds tomorrow

So look to today

The fourth and final healthy place for my eyes to look is at the Kingdom of God

Look to the Kingdom

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

When I think of the word seek, I think of the game “hide and seek”

Everyone would go hide and there was one person seeking to find the others. Some people are really good at hiding and I’ve often been in games where the seeker would give up because they couldn’t find the person.

My favorite hiding place was in plain site. An open closet. I would jump into my dad’s Carhartt coveralls hanging on the rack and I would hold myself up on my toes and hang natural. I was never found in that spot

In God’s version of hide and seek, it’s a bit backwards. He hides and everyone else has to find him.

Here’s the beauty of God’s hiding place. It’s actually not hard to find Him. In fact He guarantees you will find Him if you truly search for Him with all of your heart.

Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Like a good game of hide and seek, you must put in an effort to look for God.

He’s not found in your bank account, your hobbies, your career,

He’s not in the things of this world.

God is found in His Church, not the building, but in the people

God is found in His word

God is found when you quiet your soul and talk with with Him

You will see the hand of God working in creation, when you look.

we learned that from the birds, the fields, and the lilies

See God is not hard to find. If I cannot find Him, I’m looking in all the wrong places

If we follow the teaching of last weeks sermon, all of this really has to do with my treasure

My treasure determines my heart

My heart determines my gaze

My gaze determines the health of my whole being

Therefore if I have sinful worry, or any sin for that matter, I have set my eyes on the wrong things because my heart is set on the wrong things, ultimately pointing me back to my treasure.

Is my treasure temporary or is it eternal.

My treasure cannot be money, family, job, hobby, friends,

My treasure has to be Jesus

When my treasure is Jesus, I’m a better dad

When my treasure is Jesus, I’m a better employee

When my treasure is Jesus, my heart is right, my eyes are set on the right things, and my whole being is healthy.

When my treasure is Jesus, my worries fade away because they aren’t mine to carry.

So as you begin the journey each day will provide, check in your luggage, check in your worries with God and let Him carry them.

My hope is that I have not given a perfect answer today on all your worry or anxiety, but that I’ve stirred in you a desire to take your problems to God.

1 Peter 5:7 “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Matthew 11:30 “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””

Philippians 4:6–7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, 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.”

*Again - The issue isn’t whether we deal with anxiety everyday, but how we deal with anxiety everyday

I don’t have a head, heart, and hands to end on today, but a few questions for you to ask yourself.

Ask yourself, am I casting my anxieties on God, or am I carrying them myself? Do I cast or do I carry?

How heavy am I today?

Am I going to God in prayer with my worries, or am I being consumed by them?

Do I have peace that surpasses all understanding or do I have anxiety that robs me of any understanding?

I have a rhythm in my life to weigh myself emotionally. Many of us check our physical weight often, but do we check our emotional weight? Not just for worry, but for any emotions that shouldn’t be mine to carry, anger, fear,

In my car everyday to work I ask God to search me. I ask, How am I feeling today? Why?

Then I tell God I trust Him with it and ask him to carry it for me through the day. Might sound crazy, but I get to let it go and my load gets lighter and my peace greater.

Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;”

I will not always understand everything that happens in my life, but I trust my Heavenly Father because He is good, He is perfect, He is just, He loving, He is in control

I want to end with all of us bowing our heads. Every week we take a time of directed prayer. I want you first to reflect on your own day, today and the worries your may be carrying. Talk with God about them now. Give them over to Him to carry. Take a moment to do that.

Next confess your sins

Next, take time to pray for the lost

Finally, give thanks

Matthew 26:26–28 “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”