Do Not Worry – 2

Sermon on the Mount - 63

Matthew 6:25–26 (NIV84)

25“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 important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

26Look 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?

Birds only eat excessively when humans put them in cages. They never worry about or stockpile their food.

Certain species store seeds or nuts for winter, but they do so out of instinctive sense, not out of fear or worry.

Job 38:41 (NIV84)

41Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

Psalm 145:15 (NIV84)

15The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.

Psalm 147:9 (NIV84)

9He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.

R.C. Sproul: We as human beings are more valuable than the birds of the air. Even the pagans in that environment understood that human life was more valuable than turtle eggs.

Today, however, we live in such an upside-down culture that the eggs of turtles are deemed more valuable than the embryos of human beings.

God does not say that we are to value human life and despise animals.

To the contrary, He tells us to value the creatures He has put here; but we are to value human life even more.

There is greater public outcry over the abuse of an animal than over the murder of an unborn child.

Genesis 1:26–27 (NIV84)

26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

None of all creation apart from mankind has the privileged distinction of being created in the image of God.

Job 33:4 (NIV84)

4The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

Psalm 139:13–16 (NIV84)

13For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

You knit together = סָכַךְ sakak = to form a human body in the womb conceived of as knitting something together.

to be made into shape, manufactured; interweave, intertwine.

A verb meaning to weave together. It describes the Lord’s activity in creating a child’s fetus within the womb.

14I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

Fearfully = יָרֵא yare = to be awesome: to be inspiring awe or reverence. Reverent amazement.

“I am made in a way that inspires awe and reverence because of God’s work.”

“To be ‘fearfully made’ means to be crafted in a way that evokes awe and reverence at the power and wisdom of the Creator.”

Fearfully made means that human beings are created with such profound skill and masterful design that they inspire awe and reverence toward God.

I am wonderfully made = פָּלָה pālâ = to be different, striking, remarkable—outside of the power of human comprehension

to be distinguished (different): to be marked as different from something else, either physically or perceptually.

to be surpassing or extraordinary.

Wonderfully made (פָּלָה pālâ) carries the idea of something extraordinary and remarkable: something that goes beyond human comprehension.

You are not just well made—you are made in a way that is astonishing and beyond full human understanding.

A study of the human body will reveal how intricate and remarkable it is. This was not a result of evolution and chance. Our bodies were purposely designed by our Master Creator, Almighty God.

15My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

16your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Unformed body = גֹּ֫לֶם golem 1x = a fetus or embryo; the unformed child or embryo in the womb, something that God’s eyes saw before its birth.

All the experiences of our lives, day by day, were written down in God’s book before we were even born.

God created each of us uniquely to fulfill the plan He has ordained for us.

Our disabilities as well as our abilities all fit into that plan.

The LORD planned all the activities of our life before we were even born.

Charles H. Spurgeon: An architect draws his plans and makes out his specifications; even so did the great Maker of our frame write down all our members in the book of his purposes. That we have eyes, and ears, and hands, and feet, is all due to the wise and gracious purpose of heaven: it was so ordered in the secret decree by which all things are as they are. God’s purposes concern our limbs and faculties. Their form, and shape, and everything about them were appointed of God long before they had any existence. God saw us when we could not be seen, and he wrote about us when there was nothing of us to write about. When as yet there were none of our members in existence, all those members were before the eye of God in the sketchbook of his foreknowledge and predestination.

There is a precious living person (spirit, soul, and body) inside that womb. No one has a right to destroy that life.

1 Peter 2:9–10 (KJV 1900)

9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

10Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Peculiar = περιποίησις peripoiēsis = a peculiar possession, specialty.

something that a person has come into the possession of.

Peculiar does not mean weird.

1 Peter 2:9–10 (NIV84)

9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Christians are a people who have been purchased or owned by another (God Almighty).

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NIV84)

19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;

20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

We are a unique creation, created in the image of God.

We are an awe-inspiring and distinguished people.

We are a peculiar possession, a specialty.

We have been purchased by and belong to God.

So, how does this relate to worry and anxiety?

Worry and anxiety come as a result of not remembering or knowing these facts.

Psalm 103:1–5 (NIV84)

1Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

2Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—

3who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

4who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,

5who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Forget = שָׁכַח shakach = to lose (or seemingly lose) memory or remembrance of.

Charles H. Spurgeon: Memory is very treacherous about the best things; by a strange perversity, engendered by the fall, it treasures up the refuse of the past and permits priceless treasures to lie neglected, it is tenacious of grievances and holds benefits all too loosely.

1 Corinthians 4:3-4 (MSG)

3It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself. Comparisons in these matters are pointless.

4I’m not aware of anything that would disqualify me from being a good guide for you, but that doesn’t mean much. The Master makes that judgment.

God’s servants have to answer to God, and it will matter not what others have said or thought of them.

We must regard and take to heart what God thinks of us over what others think.

Wayne Detzler: My view of myself and my ministry is often coloured either by unwarranted optimism or unrealistic pessimism.

John 12:37–43 (NIV84)

37Even after Jesus had done all these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.

38This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

39For this reason they could not believe, because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40“He has blinded their eyes and deadened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

41Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.

42Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;

43for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

John 5:41–44 (NIV84)

41“I do not accept praise from men,

42but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.

43I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.

44How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?

Luke 16:10–15 (NIV84)

10“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?

12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?

13“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

14The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.

15He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.

2 Corinthians 10:12, 18 (NIV84)

12We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.

18For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

At twenty we worry about what others think of us; at forty we don’t care about what others think of us; at sixty we discover they haven’t been thinking about us at all.

Galatians 1:10 (NIV84) [Don’t follow the crowd]

10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Romans 12:2 (NLT)

2Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2 (Phillips)

2Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.

Belonging to God’s kingdom necessarily means standing apart from cultural patterns that contradict his purposes.

Exodus 23:2a (NIV84)

2“Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong.

You’re in a classroom where they are all laughing while making fun of someone. You laugh along with them, so that you won’t be the next “victim.”

1 John 2:15–17 (NKJV)

15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.

17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

Do love = ἀγαπάω agapaō = One who loves the world as a habit of life to the exclusion of any love for God.

The love of God does not dwell in him as the ruling principle of his life.

World = κόσμος kosmos = the system of practices and standards associated with secular society (that is, without reference to any demands or requirements of God); world system, world’s standards, world.

world system: the people constituting the world whose values, beliefs, and morals are in distinction and rebellion to God’s.

1 Corinthians 5:9–11 (NIV84)

9I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—

10not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

Not loving the world does not mean that we are to isolate ourselves from unbelievers.

Lust = ἐπιθυμία epithumia = a desire for something forbidden or simply inordinate (excessive), craving, lust.

to strongly desire to have what belongs to someone else and/or to engage in an activity which is morally wrong; to covet, to lust, evil desires, lust, desire.

Many people think that the word lust just means an illicit sexual desire. Lust encompasses all forms of improper and excessive desires.

Flesh = σάρξ sarx = The totally depraved nature as governing the individual’s reason, will, and emotions.

Flesh here has no reference to the physical body except as that body is controlled or energized by the evil nature.

The physical body and its members in themselves have no evil desires except as controlled by the totally depraved nature.

Eyes = ὀφθαλμός ophthalmos = the organ of sight.

The passionate cravings of the eyes for satisfaction, these cravings finding their source in the evil nature.

Pride = ἀλαζονεία alazoneia 2x = false pride: a self-exalting, self-absorbed conceit of one’s own superiority; especially one that believes that all achievements are of their own doing.

See James 4:16, “and brag”

empty, braggart talk or display; swagger; and hence an insolent and vain assurance in one’s own resources, or in the stability of earthly things, which issues in a contempt of divine laws.

Of life = βίος bios = means of living; sustenance, maintenance, substance, goods.

the vainglory (boastfulness) which belongs to the present life.

Is passing away = παράγω paragō = to go out of existence, pass away, disappear

God is causing the world to come to its end. It is being caused to pass by in a vain (futile) show, this parade of the world.

Wuest Translation: Stop considering the world precious with the result that you love it, and the things in the world. If anyone as a habit of life is considering the world precious and is therefore loving it, there does not exist the love possessed by the Father in him. Because everything which is in the world, the passionate desire of the flesh, and the passionate desire of the eyes, and the insolent and empty assurance which trusts in the things that serve the creature life, is not from the Father as a source but is from the world as a source. And the world is being caused to pass away, and its passionate desire. But the one who keeps on habitually doing the will of God abides forever.

Matthew 6:26 (NIV84)

26Look 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?

We are fearfully and wonderfully made!