Why Worry?

Hello I hope all of you are excited to get summer started. We have got a lot of fun events planned for you guys as we go along this summer. Make sure you guys are grabbing calendars and taking them home. Share them with your family just so you guys know when things are happening.

But hey anyway it is officially summer time. Last day of school is Friday!!! I’m super excited for you guys! Any fun summer plans you guys want to share with the group? (Students get a chance to answer)

Well awesome, tonight we are going to continue in our study of Luke. I feel like tonight we bring some things full circle. We talked about the spirit of peace going before us to help guide us in what it is that we are supposed to do. We talked about the Golden Law and who actually Justifies us against the law. Then we talked about How Jesus wants and is relational.

Tonight we are going to talk about worry. Statistically 1/3 to 1/2 of high school students would say they are overwhelmed with what they are going to do after high school.

About 1/3 of students will experience some sort of anxiety disorder at some point of their high school career.

I would say if that's you know your not alone. I've been there. You have leaders and fellow students who have walked through tough situations that if you need to talk about your situation specific… We are the church family and would love to be there for you.

I've been reading through a book. The whole premise of the book is this idea of the “gooder life” Or what we might think is the best life possible for us.

Its been pretty good read so far and I find it to be very relatable to this topic of worry.

The “gooder life” is the idea of total happiness. In America being happy is the highest of virtues, or you might say the highest of goods, it would appear and people are willing to do anything to gain total happiness.

The thing that will make you happy to is a total individual thing. What makes me feel happy might not make you feel happy. This is something that we want. It is influenced by the people around us. moms/dads friends, teachers..

The thing I've come to understand is this happiness is always a future thought. Or its a thought that comes from an experience you once had and are trying to recreate.

People don't often describe their current state of being as happy. They typically say I'm fine. Things are okay. I'm doing the same thing today as i was yesterday.

Someone might say ill be happy when x, y, and z happen. Or you might say well happiness was a time in my life when these things were happening.

Has anyone ever said something like this?

With that being said, if happiness was something that happened in the past or its an idea set farther down the line with some achievement, the future tends to be where happiness lands.

this is not to say that you don't have moments now where you aren't happy. Or that you aren't going through a moment of happy.

Happiness per the webster dictionary is a state of well-being and contentment, or a pleasurable and satisfying experience.

With that what does your life look like to say you are happy? Or are you living in that space of happy?

Or does your happiness even matter?

Here is the thing about worry or anxiety. It comes from a place of tomorrow and trying to have the best outcome of being happy.

so if happiness comes from being content with things then todays struggles tend to look like what's not making me happy and how do i correct them.

i would also say happy or contentment (feeling okay with things) comes from our own ability to provide our needs.

Example i don't want to walk around naked so I fill my closest with clothes.

The happy would say I don't want just old ugly clothes though i want something that feels like me and looks good.

So my happy there would say that i have several outfits of clothes that look good that i can have in my closet for me.

another example i don't like going hungry. So i would make sure that my fridge is full of food. Not only food, but food that i like. Food that is healthy. If my fridge is full i will be happy.

i could keep going. My boyfriend or girlfriend needs to be someone who is loyal and loves me. But not only loyal and loves me but needs to be the best looking i can have. Not only that but needs to put my needs above their own. If i have that then ill be happy.

you could say that about cars. houses. careers. investments.… the list go’s on and on.

So however we put the spin on happiness todays worries will be about getting that state of happy.

With that we are going to talk about what the bible has to say about happiness. Because it does matter and God does care about how you feel.

Luke 12:15–21 ESV

And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

So Jesus tells his disciples a story to get his point across.

The wealthy farmer says I have worked my life to get to the point of constant contentment. For me to be happy I want to be able to relax, eat, drink, and be merry.

This guy sounds like the apotome of our culture. I want to go to school get good grades. Get a high paying, respectable job so i can retire at a decent age and then i can retire and be merry. Retire and go fishing every day. Retire and sit by the pool. Retire and chill.

Cultures idea of the gooder life is the relax. I've worked so hard and i deserve this. I made it to this blissful state of being.

In this story Jesus says the wealthy farmer got to this point.

But at the same time that he has achieved this state of happiness. His whole life work to get to this state of being. He dies.

Now what?

What's going to happen to all that stored food?

Its going to rot. No one to enjoy all of the labor that went into this.

So why then would we spend our whole life worrying and working to this goal of continuous happiness. Or maybe happiness might look like something more that satisfying our own needs?

Jesus continues on here in

Luke 12:22–34 ESV

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, 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, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Who can add one more day to their life because they were worried? We spend so much time thinking about tomorrow and what we will do, say, how much we will make, what our lifestyle will look like.

None of that though adds time to this earth. We all go out the same. A rich man goes out the same way a poor man goes out. We all stand before God one day.

Jesus doesn’t look down on you. He knows where you live and the things that you need.

Look at what he says about the ravens. They don’t have to go to a 9-5 job every day to survive. They simply do. They simply exist and make a nest and have life. And God provides all of that for them.

How much more value are you!

The bible says the Jesus loves you, that right you, sitting in that chair he loves you, so much that he wasn't willing to just lose you to the world. The world that sits here and tries to build itself up to comfort. He wanted you. He died so you could be called perfect. Giving us his perfection. So you could be under his grace and protection.

Life is more than food, the body is more than comfort. Jesus says don't be anxious because life is more than these things. But just as the lilies don't go to the 9-5 they don't work at all and they have their clothes and are protected. How much more important are you than they.

Jesus didn't come and die for the lily. He came for you! I hope you know that today. I hope that you know how loved you are.

Jesus says that it is our heavenly fathers pleaser.

It pleases God to give us the kingdom. He wants to bless us!

The things that trouble us though. The things we all chase after. The gooder life. Jesus is asking us to throw that chase away. I'm not saying we don't need to make a living. But to an extent i am saying working our lives away to make a life of comfort isn't what we are called to as well.

What does he say. Seek first the kingdom of heaven. Seek it first. Before anything else. Jesus what would you have me do! How can i honor you! how can i do anything that pleases you. Seek first the kingdom of heaven then all of these things, the clothes, the food, the times of relaxation these things will all be added to us. God knows what we need.

He knows we need the spirit of peace, he knows we need mercy, He knows we need to be loved, he knows we need clothes, he knows we need a home, he knows we need to be justified. Seek first the kingdom of heaven and all these things will be added to you.

If your in the room today and you don't know Jesus. If your in the room today saying my life is constant anxiety about tomorrow. If your in the room today and want the discernment of the holy spirit in your life.

You can have it. I'm not saying your life will just change. But i am saying that Jesus will move on your behalf. He will answer prayer. Jesus says Knock and the door will be opened to you. Seek and you will find him.

If your in the room and have never called upon the name of the lord. You can do that right here.

In Romans 10:9-10

Romans 10:9–10 ESV

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Jesus Loves you. Loves you so much he came born as a baby just as you and i, Lived a perfect life, became the perfect example to you, then was sent to the cross. On the cross Paul says he became sin on the cross for you and i and that sin died. Then he resurrected justifying you forever.

So tonight Jesus isn't saying “you should never feel worried. He is saying you don’t have to let worry run your life. He knows the future your trying to control.

So i want to challenge us this week. What does it look like to seek the kingdom first in your situation? What's one area of your life that you want to give to Jesus? Maybe it looks like apologizing to someone. Maybe it looks like spending 10 minutes alone with God. Turning your phone off and sit with him.

If you are here and you do not know Jesus, this is where peace begins.

With that. Lets pray.