Worry is a waste of time

Intro:

++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.”

Prayer

story: opp to be worried because 3 kids getting their licenses / with what is going on in the world today..

Worry is a waste of time

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” anonymous

a. The root idea of the verb “worry” (merimnao) means “to be pulled apart.” don’t worry doesn’t mean don’t plan don’t worry doesn’t mean don’t be concerned

b. Concern is ok.

++worry is concern gone haywire

Concern is when you can do something to help a situation, so you do what you can do. Worry is when you can’t do something, but you don’t want to leave it up to God

c. It means to choke or strangle (holds you back from being productive) The poet Robert Frost (1874–1963) wrote, “The reason why worry kills more people than work is because more people worry than work.” d. Jesus says don’t even start to worry The grammar in 6:31 is different than 6:25. Here, Jesus is saying, “Do not begin worrying”

2. worry tells you what or who your faith is in

Worry gets us asking how? what if? but not WHO

a. Who’s your DAD?

++Worry is a hideous sin to God because it is an indictment against Him, a slap at His love. If you buy into a Creator God, you must buy into a Sustainer God—or you’re simply inconsistent.

-- What’s easier? Putting the breath of life in you? Making sure you are alive in the morning? Or putting food on the table?

— in other words if God can create life can He not sustain it as well ?

— Worry can be an indicator that we are putting our trust in something that can’t handle the weight

A-- Rachel (Jacobs wife) stole her dads idols?

Genesis 31:19 When Laban had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole her father’s household gods.

teraphim: A firstborn male human being was slaughtered; they cut off his head, salted it (to preserve it from decomposing) using both salt and oil. They inscribed on the forehead of that slain person the name of a deity such as a demon, hung it up under the tongue of the slain person on the wall, lit candles in its honour, prostrated themselves before it, and it would start speaking to the worshipper. (presumably answering questions addressed to it, like to an oracle.)

-- What is your functional god?-- Or in Rachels case her backup god? If GOD doesn't work out?-- We worry when we put inappropriate weight on an idol that cannot sustain it!

-- Financial security: I put my trust in my savings account / retirement (what if the market crashes etc??)

-- Looks: I want people to find me attractive (What about when I age?)

-- Prestige: I want to look good to people (what if I fail?)

-- Worry exposes your functional saviors, because worry reveals that we have "back up" Gods and we aren't putting the full weight of trust on the God that can capacitate our every need! -- Let the same circumstances that can create worry draw you to God’s promises and presence.

-- ++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.”

Fear and anxiety and worry is reality - God

Faith is simply reality + God

When you are worried press in. Lock the door get away with Jesus. Go to the wilderness and pray. Settle it in your soul. Until you KNOW that God is coming through. Find that passage. Cling onto it. OWN it.

++Psalm 104:10–16 “He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the sky nest by the waters; they sing among the branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work. He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth: wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts. The trees of the Lord are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.”

3. trade your worry for Kingdom work

-- The Kingdom is simply The rule and the reign of God

-- Jesus says this earlier in the chapter

24 “No one can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.

-- There is a cruel master by the name of Mammon. It will propel you to the place of unsatisfying consumerism

-- Mammon: is the enemies way of keeping us focused on wealth and greed.. It was sometimes used to describe all lusts and excesses: gluttony, greed, and dishonest worldly gain. Ultimately, mammon described an idol of materialism, which many trusted as a foundation for their world and philosophy.

-- But Jesus says the pagans make that their “high calling”!

-- First we receive that rule and reign into our lives

-- When we invite the reign and rule of God into our lives, it’s difficult to give into the sin of worry and anxiety--

-- We are called to the Next level which is going beyond being in your life and extending the Kingdom into others

++Luke 4:18 ““The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,”

— Let’s be contributors not consumers!!

closing:

Gethsemane

-- Jesus went and asked three times, means He was looking forward to the cross and all of it's horror.

-- It was a process as you can imagine surrendering to all that would happen to Him

-- We know from the Gethsemane account from the Gospel of Luke that he was in agony- agonia ag-o-nee'-ah: (properly the feeling of the athlete before a contest), great fear, terror, of death; anxiety, agony.

-- And that He got to the point where He had a medical condition called hematidrosis, a condition in which capillary blood vessels that feed the sweat glands rupture, causing them to exude blood, occurring under conditions of extreme physical or emotional stress.

BUT BECAUSE HE IS GOD HE COULD ENDURE WHATEVER WAS BEFORE HIM.

— HE DID GODS WILL. He exchanged worry for the Kingdom. He was the example for us of being a contributor vs a consumer,: So we could be included! He was thinking about us!!

— That means a few things for us when it comes to worry.

a When we are focused on Him and His Kingdom we can get through anything

Hebrews 12:2 “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

b We are perfectly loved and that casts out all fear

c. Unlike the “salted heads” He can sustain the weight of the World. He CARES FOR YOU and HE CARRIES YOU:

Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”

Communion

Psalm 23:5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

— in the presence of all that comes against you, all that can worry you He invites you to a meal.. Where you are protected on all sides..

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”