What, me worry?
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Me
Worry? I can just throw the word up there and some of you have an instant reaction. Tightness in the chest. Sweats. Uncontrolled thoughts. Fidgeting.
So here is a picture of a kitty to help.
My grandma really knew how to worry. When I was a little kid all of the cousins decided to ride our bikes from Glendale to the big city of Chilliwack. About 10 Kilometers.
We were traveling to the dairy queen to top off our tanks. When we got there my brother called grandma to say everything was OK. Apparently he did not let her know where were going and it sounded like a panicked conversation on the other end. What I didn’t hear until my brother hung up the phone was my grandma saying, “What if you get hit by a car!!!” To which my brother replied, “We’ll call you.” And grandma in her great love for her grand kids said, “But you’ll be dead!”
What I didn’t realize was the hold that anxiety had on my family. I was an anxious child. When I was six or seven migraines plagued my existence. I remember going in for tests and CT scans to see if something was wrong.
Life went by pretty good, school marriage kids. Then through a series of events I started to shut down and anxiety became a very real daily thing in my life. I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and was put on medication, which I am still on today. Now my life is a constant battle of evaluating what are the chemical things going on in my body that are creating the tension and what are the social and spiritual things that lead me into the sin of worry.
Today we aren’t talking about the issue of anxiety from a chemical or physiological standpoint because that is a very real thing and can require treatment to manage the symptoms along with behavior modification. What we are talking about today is the sin of worry and where it comes from. Some of the steps to conquering worry will look similar, but there are also significant differences which we won’t get into today.
In our Q and A Series September 28, 2014, We explored a biblical response to mental illness so if you are interested in that please check it out from the teaching archives on the website.
Maybe for you the thought of school starting in the next few weeks is freaking you out. Maybe you aren’t sure where the next pay check is going to come from and you don’t know what to do. Maybe you have people coming to visit and you know that they will say careless words when they see you and it is turning your stomach in knots. Whatever it may be there are times in our life where we have worried. And sometimes that worry started to impact how we lived, the decisions we made, our thoughts, and even our health.
Maybe for you the thought of school starting in the next few weeks freaks you out
Even though this worry thing seems like a problem for today. Apparently it was quiet prevalent in the time of Jesus. You see worry wasn’t really the core issue, it was a symptom of something greater. We can get to the heart of our worry by asking the question, “Who do I trust?”
Jesus was in the midst of his followers and a larger group of people. Actually it was a crowd of thousands. He was teaching on why he had come and the hope the people needed to have in him and his Father when someone in the crowd shouts out.
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
When I was a kid my granpa passed away and there were 9 brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles who all had to go into the house and disperse the assets. There was tension. In the end I got my grandpas old yellow baseball cap. Kept it for years. But when it comes to things like estates, it can be a challenging time for a family. This was probably the younger brother because he didn’t have control of the money and from what Jesus says, he was concerned or worried for himself.
Luke
When I was a kid my granpa passed away and there were 9 brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles who all had to go into the house and disperse the assets. There was tension. In the end I got my grandpas old yellow baseball cap. Kept it for years. But when it comes to things like estates, it can be a challenging time for a family. This was probably the younger brother because he didn’t have control of the money and from what Jesus says, he was concerned or worried for himself.
So Jesus replies,
Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Luke 12:14-
The first verse flies in the face of our culture. Of course the abundance of my possessions is what my life is. Of course greed isn’t that bad if it lets me live comfortably. Some of the people I admire the most are the ones who lose everything. Shrug their shoulders and keep following God.
That wasn’t the case with this guy. Jesus saw his heart. His motives. Jesus refuses to take a legal stand on the issue and instead turns it into a values, a moral discussion. So Jesus shares this story about the rich man. It is fairly straight forward. What the world and many Christians would call good sense God uses fool. Tonight your life will be demanded of you. The verb their for demanded in its form here actually means to demand back. God is saying, “I gave you life…now I am calling in that dept. We’ll see what was done with what I gave you.”
My life is a gift. Your life is a gift. The fact that you can breath in and out, is a gift. How would your life change if you started to think of it as a gift from God. Something he is lending you for a time and one day will call in that Life? We all face death. It is a reality. Something that we cannot beat. Our stuff here does not carry on into eternity. Are my things my things, or do I hold everything I have with open palms recognizing that I’ve just been given management of them for a little while?
After this Jesus turns to his disciples, his closest friends and gets to the heart of the matter.
And it gets to the heart of what we need to know today.
God is Trustworthy
God is Trustworthy
So Jesus says.
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, 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, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, 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, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Luke 12:
Luke 12:22-
Is life more than what I have?
What is this worry anyway. It just seems like people trying to do the best they can in life and take care of themselves and their family.
But worry is way more than that. Worry is what takes my focus off of God and the fact that I can trust him.
— “everything that does not come from faith is sin.” Worry in essence is a lack of faith. My grandma, who loved Jesus, and was a huge example to us of true faith still had her struggles with worry. And sometimes she would go to the absolute worst case scenario for what could happen to us.
But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
Sydney sleep walking -40 (300).
Life became one of barricading the doors at night and setting up sound alarms in case she decided to do something like that again. Worry became a nightly exercise assuming the worst of what could happen. But at some point we realized that we had to trust God with all of our children’s lives. And that is what we do with worry, we go to the worst possible outcome and try to do what we can to keep the extreme from happening. And slowly our gaze moves from the one who we can trust. Jesus. To the temporary situation we find ourselves in.
We get headaches, we get ulcers, we can’t sleep, our shoulders get tense, we shut down, we freeze up, relationships get tense, we lose joy, we lose peace. And then you know what we do. We try to manage. We try to define the outcome for our worry to be defeated. We medicate through legal and illegal means. Sometimes we succeed for awhile, sometimes we don’t. One some level everyone of us has worried about something. And I’m not talking about being frightened or scared, like when your kid runs out in traffic and we have to respond. That’s healthy to be afraid then and do something about it. If you didn’t people might think you were kind of strange. Where worry kicks in is starting dwell on all the possible situations that that could happen in in the future. And we build on that event working ourselves up for something that might never happen.
When the world financial market took a hit a number of years ago I saw people panic and start to try to manage the situation and the money they had lost really caused a movement of worry.What if I’m not set up for the retirement I want. What if I lose everything.
All the while Jesus is saying,”My child, you worry to much, I’ve got this.”
Ravens in the time of Jesus where what was called an unclean bird. Jesus is reaching to the bottom of the bird barrel for this illustration. Ravens were considered bad luck and spikes were even put on the top of the temple in Jerusalem to keep them away. Yet, for this super unpopular bird in ancient Jewish culture Jesus says, “Look how I take care of them.”
Aren’t you much more valuable than a Raven?
How is worrying adding a single day to your life?
Jesus points to his creation to show how much God takes care of things.
The world says, prepare, prepare, prepare, store, store, store.
Chris Lehmann addresses this uniquely American tendency in The Money Cult: Capitalism, Christianity, and the Unmaking of the American Dream. He analyzes the particularly American fusion of capitalism and evangelical Christianity—what he calls “the Money Cult”—and argues that American Protestant Christianity has not only adapted to the mandates of the market, but has sanctified them. Rather than critiquing wealth, power, and pursuit of profit, these qualities became the stuff of divinity.
Jesus’ response to all of this,
But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Jesus isn’t saying you are going to be wealthy here. He isn’t promoting an idea that if I seek his kingdom more, my wealth will increase. Some people are going to be poor all their life, and they will have a deep, rich relationship with God.
My own story is one of worry. Do people like me? Am I in the right crowd? Am I popular enough? Am I a good husband? Am I a good Father? Whether my worry caused an anxiety disorder, or my anxiety disorder fed my worry, I don’t know. What I do know is that God has brought healing in many areas of my life when it comes to worry. But I know I still have a ways to go. That is why the last part of this passage is so important. Remember Jesus is talking to his closest friends here, the disciples. And with a term that implies a deep care for them says,
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 12:
In my worry I do have to ask. Has God ever let me down or left me alone. No. Has he always provided, maybe not in ways I thought but in ways that I was taken care of Yes. Did I always go along with his plan. No. That did lead to more worry. But in working through my own worries there are some things that I have kept coming back to.
“According to the Bible, there is nothing wrong with realistically acknowledging and trying to deal with the identifiable problems of life. To ignore danger is fooling and wrong. But it is also wrong, as well as unhealthy, to be immobilized by excessive worry. Such worry must be committed to prayer to God, who can release us from paralyzing fear or anxiety, and free us to deal realistically with the needs and welfare both of others and of ourselves.” (Dr. Gary R. Collins, Christian Counseling, p. 66.)
Because I know that God is trustworthy. He is faithful. There are some I will statements that I have applied in my own life.
I will remember God’s promises.
I will remember God’s promises.
There are so many promises in scripture that are their for believers to remember and hold on to. Promises in this life and promises in the life that comes after we die.
If God is faithful than I can believe in the promises he makes. When I face my worst day of worry, as a follower of Jesus I can believe this truth from Philippians.
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.
“According to the Bible, there is nothing wrong with realistically acknowledging and trying to deal with the identifiable problems of life. To ignore danger is fooling and wrong. But it is also wrong, as well as unhealthy, to be immobilized by excessive worry. Such worry must be committed to prayer to God, who can release us from paralyzing fear or anxiety, and free us to deal realistically with the needs and welfare both of others and of ourselves.” (Dr. Gary R. Collins, Christian Counseling, p. 66.)
I will do what he asks.
I will do what he asks.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
I will give him what isn’t mine
I will give him what isn’t mine
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
1 Peter
Some of you are going back to elementary or high school. Lets use elementary school. The best 9 years of my life.
But full of worry. Public speaking in particular. I would have headaches for days thinking about the next speech I would have to give in class. It killed me. Stressed out about everything but the thing I did have some influence over. I didn’t want to make a fool of myself, I didn’t want to throw up in front of everyone, I didn’t want my fly to be undone. I didn’t want people to think I was dumb. I didn’t want to win.
What could I have done?
I could have remembered God’s promises.
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.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
I could have done what he asked.
A verse that transformed my thoughts and behaviour when I was working in construction was one Lisa spoke over me one night. A verse that puts life in incredible perspective.
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
As a follower of Jesus, this is how we are called to live. I could have given my best with the tools available to me.
And the rest? The stuff that I couldn’t control?
I could have given him what wasn’t mine in the first place.
The grade I would get? Not mine to worry about. Given over to God. My classmates making fun of me? Not mine to worry about. Given over to God. Whether people would think I was dumb? Not mine to worry about. Given over to God.
Do I do this today. Not perfectly. But regularly. I’m tired of the sin of worry even having a place in my life.
Picture:
My dad drew this picture for me when I first started as a pastor. It says, if your eye be single your whole body will be full of light. It is a older translation of
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.
I don’t know what you are worried about today, but I am tired of worry being in my life. Worry has frozen me up to many times, it has caused me to shut people out to many times. It has robbed me of the joy that Jesus wants to give his children to many times. Will you today take a step with me to trust God more?
Will you say with me,
I will remember God’s promises
I will do what he asks
and
I will give him what isn’t mine.
Then we will begin to see where our treasure really needs to be.
Then we will live out of the promise...
For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.
And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.
Let’s pray.
But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.