Sermon.Fruit of the Spirit.Peace
Fruit of the Spirit:Peace - a look at 3 ‘worry magnets’
Worry Magnet #1: How others view me
[MJ1]
It was going to be perfect … she had it all planned out. They had only got the [MJ2] call from him last night that he was coming back into town for a flying visit, but already she had mapped out every detail of a nice intimate dinner party for this evening..
He didn’t often stop by and visit them - her, her sister and her brother (yes, still living together and none of them would see 25 again!). But every time he visited you always got the impression that he wanted to stay longer … it’s just that he was always working so hard … travelling to this part of the country and that. Doing important things. Being an important person.
These days she even heard other people tell her about how he was now an ‘important person’- funny to think about that when she and her sister and brother had known him when he was still a ‘nobody’.
Never a nobody to them, of course. He was practically family., and he had that rare gift of lighting up any room he walked into, Yes, she must have a good sit down with him tonight and catch up on the latest goss! … it had been too long. Tonight was going to be perfect!
But before that, she had a dinner party to plan. There were caterers to organise … (still had to decide on the dessert - the cheesecake or the eclairs?), flowers to arrange, napkins to fold, music to select (maybe a bit of gentle jazz to show off her sophistication!). Mary, her sister, had agreed to get off work early to help set up, but her brother was hopeless and she expected no help from that quarter! He would probably sit in the kitchen chatting with the caterers and eating the food. Best to keep him right out of it.
She went out to the shops that afternoon and bought all her supplies for the evening. Nothing but the best. She prided herself on her hospitality, and tonight had to be perfect.
By the time 4:00 rolled around she had the table arranged … still no Mary! Where was she? She was the arty one, and had agreed to do the flowers.
5:00 came. Still no caterers. Still no Mary. She would just have to do the flowers herself.
5:20, and with the flower arrangement looking like a floral bad hair day, she finally got the call from Mary - something had come up at work, and she would be late. Figures! She was always so irresponsible …
5:45 and the caterers finally arrived - she showed them into the kitchen and tried to be polite … at least until after they had served the food.
6:07 and her sister and brother finally walk through the door laughing together about some TV program from last night. How dare they treat this lightly! Don’t they know that tonight has to be perfect? He’s coming!
Finally everything was arranged … now all that was needed was the jazz. As she pressed ‘play’ on the stereo, a knock came at the door. At last - it’s him! They all crowded the entrance-way with expectant smiles and she opened the door.
There he was … large as life … grinning that same old grin … stepping forward to smother her in an enthusiastic hug … then Mary … shaking her brother’s hand at the same time … but … who were all the others?
He had brought a crowd! There they were, standing on the doorstep looking at her. Still pumping hands, he glanced at her with a smile and said, “I brought some friends along for dinner. You don’t mind do you?”
Her world crashed. She felt dizzy. Her perfect, intimate family dinner … ruined … by a rugby team.
But composure is everything!
“Of course”, she managed to stammer, before excusing herself and retreating gracefully to the kitchen.
Disaster! Crisis! Spotting an unsuspecting caterer by the oven she snapped “Get cooking … get take-out … I don’t care! Just get me more food!”. She would rescue this night yet.
Rolling up her sleeves she began cooking for the unexpected hungry horde.
But it wasn’t long before she realised that Mary was no-where to be seen. Where was she? She should be in here peeling potatoes or something.
She walked out to the lounge and was met by this scene. There was the crowd sitting around the lounge, squeezed onto sofas and perching on arm-rests, … entranced by something her guest was saying. And there was Mary sitting on the carpet at his feet, gazing up at him, completely absorbed.
Everyone was quiet.
She was outraged.
These guys had ruined her night! And how dare Mary just sit there!
She made her way through the bodies to where he sat talking, hiding her raging anger behind surface politeness.
He looked up at her and smiled as she bent her head and whispered fiercely in his ear,
“I need Mary in the kitchen … now! Do something! Tell her to come and help me”
He glanced down at Mary and then back at her and gently said:
What? If this was Jesus sitting there talking, what would he say?
‘Martha, Martha. You have got so many ‘needs’ that you are worried and upset about, but only one thing is needed. Mary has made the best decision, and I’m not going to talk her out of it.”
(Luke 10:38-41)
Why did she ask Jesus to tell Mary? I reckon, it’s because she had already asked Mary and she had said no - this is more important.
Closeness to Jesus.
Live for the approval of Jesus. This is the one thing you need to watch out for.
Something that I have found … if I have that one thing right … all else falls into place.
John 7:1-13
when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
All of these messages coming at him …
· do this
· go there
But he held onto his one thing firmly.
Worry Magnet #2: The Future
People had told Stuart that 30 years old was supposed to be the prime of your life. He didn’t know - he was only 23, but things were looking pretty good for him already - and he planned to make the future even better.
Stuart was a surfer … both in work and play. At work, he had caught the information technology wave sweeping the computer industry along, and was riding it very nicely thank-you. He was already a junior manager and his prospects looked good. On his occasional day off (if he ever got around to taking one) he could always be found surfing on a West Coast beach somewhere. Come to think of it, he hadn’t made it to a beach for a very long time. Must pull the old board out sometime … still, there will be other days.
Sandy, his girl-friend was always nagging him about the amount of time he spent at work. She told him that he wasn’t ‘investing in their relationship’. She said she hardly knew him anymore.
She just didn’t understand that he was investing in their relationship- or at least, investing in their future. He planned to be a rich man by the time he was 30, and he bet she wouldn’t be complaining then! He supposed he should take a night off and take her out somewhere fancy. He couldn’t do it this week because of the report that he had to write, but there would be other days. Something to think about …
His parents were of the old school - their faith was important to them, and they kept badgering him to go to church. He’d been a few times with Sandy to her church, but Sundays were usually spent on the web, seeing what the competitors were doing.
It’s not that he disliked church … it’s just that he had more important things to do. Still, there would be other days.
Stuart had had a lucky break just out of high school. His current boss had offered him a position in his IT company even though he hadn’t had any tertiary training, and he had quickly become the shining light of their company. “Watch this space” was written all over his career.
He still remembered what his boss had said when he told him he had the job,
“Stuart, you get out of life what you put in, but if you put in the work, you get the rewards. And if you get the rewards, then nothing will be able to touch you”.
Stuart had been junior manager for a year. He was expecting a promotion any day now - his boss had already said as much.
One Thursday afternoon while he was at work, his boss came over to his desk.
“Stuart”, he said, “great news!. Your client says that if we perform for them in the next financial quarter, they will offer us the contract. This will be the biggest contract our company has ever won, and if you swing it, it will set you up for life. But it’s gonna take every second of your day to make it happen. Will you go for it?”
This was the chance Stuart had been waiting for.
“Absolutely”, he said.
And so for the next 3 months, Stuart worked night and day. He saw virtually nothing of Sandy (although he texted her occasionally), and saw even less of his family and friends. But he figured it was worth it. If this break came, then he could do anything he ever dreamed of doing. He and Sandy could settle down with security.
Finally, the work was completed. The boss came to his desk and with a huge grin, shook his hand and said ‘We’ve got the contract. The drinks are on me!”
The entire office staff celebrated that night in the local pub. Stuart was the toast of the company and after the speeches were said, and the drinks were drunk, he remembered to call Sandy.
“Hey there”, he told here when she answered the phone. “You won’t believe it … - we got the contract! We are set for life”. She sounded pleased for him although a little distant.
He supposed he hadn’t treated her too well lately. Still, there was always tomorrow.
He got into his car to drive home. But on the way home he fell asleep at the wheel and drove into a power-pole at 115 km/hour. Stuart was killed instantly.
What would God call Stuart?
Fool. You are a fool. (Luke 12:20)
He was so concerned with securing his life, he forgot to live.
He said so often ‘there will be other days’, but he didn’t realise that …
Luke 12:22-34
Do not worry. Why?
· You can miss out on living by trying to stay alive
22 I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23 Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
· We are valuable to God
24 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!
· Worrying achieves nothing.
25 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 26 Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
· God knows our needs already
29 And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.
· Go for what life is all about … trust God to provide the needs of living.
31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Worry Magnet #3: Possessions
There once was a village in the middle of the African outback - it was a traditional village, with the huts made of rough wood and straw thatching for roofs. Hunters went out daily to kill game, while the women and children stayed at the village cultivating the crops and looking after the chickens.
One young boy named Toto, who had the job of looking after his father’s chicken, began to notice something worrying. The chicken, who lived in his father’s chicken hut wasn’t laying enough eggs to support their family. Toto was confused because it had always laid an egg a day. All he could imagine was that someone was stealing the egg after dark.
That night, he decided to stay up and hide himself in his father’s chicken hut to see if he could spot the thief. Hours of darkness went by, and Toto was almost asleep when he heard a sound in the hut.
As he watched, a snake slithered through a hole in the hut wall just large enough to fit it. It then made its way to the warm, freshly laid egg, opened its mouth wide and swallowed the egg whole.. It coiled around and made to go back through the hole, but was now too big to fit because of the unbroken egg inside it. How would it get through?
But the snake was cunning. As Toto watched, it slithered through the hole until the egg stopped its progress, and then banged its bulging belly against the edges of the hole, crushing the egg inside it.
The next morning, Toto told his father what had happened and asked what he should do.
His father, who was a great hunter, thought for a moment, and then a grin split his face.
“Get me an egg and boil some water”, he said.
Toto did as his father asked, and when the water was boiling, his father said, “Now boil the egg until it is hard”.
Once the egg was cooked, his father took it and put it on the straw in the chicken hut, just as if it was freshly laid.
That night, Toto and his father hid themselves in the chicken hut, waiting for their thief
Sure enough, when it was quite dark, Toto heard the sound of the snake coming through the hole in the wall. It poked its head through, saw the egg resting on the straw, and then entered the hut to devour the egg.
Feeling satisfied, it made its way to its escape route. It pushed its body out until it was stopped by the egg in its belly. No problems! It forced its body against the wooden gap … no success!
It did it harder and harder, but still nothing happened.. The egg inside it just wouldn’t break! It was trapped!
That was the moment the hunters were waiting for. Toto’s father leaped from his hiding place with his hunting knife swinging, and cut the snake clean through.
1 Timothy 6:10 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
So what is Jesus’ answer?
32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NIV)
If
[MJ1]
[MJ2]