Anxiety? No problem!
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· 5 viewsAnxiety is a real problem. Seek first the Kingdom of God and He will take it from there.
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Opening Story
In today’s world we worry about being worried.
We read books on how not to worry. We take classes on how not to worry. We do exercises that are supposed to help us relieve stress and not worry. We were fitbits and other things that tell us how much we are worried so we can work on not worrying.
A couple of thousand years ago when Jesus was speaking to this group, do you know how different it was for them? Well, apparently, it wasn’t different. They were worried then also.
Question
How can Jesus truly expect us not to worry?
In today’s world, with today’s problems, can we accomplish
Is it possible for us not to worry?
Text
In out text this morning we will read the word worry six times.
25 “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Don’t worry...
To be completely honest, that is a very hard thing to do for me and I expect for most, if not all, of you also.
Christ isn’t instructing us to not worry because He is a control freak. He tells us not to worry because He loves us.
If God created us - which is a really big deal! Then we can trust in Him to clothe and feed us - which is kind of a smaller deal.
26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?
I love how Christ points to birds here. Birds work, they work hard. They rise early (which often makes me rise early.) They get their food, they make their nest and they do all of that just to move south in a couple of months.
A birds needs are completely met by nature (by what God provides.)
Christ points out that you are more important than a bird. Out of everything that was created in the Genesis story, you and I are the only creations created in God’s image. Everything else God created He said that it was good. When He made man and woman, He said it was very good.
27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?
According to the Mayo Clinic...
What worry does to your body:
headache
muscle tension or pain
chest pain
fatigue
On your moodOn your behaviorHeadacheAnxietyOvereating or undereatingMuscle tension or painRestlessnessAngry outburstsChest painLack of motivation or focusDrug or alcohol misuseFatigueFeeling overwhelmedTobacco useChange in sex driveIrritability or angerSocial withdrawalStomach upsetSadness or depressionExercising less oftenSleep problems
change in sex drive
stomach upset
sleep problems
What worry does to your mood:
anxiety
restlessness
lack of motivation or focus
feeling overwhelmed
irritability or anger
sadness or depression
What worry does to your behavior:
overeating or undereating
angry outburst
drug or alcohol misuse
tobacco use
social withdrawal
exercising less often
28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these.
30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?
Matthew 6:28
Now we look at wildflowers.
They do nothing but take in God’s sun, nutrients and water. They don’t put their makeup on in the morning. Yet they are more beautiful than anything you can find in a gallery or a museum.
Wild flowers are beautiful, they are picked, and they are thrown in the fire used as fuel for ovens in which they baked bread.
If God makes these flowers so beautiful just so they can die or be thrown into the fire, how much more God will provide for you.
31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Don’t worry because God (our Heavenly Father) already knows these needs.
I actually see Christ giving a permission to worry here. We are to worry about things that God is not aware of.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
Matthew 6:33
We put trust in God first and He will take care of the rest of life. This renders worry totally unnecessary and even useless.
When our priorities are straight in with storing our treasures in heaven, God will provide for every need we as humans have.
When we make God’s kingdom our first and most important desire, we will learn quickly that God will meet our needs.
34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Today’s problems are today’s problems and tomorrow’s problems are tomorrow’s problems and our Heavenly Father is complete control of every one of them.
Application
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”
Challenge
Now, not worrying about our problems does not make our problems go away. It doesn’t. There are some very real concerns represented in this room today.
What we see in our text and throughout scripture is that problems are a part of life. I truly wish all of our problems will just go away, and there will be a day when they will.
We can worry about the problem, if we choose. Now when we worry, it doesn’t help the problem and it hurts us. Or we can rely on the One who has every problem under control and has us in His hand.
Day by day. Step by step.