Do Not Worry

Introduction

You know that feeling when you get your paycheck just in time? Or when you go to the coffee shop and peek in your wallet and realize you have enough money to get the big coffee WITH a special flavor added in? Or when you come in under budget and you have a little money left over at the end of the month to go out to a nice dinner?

You breathe a sigh of relief, your heartbeat slows, and you praise God for His provision (or pat yourself on the back for your savvy saving skills). If you know that feeling, you might also know the feeling of anxiety when you look at your bank statement and the number is lower than you expected. Or when a credit card bill comes in that was higher than you anticipated. Or when you consider the cost of health insurance, and doctors’ visits, and food, and rent, and student loans, and . . .

The list grows, as your heart beats faster and your breaths get shorter. Your stomach drops and you feel overwhelmed and a little scared.

What is it that causes us to feel this way?

Sense of self security in a viscious world.

We worry and become anxious when our focus is on what we have now and what we can secure for ourselves...

Worry traps us in trusting ourselves instead of God and His provisions

Causing us to seek earthly kingdom over God’s kingdom

Jesus addressed worry in our text today knowing that all people struggle with it and fix our eyes on tomorrow and our security instead of on the promises of God.

This is where the tension lies.

We want to trust God to provide for us and rely on His goodness, but yet we still worry and wrestle with whether or not that will happen.

But Jesus said that:

$ Main Theme: God's will for us is to seek His kingdom and trust His treasure of salvation that He has graciously given us through Christ.

A dense fog covering seven city blocks to a depth of a hundred feet contains less than one glass of water. All of that fog, if it could be condensed into water, wouldn't quite fill a drinking glass. Compare this to the things we often worry about.

Like fog our worries can thoroughly block our vision of the light of God's promises, but the fact is, worries have little substance to them.

Transition: Worry has little substance to them because life is more than just food and clothing.

Life is more than the Material

How can this be?

Life is more than just the material aspect of life… of life here on earth

Remember last week, the rich fool, how life on earth is not gauranteed to last (you never know when “that day” will come)

Luke 12:22–28 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!

So if life is more than just the material/earthly aspect of our existence, then we should view life in all its aspects:

So if life is more than just the material/earthly aspect of our existence, then we should view life in all its aspects:

Both the here and now and also, our future which is after this earthly life

The reason we don’t need to worry about our life is that God views our life as a whole and provides for the whole of your life.

The nature of God is provision for more than just today -- He provides not only for your daily needs, but also for your eternity.

That is His nature

Break down each verse here describing the nature of God.

Luke 12:29–30 ESV

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.

Break down these 2 verses

You see God already knows what you need for life on this earth

He doesn’t want you to worry, because He has it under control

Instead He wants you to seek His kingdom/focus on His kingdom and He will take care of the rest

Luke 12:31 ESV

Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Transition: It is God’s good pleasure for you to have His kingdom and to take care of you -- His child.

God’s Good pleasure to give

Luke 12:32 ESV

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

It pleases Him to give you the kingdom

Your life is greater than existing on earth and God provided you a way into the kingdom that has no end and is full of His riches.

$ He gives you the kingdom through Jesus Christ!

There is nothing to worry about because God knows your true need and provided for that need.

Look to the cross… see Jesus hanging naked, hungry, and thirsty.

He hung there so that we wouldn’t have to hang there naked, hungry, and thirsty.

He took our sin so that we could receive the best treasure of the kingdom: forgiveness of sins -- reconciliation to God the Father.

Like the rich fool from last week:

No matter how many barns he had, no matter how much he trusted in himself to have security in this life… none of it compares to the treasure God has given us in the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ!

We are ravens living every day trusting in God to provide!

And He does provide!

There is nothing to fear or worry about because God knew your deep need and provided for that need.

Trust in God: in His love, care, and grace… seek His Kingdom

He sacrificed His Son to give us the treasure of salvation

it doesn’t grow old and doesn’t rot.

Transition: He has given us every treasure of the kingdom in Christ.

Landing the Plane

$ Main Theme: God's will for us is to seek His kingdom and trust His treasure of salvation that He has graciously given us through Christ.

Do not worry:

Do not worry:

Just as the flowers and grass of the field require days of sunshine as well as days of stormy weather to grow and develop, so God's children (whom he cares for) will be guided through stormy weather as well as sunshine, but everything will co-operate for the good of those who love Him.

Seek Jesus, the kingdom of God. All your worries can be brought to him at the cross where he buries them in death, along with your sin, and by his grace saves you from it, raising you up, giving you His kingdom and promising you true and everlasting life.

So what I want you to do: either when you leave today or tomorrow morning: Write… (worries on paper/give them to God in prayer/burn the paper)

In this life, it is easy to trust in the tangible—the things we can see.

We see our paycheck come into our bank account.

We see how much cash we have in our wallet.

We see the way a friend or family member comes through to meet a financial need just in time.

What we cannot see or do not always see:

the invisible hand of God that is holding the world together and sustaining our very lives.

We don't see the ways he works in the background to provide for us day after day.

We don't see how he specifically orchestrates every detail of our lives to draw us near to him and His kingdom that he has given to us in Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 11:1

S I want you to do: either when you leave toda

Don’t let the things of this world define you -- it will lead to worry and anxiety.

Let God be the one to define your life.

Jesus defines who you are in this world.

His child, saved by His grace through Christ and an heir to His kingdom, secured in His riches for eternity.

Psalm 33:20 ESV

Our soul waits for the Lord; he is our help and our shield.

Amen.

Amen.

Psalm33

Amen