Why Worry?
Notes
Transcript
What things do you worry about?
What things do you worry about?
Why do we worry about these things?
How does worrying help?
According to the book:
“The Stress-Proof Brain” by Melanie Greenberg- “85% of the things that people worry about never happen”
Worrying is something that is natural in all of us! In fact, we are wired to worry! Which is why this passage made it in this series “Tough things in the Bible.” Credit for this one goes to Virginia Terry
Matthew 6:25
Matthew 6:25
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
Do not worry about your life....
He could have stopped right there really. Do not...Worry about your life...
Worry - the word worry is the greek word “merimnaō” which means “anxious” or “anxiety”
Do not be anxious about your life....
So, if Jesus says “do not worry…do not be anxious about our life, then why are we?”
I think that there are 3 reasons why we worry.
Control
Fear of the unknown
Lack of faith
1. Control
1. Control
Who doesn't like to be in control of their life?
All of the high school students in here are like “I want to be in control of my life”
But, all of the adults in here are like “I want to go back to being a teenager so that I don’t have to be in control of my life anymore”
Free housing, free meals, all I had to worry about was my school work and keeping up with my friends!
But, seriously, we try to be in control of our lives…and to control every aspect of them.
Which, you know, seems to work out pretty well…until it doesn’t!
We are created to need. We need food and water. We need shelter and clothes. We need love. We need relationship. We need lots of things!
And, here is the culture that we grew up in, we were taught “every man for himself”
We were taught “the Lord helps those who help themselves.”
We were taught that we need to do everything that we possibly can to “come out on top”
We were taught that we, as individuals, should be strong enough to make it on our own.
But, the problem is, that is not what Jesus says!
He says:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
We spent the majority of our lives trying to control it, and become independent, when all Jesus wants from us, is to be dependent on Him!
You see, when we try to control everything in our life, it doesn’t take long before we begin to worry!
The reason that we begin to worry, is because without fail, something will go wrong!
We can’t control every aspect of our lives!
The lie of control is that we are in charge, when in fact, we aren’t.
Sure, there are areas of our lives that we are in charge of and that we can control, but there are plenty of areas that we aren’t and that we can’t control.
You see, if we want to remove worry from our lives, then we have to relinquish control of EVERY area of our life!
Jesus is the one who should control the areas of our life! He is standing there with His arms reaching out ready to take every aspect of our lives!
If we are just willing to let go, and surrender them to Him!
Jesus is the one who is all knowing! He is the one who is all powerful!
He is perfect in knowledge!
He is perfect in power.
He is perfect love.
He is perfect in His timing.
He is perfect in all of His ways!
Why would we choose to reject His free offer of guiding our lives?
To relinquish control does not show weakness, it shows understanding of who God is, and what He wants for us!
When we do this, then we can rest in Him and begin to release worry/anxiety!
The second reason that we worry is because of:
2. Fear of the unknown
2. Fear of the unknown
We simply don’t know what the future holds. And because we don’t know, we worry!
I don’t know if I am going to be able to keep this job through this pandemic - so I worry.
I don’t know if I am going to be able to pay the bills - so I worry.
I don’t know if God is going to heal me from this sickness - so I worry.
I don’t know if what I have done is good enough - so I worry.
I don’t know if.....insert here....so I worry.
Jesus asks this question:
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? No!
A fear of the unknown is NOT a reason to worry! Yet, we tend to think that we can fix the issues by worrying.
Now, I don’t want to give you a misunderstanding today. This is not an excuse to not be prepared!
I personally don’t worry too often about dying, but I still have life insurance so that if it does happen, my family is taken care of!
I do the best that I can at my job, so that I hopefully won’t be fired!
I want you to notice something in verse 26:
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
God doesn’t just let birds sit there and feed them directly with His hand.
He’s not acting as the mommy bird does for the babies and physically dropping the food into their mouths!
You see, the birds sill have hunt and search for their food!
Just because God is the provider of our needs, doesn’t mean that we can be lazy.
It just means that He provides it! And, it’s available to us!
So, please don’t think that I am telling you that you can be lazy, that you don’t need to work!
It just means that when Jesus calls us to leave everything to follow Him, that He will provide for us!
Even when we don’t know the future, we know the God that does!
And this isn’t a God that is just sitting up there watching us, and waiting for us to fail!
This is a God that loves us so much, that He offers the guidance of HIs Spirit inside of us if we are willing to accept it and follow Him!
So, “because we don’t know the future,” is not a reason to worry! It is an opportunity to trust, and follow, the One who does!
This leads us into the third reason that we worry:
3. Lack of faith
3. Lack of faith
If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
When you fail to trust that God, the creator, and sustainer of the universe, will take care of you....you are showing your little faith!
Worry is literally the opposite of faith!
When we lose sight of who Jesus is, and we allow doubt to creep in, then we begin to worry.
And, rightfully so! I truly don’t understand how people who don’t believe in Jesus make it through this world!
It’s a pretty lost, broken, and selfish place! Without trusting God, I don’t know how I would get out of bed without worrying!
Jesus says in:
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Faith as small of a mustard seed can move mountains, It can heal the hurting, feed the poor, fix the broken, and love the lost!
And if we have faith as small as a mustard seed, we can trust the King of Kings and Lord of Lord.
And when we trust, we no longer have to be anxious and worry!
Paul says to the church in Philipi:
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.
Do not worry.....for the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Luke 9–24: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition (In the Text)
To understand one’s place in the created order is to be free from anxiety.
When we truly understand who we are, and who God is, we can be free from anxiety!
I encourage you this week to think about what it is that you worry about. Submit them to the feet of Jesus! Allow Him to transform your mind into the likeness of Him! Surrender the things that you worry about to Him!
As we move into our responsive song this morning, you are welcome to come up and surrender those things that you worry about to Jesus!
Come up and lay them at the feet of the one who created and loves you!
If you don’t know this Jesus, but you feel like He is calling you to follow Him, we want to help you with that this morning as well!
The Bible says that if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be baptized.
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
and in
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
All you have to do is believe that Jesus is who He says that He is. That He died for you sins, was raised from the dead, repent (turn) from you sins and ask Him to forgive you, and you too, can receive the Holy Spirit and be apart of the kingdom of heaven!
If you want to come up and have someone pray with you, you are more than welcome to, just come to the front here!
You can pray in your seat, but there is something about stepping out and physically moving to a place to meet with Jesus!
We would be happy to pray with you!