Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Patrick Smith is a commercial pilot who flies massive Boeing airplanes and he was asked about the thing that makes people the most anxious on flights.

He shared that the thing that drives up anxiety is not the takeoff or landing but the turbulence experienced along the way.

If you’ve ever flown on an airplane, you know that turbulence is often unexpected and it can cause some problems including making many passengers onboard nervous about their safety… But Smith shared that from the standpoint of the pilot, turbulence is completely normal.

From the perspective of the pilot, turbulence isn’t a safety issue, it’s a convenience issue.

The pilot is not concerned about the plane being torn a part in times of turbulence, they are concerned about keeping the coffee of their passengers in their cups.

Why are pilots so calm and passengers so concerned in these situations?

Usually it’s because the pilot has a better picture and understanding of what is happening that the passenger lacks.

As a result, the pilot remains focused on the goal and trusts in what he knows.

The plane is strong.

The wind may cause disruption but it won’t bring destruction.

The flight will go on.

Whenever anxiety strikes in our lives, we are tempted to do several different things.

We move our gaze from our destination to our disaster.

We focus on the problem rather than the Provider.

We worry about how things will work out instead of trusting in our God who is seated on His throne.

Every single human being faces problems.

We all are tempted to worry and be anxious… But, if you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, did you know that there is a better option available before you today?

In the midst of the turbulence of this life, you can choose to be like the pilot of the plane rather than the passenger.

You can rest confident in your God in the midst of the storms of this life.

This doesn’t mean that the storms will disappear, but you can persevere through them by relying on God’s strength.

God doesn’t want us to spend our lives worrying about how we will survive through this or through that.

He wants us to live with hope and joy as we know that our God lives as we celebrated last Sunday on Easter!

There are so many things causing genuine stress and anxiety in our lives today, in fact nearly half of Americans confess that they live under persistent stress and excessive anxiety.

Friend, if this is you this morning, hear me: You’re not alone.

In your suffering, you’re not alone.

In your time of worry, you’re not alone.

In your moment of depression or anxiety, you’re not alone.

The Bible shares with us that our God can sympathize with us in our weakness.

Maybe you’re here this morning and you’re not a follower of Jesus Christ - friend, if you don’t know Christ as Lord then you don’t know the peace that He can bring to you in the darkness of night.

What we all need to be reminded of this morning is that our God cares for His creation and He loves His people.

He wants us to trust in Him with every area of our lives.

This morning, as we find ourselves back in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:25-34, ask yourself if there is an area of your life that you are struggling with this morning.

Possessions, future, health, reputation, wealth, or something else.

Have you given that “thing” over to the Lord?

Are you trusting in God to provide exactly what you need or are you trusting in your own ability to get the job done?

If that is you, I invite you to drop that burden down at the foot of the cross and pick up what Christ has in store for you.

Though the turbulence of life can seem deafening, peace is still possible as we listen to God’s still small voice.

Trust God to Take Care of Your Present Problems (25-32)

It is one thing to say that we trust in God but quite another thing to actually practice what we preach whenever push comes to shove.

It’s one thing to say that you believe in God and that you would stand up for your faith in Him but it’s another thing entirely to stand up for your faith whenever no one else dares stand with you.

It’s one thing to praise God whenever things are going well… But it’s another thing to do it whenever suffering comes knocking on your front door.

We live in a nation of worriers.

We worry about how the ends will meet.

We worry about our job.

We worry about our home.

We worry about our family.

We worry about our world.

We worry about lots and lots of things!

How often do the things that we worry about actually happen, though?

For example, some scientists are worried that an asteroid will collide with the earth and destroy all human life.

They worry about that on a regular basis and, sure, it’s good to have a doomsday plan, but will that happen and is it worth losing sleep over?

Probably not.

Lucas LaFreniere was working on his PhD a couple years ago and did some research on why people worry and how worrying impacts people in the present moment with loads and loads of stress.

He asked his participants to document all of their daily worries and how much time each day they spent thinking about each worry.

After 20 days they were then asked which of those worries came true.

His research found this: 91.4% of the things that his participants were worried about over the 20 day span didn’t actually happen.

Over the 20 day period, though, those people experienced misery and stress as they spend hours and hours of their lives worrying about their list of problems.

Jesus doesn’t want you to live under this weight, friends!

He offers an alternative that seems otherworldly… Look at Matthew 6:25, He says this: Don’t worry about your life!

Who does Jesus think He is?! How can He say something like this?

In verse 25 we find the word therefore, so we have to do some digging to see what it is there for.

As we dig back into Matthew 6 we see that Jesus has been giving His listeners a “how to” lesson.

How to give.

How to pray.

How to fast.

How to focus.

How to serve God.

It all culminates with this final section… How does it reach a conclusion?

Jesus’ point is this: If you are serving God, if you are seeking first His Kingdom, if you are worshipping Him and seeking to live for Him, don’t worry about this life.

Jesus isn’t just offering a helpful suggestion either… This is a present imperative command meaning that He doesn’t want us to worry about the things of this world.

Does this make anyone else feel a little uneasy or is it just me?

You mean I’m not supposed to worry about food, water, or my body?

Jesus says nope - don’t do it!

Why should we not worry?

There are a list of psychological and biological reasons to not worry stemming from worry leading to added stress, heart problems, increased anger, and shorter life expectancy.

Jesus even says that we can’t add a minute to our life by worrying!

Yet, the main reason that we shouldn’t worry is because God provides for His creation.

He provides for the birds.

He provides for the grass.

If God feeds the birds and clothes the grass, how much more do you think He’ll provide above and beyond what you need?

The birds and grass are here one day and gone the next… Yet God cares for, loves, knows, and provides for them.

We have every reason to trust that God will also care for and provide for our needs today as well.

For so many of us, we look around at our present problems and we attempt to find solutions by ourselves.

We trust in our ability to solve problems and whenever things don’t go the way that we expect we get nervous, we worry, and we become anxious.

The solution isn’t to trust in things - that’s idolatry - the solution is to have faith in God.

Jesus shares that worrying can indicate a misplaced faith or a little faith in verse 31.

The word there is oligopistos and it shows up 4 times in the Gospel of Matthew and each time it’s not a good thing.

Peter walking on the water and falling because he had “little faith.”

The disciples on the stormy sea having “little faith.”

The disciples wondering where their food would come from after Jesus had just fed the 5,000.

Each time the disciples are said to have “little faith.”

They failed to trust in Jesus’ love and power!

Small faith often leads to worry.

This doesn’t mean that there aren’t legitimate reasons to be concerned and worry - there are!

But, as Christians, we have to trust that God will take care of these present problems.

We have to remind ourselves that our God is greater than our worry.

We remind ourselves that God is good and provides in the good and the bad.

Atheists and Pagans have genuine reasons to be anxious because they don’t know what tomorrow holds and they fear that they have to constantly appease their respective gods with their performance… Yet, the Christian faces no such fear.

God loves His children and views them through the perfect righteousness of Christ.