5/26/19 Matthew 6:24-34 “There Is No Reason to Worry!”

24 May 5/26/19 Matthew 6:24-34 “There Is No Reason to Worry!”

5/26/19    Matthew 6:24-34      “There Is No Reason to Worry!”

As I started this week I knew that I had several things on my schedule that demanded pastoral attention.  Therefore I would have to prepare for more than one service for the week.   I was worried that I couldn’t prepare adequately for today.  I’m retired and I usually don’t have such a busy week.  And I know that we have a few worriers who are worshipping today and I am not picking on you as we talk about worry.  I am picking on everyone including myself because there is probably not a person here that has not or will not worry at some time or another.  And I don’t know why this is.  God did not make us to worry but Satan sure loves it when we do worry.  As a matter of fact worry tells us that we don’t have enough faith in Jesus.  Today we are going to look at what Jesus said about it and maybe try to figure out a couple of ways we can relieve ourselves of some of our worry.

Rodney Buchanan tells this story about Kim Reichelm who was the extreme skiing champion of the world.  Extreme skiers take skiing to another level as they come down mountains so steep that they shouldn’t be able to do the things they do.  And some extreme skiers have died doing their stunts.  But there is some sort of rush for those that do these things and although many people get hurt doing them, the good ones keep on skiing.  As for me I will ski on the easy hill and meet you in the chalet.  Anyway one of the favorite things for them to do is to go through a stand of trees at top speed in fresh deep snow.  This is extremely dangerous and both Sonny Bono and Michael Kennedy died doing this.  Great skiers like Kim Reichelm will tell you that what you look at is extremely important.  If you watch for the spaces between the trees, then you will be all right.  The trick is not to look at the trees that you don’t want to hit.  Extreme skiers watch for spaces or exits between trees where they can escape.  They do not look at the trees.  They look at where they want to be.

This is what many of us do every day as we concentrate on things that will hurt us or obstacles that will harm us in life.  We worry about the trees of life.  It’s just like motorcycle riders are told to concentrate on the end of a curve in the road and not the curve itself.  They need to look where they want to end up.  If we could just learn to look at all of the positive things that surround us every day, we could have much better lives.

Today’s Scripture begins by talking about how we cannot serve two masters, God and money.  We all know that we cannot do this at least I know because before I knew God, all I had was money to worship.  As long as I didn’t know God, things seemed to go along all right when they weren’t.  But then Jesus came into my life and Satan and his money had to be demoted.  You see, Satan wants us to love money because he is the king of this world and money is an easy way for him to get to us.  But as soon as you know Jesus then things change and they change for the better.

And this doesn’t mean that we cannot have money.  God wants us to have money.  However, it means that money should not control our lives.  This is one of those hard concepts to understand if you don’t know the Lord.  Jesus will give you more than all the money in the world can buy.  Jesus will give it to you if you just make Him number one in your life.

Thus verse 25 begins with therefore.  Because we have this problem of Satan wanting us for his world and Jesus wanting us for eternity, we have worry.  Then Jesus begins to tell us why we shouldn’t worry about anything.  Here are a few things that Jesus is telling us.  And please remember that Jesus is saying this to you, so it is important.

First He is telling you not to worry about the future and focus on Jesus.  Let’s take a quick look around the world and see how we do.  In World War II Hitler was worried about the Jews so he killed as many as he could.  In our own country we became so worried that someone might have nuclear weapons that we invaded them.  So we can see that as nations we worry.

How do you think that our churches do?  We worry about money all the time.  We also worry that we don’t get enough people to come.  We worry that our music isn’t right.  We worry because our kids aren’t drawn in our doors.  So churches worry.

And we all know that as individuals, we are even worse.  Again we worry about money.  We worry about our jobs and our crops.  We worry about our families.  Some of us are so adept at worrying that we worry about things that have already happened or worse yet, things that are never going to happen!

And what does Jesus tell you about this.  He says, “Don’t worry about your life or your future.”  It is really hard for us to understand this concept.  We have talked before about our North Dakota work ethic where we can do all things ourselves and don’t need help from anyone.  But God’s way is different.  We are called to cast our cares upon Him.  It may be hard for you to realize that God doesn’t need your help.  God doesn’t need help from anyone because He is God.  But He would like your help and input.  He would like to talk to you in prayer.  He would like your help even though He doesn’t need it.

And I also would like you not to confuse worry with taking a concern to the Lord.  Worry is something we do apart from God.  When we worry, we are playing right into the hands of Satan.  We are being disobedient.  When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we put all of our trust in Him.  When we worry, we are saying to God that I can handle it and I don’t need you.  But God is there for everything.  He takes care of the birds of the air and the animals on the ground.  Think about how much more He cares for you.  Next time you find yourself in a worry situation, take it to Jesus.  If there has been an accident, if there is a surgery coming up or if you are just worried about a prom night or date night, then take it to Jesus.  He loves it when you rely on Him.  How many times have you seen prayer work in your life, in the lives of others or in the life of our Church?  Prayer works and it works far better than worry, which really doesn’t work at all.  Worry solves nothing!

So basically what I’m saying here is that worry is totally unnecessary.  There is not one positive thing that can be accomplished by worrying.  My dad was one to worry.  He was a farmer so he worried about the crops, the rain, the work to be done and the work that didn’t get done.  He developed an ulcer at an early age and it would flare up during harvest, during haying and during spring work.  Finally when he was about 50, they took the ulcer out.  This did not cure him from worrying but it helped.  But what helped the most was that at about this time he started to go back to the church.  He came back to God and God helped him through all of this.  He would still worry, but at least now he had a place to go for help.

Unfortunately, I was like this also for many years until I found I could give it to Jesus.  We also have three daughters who are like this.  They too have to come to a point where they can take it all to Jesus because on our own we can do nothing.  The point is that no matter what, worry is not necessary, not ever.  As the hymn goes ‘God will take care of you.’ And no, I’m not going to lapse into song again.

The last points I would like to make today is that you should focus on the unseen instead of what you can see.  This is also very hard for us.  We live in a world of visual media.  The producers of TV would like us to believe that if you don’t see it on TV then it doesn’t exist.  Advertisers bombard us with sexual innuendo to sell us their products.

I think that the producers’ of cop shows are probably one the worst offenders for many reasons.  The one I would like to bring forward here is that the criminals on these shows are always thinking and seemingly quite smart.  The truth is that most criminals are not very bright at all and crimes happen rather spontaneously.  But because of these shows we think that everyone we meet after dark in a strange place is out to get us.

There is a story told by Marilyn Murphree of a woman who won a bucketful of quarters in Las Vegas.  She was going to take an elevator to her room with the bucket of quarters and two black men were already on the elevator.  Instantly she thought they were going to rob her.  Then she thought she was being ridiculous.  She began to feel anxious and hoped they hadn’t read her thoughts.  She avoided eye contact and faced the door as it closed.  A few seconds passed and the elevator didn’t move.  She started to panic as she thought she was trapped and about to be robbed.  One of the men said, “Hit the floor.”  Instantly she fell to the floor, dropping the bucket with quarters, scattering them all over the place.

More time passed and finally one of the men said, “Ma’am if you’ll just tell us what floor you’re going to, we’ll push the button.”  Then these men helped pick up the quarters and were on their way.  This poor woman was so worried about something that was totally innocent that she couldn’t function.  The next morning she received a dozen roses and a $100 bill on each rose and a note saying, “Thank you for the best laugh we’ve had in years.”  It was signed Eddie Murphy and body guard.  Due to television and the news media, we are sometimes afraid of our own shadows.

This woman was focusing on what she thought she saw and not what she couldn’t see!  What would have happened if she had started a friendly conversation?  What would happen if we quit building fences around our yards and started to have conversations with our neighbors?  What would happen if you started to act like Jesus Christ in your relationships a little more and a little less like what our media want us to be?  I think, I know that if you would just keep your focus on Jesus, then you would be less worried.

And this is because He is in control of everything.  We talked about that last week and like I said earlier, He doesn’t need your help but He would like the conversation.  Last week we saw where God made this whole world in a week.  I cannot imagine the power of God.  It is way beyond anything that comes to mind.  And yet you feel that you can go it alone without His help.  Think about this for a moment.  If God is as powerful as you read about and He loves you with all that He says He does and He is offering to help you out, then why do you reject Him in so many ways?  Why do you worry?  He will take care of it.  In Psalm 34:19 we read, “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.”  You can see from this that the Lord will take care of you.

Do you remember the story in 2 Kings 6 where Elijah the prophet was surrounded by the army of King Aram in the town of Dothan?  This king wanted to destroy him.  Elijah’s servant was up early the in morning and saw this vast army and was devastated because there was no hope.  They were surrounded.  It was all but over!  Then Elijah told him not to be afraid because that army was vastly outnumbered.  The servant thought Elijah was crazy.  But then God opened the servant’s eyes through Elijah so that he could see the unseen.  He saw that Elijah was surrounded by horses and chariots of fire for as far as he could see.   God’s heavenly army had surrounded the people of God.  Rodney Buchanan points out that they had been invisible and now the eyes of the servant were open.  The unseen was a reality and it could only be seen by faith.

This is a story told over and over in the Bible and here it is again as Jesus is telling us not to worry in His Sermon on the Mount.  Today we have looked at how worry can separate us from God.  It is a tool of the devil.  It is totally unnecessary as God is in control.  This is hard to do but you are to take everything to the Lord in prayer.  Everything!  He wants you to be in a relationship with Him.  This happens when we put our total trust in Him.  So confess your sins to Him and make Him the Lord and Savior of your life.  And all of these various things that God gives you are not a bunch of rules that have to be followed.  They are ways that He has given you to have a better life.  These are things that are for your own good.

Jesus loves you so much that all He has given you easy ways to come to Him.  Things like praying, fasting and not worrying are ways of saying, “Yes, Lord.”  He is a beautiful God and I pray that the next time you start to worry you will remember to take it to Him.  That is what He is for and that is what He wants.  Go to Him with anything and all things.  You will never regret it.  Thank you Jesus for your love and patience and thank you for first loving us. Let’s pray.