The King's Church in Ilford

The King's Church in Ilford

Reading: Matthew 6:25-34

"The worried cow would have lived till now

If she had saved her breath

But she feared her hay wouldn't last the day

And mooed herself to death!"

"Worry often gives small things a big shadow"

"If you don't kill worry, worry will kill you!"

Some people worry more than others. Worriers are three times more likely to have a stroke or heart attack than others, even if they're doing the same kind of work. Rob Parsons has identified some of the characteristics of worriers:

"We are very competitive. We compete over everything and find to our embarrassment that when playing board games with small children we are desperately trying to win! We cannot resist a bell ringing. the worse thing that can happen is that we get to the phone just as it stops ringing. If that happens we begin to ring round to people asking, "Was that you ringing me just a minute ago?" We swap lanes in traffic jams. - even though we know there an eternal law that the lane we just joined will now move more slowly than the one we just left. When we drive down the motorway, we are constantly working out complicated mathematical sums: "Oxford is 90miles. If I drive at 90mph, I will get there in an hour. If I drive at 180mph, I will get there in 30mins. If I drive at 70mph... no, that's too difficult! We hate stopping for petrol. Why? Because when we pull into the Service Station, we look out over the road and see all the cars and lorries we had overtaken going past!"

Stress, often the outcome of worry, has become a characteristic of our time. Thousands of people are laid off work due to stress. Millions of man-hours of labour are lost every year because of worry and stress. The NHS is creaking under the strain of stress-related illnesses. The secular world hands out its solutions in magazines, books and courses. all offering their cures. It's difficult to say if these cures work. The fact is there's still of lot of people worrying, and the cure remains difficult to pin down.

The main worry Jesus is talking about is material worry, "What we will eat or drink.... what we will wear. The root of this is financial stress; and 70% of marriage break-ups are caused by financial stress. But here, Jesus is speaking more widely. He's really saying, "Don't worry about your life." The reality is that people are anxious about exams, jobs, families, houses as well as the stress of broken relationships. People worry about their health, old age, and death.

Jesus solution to these worries is radical. He goes back to the root of the issues. It's no good dealing with the symptoms if we don't address the root causes.

So what did Jesus mean when He said, "Don't worry..."? Let's start by looking at what he did not mean:

1. It doesn't mean we shouldn't think about the future. The AV's translation of "take no thought" is misleading. The original word actually means "to take no anxious thought"; but this is not an excuse for a happy-go-lucky irresponsible attitude to life. Proverbs makes it clear that planning is vital, and that we are to make prudent provision for the future. This is one way, in fact, to avoid stress.

2. It is not an excuse for idleness. We still need to earn a living. To sit back and say, "Oh, God will provide" - is not an option. God provides for the birds, but they still have to work quite hard to get it.

David trusted God to give him victory over Goliath, but he still took a sling and five stones with him. In 2Thess 3:12, Paul urges the Believers to get a job and. support themselves and their families.

[3. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't be ambitious. Ambition is the desire to achieve our goals in life. What is vital is that we have the right ambitions. We talked about this on FIC, but we'll come back to it later.]

4. It doesn't mean that we should opt out of our responsibilities. We have to take responsibility for our own lives, as well as a duty to provide for our families, and indeed to look out for the needs of others. In 1Tim 5:8, Paul warns that anyone who fails to provide for their family is "worse than an unbeliever"

5. Jesus is not saying we'll have nothing to worry about! Quite the opposite! He said, "In this life you will have troubles. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

So why are we not to worry?

In this passage Jesus gives us 7 reasons why we shouldn't worry:

1. We'll miss the whole point of life if we do. In v. 25..[Read it] Life is far more important than material things. So often our worries are about relatively unimportant things such as food, drink, clothing, houses and cars. So many magazines we read talk about how to stay young, how to look beautiful, how to keep fit, and lose weight, eat properly. But Jesus said life is more important than these things. So many of the rich and famous have all these things in abundance and say that their lives are still empty and miserable. It's the wrong focus. One of the blessings I got from the Brighton Conference was being caught up in fresh wonder at God's purposes for our lives, filled with fresh vision of God and his love and power in our lives. I tell you, it's a bit sad to have to come back and talk about why we shouldn't, needn't, worry. Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life, and have it in abundance".

2. Worry is illogical. [Read v. 26]

"Said the Robin to the Sparrow,

I would dearly like to know,

Why these foolish human beings

Always fret and worry so.

Said the Sparrow to the Robin,

I suppose that it must be

That they have no Heavenly Father

Such as cares for you and me."

When we worry, we're saying in effect, "God I don't believe you love me enough to provide for me." Either that or "God, I don't believe you're able to."

One doubts his love, and the second doubts his power. This is insulting God big time! It's believing a lie about God, and the devil is laughing all the way to hell. As if God couldn't meet all your needs! How could you think for a moment he doesn't love you? He gave Jesus for you. He's held nothing back. He knows when you sit down and when you stand up. He's carved your name on his hand!

3. Worry is a complete waste of time [read v. 27]. We can't change anything by worry. It's futile, pointless, and counter-productive. Worry could shorten our lives, it certainly won't make them any longer. So much of the time, we worry about things that may never happen. Mark Twain observed, "Most of my disasters never happened to me!"

4. Worry is incompatible with faith. [Read vs.28-30] Faith and anxiety are like fire and water. I once saw a poster outside a church which said, "Why pray when you can worry and take tranquilizers?" Faith is confidence in God's care and provision. One of the ways we express it is through praise and thanksgiving.

5. Worry is un-christian. It's what pagans - unbelievers - do. Such people don't have a Heavenly Father who knows their needs. One of the hallmarks of the Christian is to be our confidence in God's love and power.

6. Worry is unnecessary. "Seek first the Kingdom of God..." Jesus promises that we will have all these things if we'll get our priorities right first. The Bible is full of such promises concerning God's provision. "No good thing does he withhold from him whose walk is blameless." Yet Paul also writes, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose." Sometimes, as both Paul and Jesus knew only too well, that we can find ourselves in situations that are difficult or painful. Yet they knew too that God works through adversity to better us in some way.

7. Worry is incompatible with common sense. [Read v.34] Today's got enough troubles of its own. We don't need to take on tomorrow's as well. The things we're worried about happening tomorrow may never happen.

So how do we stop worrying?

In v.33, Jesus tells us to "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness.." This will entail getting our ambitions and priorities right. Not so much the big house down her as the big house up there! It's good to have ambitions, but they need to be the right ambitions. You'll remember from FIC that a godly ambition is to become the person God intended us to be. If we make godly character our primary goal, then the fruit of the Spirit that will be produced in our lives will be love instead of hatred, joy instead of depression, peace, instead of anxiety, patience instead of anger.

Seeking God's Kingdom means seeking his rule in every area of our lives, where we live, who we marry, what work or career we pursue. It means conducting our marriages God's way, raising our children God's way; working as if you were working for King Jesus. It means seeking to extend God's rule in the lives of our neighbours, friends and family, making the most of every opportunity. I told you 2 weeks ago about Billy Graham putting his last talk on tape to be played at his funeral!

There are other ways to overcome worry. Engage with the Holy Spirit. Make sure you're baptised in the Holy Spirit. One of fruits He brings is inner peace.

Praise is a wonderful way to get our eyes off the problem and onto God our provider. When we praise God, we're saying, "Father I trust in your love and power. I believe you're more than able to sort this problem out." That actually releases God to step in, whereas unbelief and lack of trust stop him doing anything.

"Don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer petition and thanksgiving, present your requests to God." (Phil 4:6)