Don’t Worry

A recent news magazine includes a photo taken on Wall Street.[1]  Amidst business men and women stands a person wearing a white mask.  The person appears to be a woman.  She holds up a sign.  The sign says, “You have every reason to worry.”  The message continues on another sign hung around her neck: “No end in sight.”  In the heat of the economic meltdown, here was one person’s conclusion: “You have every reason to worry.  No end in sight.” 

 

Some of you look at your decreasing income or the real likelihood of losing your job and you can nod your assent:  You have every reason to worry.  Some of look at your rapidly disappearing nest-egg in the stock market and you can nod your assent: You have every reason to worry.  Things are so tight for some it seems that even money itself is worried.  Even money seems to believe there is every reason to worry.    

 

And these economic worries are compounded by other worries.  Hurricanes—when will another one hit?  Politics—will we ever get past partisanship?  Church—when are we moving? Family—why is my son failing?  There are days when it seems we have every reason to worry.

 

Jesus admits that are reasons for worry.  Listen to his words from the Sermon on the Mount: Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt. 6:34b TNIV).  The word “trouble” is literally “evil.”  Each day has enough evil of its own.  Even Jesus admits that if you want to find something to worry about, you can find it in the next twenty-four hours.

 

Those listening to Jesus had done this very thing.  They had found trouble and evil and were now worrying:  And why do you worry…? Jesus asks (Matt. 6: 28 TNIV).  Those who have gathered around Jesus have found every reason to be worried.  They are stressed about many things: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear…31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’”  (Matt. 6:25, 31 TNIV).  They are worried about what they eat, drink, and wear.  Each day brings trouble for them even in these fundamentals.  As a result, they are worried.

 

In this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus addresses the three relationships upon which our lives are built: our relationship with other people (Matt. 5:21-48), our relationship with God (Matt. 6:1-18), and our relationship with possessions (Matt. 6:19-34).  And it is no coincidence that some of the clearest teaching Jesus gives about worry comes in this third section which focuses on our relationship with possessions.  Jesus knows we are especially likely to encounter trouble in each day which has its roots in money and possessions.  So, in this third section Jesus addresses their worry and ours.

 

His teaching here is quite easy to grasp: 

·         Therefore I tell you, do not worry…

·          So do not worry…

·          Therefore do not worry…  (Matt. 6:25,31,34 TNIV).

Yes, if we look for it, each day brings things we can get all worked up about, especially when it comes to money and possessions. In spite of this, Jesus says do not worry; do not worry; do not worry.

 

In vs. 32 Jesus implies that worry is the common reaction: For the pagans run after all these things…  All the people out there who don’t worship God, they run after all these things.  They obsess over possessions.  They are anxious about them.  Everyone’s doing it, Jesus admits. 

 

That’s the point of the picture we saw earlier.  Everyone has reasons to worry.   A poll taken late in October found the following: two-thirds of those questioned said they’re scared about the way things are going in this country and three in four said the current conditions in the country are stressing them out.[2]  Worry is very common right now.  But against this common response, Jesus asks us to demonstrate an alternative response: do not worry; do not worry; do not worry.  People out there ought to be able to look at all of us in here and see people who do not worry.

 

In this text Jesus gives us ways to move from fear to faith.  Some of these ways are rooted in statements of wisdom.  Just as the wisdom literature of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes is filled with practical statements based on common sense, so Jesus sprinkles some wisdom sayings in this speech on worry.

 

First, Jesus uses wisdom to urge us to focus on the present: Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt. 6:34 TNIV).  We have little control over tomorrow.  Yes, we can plan and prepare and therefore avoid some of tomorrow’s troubles.  But there is some trouble that will come our way tomorrow no matter what we do today.  There is some trouble in tomorrow that we cannot do anything about today.  So, Jesus urges us to live in the present.  Focus on what you do have control over–today.

 

Imagine writing down a list of all the things that you are worried about.  A recent article listed three common worries:[3] Job security; The safety and well-being of our children; The threat of terrorism and natural disasters.  What would you add to your list?  Now, how many of your worries have to do with something that isn’t going to happen today but may happen tomorrow, or the next day?  Probably quite a few of your worries meet that criteria.  You might be able to do some planning and preparation today for some of those future troubles.  But there is some trouble on your worry list that’s going to come your way no matter what you do today.  There is some trouble on your list that you cannot do anything about today.  So, Jesus urges us to live in the present.  Try this: write down all the things you are worried about.  Then, cross off every item that you cannot do something about today.  Just leave those in God’s hands.  Focus on the present.  The Message puts it this way: Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.

 

Second, Jesus uses wisdom to urge us to focus on something productive: Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ?  (Matt. 6:27 TNIV).  There is debate about how to translate Jesus’ words here.  He may have said add a single hour to your life or add a single cubit to your height.  Either way, the image is one of being productive.  Jesus is asking, Can worrying result in the productive action of increasing your life span?  Can worrying result in the productive action of increasing your height?  No.  Worrying is not productive.

 

As many of us know firsthand, worry is destructive.  When I was in fifth grade my parents divorced after an ugly period of marital strife.  They both fought for custody of me and my brother.  It was a very difficult time.  I worried constantly about what was going to happen.  As a result, I developed a stomach ulcer.  My worry literally tore my body apart.  Worry is often destructive.  So, Jesus urges us to not worry but instead to focus on something productive. 

 

But Jesus does more than merely use wisdom.  Jesus also uses theology.  He gives us more than a call to focus on the present and to focus on something productive.  Third, Jesus urges us to change our perspective: Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? (Matt. 6:25b TNIV).  Literally Jesus says, Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes.  There is more than what we are worried about, Jesus is saying.  When we worry, it’s like seeing through a telephoto lens.  All we can see is the narrow list of things we are worried about.  Jesus urges us to put on a wide-angle lens so that we can see something besides the reasons for our worry.  He urges us to see the “more” which lies beyond those things causing worry.  In the rest of this passage, Jesus describes this “more.” 

 

First, Jesus urges us to change our perspective by focusing on the provision of God the Father: For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them…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?… See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 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?  (Matt. 6:32, 26, 28-30 TNIV).  Earlier in Matt. 6:7 Jesus urges us to not approach prayer like the “pagans.”  Here, he urges us to not approach possessions like the “pagans.”  The “pagans” would have been non-Jewish people.  They would have believed in two supernatural forces which influenced life: Fate and Fortune.[4]  In the ancient world many believed that most things happened according to the will of Fate or of Fortune.  Both of these forces were often viewed as capricious and as burdensome.  You simply never really knew what Fate might come your way or how the wheel of Fortune might spin.  That would lead to a lot of worry and anxiety.  But in contrast to Fate and Fortune, Jesus urges us to focus on the Father. A father who knows what we need.  A father who will provide what we need.

 

To picture just how well the Father can provide food, Jesus points to birds.  Jesus’ point is not that God rains down birdseed by the birdhouse full and birds get to lie around fat and lazy with their mouths pointed toward heaven, wide open.  His point is that the Father has created a system within nature that provides birds the food they need.  It’s not a system birds have to create—as if they needed to sow or reap to create food.  It’s not a system that is irregular and that birds cannot count on—as if they needed to store away extra food in case the system shut down in the future.  Rather, it’s a system which regularly provides birds what they need.  As a result, birds don’t have to worry.  To picture just how well the Father can provide clothes, Jesus points to flowers.  Flowers have the most magnificent “clothing,” yet they don’t have to work in sweat shops or labor in high paying careers to them.  The Father provides them.

 

Then, Jesus argues from lesser to greater: Are you not much more valuable than they? (Matt. 6:26 TNIV); …will he not much more clothe you…? (Matt. 6:30 TNIV).  If the Father provides so regularly and so lavishly for birds and flowers, what do you think he’s going to do for you, his child?

 

Jesus urges you to change your perspective.  There’s a lot more going on than the many reasons you have to worry.  There’s more than the wayward child, the falling stocks, the job insecurity, or the troubled marriage.  If you’ll pull back, you can see the more.  There’s a Father who thinks of you as his special child and he’s committed to providing what you need.  Hasn’t he done that in the past?  This isn’t the first time you’ve ever worried, is it?  Haven’t there been times in the past when you were worried and the Father provided what you needed?  As the Lord’s Prayer earlier in Matt. 6 teaches us, that provision may not have been the feast we wanted, but it was the daily bread we needed.  Wasn’t it?  Just as the Father did then, so he will do now.  Whatever is on your worry list, you have a caring Father who will provide what is needed to deal with it.  So rather than focus so much on what’s worrying you, focus on provision of God the Father.

 

But Jesus pulls back the lens even further.  He not only changes our perspective by getting us to focus on the provision of God the Father.  Jesus also changes our perspective by getting us to focus on the purpose of God the King: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  (Matt. 6:33 TNIV).  Jesus points worried people toward a Father who will provide.  And he points worried people toward a King who has a purpose.  Rather than obsess about the stock market, the money market, the marriage, or the money, we are to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.  The two words “kingdom” and “righteousness” imply that there are bigger things going on in the world.  There are kingdom things going on.  There are righteous things going on.  There’s a lot more to life than the handful of items that have us so worried.  There’s a heavenly king at work enlarging a kingdom.  There’s a heavenly king striving to make good and righteousness win over evil and injustice.  To seek first that kingdom is to sign up to be a part of that kingdom work.  It’s to lay down the quarterly reports and take up a role in the kingdom. 

 

To seek first his kingdom and his righteousness is to sign up to help at LeBonheur Children’s Medical Center.  It’s to volunteer to help at Larose Elementary.  It’s to pray for the Downtown Initiative.  It’s to fill sacks with food and money for Thanksgiving.  It’s to donate toys for the Christmas Store.  It’s to get in the car and visit the hospital.  It’s to pick up the phone and call the shut in.  It’s to schedule time to mentor a child.  It’s getting together with a non Christian friend to talk about spiritual matters.  It’s doing what you can to fight injustice and poverty in the world.  It’s committing to Summit, Marketplace, Table or Story as part the Revolution Initiative I spoke of last Sunday.  The “more” is God the King working all over the world to expand his kingdom and to promote righteousness.  Jesus believes that the more we focus on participating in God’s kingdom work—on seeking first that kingdom—the less we’re going to get caught up worrying about others things in life.  Josh Ray, David Ralston, and Lawana Maxwell are returning today from a week of kingdom work in Ukraine.  I’ll bet if we asked them, they’d say that some of the things they were worried about before they left now don’t seem so bad in light of the kingdom work they’ve been doing.  Perhaps the best thing you can do to deal with what’s worrying you is simply get involved in some kingdom work and see if that doesn’t help put things in perspective.