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 The atheism of anxiety Matthew 6:25­34 Introduction: we are currently in a series on the gospel of Matthew… Prayer for illumination: please join me in prayer… Sermon introduction: I had a friend in college who was deathly afraid of spiders. It was the strangest thing… when someone mentioned there was a spider in the room she would start screaming and flailing her limbs. Hysterical is probably the best way to describe how she responded. And this was not because the spider was on her nose. It was 10 feet away. At that point her fear of man was clearly subsumed by her fear of spider. It may have been a daddy long leg or something less deadly but it did not matter… she was deathly afraid of spiders. According to one website, “About 19.2 million American adults ages 18 and over, or some 8.7 percent of people in this age group in a given year, have some type of specific phobia, or extreme fear.” Some of the examples given were… Dentists The dark Heights Small spaces Flying Dogs Needles Public speaking Slithering snakes Thunder and lighting Fortunately most of us don’t struggle with these types of fears. But I found another top ten­fear list that I think most of us can relate too. 10. Fear of losing our freedom 9. Fear of the unknown 8. Fear of pain 7. Fear of disappointment 6. Fear of misery 5. Fear of loneliness 4. Fear of ridicule 3. Fear of rejection 2. Fear of death 1. Fear of failure One author writes, “Perhaps no single problem plagues people more than worry or anxiety. It may arise suddenly. It may accompany you daily. It saps your sleep, drains your joy, exhausts your energy, ruins your relationships, and aggravates your body ailments. For some people, worry is chronic and crippling. For all of us, worry is one of the most typical, everyday sins.” (Jones) How many of you would love to live a life free of worry? The very fact that the word of God addresses worry should give us hope. This is where Matt 6:25­34 comes in handy. Here Jesus gives citizens of his kingdom four reasons they must not worry. Lets look carefully at each one… First, worry is sin Jesus commands us three times not to worry (worry and anxiety are synonyms) Matthew 6:25 (ESV) — 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life,… Matthew 6:31 (ESV) — 31 Therefore do not be anxious, Matthew 6:34 (ESV) — 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow,… This command appears six times in the Sermon on the Mount and many other places in the Bible. Jesus clearly commands us not to worry. But what exactly does it mean to be anxious or to worry? We have all experienced anxiety but it is hard to define. “…anxiety anticipates possible dangers in the future and helplessly dwells on how to reduce them.” (EDT, 75) “Worry is a thin stream of fear that trickles through the mind, which, if encouraged, will cut a channel so wide that all other thoughts will be drained out.” (Macrthur, 419) When defining a word it is often helpful to think about the words opposite. The opposite of worry is contentment… (phil 4:11­12) We move from concern to worry when concern robs our joys and consumes our thoughts. What types of things do we worry about? Every season of life has its unique temptations. Grade school Junior high High school College Single Married Married with children About to retire Retired No matter what we worry about worry is a sin… Application: By why is God so concerned about worry? Worry reveals what we really think about God. When we worry we are saying that God is not powerful enough to deal with my future problems. When we worry we are saying that God does not care about my future problems When we worry we reveal our idols. If we worry about losing stuff it means we love stuff more than God If we worry about our health it means that we love comfort more than God If we worry about losing our freedom it means that we love freedom more than God. Make no mistake behind every fear an idol is lurking. It is no coincidence that Jesus talks about worry in Matt 6:25­34 after he spent several verses talking about the love of money, one of our biggest idols that causes many of us to worry. Worst of all when we worry we are saying that God does not exist. Worry is functional atheism. Matthew 6:31–32 (ESV) — 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. I get that God is concerned about anxiety… does this mean that we should throw away our bike helmets, seat belts, and never buy life insurance? No… it is good and wise to prepare yourself for things. Some concern is good but anxiety or worry is bad. Peter on the bike jumps… One more thing… God does not promise us any easy life. Freedom from worry is not the same as freedom from trouble. First, worry is a sin Second, worry betrays our heavenly father Look with me at verses 25­30. Jesus uses two illustrations to prove that our heavenly father will provide us with food and clothing. He is arguing from the greater to the lesser. In other words, if God provides for the ravens and the lilies surely he will provide for us. Matthew 6:25–30 (ESV) — 25… Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Stott­ “Some readers may know that I happen myself to have been since boyhood an enthusiastic bird­watcher. I know, of course, that bird­watching is regarded by some as a rather eccentric pastime; they view the likes of me with quizzical and patronizing amusement. But I claim biblical—indeed dominical—warrant for this activity. ‘Consider the fowls of the air,’ said Jesus according to the AV, and this in basic English could be translated ‘watch birds’! Indeed, I am quite serious, for the Greek verb in his command (emblepsate eis) means ‘fix your eyes on, so as to take a good look at’. (Stott, MSM, 164) My father in law is a bird watcher so I purchased for him Stott’s book “The birds our teachers, Biblical lessons from a life long bird watcher.” By the way someone who watches birds is called a “birder” and someone who studies birds is called on ornithologist. What is the point? Jesus wants us to watch the birds and realize that he takes care of them. Then he says that we are more valuable than birds so surely he will take care of us. Listen to this poem… Said the robin to the sparrow: “I should really like to know Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so.” Said the sparrow to the robin: “Friend, I think that it must be That they have no heavenly Father, Such as cares for you and me.” (Stott’s commentary) This poem makes a good point but it is not entirely sound in its theology. The birds can’t call God their father but we can. There is a vast difference between birds and us. Sure they can fly… Birds are not made in God’s image Jesus did not die for the birds Jesus did not become a bird Jesus did not tell the birds to rule over all of creation Birds don’t have souls. The point Jesus is making should be clear. God takes care of the birds so surely he will take care of us since we are far more valuable to him then the birds. The next illustration is similar…. If our heavenly father provides the flowers with adornment surely he will provide us with clothes… 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor
spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (the beauty that God creates far surpasses the beauty humans can create) 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? In this culture most people only had one pair of clothing and maybe an extra cloak for sleeping in at night. Think
how many clothes we have now with our massive walk in closets. If Jesus tells his audience who probably only had one pair of clothing not to worry about their clothes what would he say to us? Jesus makes the same point in both illustrations. We are far more valuable to God than ravens and flowers. If God provides food for the birds and clothing for the flowers than surely he will provide food and clothing for us. After all he is our Father!!! Worry betrays our heavenly father. God is our father so surely he will provide for us. Application: When we worry we are acting in unbelief. God clearly tells us in these verses that he will provide us with the things we need since he is our father. Jesus rebukes his disciples by saying “you of little faith” at the end of verse 30. Isn’t this the issue? We worry because we don’t really believe that our father will provide us with the things we need. Often the things we need and the things we think we need are very different. “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.” George Mueller “Faith and fear are mutually exclusive.” When you are worried this week what promise of God do you need grace to believe? Illustration: my experience with phil 4:6­7 Philippians 4:6–7 (ESV) — 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. God is our father therefore he will provide us with what we need? Do we really believe this? Then we will never ever worry about anything. By the way notice that God provides for the birds but the birds don’t just sit around and wait for God to provide. God provides for them through the agency of secondary causes… We should learn two things from the birds, they do not fear and they are not lazy. First, worry is sin Second, worry betrays our heavenly father Third, worry accomplishes nothing good Matthew 6:27 (ESV) — 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Being anxious does nothing good for us. I will not lengthen our life one minute. Studies have shown that worry can actually shorten someone’s life… Dr. Charles Mayo of the famous Mayo clinic said, “Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands and the whole nervous system. I have never met a man or known a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry.” (Macarthur, 423) The English word for worry comes from an old German word for worry, which means to strangle or choke. This is exactly what worry does to us. Worry accomplishes nothing good. Matthew 6:34 (ESV) — 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Worrying about tomorrow is pointless because, although there may be troubles tomorrow, worrying about them is not going to help. George Macdonald said it this way, “No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow’s burden is added to the burden of today, that the weight is more than a man can bear.” (Hughes, 224) Sure there will be problems tomorrow but God’s grace will meet you tomorrow. His mercies are new every morning. (Lam 3:22­23) Fear always has to do with tomorrow but our fears may be lying to us because tomorrow’s fears may never come to pass. Here is the point… worry never accomplishes anything good. Sure it accomplishes a few things… it robs joy, destroys health, and offends God… but never anything good. Illustration: “I’m depressed,” Mary began. “I’m anxious.” This confession was the understated introduction to the last four years of Mary’s life. During this time Mary’s life had been characterized by an irrational, debilitating, and intensifying fear of AIDS. Four years earlier Mary had married her husband, Ben. When they met, Mary and Ben were each deeply committed to Christ; and Ben was pursuing a ministry degree at a Christian university. Before they met, Ben
had been sexually immoral; but Mary was in love with the man he had become. They each wanted to spend their lives together pursuing Christ, so when Ben asked to marry her, she was delighted. The possibility of HIV/ AIDS was particularly concerning for Mary, so in preparation for marriage, Ben was screened for sexually transmitted diseases. In Mary’s case the anxiety invoked by… Ben’s potential STD began to manifest itself in her body: She felt a disabling lack of energy and an overwhelming desire to stay in bed… By the time Ben’s tests came back negative, Mary
was severely depressed. She was spending days curled up on her bed, in the fetal position… She was constantly anxious. In spite of Ben’s safe test results, Mary’s fear lingered and began to grow. Over a period of two months , she began isolating herself from her friends and shedding her church and ministry commitments. By the end of these two months, she couldn’t even bring herself to get dressed, leave the house, go grocery shopping, or run errands of any kind… In spite of the difficulties, they managed to get married, but now he was striving to be a patient and understanding husband who was discouraged by his wife’s emotional collapse. After long days at work, he would return
home to a dark, dirty house. Mary’s fears were debilitating. Fear dominated her mind and dictated her schedule. (2012­06­01). Counseling the Hard Cases (NONE) (Kindle Locations 2059­2062). B&H Academic. Kindle Edition. Worry accomplishes nothing good. First, worry is sin Second, worry betrays our heavenly father Third, worry accomplishes nothing good Fourth, worry stifles the growth of the kingdom Matthew 6:32–33 (ESV) — 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Jesus makes plain in verse 33 that instead of worrying we need to seek first his kingdom. We can’t do both at the same time. I can’t seek first God’s kingdom and worry. They are opposites. If I worry I will stifle the growth of the kingdom in my life and my community. Here is the good news. When we commit to seeking first God’s kingdom God promises to take care of us. So instead of wasting so much time and energy worrying we should use the same time and energy pursuing the kingdom of
God. So what does it mean to seek first the kingdom and his righteousness? This means that that advancement of God Kingdom (Christ reign) should be our top priority. Someone who seeks first God’s kingdom seeks to bring Christ’ rule to every inch of their lives and to spread Christ rule to the lives of others through evangelism. We have looked at four things… First, worry is sin Second, worry betrays our heavenly father Third, worry accomplishes nothing Fourth, worry stifles the growth of the kingdom Conclusion: We will all fail this week! We will all worry about something. Hopefully as we mature in Christ we will worry less and less bringing more glory to our heavenly father. In the meantime there is hope for us and it shows up in two ways in this passage­ First, we are not saved by the quantity of our faith. Notice that Jesus tells his disciples that they are men of little faith. Aren’t you glad that a little faith is enough to get us into God’s kingdom. Keller’s illustration about the Israelites who walked through the parted red sea. We are not saved by the quantity of our faith… We are saved by the faith of another… Second, Jesus gave this sermon in the shadow of cavalry. He knew that in a few short years he would be betrayed, arrested, falsely accused, tried before a rigged judge and jury, beaten, spit on, mocked, crucified, and worst of all abandoned by his own father. Jesus knew all this yet he was never once, not even for a moment, sinfully anxious!!! The perfect anxiety free obedience of Jesus is given to us when we, with weak faith, trust him to save us. Lets pray…