Download 25-34 SOTM Pt 12 Worry- Faith Running On Empty

LOJ #41: Worry-Faith Running on Empty
Andover Baptist Church-October 11th, 2009
Opening
A. Text for today is Matthew 6:25-34 and our sermon is titled
‘Worry-Faith Running on Empty’
B. Children’s Sermon (SLIDE)
1. Do you know how much Jesus loves us?
2. Well let me show you something (Collect my hair from
my haircut for Children's Sermon put in a plastic
baggy)
a. Do you know what this is?
b. I got a haircut not too long ago and I kept some
of that hair.
c. How many hairs do you think are in there?
d. I know someone who does: Jesus…the Bible tells
us that He loves you and me so much that He
even knows how many hairs are on your head.
3. If Jesus knows how many hairs are on our head we
shouldn't worry or be afraid should we? No because He
loves us so much He will take care of us.
4. Let's pray and thank Jesus for that.
C. Introduction
1. It seems to be human nature to worry about things
doesn't it?
2. And most of our worries tie in with our money and how
we are going to make it through life, am I not right?
3. Well Last week Jesus told us that we cannot serve two
masters, both God and money and not to store up
treasures on earth
4. Jesus in response to that opens our text this week with
these words 'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about
your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body,
what you will wear. Is not life more important than
food, and the body more important than clothes?'
5. In a nutshell Jesus is saying if God is your Master don't
Sweat it'
6. But the world tells us something all together differently
because it doesn't put its trust in God
a. Listen to its message
b. Play video (Glen Beck showing a chart about
how bad the economy is, citing Financial
Apocalypse)
c. Whether you agree with that video or not, we can
agree that if you depend on the things of this
world you should worry
7. Church, Jesus tells us today that we have something
greater to put stock in, that does not devalue like the
dollar, it's the Love of our Heavenly Father and we
should have a whole hearted trust in Him to bring us
through whatever crisis that falls upon us
8. Let’s hear firsthand what Our Lord has to say
Sermon
READ: Matthew 6:25 (Scripture slide)
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will
eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life
more important than food, and the body more important than
clothes?"
A. Before we get to far into dealing with worry lets first point out
what Jesus is not saying
1. This is not saying don't work:
2. This is no Jesus saying to live off the system or off
family members, or the church for that matter
3. This is not an excuse for laziness (I got proof)
Pr 19:15 "Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless man
goes hungry."
2 Th 3:10-12 "10 For even when we were with you, we gave you
this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” 11 We hear
that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are
busybodies. 12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord
Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat."
4. Don’t have a legitimate reason to work, well then
according to God’s Word….enjoy the diet buddy!
B. With that aside here is what Jesus is saying and it’s a
smackdown on the world’s infatuation with worry
1. 'do not worry'
a. Greek construction is that this is something that
Jesus' hearers are doing at this moment
b. Maybe before church this morning, or on the
way, or maybe right before I said this you too
were in the process of worry
1. 'How am I going to pay my bills'
2. Maybe a relationship your in is hurting,
with your kids, spouse, girlfriend or
boyfriend
3. Maybe your worrying about the past
and what you could of done or should
have done
4. ‘Am I going to get that layoff notice
tomorrow?’
5. Maybe tomorrow looms like a vulture on
your shoulder and your afraid
6. Your health, or a loved one’s health
7. Does the list ever stop?
2. To this Jesus says 'Don't Do it….STOP right now'
3. Some of you may say 'Well it's easy for Jesus to say that
He's perfect' and does He really understand my
struggles'
a. Jesus knows about all these problems
b. Jesus knows what it is like not to struggle for
money
1. The Gospels tell us that His family could
only afford the offerings of the dove,
which was only for poor people
2. Jesus was so broke one time He had to
have the Father provide a coin in the
mouth of a fish Peter caught to pay the
simple temple tax
c. Jesus knows what it's like to have relationship
problems
1. The Gospels tell us that at one point His
own family didn’t believe in Him
2. One of His best friends betrayed Him
with a kiss
3. His other best friends deserted Him and
His own children killed Him
d. Jesus had tomorrow loom over Him
1. in the Garden the night before His
crucifixion the knowledge of what was
about to happen about killed Him
2. And He begged His Heavenly Father that
if there was any other way that yours and
mine sins could be paid for
3. And there was silence and He left it all in
the hands of the Father
e. Don't tell me Jesus didn't understand, we are the
ones who don't understand what He went through
for us, the moment He said these words 'Do not
worry' He knew that cross was inching closer and
closer and closer
C. We lose sleep, we lose in our relationships with both God and
people when we get stuck in the rut of worry and Jesus says
STOP
1. If you’re breathing why worry? Isn't it a blessing to
simply be alive?
2. Did not God give you life and the body you have?
3. Why rob yourself of living life, by worrying?
4. A life without anxiety is the aftereffect of following
fully after Jesus
5. Therefore what is it that is clinging to you that you need
to give to Jesus?
D. Jesus point #1: You have been given the precious gift of life,
why spoil it’s joys by worry?
READ: Matthew 6:26 (Scripture slide)
“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?”
A. 'Look at the birds of the air': I'm sure there were some close by
that Jesus pointed to (SLIDE of Birds)
B. ‘store away’
1. Remember last week we were told not hoard anything
2. The birds don't hoard away or devise elaborate schemes
to survive
3. God provides but the birds still have to search for it
4. How silly would it be if we went out and saw little
sparrows planting seeds, or little humming birds
hammering away on a barn (bet they'd be really good at
driving nails…bring hammer and pretend)
5. Everyone knows the birds live day by day, and so
should we
C. And Jesus is saying that we have a greater hope than the birds
1. Who gave both us and birds life? God
2. If God is concerned about the small birds why would He
be unconcerned about your life?
3. Let us not forget that God gave us what He did
not give the animals: a soul and a spiritual life
4. And let us never forget the price He paid so that
we could have eternal life with Him
Ro 8:32 "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for
us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us
all things?"
D. Jesus point #2: If God takes care of the animals, how much
more will He care for you…the one He sent His very Son to
die to redeem?
READ: Matthew 6:27 (Scripture slide)
“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
A. Worry is the most useless thing you can do…it never changes
things, never accomplishes anything
1. That is except break your spirit
2. And beat your body (we all know the medical problems
And undue stress and worry can cause)
3. Worry can never give back what it takes
Lk 21:34 “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with
dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will
close on you unexpectedly like a trap."
B. Think of it this way: You will be on this earth as long as the
Lord allows you to be on this earth, you won't leave here until
your work is done, so why worry about life
C. Some of you might be thinking, 'So what I worry there are
worse sins than that' and you know what you’re right, but I
would like you to find one more debilitating than the one you
suffer from
D. Jesus Point #3: Worry is worthless
READ: Matthew 6:28-30 (Scripture slide)
“28 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the
field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not
even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30
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, O you of little faith?”
A. Jesus says to compare your circumstance to the lilies of the
field
1. God provides more beauty in the covering of simple
flowers than the world’s foremost fashion designer
could do on the world’s richest person
2. SLIDE OF FLOWERS
3. That’s pretty impressive that God’s flowers are better
than King Solomon’s best (cf. 2 Chr. 9:1-6)
4. What is even more impressive is that these flowers
neither have to labor (i.e. work to purchase) or spin
(work to make) their dressings
5. Don’t we work to spend in our society?
6. And Jesus is saying that God's provision exceeds man's
improvision
B. Then Jesus points out the 'grass of the field' as an example
1. Wood was sometimes scarce
2. So Jewish women would use dried grass and dead
flowers were used by Jewish women to quickly heat up
their clay ovens
3. PATCH of GRASS/Flowers
4. If God takes care of these plants that seem so
insignificant to us don't you think He'll take care
of you?
5. Our bodies house our soul and one day we will leave
this body and it will decay in the ground, just as the
flowers and grass of the field do
a. Except for one great exception
b. We will one day be reunited with these bodies
and they will be changed, in the twinkling of an
eye
c. Fitted to live forever in eternity.
d. God takes care of the plants of this earth that will
shortly disappear never to come back, but you, if
Jesus is your Lord….will one day live, in His
presence with the body you have changed for
eternity
C. For you worrywarts Jesus says 'O you of little faith'
1. In four specific instances Jesus said 'O you of little faith'
in the Gospels
a. In Matthew chapter 8 the disciples are on a boat
with Jesus and a storm comes up, afraid that
they are going to die they wake Jesus up to do
something: Jesus looked at them and said 'You
of little faith, why are you so afraid' and then He
calmed the storm
b. In Matthew chapter 14 Jesus calls Peter out of a
boat and to come to Him, Peter starts to sink and
cries out to Jesus to save him. Jesus reaches out
His hand and caught Peter and then said, 'You of
little faith, why did you doubt?'
c. Latter on in Matthew chapter 16 the disciples
thought Jesus was upset with them for bringing
no bread, forgetting Jesus had feed four and five
thousand miraculously, Jesus looks at them and
says 'You of little faith'
d. And Here in dealing with worry was the first time
Jesus used these words
2. Jesus is clear that when we are with Him doubt and
worry have no place, in fact it's absolutely absurd to fear
when He is our Lord, especially when He even takes
care of the grass that grows in our yards
3. Maybe those words ‘O you of little faith’ are today
directed at you
D. Jesus Point #4: Worry isn't so much as an excess of problems
as it is a deficiency of faith
READ: Matthew 6:31, 32 (Scripture slide)
“31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall
we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after
all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need
them.”
A. Jesus saying that our basic needs: food, drink and comfort, will
be provided by God (by the way this does not include basic
cable)
B. Jesus is also saying don’t act like a whiney pagan
1. A pagan are those who do not follow God but this world
2. Pagans chase after that which God gives His children
3. Does this mean that we are better than the pagans?
Absolutely not, we have just been given the gift of
eternal life, a gift that is extended to them as well if they
would take it
4. But pagan or not God will not bless this type of effort
Ps 127:2 "In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food
to eat— for He grants sleep to those He loves."
5. Why? Because worry is the outpouring of a paganistic
outlook that distrusts or ignores God
6. Let me tell you something with the utmost assurance
pagan behavior has no place in the believer's life
C. We shouldn’t worry because 'your heavenly Father knows'
your needs
1. Plus do you not remember that God hears our prayers?
2. And knowing that should free us from worry
Php 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God."
3. We forget sometimes that God foresees all things
4. Story of my dog Lucky
a. In the car, she's just oblivious to what is ahead
b. She looks all over, drooling, smudging my
windows, drooling some more
c. Not knowing that the car she is in is about to
come to a stop or make a turn
d. As the one fully in control I reach over and
steady her before she tumbles into the floor board
or face plants into my windshield
e. I'm driving I know what's coming…so it is with
God
f. He knows when the brakes are going to be hit in
our lives, He knows all the sharp turns….and He's
there to catch us
g. If we could all have the faith in God as Lucky has
in her master who she knows loves her
D. Jesus Point #5: Worry is for godless people who do not have a
relationship with our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ
READ: Matthew 6:33 (Scripture slide)
“ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things will be given to you as well.”
A. God's kingdom is His rule and His people (serving Him and
His people that is what it is all about)
1. The world and the Kingdom of God have different
priorities and we are to seek the priorities of Jesus'
kingdom not this world's
2. But that is a choice we must daily make
3. And if you are worrying about all these things it is hard
to keep focused on the things God wants to do in your
life and through your life
B. When we come to Christ Jesus we are to replace the cares of
this world with the cares of Jesus and His Kingdom
1. But in order to do that we need to be daily connected to
Him
2. My bad habit of not fueling up until the fuel light pops
on, am I going to have enough to get home?
a. This is what happens in our life when we don't
connect with God on a regular basis and seek His
will in our lives
b. When disaster strikes we just don't have a deep
enough well of faith to pull out of
3. We should not fear the threats of this world, on the
contrary when they come at us we need to recall the
promises of God\
2 Ch 16:9a "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth
to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him."
Ps 84:11 "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows
favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose
walk is blameless."
Ro 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of
those who love Him, who have been called according to His
purpose."
Php 4:19 "And my God will meet all your needs according to His
glorious riches in Christ Jesus."
4. Hear me now people If you’re in slavery to the things of
the world then you will never be free of worry
5. But if you’re busy working for God you won't have time
to worry
6. I ask you now what is your perspective: temporal or
eternal?
C. Jesus Point #6: If you focus on Him, He will take care of the
little things
READ: Matthew 6:34 (Scripture slide)
“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
A. Mom sings Live one day at a time (song)
B. I hope none of you is worried about the time
C. The majority of our worry is about things that never even befall
us
1. 'Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday!'
2. Jesus tells us to pick up our cross and follow Him, but
there is no reason to carry tomorrow's cross today!
D. If tomorrow does bring troubles we can know that God will get
us through them as well and that He will not be surprised by
them
1. This is why we daily go to God
2. This is the season that many people go to those scary
houses to be scarred. Why are they scary because you
don't know what to expect. How scary would it be if
before you went in they took your though it with the
lights turned on and showed you through it. Not so
scary because you know the outcome. Church don't we
know our own outcome is in the hands of Jesus and that
one day this world will be but a distant memory. So,
why, why do we fret when we know the end of the
story?
E. Jesus Point #7: The Future is in His Hands, so why worry like
it is in ours?
Application (slide)
A. If Jesus is your Lord, prove it by believing His words about
worry
B. And if your carrying a weight, that you need to give God, let it
go, let Him take if off your shoulders
1 Pe 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on Him because he cares for you."
C. Those of you who are wondering why Jesus isn't working
through your lives may be too busy dealing with the cares of
this world
Mt 13:22 "The one who received the seed that fell among the
thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life
and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful."
D. If there is something in your past, give it to God, forget what is
behind you for it is not near as important as what lies right in
front of you now
E. I’ll close with this
1. Jesus had two followers that were sisters. Mary and
Martha.
2. Mary sat at Jesus feet to connect with Him
3. Martha on the other hand was so busy worrying about
things of this world she forgot that in her home was
Jesus, the Messiah, the answer to all her worries
4. Listen to what Jesus had to say to her
Lk 10:41, 42 "41 Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are
worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is
needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken
away from her.”
5. Maybe those words are meant for you today: Jesus is
telling you that He is in your life, and instead of
worrying and fretting you just need to stop and sit down
at His feet and take His peace
6. There really is no peace for those, however, that don't
know Him
7. Without Jesus you have no one who can carry the
worries of this world for you, and more importantly you
do not have a hope for an eternity with Him
8. 'Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved' Acts
16:31
Invitation (accept Jesus, recommit, see about joining this
church fellowship, or just need prayer)
Let us sing our last song #
,
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