STUDY THEME: THE BIBLE: GOD’S BOOK OF GRACE. 1-05-03
"THE PROMISE OF PEACE" MATTHEW 6:25-34; 11:28-30
MATTHEW 6: 25-27, 28-32, 33-34; 11: 28-30.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO MATTHEW 6.
Having spent the month of December looking at "God’s Grace Revealed," we now turn to a four-session Study Theme in which we will focus on four of "God’s Promises of Grace." Included are His "Promise of Peace," in the place of anxiety. His "Promise of Deliverance from Temptation", His "Promise of Life’s value", and His "Promise of a Future Place in Jesus Presence." The promises of God are precious to His people.
In the "Sermon on the mount", Jesus gave His disciples reasons why they were not to worry. He taught His followers not to worry about meeting their physical needs, for worry never accomplishes any good. He pointed out that worry is a mark of unbelievers and should not be for those who trust God as Father. He called them to seek first the concerns of God, and He would care for their concerns. Jesus called those with burdens to come to Him for rest and purpose.
The Focal Passage Outline points provide reason to stop worrying. The first is "Worry is Unproductive."
A newspaper reporter heard about an unusual woman and arranged to interview
her. She was a widow who had raised six children of her own plus twelve others
whom she had adopted. "How have you been able to take care of all these children
and do it so well?" asked the reporter. The woman replied, "It’s really very
simple. You see, I’m in a partnership." When asked, "What do you mean by
partnership?" the widow answered, ‘Many years ago I said to the Lord, ‘Dear
Lord, I will do the work of rearing these children if You will do the worrying.’
Ever since we formed that partnership I have left all the worrying to
Him."
Jesus forbids worry. Three times in today’s lesson he commands His followers to not worry. For those who are already living in worry, He commands, "Stop the worrying." For those who are about to start worrying, he declares, "Don’t make that step. Don’t even begin to worry."
Now I know people who live in the city of Worryville. They worried, "What if this, What if that—worst case scenario." Before we take a close look at worry, I want to give two simple disclaimers…(l.) "Don’t Worry" doesn’t mean don’t plan. Jesus spent His whole ministry planning for when he would be crucified, resurrected and ascended back to heaven. He prepared his disciples, "Don’t build the high-rise until you’ve done the paper work." It’s not a sin to have life insurance or plan for retirement. (2.) Don’t Worry" doesn’t mean don’t be concerned. If you are not concerned about your kid wandering into traffic…you’re a terrible parent. There are things you need to be concerned about. There’s a difference between carefree and careless. Concern is attached to the present. Worry is attached to the future. We can take action on the present, the future is out of our hands.
Jesus’ command, not to worry, is meant to keep His followers from getting hurt. Worry hurts. It affects people and their relationship. It strangles people. It chokes them. It affects even their sleep. It destroys faith. It leads to a lot of trouble.
The story is told about a man who came face to face with the dangers of worry:
Death was walking toward a city one morning and a man asked, "What are you going to do?"
I’m going to take 100 people," Death replied. "That’s horrible!" the man said.
"That’s the way it is," Death said. "That’s what I do."
The man hurried to warn everyone he could about Death’s plan. As evening fell he met Death again. "You told me you were going to take 100 people," the man said. ‘Why did 1,000 die?’
Death responded, "I only took 100 people. Worry took the others."
Let’s look at what worry is all about.
In verses 19-24 the King proceeds to make clear what our relationship ought to be to the material things by which we are surrounded, and with which we have to deal. "Where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also."
In Vs. 25-30 we will now consider what our attitudes should be toward the necessary things of life. Twice in Vs. 26 and again in Vs. 32 Jesus points to the heavenly Father as a reason for not worrying. He says, "to worry and have a heavenly Father" is inconsistent. How can you worry when you have a heavenly Father? He also chides worriers by pointing to the obvious, "worry is useless." It is a futile exercise, a total waste of time, of effort and of energy. One cannot prolong his or her life by worrying. In fact, worry shortens life.
It is important for us to take the time to seek what is on God’s heart, because His list should drive and shape our prayers. We should not be praying for what we want, we should be praying for God’s will to be done in our lives.
The word "therefore" in Vs. 25 ties Vs. 25-34 to Vs. 19-24. This entire part of the Sermon on the Mount deals with the proper attitude toward material things. Jesus challenged His disciples to focus on heavenly treasures rather than earthly treasures (Vs. 19-21), to see life’s realities through the focused vision of single-minded devotion to God (Vs.22-23), and to give their total obedience to God rather than things (Vs.24). In Vs. 25-34 He warned them of the subtle dangers of worldly anxiety. Even people of faith are tempted to worry. Believers need to defeat worry through trust in God and through total commitment to His kingdom and righteousness. Worry is the enemy of real faith.
Worry is inconsistent: Who made you? Who established the requirements of food, shelter and clothing? GOD! If you buy into the idea that God is your creator, you gotta buy into the idea that God is also your sustainer. If you believe God is your creator, but can’t provide…..your inconsistent. If we can concede that God created us, then we should be able to concede that the same God who created us can take care of us.
Worry is irrational. (God can provide, but will He?) A bird was worth one copper coin.
Luke says in Luke 12:6-7 "are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet, not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. You can buy 2 for 1 cent or 5 for 2 cents. (You buy four… you get one free!) God cares about even the bird that had no worth at all. The hairs on your head are kept track of on some database in heaven.
In Vs. 27 Jesus asked, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Or a cubit to his stature?" Worry is ineffective. A mouse living in a cage with a wheel will travel 9,000 miles in his lifetime—and he is still in the cage. Worry is that same way. You can worry 24/7 and guess what…you are still in the cage. Worrying doesn’t rob tomorrow of it’s sorry, it robs today of its strength.
You see worry is not only needless for a believer it is also useless. Worry doesn’t change a thing. Everything that you worry about will fall into one of two categories. It is either something you can do something about, or it is something that you can’t do anything about. Does that make sense? If it does make sense then the secret is this, if you can do something about it then do it. But if you can’t do anything then worrying about it isn’t going to solve the problem.
It won’t go away if you worry about it and it’s not going to get any smaller. If anything it’s going to get bigger and bigger. My Daddy used to tell me about getting tangled up with a piece of steak that was so tough the longer he chewed it the bigger it got, until it was too big to swallow and too big to spit out. I never did ask him what he did with it. But worry is like that, the more you chew on it the bigger it gets.
It’s kinda like the guy who had a flat tire on a back road late at night and then discovered that his jack was missing. And as he starts down the long dark road to a farmhouse in the distance he gets to thinking, "What happens if there’s been a lot of break-ins around here lately? And what if the farmer hears me and thinks I’m a burglar? And what if he’s bough himself a couple of pit bulls for protection: and what if when I arrive he doesn’t give me a chance to explain who I am and when I knock on the door he turns the dogs loose on me? Well the closer he got to the farm the more he had convinced himself that the very worst was going to happen. So when he finally got to the house he beat on the door and when the farmer answered the guy shouted, "I didn’t want your dumb old jack anyway" and stormed back to his car.
Not only is worry needless and useless but it’s also dangerous. Worry is detrimental to your health. The two illnesses that most typify our society today are ulcers and coronary disease. Both of which have stress at their root. There are Christians who shun alcohol and tobacco because they are harmful to their bodies and yet the very same people worry themselves into an early grave. Worry is not a harmless pastime, it will make you old before your time and it will kill you before your time.
In the media and the marketplace, our philosophy of life has been reduced to a bunch of slogans, cliches, trite phrases that we use to describe our lives. I’m sure you recognize a few of these pop philosophies we hear every day. Gatorade came out with an interesting one. "Life is a sport, drink it up." I believe the commercial is saying you should try your best, and drink Gatorade. "Life is what you make it," is another popular one. It’s self-explanatory.
"He who dies with the most toys wins." I first saw that saying on a button. It took me the longest time to figure out what it meant. It almost means what it says, that those who have the most material possessions when they die wins. It fits our culture to a T. But the most popular one that’s been quoted in so many words by commercials, popular songs, and other sources is, "Life is a game."
If life is a game, where are the instructions? What is the object of the game. How do you determine the winner? Who’s to determine the winner? And if there is a winner, what’s the prize? There are people who may not say that life is a game but their slogan is "You only go around once in life, so you need to go for the gusto." And they live their life like this.
Skipping all the rules let’s see what is the prize? What do we win if we live for Christ? "All these things shall be added to you if you seek after the desires of God, He will see to your needs, and even greatly exceed them with His blessings. He who dies with the most toys, still dies. And nobody wins. So why not pursue instead the kingdom of God and live?
Again and again God’s Word exhorts us not to worry.
Matt. 6:27 "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"
Prov. 12:25 "An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up."
I Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."
Phil. 4;6 "Do not be anxious about anything…!
God tells us again and again not to worry and yet all of us worry. So what is worry and why is it so attractive to us?
WORRY- what is it? Worry is an EMOTION, Worry is an ATTITUDE, Worry is an ACT OF THE WILL. People of faith still must sow, reap, and store their food: but there is no contradiction between working and praying, "Give us this day our daily bread." As Christians, we should do our part in providing for the physical necessities of life, but we should place our trust in God to provide what we need, not constantly worry about these things as if only our efforts can provide them. If God cares for the birds and flowers, how much more will He care for us?
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 it must be
That they have no heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me."
Another reason to stop worrying; Worrying is unbelief.
Worry is also illogical. In dealing with anxiety about clothes, Jesus used flowers to teach a lesson about trust in God. Solomon drove every girl crazy because he was a sharp dressed man. Yet he didn’t compare to the beauty of the lilies of the field. A Lilly never worked one-hour overtime, paid a due, suffered anxiety—nothing but looked up. God created the Lilly for your pleasure. You were made in His image. To God you are so much more important than a Lilly that loses it’s pedals and fades within a season. How much does God care about the things that cause your worry? He displayed it on a cross, 2,000 years ago. Why would God suffer and die for the same children He planned to neglect? God will take care of you before everything in His creation.
Jesus said that if God gave such beauty to plants with a short life span, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Little faith does not mean that His hearers had no faith. Jesus knew His followers were pilgrims of faith—on their way but not yet there. He knew the world often temps even the most committed disciples into the subtle snare of worldly anxiety. These disciples constantly needed to seek divine strength to overcome worry and to renew their basic trust in the Heavenly Father’s goodness and trustworthiness. Jesus warned of an obsession with questions such as those in vs. 31.
Vs. 32 points out that worry is irreligious. It’s understandable for lost people to be worried about food, shelter, and clothing. But we know better? You ask, but don’t you worry? Yes I do, but it is not my hometown. I pass through it. For many people, they live in worry and when the old worries are gone, they go looking for new worries----they depend on worry, they view their life through worry and they’ve forgotten any other way to live. I don’t want to live like that as a Christian.
Vs. 33 is the key verse in Matt. 6:25-34 and probably in the entire Sermon on the mount. It has become for many people a key verse by which they live day by day. Vs. 33 is the positive counterpart to the warnings about worry in Vs. 25, 28, 31, and 34. It is also the opposite way of life to that of the unbelievers described in Vs. 32. They seek material things for themselves and rely on themselves. Jesus called His followers to seek…first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness. These words refer to the fulfillment of God’s purpose of redemption. God is at work to provide salvation and life for sinful humanity. He has promised that His purpose will be fulfilled. Rather than seeking the material things sought by unbelievers, we are to seek…first the things of God.
The last two verses give us the plan to fight worry. In fighting the giant of worry you need a system of priorities. In Vs. 33 Jesus gave us His alternative for worry. Instead of worrying about food, water, clothes and the like, we are to passionately seek God’s kingdom and righteousness. This is not a new theme that Jesus introduces here. This is a theme all throughout the Sermon. To care for God’s business is to be assured that God will care for your personal business.
So Jesus offers an alternative, a plan B. "People who do not know God run after these things, but you are different. Pursue my kingdom, make it your central priority; make it your dream--your ambition." The kingdom Jesus refers to is His personal reign, God’s rule in Christ. So what does it mean to seek His kingdom above all? First, it means to desire that one’s own life be placed under Christ’s rule. I desire that my whole life, every department of my life—be placed under His care, direction and plan. To seek God’s rule in my life means that I want above all things that His will be done in my life.
Worry is an attitude unbecoming of the child of God. Worship is better. To fret is a useless endeavor. To believe is better. If you have lived in worry, it is time to make some important changes. Make the right decision. Trust the right Father. Pursue the right ambition. You will be greatly rewarded now and in the future.
Here then is the formula for a successful life: Seek the things of God first, live the righteous life He would have you live. Focus on that…and let the chips fall where they may. (Sounds simple?) If you can’t believe that, you can throw it all away. If this part isn’t true…then none of it is. Rebuild with God at your center.
Our greatest need is to seek God with all our heart. We need to spend time in prayer seeking to learn what God’s will is for our lives, what He is doing in the midst of our present circumstances, and where He is leading us. We need to spend time in prayer allowing the Lord to teach us about His character, His love, His justice, His mercy, His grace, and His mighty power. His majesty, and His sovereignty over all things. This is what we truly need in life. Nothing apart from seeking the Lord with all our hearts will give us the security, rest and joy that every person longs for in life. We seek the Lord, when we long to be in His presence", then we will find that He begins to change us. The things that use to matter most, lose their power over us. The plans that we have pursued with fervency and passion lose their grip on us so that we might pursue the plans that God has for us. The troubles that use to unravel our souls are put into His divine perspective and we learn that nothing happens apart from His knowledge. Jesus tells us that a worry-free life is a result of making the right decision. The decision to serve the right master.
Vs. 34 points out that we need a strategic program. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own." Have you ever tried to carry ALL the grocery bags in at once…and didn’t make it. After you clean the eggs off the drive-way, you decide next time to make the second trip. Jesus is telling us to carry today’s bags today and make a fresh trip tomorrow.
My calendar is divided into blocks with one day at a time. Stay in one square at a time. That’s how God designed it. "I’m an old man and I’ve known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened." So Don’t worry about yesterday’s mess. (Forgive yourself for yesterday’s failures.) God has. Don’t worry about yesterday’s success. (Paul didn’t worry about "topping" himself.) Don’t worry about yesterday’s distress. (So many are walking through the valley of the shadow.) That is no place to build a home, raise a family or to live. Life may have tripped you up, keep walking.
Worry is a giant that each of us face sooner or later. Worry is a giant that can be defeated. Faced and found Worry is inconsistent, irrational, ineffective, illogical, irreligious. Fight worry by having a system of priorities and a strategic program.
All the water in the world however hard it tried,
Could never sink a ship unless it got inside.
All the hardships of this world might wear you pretty thin,
But they won’t hurt you one least bit unless you let them in.
PLEASE TURN TO MATTHEW 11.
The Bible has some beautiful and powerful invitations. One is in Isaiah 55:1, and another is in Rev. 22:17. But none is more beautiful than this invitation of Jesus in Vs. 28-30. This invitation
is personal from Jesus to each person. Come unto me. The invitation is to go to Jesus Himself. The invitation is to all that labor, and are heavy laden. This invitation is for those who toil and who carry heavy burdens of any kind. We are not created strong enough to bear life’s burdens alone. We need the help of God and of brothers and sisters in the faith.
Bruner offered a beautiful translation of these verses: "Come here to me all of you who are working hard and carrying too much, and I will refresh you. Here, take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and simple at heart, and you will experience refreshing deep down in your lives. You see, my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
I have come to the conclusion that the only way out of our predicament, the only way to discard our wish lists of toys and trinkets is to allow Jesus to take His seat on the throne of our hearts and then continuously, earnestly, and passionately seek God’s will for our lives each and every day. Only God can change our hearts. He alone can remove our hearts of stone that seek after the things of this world and give us a heart of flesh that seeks after the things of God.
For us to pursue God we must keep first things first. Jesus said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be given to you as well." We seek things, not God. We seek our comfort, not God. Things can never give us direction in life. Things can never comfort us in a lasting way. Things can never instill within us the wisdom we need to understand our predicaments and possibilities. Things are just things, but God is God!
In India, if you are walking through rural roads you’ll occasionally come across a post with a sturdy shelf about shoulder height. Soma Tonga which means, "resting place." When people are traveling with a heavy load, they place their heavy load on the shelf for relief. Once rested they continue their journey. "What do you think Christians in India call Jesus? My Soma Tonga. (Cast your burdens upon Him.)
NEXT SUNDAY WE CONTINUE WITH ANOTHER PROMISE—GOD’S PROMISE OF GRACE INCLUDES "DELIVERANCE FROM TEMPTATION." 1 COR. 10:6-13.
A.V. DAUGHERTY 1-05-03