Worry Is A Choice

Sermon Manuscript: Why Worry? Message 1- Worry Is A Choice  
Sermon preached by Dr. Rick Mandl, Eagle Rock Baptist Church, October 31 & November 1, 2020 
Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

 

For the next three weeks, we’re going to talk about worry . . . This is a timely topic, because all of us have worried about something. What are you worried about right now? Nothing? You’re the exception. Many of us are more worried now than we’ve ever been before. I saw the results of a survey this week that said that three out of four voters are worried about the possibility of violence on election day. Americans are worries about the economy, they’re worried about race-relations, and they’re worries about the corona-virus. When it comes to worry there are different kinds of people, so there are different levels of worry. There are those of you who you get your blood pressure checked just to make sure you’re alive, because you don’t worry about anything. In fact, your wife or husband is probably worried about you, because they can’t get you to worry. They want you to be more worried.

 

Some of you are at the other end of the spectrum, where you worry about everything. You feel like God maybe has given you . . . that’s your spiritual gift. In fact people around you feel like they don’t have to worry as much because they know that whatever there is to worry about, you’ve got it covered. You’ve tried to worry less, but trying to worry less is like trying not to think about something. All the while that you’re trying not to think about that thing, that’s the thing you’re thinking about. And then the rest of us are somewhere in the middle, and in light of what’s going on in our economy and in our country, even those of us who don’t necessarily consider ourselves worriers, we’ve begun to worry.

 

To get us started thinking about this I’ve got three questions for you. I didn’t make these up, and many of you have heard them before.

 

Question #1: Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your life? You may have heard that before. Somebody very smart asked this question. Who of you, by worrying, can add a single hour to your life? In other words, who, by worrying, extends his life?

 

Question #2: Who of you have worried so much that you think you may have taken a year or so off your life expectancy? You know you can’t make your life longer by worrying, but you’re pretty sure you may have shortened it a little bit by worrying.” A companion question to that one might be. . . Who of you have taken an hour or so off the life expectancy of your spouse or your kids, because you worry so much you drive them crazy? Okay, third question—now this is a little more complicated and kind of sets us up for where we’re going.

 

Question #3: Is there anything more valuable to you than staying alive? And even if there is - Will worrying contribute to the thing that you value more than your life? Jesus asked this question: Can you add an hour to your life by worrying? No. Okay, let’s assume that doesn’t bother you that much, because your life is not the thing you value most. When it comes to whatever it is that you do value most, will worry extend, or enhance, or make better that thing which you consider even more important than life? Does worrying add to that? The answer is probably no. So in summary, if worrying doesn’t extend your life, if worrying has the potential, many of us think and a lot of experts think, to shorten your life, and if worrying doesn’t enhance or make better something that you consider even more important than life, then why in the world would we worry? It doesn’t make any sense at all. So the solution is: stop it.

 

If only it were that simple – we’d all do it. But it’s not - - and so we won’t. Instead, what I do want to do is to spend three weeks opening God’s Word and looking at some things about worry. These first two we’re going to spend in Matthew chapter 6 focusing specifically on focusing specifically on Jesus Words on Worry as they’re found in Matthew 6:24-34. And one the next steps is for you to just read through these verses (Matthew 6:24-34) five times. So I’d like to begin by reading it right now . . . And then circle back and make a couple of observations.

           

Beginning at verse 24, Jesus says,

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." That might seem like a strange place to begin a discussion on worry, but there’s a reason for it, and we’ll get to that in a moment.

Jesus continues . . .

"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 than food, and the body more than clothes? 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" (Matthew 6:26-27).

“And why do you worry about clothes? 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?" (Matthew 6:28-30).

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”   Matthew 6:31-32 

 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:33-34

 

As we look at this subject of worry, I want to begin with what you could call the BIG IDEA. And the big idea is this . . . We worry about what we are most devoted to. In this passage, Jesus says . . . that the things that you are most devoted to are the things that will determine what you worry about. Where do I see that? I see that in verse 24 where Jesus said... “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

 

A lot of people when it comes to Jesus teaching on worry, like to begin the discussion at verse 25. In fact you may have a Bible that breaks, at that point and labels that next section, “Worry.” The problem with that is, that verse 25 begins with the word “Therefore.” And a basis principle, to help you understand the Bible, is that any time you see that word, “Therefore” - - it’s a good idea to take a pause and make sure you know what that word “Therefore” is “There” “For.”  “Therefore’s” don’t happen in isolation. No one comes up to you and begins a conversation with the word “Therefore.” If they did, you’d say “What do you mean therefore?” Did I miss something you just said? Jesus, says “Therefore” in verse 25, because he’s tying it to what he just said before that. Everything that Jesus is going to say in verses 25-34 relating to worry, is tied to what he just said in verse 24, about what you’re devoted to. Jesus says that the things that you are most devoted to, fuel the things and parallel the things that you worry about the most. In other words, the thing that you worry about the most is the thing you are most devoted. And on the flipside, the thing you are most devoted to will determine what you worry about the most.

 

Now, we don’t think that way, because worry is so emotional that we try to deal with worry in the realm of emotion. And that’s a mistake. Think of worry as being like smoke from a fire. When you smell smoke in your house, the wise thing to do is not just to open a window, or plug in an air freshener. The wise thing to do is to follow the trail of the smoke to see what’s on fire. In the passage we’re looking at, Jesus says, “I would like to take away the mystery from worry.” If you want to know what drives your worry, it’s your devotion.

 

Maybe I can illustrate it this way, and this is something that you might not want to hear coming from a pastor. . . But I’m going to be honest with you and tell you that I never, worry about your job. I don’t. And the reason is because “I’m not devoted to your job.” Now, if you write me a letter, or send me an email, or turn in a prayer request that says, “I’ve lost my job,” or “They’re downsizing at my company and it looks like I’m going to lose my job,” I would feel concern. I would feel compassion. I would pray for you. And if you and I had a relationship I might give you a call. But would I go home and worry about your job? Most likely not, because I’m not devoted to your job.

 

Here’s another confession: “I never, ever worry about your kids’ grades, ever.” Do I care? Of course, I care. If you wrote me a letter or sent me an email and said, “Pastor Rick, my child is flunking out of school” “If his grades don’t improve, he may not get to the school of his choice.” I would feel concern, and compassion. And if you needed prayer, we would pray. But do I sit at home and worry about your childs’ grades? No. Why? Because I have never, devoted myself to your child doing well in school. I’m not worried about your retirement. I’m not. I hope it works out. I hope you get to retire early. I hope you get to retire with millions of dollars. But do I sit around my house and worry about your retirement? No. Why? Because I have never devoted myself to making sure you retire in a way that is financially secure. My worry is tied to the things I am most devoted to. And Jesus teaches us, that the things that you worry about reflect the things that you are devoted to.

 

So consider this . . . What if, what if you shifted your devotion? What would happen to your worry? This is the discussion that Jesus leads us into in this section of his Sermon on the Mount. And I don’t think it’s accidental that Jesus begins the discussion by talking about Money. I don’t think it’s accidental that when Jesus decided to teach on worry, the topic he began with is money. If you read all the statistics, and all the polls, you would see that people’s number one worry in America has to do with their what? Their money, that’s right, because we think we’re going to run out of money, before we run out of life. And even when it comes to this pandemic, for a lot of people the concern isn’t so much about the health aspect, as it is about the financial. Will I still have a job? Will I have enough money to pay the rent or the mortgage?

 

So Jesus, in launching a discussion about worry, says, let’s talk about the thing that most Americans are worried about. Right there in verse 24 he says . . . "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. He says, "You cannot serve both God and money." The Greek word translated “money” is the word “Mammon,”which means, “stuff.” Literally—Jesus says, “You can’t serve God and serve your stuff.” You can’t be fully devoted to God, and fully devoted to your stuff. They are going to war against each other. You’ve got to decide which one you’re going to be most devoted to. You can like both, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to decide which one you’re most devoted to.”

 

And rather than just leaving this abstract, and talking about stuff, Jesus walks us through what he’s talking about and takes it from the general to the specific. Verse 25 Jesus says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear." Most of us don’t spend a lot of time worrying about food and clothing. I think, if Jesus were talking to us he might say . . . Don’t worry about Tuesday’s election. Don’t worry about how long this pandemic is going to last and if and when there will be a vaccine. Don’t worry about whether you’re going to be able to find a job, or keep the job you have. Don’t worry about your health. Don’t worry about your prodigal son or prodigal daughter. Why? Because those things aren’t important???? No – those things are very important. And there is uncertainty related to all of those things. But there’s a way to face the uncertainty of tomorrow, without worrying about it today.

 

Jesus asks a really big question in verse 25, and the question is . . . "Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?" And where it says “Food” and “Clothes” you can replace that with whatever it is you’re the most worried about right now. Jesus says don’t worry about those things . . . And then he says something that is going to seem really strange to people who are committed to worrying. He says, “Look at the birds of the air. . ." And you read that and you say “What?" “Look at the birds.” Are you kidding me? I don’t have time to look at the birds of the air. I need a job! I don’t have time to look at the birds of the air; I have no transportation. I don’t have time to look at the birds; my husband says he’s not coming back! No offense Jesus, but the birds of the air? And Jesus says, “Look at them . . . “. . . they do not sow or reap or store away in barns." If he were talking to us today he might say . . . “They don’t have a 401K; they don’t get a college education; they don’t have a 5-year plan."

 

You need to read this carefully, because if you misread it you’ll think that Jesus is just making fun of all of your hard work. He’s saying, “Look the birds of the air; they don’t even really try. The birds of the air fly around and suddenly they it just occurs to them, ‘I’m thinking we should go south. Yeah, let’s go south.’ And they just go there. They don’t even know why. The birds of the air fly around and they go, ’There’s a piece of string. I feel compelled to go get it and build a little tree fort. Didn’t I just do this last year?’ They have no idea, why they do what they do” Jesus says, “Look at the birds of the air. They don’t have plans, they don’t have Daytimers, they don’t use Quicken, they don’t have a budget, they don’t have a mortgage, and they don’t do any of the responsible stuff you do.

 

I mean you’re out there trying, you’re knocking yourself out. And birds of the air, they just kind of go with whatever the flow is. They go by instinct, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And then Jesus asks . . . Are you not much more valuable than they? Think about that for a moment. Are you not much more valuable to God than a bird? Do you think God cares more for you than he does the birds? Do you think God is more concerned about you? You were made in his image. You discover that when you read the creation story back in the book of Genesis. God created all kinds of cool things, but then when he got to mankind he said. . . “This is different. I’m making man and woman; I’m making them in my image.” And one day I’m going to send a Savior into the world. But I’m not going to send a Savior in the form of a bird, or a flower, or a goat, or a cow, or even a lion. I’m going to send my Son into this world in the form of a human being.”

 

So Jesus asks this question, “Do you think God cares more for you than he does a bird?” I know this is deep. I know you probably feel like you don’t know the Scripture enough to be able to answer this tough question, so let me ask it just one more time. Do you believe that God loves you more than he loves a bird? Jesus is saying, “There is a way to face uncertainty, and not worry.” He’s saying . . . “There is a way to not know, where you’re going to get another job, and not worry. He’s saying it’s possible to have uncertainty, and still not worry all at the same time. He’s not saying ‘Be irresponsible and it’s going to work out.” He’s saying, “Look, I want you to sow and reap, and I want you to stow away in barns, and I want you to fill out applications. I want you to knock on doors, I want you to study hard, and work hard, I want you to do your best, I want you to set goals. I want you to do all that stuff. But once you’ve done all you can do, I want you to go. . . . “Ah, God loves me more than the birds, so I don’t need to worry.”

 

He goes on and says, “If you think I’m making it too simplistic, let me ask you a question.” It’s in verse 27 And the question is . . . Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Okay, so if you don’t like my plan, you think the birds of the air, you think that’s too simplistic, think this whole thing is kind of silly, okay, then go ahead and get hyper focused on what about, what about, what about and what if, what if, what if …. Go ahead and just get like super hyper-focused on all those things and then ask yourself this question: Am I helping myself? Jesus says, “Look, if your worry isn’t going to get you anywhere, I’ve got an idea. Look at the birds of the air and settle in on this revolutionary idea: “God loves me more than he loves the birds in the sky.”

 

If God loves me that much, and I’ve done all I know to do: I sow and I reap and I store away in barns. If I’ve done all I can do in the now that I do have some control over, can God be trusted in the next now that I have no control over? And, if so, I’m not going to worry. And I’m not…. not going to worry because I know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I’m not going to worry because I’m trusting the only one that can do anything about tomorrow.”

 

He goes on. Verse 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin." He’s saying, “You guys labor and spin; you create clothes. I mean the flowers are lazy; They do nothing and look how they are clothed.” Matthew 6:29–30 (NIV): "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— If God takes care of flowers, and if God takes care of birds, and the birds don’t do anything, and the flowers don’t do anything, and God takes care of them….” Now, this is Jesus speaking, he says, “Don’t you believe that perhaps in the tomorrow that you’ have no control over, based on the today that you’ve done all you know to do… Don’t you believe God will and can take care of you?”

 

And then he goes right to the heart of the worry issue, and this is where we’re going to end today. We’re going to end with the last part of this verse. Jesus says…. Verse 30 . . . “. . . you of little faith?” Jesus is telling us that worry is a devotion issue; worry is a faith issue. Our emotions get attached to the things that we’re most devoted to,” Jesus says, “The reason it is difficult for you to pull away and trust me with the uncertainty of tomorrow, the reason you are so devoted to and so emotionally distraught about the issues of life, important issues of life . . .”

 

He’s already addressed the two big ones for that culture… “What am I going to eat? What am I going to wear?” That’s big. Never does he say, “Ah, you don’t need anything to eat. It all worked out for Adam and Eve.” He doesn’t discount the importance of eating and having things to wear. In fact, he says that those are very important. His point isn’t these are things you shouldn’t be concerned about. His point is you don’t need to worry about it. And he says, ”Here’s the issue: the issue is do you trust your Father in heaven? Oh, you of little faith?”

 

Worriers are expressing little to no confidence in God’s willingness and ability to take care of them, and I know where some of you get stuck on this. You get stuck on, “Well, I know God can, but I don’t know if God will. I know God can take care of me, I know God can help me get into a good school, I know God can help me to meet the right person, I know God can take care of my future, I know he can, I know he can, I know he can, My problem is I don’t know if he will.” Jesus says, “Well, trust him, trust him, trust him, because the issue of worry is an issue of faith or confidence in God.”

 

Think about this - - - How different would your life look if you could “Wake up every day and live your life as if you were absolutely confident that God was your heavenly Father and that he could be trusted? What would your life look like? What if you could wake up every single day confident that God loves you more than the birds and more than the flowers and could and would take care of you? What would you worry about? And the reason you wouldn’t worry is not because the future was certain; You wouldn’t stop worrying because you knew exactly what was going to happen tomorrow or the next day. You would stop worrying because you were trusting in your heavenly, Father instead of your ability to predict the future and instead of your ability to bring certainty into the future.

 

What you and I need to remember is - not one single second of your life has been a certainty, ever. We’ve lived with uncertainties since we were born. It’s just that at different stages of life we become more aware of the uncertainty. Jesus is saying, “Look, has God been faithful to you in the past uncertainty; You just weren’t as aware and stressed out about it? And Yes, Life has changed, and culture has changed, and the economy has changed. But what is there about God that has changed? And the answer to that is Nothing! Oh you of little faith.”

 

Now, we’re going to stop there. And here’s what I want you to challenge you to do for this next week. I want to give you Three Takeaways. Some things to think about. You can pick one of these to do, Or you can pick all three of these to do, Or you can pick none of these to do, Ask yourself . . . .

1. What am I devoted to? If that seems to hard to answer, then ask yourself “What am I worried about?” And you’ll have your answer

2. Have I done all I can? When Jesus says, “Don’t Worry” He’s not saying don’t work. We’re to sow, we’re to reap, we’re to store in barns, We’re to do all we can do. You and I need to be responsible in the now, and then trust God for the tomorrow. But then, once we’ve done all we can do, we’re to realize that “we’ve done all we can do.”

3. A third challenge I’ll give you, even if you’re not going to do the first two is Would you be willing to find your Bible and Read what Jesus says about worry? It would be awesome if you’d do it five mornings. Just read he verses we talked about today - Matthew 6:24-34. They’re also the verse we’re going to cover next week. Just read them straight through, five different days. If you do that, I believe that God will do something in your heart around this issue of worry.

 

Let’s pray together.

 

Recorded in Los Angeles, CA.

 

 

Scripture References: Matthew 6:33, Matthew 6:24-34

More Messages from Dr. Rick Mandl

From Series: "Why Worry"

Worry—it’s universal. It’s as much a part of life as breathing. Yet Jesus said, Don’t. Don’t worry! Easier said than done… In this 3-part series, we will explore what Jesus had to say about worry. You’ll discover where worry comes from, why it’s so difficult to overcome, and what you can do to conquer it.

Sermon Notes