Why Worry?

Introduction

Matthew 6:25-34: "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be   added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (NKJV).

Once there was a man of worry. He worried about everything in life. He hardly went out because he worried about the dangers he might encounter in the outside world: accidents, diseases, pollution, and people he didn't want to see. He also worried about other things such as personal finance, work, domestic affairs, and some trivial matters. This state of anxiety really made him extremely unhappy. However, one day, he changed into a different person. He became so happy and carefree. He always smiled and hummed songs. His friends were amazed at the changes and went to ask him the secret:

"I am not anxious anymore," he said to his friend. "It is good to see you so happy, but how can you do that?" his friend asked him. "Well, it is easy, I am now hiring a man to do the worrying for me, so I don't have to," he said.

"That's a good idea. But how much do you pay him?" his friend asked. "Ten thousand pound a month," he said."That's a lot of money. How can you find the money pay him?" his friend asked. "Well, that's his job to worry about it," he said.

Many times it is impressed into our bodies by open wounds that we call ulcers. Many times it is engraved upon our faces by lines that we call wrinkles. It can be noticed by a frown, heard in footsteps walking back and forth across the floor late at night. Many times it is subdued by the silence of merely lying in bed gazing at the ceiling without being able to sleep. Some people call it stress; other people call it anxiety, but Jesus called it worry.

It is astonishing that Jesus indicated that people worried about things 2,000 years ago that people even today still worry about. For instance, people worry about their Money. Jesus said, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal" (Matthew 6:19, NKJV). Perhaps some of you have found that out the hard way. Poverty-stricken people worry that they don't have any money while prosperous people worry that they don't have enough money. As a result the poor spend their life in search of treasures, and the rich spend their life laying it up.

Then Jesus said some people worry about Food: "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink...." (Matthew 6:25a, NKJV). There are some people, predominantly in other parts of the world, who are worried about where their next meal might come from. As a matter of fact, there are many people in our nation who could afford to miss a few meals, and who eat every meal like it was their last.

Then some people worry about their Bodies. Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 6:25 that we should not worry about "our body." Personally, I believe in physical fitness. In fact, I exercise from time to time, and I believe we should eat sensibly and get an adequate amount of rest. But it is absolutely astounding how people are so bothered about their outward appearance. I once heard about a woman that put on a dress two sizes smaller than her large frame and, thinking that she looked good, she turned to her brother and asked, "How do I look in this dress?"

He said, "Not too bad."

Smiling ever so sweetly, she then started to prance. Realizing his mistake, the brother then said, "I said you don't look too bad, that doesn't mean that you don't still look bad."

Then there are people who are worried about Style. Jesus asked the question: "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin...." (Matthew 6:28, NKJV). In our trend-setting society, we are so fashion conscious. People feel that they have got to be in the right style, bearing the right label with the right name brand, precisely down to the very shoes that they wear.

Then there are people - and this is the category in which many of us find ourselves - who are worried about TOMORROW. In Matthew 6:34, Jesus declared, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Someone has wisely stated, "Worry is the interest we pay in advance today for trouble that may never come tomorrow." You need to pay close attention to what Jesus had to say about the subject of worry.

Meanwhile, let me share with you three basic principles on how to deal with it.

I. The Act of Worry - Confess It

You may not consider worry a sin; however, it most certainly is. Let me explain. Sin is disobeying any commandment of the Lord; and three times, within the context of Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus gives an obvious command. First, He says in verse 25, "Do not worry." Then He says in verse 31, "Do not worry." Then finally he says in verse 34, "Do not worry."

The Greek word here for worry is "merimnao," which is actually an arrangement of two smaller words: one word meaning "to divide" and the other meaning "the mind." In essence, a worrier has a divided mind. As a matter of fact, the English word worry comes from the German "worgen," which means "to strangle." So you can see clearly what worry does. It suppresses faith and it smothers trust.

Perhaps you feel, as many do, that worry is one of those "all right" sins in the Christian life. In fact, many of you reading these pages would probably freely admit to worrying. But if I were to ask you if you have ever been unfaithful to your spouse, or if you have consumed any alcohol over the course of the last several weeks, or if you have used any profane language the last few days, you almost certainly would not admit to that. Nevertheless, we envision worry as one of those "okay" sins. However no sin is okay or acceptable in the eyes of God, and particularly this one.

Notice that the tense of the verb, worry, in Matthew 6:25, correctly interpreted, means "stop worrying." But the tense in Matthew 6:31 is unlike the preceding verse and means "don't start worrying." What is Jesus saying? Simply this: if you are worrying, stop it; and if you're not worrying, don't start. If you are worrying, instantly confess that sin; and if you're not worrying, continue to escape the sin.

II. The Absurdity of Worry - Consider It

Jesus says in Matthew 6:25-26: "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

The first helpful hint that Jesus gives us concerning worry is to, in reality, become a "birdwatcher." There are millions upon millions of birds in this world, and generally they are healthy and happy. In fact, are you aware that there has never been a bird in history ever treated for hypertension, high blood pressure, or anxiety? Actually, when you worry it sets you even below the birds. Because when you worry you do something that even birds do not do. Birds don't worry. However, they do sing, chirp, fly, and build nests.

Jesus here is teaching us a lesson from nature, and the lesson is this: If God looks out for the birds of the air, don't you think He will look out for you and meet your "needs according to His riches in glory." Do you know of any noble farmer that would feed his chickens but not feed his children? Of course not! And likewise, God would not ever provide for the birds, yet not provide for his beloved.

One of those great passages in the Word of God that fittingly communicates this truth is Psalm 27:9- 10: "Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me." Do you believe that God would release you from the bondage of sin, free you from the shackles of Satan, redeem you by His precious blood, deliver you from the pits of hell, put you into His kingdom, give you everlasting life, and then not see you through the day? Again, of course not. And for that reason worry is unwise.

But worry is also unrewarding. Jesus said in Matthew 6:27, "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?" Worrying cannot add an inch to your height, a pound to your weight, or one second to your clock. It never resolved a problem, never wiped away a tear, never removed a burden, and never eliminated a barrier. It never made bad things good or good things better. Worrying is like a rocking chair; it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.

Do you know what worry does? Someone has rightfully stated, "It pulls tomorrow's cloud over today's sunshine. It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength." How true that is!

Now there are two things that you ought not ever worry about. To begin with, you ought not worry about those things that you can change; and secondly, you ought not worry about those things that you can't change. But anything else you ought to worry about. For instance: How about the things you can change? Why worry about them if you can change them? What about the things you cannot change? If you cannot change them, why worry about them?

A bassoon player once came up to the conductor, Arturo Toscanini, before a concert and nervously said that he could not reach the high E flat. Toscanini just smiled and replied, "Don't worry. There is no E flat in your music tonight." Many of our worries are just like that - unfounded and unnecessary.

J. Arthur Rank, an English executive, decided to do all his worrying on one day each week. He chose Wednesdays. When anything happened that gave him anxiety and annoyed his ulcer, he would write it down and put it in his worry box and forget about it until the next Wednesday. The interesting thing was that on the following Wednesday when he opened his worry box, he found that most of the things that had disturbed him the past six days were already settled. Therefore, it would have been useless for him to worry about them. Once more, worry is unrewarding.

But worry is also unfaithful. Notice what Jesus goes on to ask in Matthew 6:28-30: "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

The next time you are out and about, take a look at the simplest flowers around you and consider this thought: If you take the most glorious garment ever made for a king like Solomon, and examine it under a microscope, it will look as if it were common sackcloth. However, if you examine the petal of one flower, you will become engrossed in the wonder of what you see. There is a quality, a shape, a pattern, a substance, and color to just the petal of a small flower that man with his magnificent ingenuity and originality cannot come close to reproducing. The point is simply this, if God will take care of the flowers, God will surely take care of you.

III. The Answer To Worry - Confirm It

As He discusses the subject of worry, Jesus gets especially personal and practical because He realizes our weaknesses. He knows that many of us naturally worry and He offers two clear and concise solutions on how to prevail over worry, and how to prevent worry from ruling your life; how to limit the control its oppression. I assure you that if you will put them into practice, they will certainly work. Because, in fact, when I put them into practice, they work for me; and the reason is Jesus said they would.

The first solution to winning over worry is to organize your priorities. Jesus said in Matthew 6:31-33: "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." So right here we have the solution to worry. It can be summarized in one word: "Prioritizing." In other words, you must prioritize your life by first seeking God's kingdom and God's righteousness. Because when you do that, you're seeking God. When you're seeking God, you're enhancing your knowledge about God. When you're enhancing your knowledge about God, you're growing in God. When you're growing in God, you're relying upon God. And when you're relying upon God, you don't have to worry.

If you try controlling your own life, punching your own buttons, making your own choices, you are definitely going to worry. It is when you make your only worry His worry-when you want your will to be His will-that the worries stop and the joy starts. Therefore, organize your priorities and allow Him to take care of your needs.

The second solution is this: recognize your present. Matthew 6:34 says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." The only day that you should be worried about is today. Yesterday has passed; you can't change it. Tomorrow is not here; you can't affect it. The only thing you can do is live in the present, the nasty now and now. As a matter of fact, Jesus knows the most vital point in time is always "the now." He knows that your "nows" will soon become your yesterdays. And if you will live each "now" well, you will have no regrets. Your "nows" will determine your future; and when the future becomes "now," it will be good if you have lived each past moment well. [37]

At last, if you know Jesus, you don't have to worry. And if you don't have to worry, then why worry? Because God will indeed take care of you.

______________________________________________

[37] Peter Lord, "Hearing God" (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1988), 106.