Overcoming Worry

Good morning. I hope you’re all having an excellent time in quarantine. I hope you’re getting time in with your family, and especially in God’s Word. Let’s begin. In Matthew chapter 6 this morning, we’re going to be looking at Jesus’ words for how we might overcome worry. So, let’s just jump right into it here. In Matthew chapter 6, it reads,

And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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?

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:7–34

In the spring of 1976, Ronald Wayne sat down at his typewriter to draw up an agreement outlining the responsibilities for each of the three founding members in their brand new company. He even made their logo. Things seemed promising at first, but when the company had to take out a $15,000 loan to buy needed supplies to fulfill their first contract, Wayne became fearful that the debt would fall on him personally. Not only that, but the company they ordered their supplies from was known for failing to pay its bills. So Wayne was worried that if this happened, that they wouldn’t be able to get the money back, and him being the only one of the three who had assets that the creditors would come for freaked him out. And so he decided that he was done. He was out. So he met with the other two founding members and agreed to sell his stake in the company for $800.

And which company was this? Apple. Oh, it’s bad. Today, Wayne’s 10% stake in Apple would be worth more than $95 billion, which would have made him one of the most richest people on the planet. And you think you’ve got past financial regrets? Well, now, 20 years later, though, Wayne was cleaning through his filing cabinet and he found the original Apple contract sitting there covered in dust and cobwebs. And he thought, I bet I could get some money for this. And so, in the early 90s, Wayne took that contract and he sold it for $500, which was then sold in 2011 at an auction for nearly $1.6 million. Wayne needs to stop selling his stuff.

Now, this is the part of preaching to an empty room that’s not so fun because I’m sure that some of you thought that this was going to be a redemption story. It’s not a redemption story. This is simply about a guy named Wayne who lost out big time twice. Okay? And why did Wayne lose out? Because he prioritized his present comfort over his future fulfillment. And if he hadn’t, he would have been one of the richest people on the planet. He would have been financially successful beyond his wildest imaginations.

In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is telling his disciples, don’t do that. Jesus warns us that if we aren’t careful, we will trade peace for anxiety. How? By looking to our present condition instead of our future hope. By looking to created things instead of the Creator for our peace. And so Jesus warns his followers, don’t do that. Not only will it not work, but in fact, it’s going to leave you more anxious and miserable.

Every passage in the Bible is relevant. But sometimes some of the passages in the Bible are super, super relevant. And this passage here is super relevant for us because it’s a no-brainer. Right now, we are being tempted to worry, to play the what-if game. But you know what Jesus says about this? Three times in our passage, he commands us, do not be anxious. Do not worry. Now, Jesus isn’t simply coming along and telling us, stop it, knock it off, stop worrying so much, quit being a worry wart, quit being a nervous Nancy, quit freaking out about stuff and just relax. That’s not what he’s saying to us, though. This isn’t a Hakuna Matata theology, okay? He’s telling us, yes, we should not worry, but he goes further to tell us how to overcome our worry. So this morning, turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6 and look with me at this passage, and we’re going to find five ways to overcome worry.

1. Remember This World Is Temporary

First, how do we overcome worry? By remembering this world is temporary. Look at verse 19.

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:19–20

Every summer over the past several years, my family and our in-laws have spent around a week at a resort, and if the weather’s nice, which is kind of a roll of the dice, we go to the beach every day as the family. And one of the things that I still enjoy doing at the beach is building sandcastles with my kids. Now, this isn’t quite how my sandcastle looks, but it’s kind of close, so you get the idea. But the ones I make, they usually have, you know, they’re pretty standard, actually. They’ve got the tall tower in the middle with the huge wall that’s around it, and then the moat that comes into the castle so you can have water in there. Because every sandcastle needs a moat. If you’re not putting a moat on your sandcastle, I don’t even know what you’re doing.

So when we build these sandcastles, it’s actually usually just more me and Emily that are building it, with Lewis and Ian coming around, usually stepping on it like Godzilla and destroying the thing. And the thing about sandcastles, though, is that even if you manage to keep destructive toddlers away from them, the sandcastle isn’t going to last. And now, if you’ve ever made a sandcastle at the ocean, you know exactly what I’m talking about because what happens at the ocean every night? Well, the tide comes in and washes everything out. And it doesn’t matter how strong your sandcastle is.

Now, imagine how silly it would be if I let that ruin my entire vacation. If every night at dinner I was sitting there stressed out and was being all cold to my family because I was so nervous about my sandcastle getting wrecked. I mean, after all, I would think, you know, like I put all this time and energy into it, and it’s a pretty good sandcastle. So maybe that would make sense to get all stressed and worried about it, would it? No, of course not. Because it’s temporary. A sandcastle is not something we should expect to last. And in our passage here, Jesus is telling us that everything in this world is like a sandcastle on the beach, just waiting to be wiped out by the coming tide. So it makes no sense then to spend our life building sandcastles, focusing on things that are temporary, that will not last. Jesus says this: instead of doing that, he says, lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

And this stuff absolutely matters. Look what Jesus says in verse 21.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

If I treasure my family, I will spend my vacation being focused on my family. And I will use my time and my energy to have both quality and quantity time with them throughout the week. I won’t spend it being focused on pointless things like a sandcastle not surviving. This is the idea that Jesus is getting at here. Look at verse 22.

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matthew 6:22–23

What Jesus is saying is that just as your eye’s vision and focus directs where your physical body goes, so does our spiritual focus and what we set our spiritual eyes on directs our spiritual body’s direction. So the question is, what is our focus? What are we setting our gaze upon? Because whatever that is that we set our gaze upon will determine what we are living for. These are important questions and things to be thinking about. And one of the ways that Jesus tells us that we can have a clue to where that direction, what that direction is, is he says, open up your checkbook. Print off your credit card history because it’s going to reveal who your God truly is.

Now, wait a minute, Pastor, you might be thinking, you can’t make it either or like that. It’s not fair. You can’t do that. Okay, you’re right. I can’t. But Jesus can, and that’s what he does. Look at verse 24. He says,

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Matthew 6:24

Jesus is telling us that if our God is money, we will serve it. The business we run is where our gaze will be fixed, if our God is money. Our checking account, being high enough for us to live comfortably at peace, is where our gaze will be fixed if our God is money. Making enough money to keep us living at our current level of comfort is where our gaze will be fixed if our God is money. If our God is our money, you know where our gaze will not be fixed? It won’t be fixed on God’s word. It won’t be fixed on those around us. It won’t be fixed on the needy or those who are suffering and could use our help. It won’t be fixed on how we might use these things that God has temporarily given us for an eternal, everlasting good. We won’t use it for that.

I know we’ve sort of taken a break from our study through the book of James, but do you remember what James says in chapter 1, verse 22? James says,

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

James 1:22

And then in verse 27, he describes doers saying this.

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 1:27

You can’t love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and then go on to love your neighbor as yourself if you’re taking all of your stuff, all your finances, and your time and your effort, and you’re holding them close to yourself. You cannot, as Jesus says, serve both God and money. Why not? Is it because money is evil and having it is a bad, evil, wicked thing? No. 1 Timothy 6:10 says this:

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

1 Timothy 6:10

It’s not money itself, it’s not created things itself that are evil. It’s loving created things above the Creator. If our God is our money, we will be focused inward instead of outward. And if we do that, if we’re not even focused outward and we’re focused inward, of course we’re not focused upward towards God. We will then look at our money as a means of providing ourselves comfort and protection and to try to stave off worry, to keep worry away from us, which ironically results in, as we all know, more worry, more anxiety. We become more stressed out as we desperately try to protect all of these things that we think will keep us at peace. But they don’t. They can’t. And so worry forgets that this world is temporary and lives for this world instead of the everlasting world that is to come.

2. Remember Our Worth

How do we overcome worry? By remembering this world is temporary, but secondly, by remembering our worth. Look at verse 25.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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?

Matthew 6:25–30

What is Jesus doing here? Well, he’s arguing from the lesser to the greater. He’s saying, with his bird illustration, he’s saying this, don’t be anxious, because if your heavenly Father takes care of even all of the little chirping birds, of course he’s going to care and take care of you. Now, Jesus isn’t saying we should just sit around and wait for God to have pizza delivered to our door. He’s telling us to trust in God. Jesus is also, he’s not saying that work is bad. In fact, 2 Thessalonians 3:10 says, “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.” And the birds don’t just sit around and wait for food to go into their mouths either. They work for it. But God is still the one who provides it. Work is a good thing. It comes from God. And we see that in the book of Genesis, as God put Adam in charge of all creation. Jesus’ point isn’t that we should not work, it’s that we should trust God to provide exactly what we need and when we need it. He’s not going to give us whatever we want, he’s going to give us what is good for us, what we need exactly when we need it.

Jesus’ second illustration is of the flowers of the field, and his point is that if God cares for the beautiful flowers like the lilies that are here today and gone tomorrow and burnt up, then surely won’t he take care of his sons and daughters who bear his divine image? Lilies are pretty. There’s a lot of pretty flowers on this planet, but none of them are image-bearers of God. But we are. Yes, we’re sin-fallen, but we are image-bearers of God. Not only that, though, and this is way more important, we are his redeemed children of faith who were purchased by the precious blood of his Son. So why on earth then are we so worried? Worry forgets that our Father cares for us and that we are incredibly valuable to him because of his love for us.

3. Remember That Worry Is Wasted Energy

How do we overcome worry? By remembering this world is temporary, by remembering our worth, and third, by remembering that worry is wasted energy. Look at verse 27.

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Matthew 6:27

In Greek mythology, there is a story about a guy named Sisyphus who ticked off the gods, and so his punishment was being forced to roll a boulder up this hill, a massive boulder, up a hill for all eternity. Now, the thing about it is that the second that he would get the boulder to the top of the hill, it would roll right back down, and he would have to start all over again, rolling the hill uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill, forever. That was his judgment. And even though Sisyphus would push with all of his might, it didn’t accomplish anything productive at all. In fact, the only thing it accomplished was to tire him out. It was a huge waste of time and energy. Church, that’s us. That’s us in our worry.

Psalm 139:16 says this:

Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139:16

Why are we spending our time and our energy preoccupied with things that we can’t even change? Things that are beyond our control. I mean, that’s what we do, right? And so no wonder we are tired and stressed. We’ve been trying to push this massive boulder up a hill that simply cannot be pushed up. It’s going to come right back down. So what should we do? Leave the boulder of anxiety alone. Stop pushing it. Stop trying to control because you can’t.

Jesus tells us that worry is pointless. Worry can’t solve our problems. In fact, as he says, worry can’t even add a single hour to our life. But you know what worry can do? It can harm us. Did you know that anxiety actually stresses the body and causes an inflammatory response? And if you knew anything about inflammation in the body, you know that too much of it for too long actually damages our vital organs. Worry then is a lot like the doctors back in George Washington’s day who they thought that the way to heal somebody was to let some of their bad blood out since the bad blood was making them sick. So they’d bleed them, which only resulted in shortening their days very shortly and not lengthening them. Worry is wasted energy that only serves to harm us, not help us.

4. Remember We Are Not Orphans

How do we overcome worry? One, by remembering this world is temporary. Two, by remembering our worth. And three, by remembering that worry is wasted energy. And four, by remembering we are not orphans. Verse 31 says,

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

Matthew 6:31–32

At the end of World War II, the Allied soldiers rounded up many of the orphans into a camp where they could be fed and cared for. But they ran into a big problem because the kids weren’t sleeping very well at night. The kids would lay there anxious and worried, awake, because they were so concerned that they wouldn’t have food the next day. So finally, one of them came up with a pretty good solution to the problem. They gave each one of the orphans a piece of bread that they could clutch onto at night so then they could rest knowing that they would have food for the next day.

Now, these children’s fear makes sense. It was understandable. They had just come out of a situation where they were starving. They didn’t have food very often. They had been living without a father who cared for them. But imagine if a king’s son or a king’s daughter lived in the palace in that way. That wouldn’t make any sense, would it? But that’s exactly what it’s like for a Christian to spend their days in worry. Worry forgets we have a father who really cares for us. Worry leads us then to act like these orphans, when, in fact, we’re not orphans. We’re princes. That’s Jesus’ point. Worry is to act like the Gentiles, those who do not have God as their Father. What does Jesus say about this in verse 32? “O you of little faith.”

Worry then is to live as a spiritual Zacchaeus. It is saying to the God of the universe, I trust you for my soul, but not for my stuff. I trust you for my future, but not for my present situation. I have to take care of this. Worry is then to live, and hear me when I say this: worry is to live as a practical atheist. It is to doubt God’s goodness and his sovereignty, which in the Bible is always a very bad thing. Underneath the surface of our worry lies a sea of unbelief. And unbelief is condemnable. Unbelief is not a condition that is outside of our control by which we get a pass on. We don’t just get excused for it because it’s like, well, you’re just, this is who you are. No. We must deal with our worry because our worry is a manifestation of unbelief that is in our hearts. And so what must we do? We’ve got to remember, we aren’t orphans. We must remember that our Father loves us and he cares for us and has promised to give us everything we need for our ultimate good, not our present comfort.

5. Remember Who Our Father Is

How do we overcome worry? Remember the world is temporary. Remember our worth and remember that worry is wasted energy. Remember that we aren’t orphans. And last, remember who our Father is. Look at verse 33.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Matthew 6:33–34

If Ronald Wayne had known that Apple would have become what it is today, do you think he still would have traded his stake in the company for a measly $800? Not a chance. Well, Wayne wasn’t able to know the future outcome of that company. As Christians, we do know the future outcome of God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom is coming. And the sovereign Lord of the universe itself will reign. And he’s our Father. Which means this: that the prayer Jesus taught us to pray in verse 9 will be answered. For his kingdom is coming. Our God will reign. And if that’s not a good enough reason to hold on to your stake in the kingdom, I don’t know what is.

Our Father is the King of the universe who loves us and perfectly cares for us by giving us exactly what we need and when we need it. Think about this. Focus here on this point because this is important. Which also means if we aren’t getting what we currently think we need, we don’t need it. We don’t. In Luke 11, Jesus says this:

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!

Luke 11:11–13

Our Father has provided us what we need, not what we want. And he does this because he is a good father. And so we should trust him. If we aren’t being given what we currently think we need, whether that’s relief from sickness, financial security, insert the thing you’re struggling to worry about. God’s not giving that to you because he loves you. For a good reason.

If you want then to kick your worry to the curb, might you try this? Sit down and start writing out all of the ways that God has been good to you in ways that he’s taken care of you over the years. Write out the ways that he’s blessed you, the ways that he’s cared for you. And then, if that’s not good enough, look to God’s Word and start writing down the promises that he’s given you. Do you know that worry is really just unthankfulness? That’s a big part of what it is. And if you think about what you’ve been given as a child of God, why on earth would we be unthankful? Yes, we’ve been given life, bodies, breath from God himself to fill our lungs, food and clothing, but we’ve been given something so much more. We’ve been given eternal life. That gift, it was no dollar store gift. It is a gift of infinite worth, for it bore an infinite cost. It bore the cost of the precious blood of God’s Son.

In our text this morning, we have Jesus, who is God made flesh, who came into this world to save this world, turning to his disciples and saying, Stop worrying about your life. This is the very one who was shortly thereafter going to lose his life, and he knew it. And why does Jesus say that? He says that because he knew this world was temporary. He says that because he knew his worth to God. He knew that worry is wasted energy, and he knew he wasn’t an orphan. And ultimately, it’s because he knew who his Father is.

So, how about you? Do you know the Father? Is he your father? Or are you still a spiritual orphan? If so, you don’t have to be. You don’t have to sign any papers. You don’t have to go through a long adoption process. You simply have to ask God to be your father. And it works like this: We become a child of the king by his grace through faith in his Son Jesus Christ. It’s that simple. By turning away from our sin to the Savior and trusting God, we become his sons and daughters, his prodigal sons and daughters who have returned home, who then have no reason to worry about a single thing.