Friday, August 30, 2013

Don't Worry! Part 10 of 31

TEXT: "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. 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" (Matthew 6:25-34).

IDEA: Worry is useless.

PURPOSE: To help Christians cope with worry

How can we get over worry?

Does it help much to be told not to worry (even by Jesus)?

Does it help to have a physician tell you that you worry too much and write on a prescription pad, "Stop worrying!" Why not?

I. In Matthew 6:27 Jesus provides a keen insight into the obvious. He asks, "Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his life span?"

What does this question imply? Worry can't change anything.

We begin to defeat worry when we realize that it is useless.

Do you work out on an exercise bicycle? Why is it hard to stick with it?

Like worry, it gets us nowhere. Someone has said, "Worry is like riding a merry-go-round. You pay good money to get on, go round and round, and then get off at exactly where you started."

II. We begin to defeat worry when we realize the faithlessness of it.

A friend of mine insists that worry must work because most of what he has worried about never happened. He spent a good part of his life being afraid. Afraid of what?

Failure

The unknown

We fear sickness (even when we're healthy)

In Matthew 6:30 Jesus spoke to those who are held in the grip of worry and called them, "You of little faith."

What does "faith" have to do with overcoming worry?