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Three Keys to Conquering Worry We are living in a day of unabashed materialism that has led to a nation of worry and depression. It is easy to get caught up in the rat race for riches. The one who holds up his bag of gold or the title of his new car or the mortgage of his new home and says, ?This is living to me, heaven and hell are mere myths? are building their life on the quicksand of worry. Just yesterday (Saturday, January 26, 2002), we saw that a wealthy former executive of the bankrupt oil company, Enron, committed suicide in his 2002 Mercedes Benz. His money and Mercedes could not cure his anxiety. People strive for unprecedented luxury and are guided by greed and prestige. This lifestyle leads to anxiety. People worry about their looks like never before. Like I read this week in the paper, ?Three billion women don’t look like supermodels and only eight women do. One out of every four college-age women has an eating disorder. A 1996 study found that three minutes looking at a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty, and shameful.? Look at all the glamour and fashion magazines! Does this tell you what people seek? Today we will consider three keys to overcoming worry, first let me give you some introductory thoughts to the Gospel according to Matthew. In one Gospel Jesus is presented as a King, relating to the lion. In another Gospel Jesus is presented as a Servant, relating to the calf. In another Gospel Jesus is presented as Man, relating to the man. In the last Gospel Jesus is presented as the Son of God, relating to the eagle. Matthew wrote primarily to the Jews and presents Jesus as the KING. Mark wrote primarily with the Romans in mind and presented Jesus as a SERVANT. Luke wrote to the Greeks and Gentiles and presented Jesus as the Son of Man. John wrote with the whole world in mind and presented Jesus as the Son of God. There is nothing in all the world that is like these four Gospel accounts. Here we have four different views of the greatest event in all of history, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. These books have stood the test of mocking and persecution and have been preserved to tell us that Jesus lives. We can be sure that these four Gospel accounts are reliable, authentic, and accurate. Tertullian wrote in a work in A.D. 207, ?We posit as our first principle that the evangelical instrument has apostles as its authors, to whom was assigned by the Lord himself this duty of publishing the Gospel?of these apostles, therefore, John and Matthew first instil faith into us, while the apostolic men, Luke and Mark, renew it.? From the very earliest writings of the early Christian writers, they spoke of four Gospel accounts. The Gospel of Matthew is the link between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Some have said that it is the ?most successful book ever written? and that it is ?the most important book in the world.? Notice how it begins: Matthew 1:1 starts, This is the book of the generation of Jesus Christ? Genesis 5:1 reads, This is the book of the generation of Adam. Here are the two representatives of the human race, Adam and Christ. Jesus Christ is the last man, the last Adam, the one who represented man perfectly. This last Adam is King who will sit on the throne of David. There are two hinge verses in Matthew’s Gospel: v. 25, Take no thought for your life?(Present active imperative) v.27, Which of you by taking thought? v.28, And why take ye thought for raiment? v.31, Therefore take no thought? v.34, Take therefore no thought? What does it mean to not take thought for earthly things? This does not mean that we should be lazy and idle concerning the physical necessities of life. It is not an excuse to not work and to piously say, ?God will provide for me.? Birds did not wait for a worm to drop into their mouths. Birds worked hard in gathering food and preparing their nests. This also does not mean that we are to spend impulsively like a careless, waster and squanderer. Many have gotten into debt out of spendthrift ways because they think, ?Oh, things will work out.? To take no thought does not mean we should not plan or have a budget. To take no thought means that we are not to worry and make the seeking of earthly things the main goal of our life. The chief end of our life is not to serve or seek earthly things. This word ?thought? means to be distracted and drawn in different directions. It means to be disturbed in your mind so that you are overcome with care. This word is also used to describe one of the thorns of life (Matthew 13:22). It is also used in Philippians 4:6, 1 Peter 5:7, and Luke 11:40,41. The substance of worry is nearly always much smaller compared to the size it forms in our mind. It has been reported that a dense fog that covers seven city blocks a hundred feet deep is composed of less than one glass of water. In a similar way, worry is extremely small compared to the damage it can cause in our lives. Worry is a thin stream of fear that can cut a deep channel in our minds so that other thoughts will be drained out. Let’s look at some keys to conquering worry. If we have decided to serve God, then we can stop being full of worry and care. We do not have the power to serve God and mammon. Mammon speaks of the material possessions of this world; it could be money, land, food, clothes. You are going to be somebody’s slave. You have to decide if you will serve God or mammon. If you are not serving God, then you assuredly serve some kind of mammon. The word ?life? in Matthew 6:25 is used two times and in the original language is ?psuche,? or the word commonly used to mean our soul. This relates to our spiritual, immaterial aspect of our being. God breathed into man and he became a ?living soul? (Genesis 2:7). Our soul needs food, drink, and clothing or else we will stop breathing, but that is not the most important thing our soul needs! In this section the Lord uses the illustration of the birds. The birds do not worry about gathering food or drink yet God takes care of them. Jesus uses an argument from lesser to greater. If birds have no reason to worry, then neither do you, for you are made in the image of God. We are much better than the birds of the sky! The Lord commands us to stop an action in progress. Worry is a natural reaction to many situations in life. If you saw a farmer feeding birds by his barn, would you worry that he was not taking care of his children? No. Nobody ever saw an earthly father feed his birds and abandon his children. Here the Lord uses lilies of the field as an illustration. God clothes the grassy hillside with colorful lilies. The lilies did not have to spin their color in a factory. God made them that way. The grass is so temporary for soon the grass will be burned away, yet God cares for the hillside. Shall he not clothe us, too? O ye of little faith! The lilies have a temporary lifespan, and we are created in His image and with an eternal soul. Again, if God clothes the fields with colorful lilies, won’t he clothe you with sufficient thread? Taking care of the body is a worldly obsession, and a modern preoccupation. Worry is not only a worthless, and a waste of time, but worry is worldly. This is how the Gentiles live. The people of this world have nothing better to do than to worry about the physical things of the world: what we will eat, drink, and wear. Let me ask you: Do you lie awake at night thinking about the things you feel you must have? Do you worry someone will buy that car, house, etc, before you get enough money? What will I listen to and where will I go so that I can feel good and not be bored? We pamper the body from birth to old age. People today make their body the focus of their entire existence. People decorate it, slender it down, fatten it up, put all kinds of jewelry, tattoos, ear rings, spikes, and a hundred other things to satisfy the body. We are not to be filled with worry that we do not have the same clothes as someone else. We are not people who live for the body. This means we seek first God’s eternal rule in our hearts. This means that if you are not saved, your first priority in all of life is salvation. You must seek the King. You must seek to KNOW the King. This means that we read and study the Word of God. We ought to be a church of students. Students of this Book! Do you seek first to KNOW the King? ?Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee,? the Psalmist said. Then we live to exalt the King. Finally we seek to extend His kingdom. That is we seek to win men and women to Christ and disciple them. Jesus Alou played for the San Francisco Giants baseball team in 1962 and they were playing the NY Yankees in the World Series. Alou smashed a double and landed on second base. The Yankees second baseman was Bobby Richardson, a genuine and strong believer. Richardson started calling to Jose: ?Jesus, Jesus!? ?What would the Yankee second baseman want with me in the middle of a World Series game? I knew he was a Christian. Was he trying to confuse me?? Bobby called again, ?Jose, I want to know-do you know the Lord?? Jose, who took a stand for Christ shortly before the World Series, nodded "Yes."? Jose could never forget the sight of Bobby Richardson’s face and the sound of his voice, a star player right in the middle of baseball’s most prestigious event, most concerned about extending God’s Kingdom! Does winning the lost to Jesus Christ absorb your thoughts? It did the Lord Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul. See Acts 18:5 where Paul was ?pressed in the spirit.? The word pressed means to hold fast. This word is also used in 2 Corinthians 5:14 where we read, ?The love of Christ constraineth us.? The word ?constraineth? is the same Greek word, ?pressed.? The Lord Jesus Christ had so gotten ahold of Paul that the Spirit of God pressed him to seek the extension of the kingdom of God! We ought to long for holy and righteous things. We hunger and thirst for righteousness. We seek to do right. Dr. Bob Jones Sr. used to say that the two biggest words in the English language was, ?Do right.? Do right until the stars fall. Luke 10:41, Martha was careful and troubled about many things, but only one thing was needful, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Do you read the Bible every day? It is easy to obsess about our future. Jesus teaches that you must not borrow tomorrow’s troubles as if today’s were inadequate. Yet you cannot worry yourself to life. You can worry yourself to death, so if you are really concerned about your future, do not worry. Worry is bad for your future! Worry affects the circulation, the heart, and the whole nervous system. Every stitch of clothing, every crumb of bread and every drop of water has been provided by our Sovereign God from the very foundation of the world. |