Lenten Series
Worry 

JOHN
Grace to you and peace form God our Father...

ED
And our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...  

BOTH
Amen.  

JOHN
The title of the sermon for tonight is “Winning the War Over Worry.”  So, all of you who are taking notes tonight, especially those who are in grades 5 through 9, write that in the space marked "Title."  Winning the War Over Worry.” The text is Matthew 6:25-32  

ED
Tonight is the ninth of twelve dialogue sermons. All these sermons are based on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. As we had said previously, Jesus was teaching the crowds down on the shores of Lake Galilee. But then it came time for Jesus to take his twelve disciples up onto the mountainsides overlooking the lake. These twelve were intensely interested in becoming true disciples of Jesus. Jesus then gave his first twelve followers his basic and beginning lessons in discipleship. He talked about personal issues that we encounter in everyday life such as anger and revenge, sex and love, greed and money. And…worry…the focus of the sermon for today.

JOHN
We human beings worry about everything. I mean everything. We worry about… 

ED
Our grades in school. 

JOHN
Whether or not we are popular or someone likes us. 

ED
How we look? 

JOHN
How we act? 

ED
If we made a good impression. 

JOHN
If we made a bad impression. 

ED
If we have enough money in our wallets. 

JOHN
If we saved enough money in our bank accounts. 

ED
About the health of our body. 

JOHN
About the health of our mind. 

ED
And soul. 

JOHN
If our job is secure. 

ED
If our marriage is secure. 

JOHN
Our kids. 

ED
We are forever worried about our kids. 

JOHN
So we as human beings are essentially “worry warts” who worry and are anxious and are distracted just about everything in life. We have thousands of little worrys and big worrys in our lives. One of life’s challenges for all of us is “winning the war against worry.” It must be human nature to worry because we all take turns at worrying during our lives.

ED
In this passage from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lists four reasons why we human being are not to worry. Write that down kids. Four reasons that we human beings are not to worry.

JOHN
Reason number one. Jesus said, “Don’t be anxious about your life.” Write that down kids. Point 1. Jesus said “Don’t be anxious about your life.” We are not to be anxious about our life, what we eat, what we drink, what we wear. We are not to be anxious about these important issues of life. Why? Because Jesus said so. When Jesus says it and teaches it, we listen to him. When Jesus speaks, we listen. Jesus is our master teacher, and Jesus tells us that we waste a lot of time and energy worrying about food, clothing and housing.

ED
In eighth grade confirmation, we carefully study the Sermon on the Mount. In confirmation, we learn that Jesus was the master teacher and that we are disciples. Disciples are students of Jesus. There are three characteristics of good students. The three Ls. Good students Listen to the master teacher. Good students Learn what the teacher says. And then good students Live Out what the master teacher has taught. It is in the living out that we actually learn what the master teacher said. Regarding worry and anxiety, we listen to what Jesus said about worry; we learn what he said about worry; and then we live out what Jesus said about worry, and thereby learn what Jesus was talking about.  

JOHN
Other places in the Bible that God says not to worry.  Philippians 4:6, “Have no anxiety about anything but in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. And the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”  The Bible says we are to have no anxiety about anything and the peace of God will rule your hearts rather than anxiety ruling your hearts.   

ED
I Peter 5:7, the Bible says, “Cast your anxieties upon God for he cares about you.” We are to give our anxieties to Christ. We are to bring our anxieties to the cross and lay them at the foot of the cross. So we are not to worry because God, Jesus and the Bible tell us disciples not to worry.

JOHN
A second reason not to worry and be a worry wart is that Jesus taught that God takes good care of the wild birds and the wild flowers. Write that down kids. Number two: God takes good care of the wild birds and wild flowers. 

ED
What did Jesus mean, that God takes good care of the wild birds and wild flowers? 

JOHN
God makes sure that the birds have food.  God provides plenty of bugs, seeds, and worms for the birds.  He also has given them the ability to seek out that food --  enough for their needs.  God also sends rain and provides plenty of water for the birds to drink.  God has provided all kinds of building material and given the birds the ability to construct their own home and shelter.  God has given the birds the knowledge to raise a family and the proper timing to know when to kick them out of the nest.  They have been given an instinct to know to head south when it gets cold.  God has given them a basic instinct for survival.  God provided for all their basic daily needs.  

ED
God not only takes care of the daily needs of the birds but God also cares for the daily needs of the wild flowers. The Greek words, “lilies of the field,” does not refer to domesticated lilies but simply to wild flowers. God take care of wild flowers.  Now, I am not talking about the fancy garden flowers that need human attention, watering and fertilizing.  I am talking about the wild flowers up in the mountains.  Nobody waters them.  Nobody fertilizes them.  Nobody weeds them, and they put on a spectacular color show each spring.  

JOHN
Those mountain flowers don’t bloom very long; but they don’t seem to mind.  The length of their beauty is not a big issue.  They bloom for a moment and are gone, just the right length of momentary time and they vanish until another season.  But God cares for them. And so it is with us human beings. Compare to the age of the Earth and Universe, our lives are so very short, so very brief…just like the flowers. But God cares for us in our moments of life, just as God cares for the wild flowers in their moments of life.

ED
And like it says in the text, "Even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these beautiful wild flowers."  

JOHN
The fundamental thesis of Jesus in this text is, "If God takes care of the billions upon billions of birds in the earth and billions upon billions of wild flowers on the earth then God will certainly take care of you and me who are far more valuable the birds or the flowers.

ED
A third reason that Jesus tells us not to worry is that worry doesn’t do any good. Write that down kids. “Worry does not do any good.” Worry is intellectual activity and busyness of the mind. Worry is associated with nervousness, inner anxiety, butterflies in the stomach, nerves, being fidgety. Ultimately, nervousness does nothing except being nervous. 

JOHN
As Jesus said, does worrying about your length of life help you to live longer? Ed, does worrying about how long you are going to live help you 

ED
Well, no. 

JOHN
As Jesus said, does worry about how tall you are add inches to your height? 

ED
Well, no.  

JOHN
You can worry a lot about how long you will live and you can worry about how tall you may be, but your worry changes nothing. People waste so much time and energy worrying about things in life that just are…that cannot be changed.

ED
We need to make a distinction between concern and worry. We are legitimately concerned about our health and so we take action and go and see a doctor and make changes the doctor recommends. That is good. Concern leads to action. But worry just stews in its juices and does nothing. 

JOHN
We are legitimately concerned about our marriages or our children and so we take action. We go and talk to our family member or with a counselor and make the changes that need to be done in our marriage or family. That is good. Concern leads to positive action. But worry just festers and does nothing. 

ED
We are legitimately concerned about our jobs, especially in this economy with so much unemployment here in the Pacific Northwest. We are rightly concerned about our jobs and out of concern, we take actions. We talk to our supervisors; we develop more skills; we develop relationships that may lead to other jobs. This is good. Concern leads to positive action. But worry fidgets in its juices and does nothing. 

JOHN
It's important to realize that this text is connected to last Sunday's text about storing up treasures.  The connecting word here is "therefore."  You cannot serve both God and Money "Therefore" don't be anxious about your material , earthly , treasures.  Those are the things we tend to be anxious about.  God on the other hand will provide for the basic needs.  The essentials, not the desires; the needs, not the wants.

ED
So in the story for today about the wild birds and wild flowers, Jesus was teaching his true disciples not to worry. Why are we not to worry? There are three reasons that we are not to worry:  1) Jesus, God and the Bible said not to. 2) God, in God’s providential compassion, will take care of us. 3) Worry does no good but is simply a waste of time and energy.

JOHN
The four reason that worry is not helpful is that it hurts our bodies. We all have read the correlations between stress and illnesses. Statistics tells us the 85 % of the people who visit a doctor are ill because of stress and worry.  85% of all illness is caused by stressful emotions and not germs or viruses.

ED
There is a research study by a physician from the University of Washington. His name is Dr. Vernon Riley. Dr. Riley divides cancer prone groups of mice into two groups. He puts one group of cancer prone mice under high stress and another group of cancer prone mice under low stress. In the high stress group, 92% of them developed cancer; in the low, stress free group, it was 7%. 92% verses 7%. Stress had resulted in the suppression of the immunity system in those mice. Yes, worry actually hurts our physical bodies. 

JOHN
Ed, let’s go in a different direction. I have a couple of questions for you.  How does this text relate to someone who is about to lose his or her job at Boeing? Doesn’t a person naturally worry when and if you may be losing your job?  

ED
Of course. It's natural to be worried about loosing our jobs.  But sometimes I think we are more worried about the loss of our middle class life style with boats, cars and houses than the actual loss of the job. We are to trust God that our basic essentials in life will be taken care just as God cares for the wild birds of the air and the wild flowers of the fields. 

JOHN
Well, how about the people of Iraq and Israel/Palestine?  Shouldn't they be worried about food and shelter and safety in the midst of war?  

ED
Of course people worry during wars. It is awful to live in war torn countries and it is natural for them to be worried and anxious about what's happening. But worry does nothing but worry. Even in warfare, people learn to trust God with their lives.  ….. John, I have a couple of questions for you.  What about someone going in for a biopsy and thinks they may have cancer?  Aren't they supposed to be a little anxious?

JOHN
Of course. It is certainly normal and natural that a person will be worried and anxious about their physical health in a situation like this.  It would be surprising is someone wasn't a little worried.  This kind of concern is expected.  But again, Jesus is talking about not being anxious about material things, your wallet, your bank account, your safe deposit box.  Personal health is a different issue.  Jesus knows that we will be concerned about that when it is threatened.  It's also to note here that even in the midst of our worries and positive attitude and trust in God will help.  .

ED
What about out families?  Aren’t we all worried about our children?  

JOHN
Of course. That's perfectly OK.  Parents should be worried about the safety of their children today.  The world is a pretty rough place these days and parents should have a healthy concern about the safety and welfare of their children and other family members.  We have made the distinction between worries and concerns and that distinction is helpful. Worrying about our children is to just fret and stew and do nothing except more fretting and stewing. On the other hand, concern for our children leads to action and positive steps. 

ED
Instead of worry, we are to seek first for God to rule our lives so that we would lead lives of goodness. Write that down kids: Instead of worry, seek first for God to rule our lives so that we would live lives of goodness. This is Jesus’ most important teaching in the first three gospels: the kingdom of God. We are to seek God’s reign, his rule, his lordship over our lives. God and the ways of God are to be number one in our lives.

JOHN
And then …  all these things will be yours as well. Seek first God and the ways of God and God will bless you with food, clothing and shelter, the basic necessities of life; and there will then be a peace of God which passes all understanding. 

ED
Yes, we want our hearts filled with peace and not with anxiety. Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.” 

JOHN
We, as God’s children, worry way too much about way too many things.

ED
Instead, Jesus wants us to trust God for all of our needs. 

JOHN
As we trust God, God will help us win the war against worry. 

ED
Trust God. Your tomorrow is in God’s hands. 

BOTH
Amen. 


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