Sermon
The Folly Of Worry
September 18-19, 1999
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your Bible and join with me in our study. We're taking the Sermon on the Mount and we're just moving from section to section. We're at chapter 6 verse 25, and the subject today is the subject of worry. Notice what Jesus says. "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, the heathens, 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.

Now in the previous verse, the one that we discussed last Lord's Day, Jesus directed our thoughts towards the rich or towards those who seek to be rich in this world's goods, and He concluded by saying you cannot serve God and money. You cannot have two gods. You cannot live for the things of this world and for the things of eternity. They're incompatible, and thus Paul adds his comment to these words in 1 Timothy 6:6-9 he says; Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

Now in our text today Jesus has turned His thoughts towards those who struggle through life with limited resources. That's most of us. We don't have large accounts. Some of us live from paycheck to paycheck, but you know, both the rich and the poor have their spiritual problems. The rich are tempted to trust in their riches and the poor are tempted to doubt God's provision. The rich are tempted to become self- satisfied in the false security of their riches, and the poor are tempted to worry and fear in the false insecurity of their poverty. One of the most reliable marks of our spiritual condition is the attitude toward our material possessions, or our lack of them.

Now we learned this last Lord's Day, that Jesus tied our faith very closely to our pocketbook. If you'd like, turn with me to Luke 16 just to refresh our minds because I think this is probably one of the most fantastic truths of Christian living. Look at what He says. He's given this parable and He is bringing it to its conclusion in verse 10. Luke 16:10, He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. "Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? "And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? 

And here's Jesus' logic. Here's His argument. If we handled the things of mammon, the things of life, with frivolity and a lack of sense of spiritual sacredness, we're not going to enjoy very many spiritual blessings. And I've observed this in my nearly 50 years of ministry, that the people of our congregation who look at their material possessions and their income, and they have a sacred sense of awe that when they get that check they realize that they're stewards, and God has given them strength and heath, and He's provided for them and given then a job, and there's a sacred sense of handling the things of time. It's those people who God richly blesses with spiritual blessings. It's always true. Jesus said, listen, if I can't trust you with earthly things how do you ever expect to get any spiritual blessings? So, one of the most reliable marks of our spiritual condition is our attitude towards material possessions or our lack of them. 

You know, in the ministry of Jesus as we have it recorded in the four gospels, Jesus gave 38 different parables, and of those 38 parables, 16 of them dealt with what we're talking about today, material possessions. Somebody went through their Bible, the New Testament, and these were the concluding calculations that one out of every ten verses has to do with material substance, or money, or our attitude towards it. Now that's interesting because there are less than 500 verses in the Bible on the subject of faith. There're a little over 500 on the subject of prayer, but there are over 2,000 verses on the subject of material possessions. 

You say, Pastor, why would that be true? Because God knows how easy it is for us to become attracted to the things of time and material things and thus this book is filled with warnings, and direction, and instructions on how to handle material success. Ours is an age of unabashed materialism. An age guided by greed and ambition and success, and recently a writer by the name of Jeremy Rifkin says, emphasis on continuous economic growth is a black hole that has already sucked up a majority of the world's critical nonrenewable resources. He's saying because we are greedy people we're quickly reducing the capacities of our great universe and taking from it things that will never ever be able to be restored. Now he's not a Christian, but here's his conclusion in his writing, he says, the only solution to our approach to life is the reemergence of the Evangelical Christian ethic which is an ethic of unselfishness and low consumption. 

You see he hasn't been to church lately, because sadly and unfortunately there is little evidence that even the most modern Evangelicals themselves are any longer committed to such an ethic. We give more evidence of following the standards and the value systems of the world around us. It's so true. We are much like the world in which we live. Now as we start going through these verses we'll not be able to complete them today, but I want you to notice that in the various translations, and there are many that we probably have represented here today, in the Authorized Version when Jesus said, don't worry. It's written, take no thought for the morrow. That's the translation in the Authorized. In the Whitecliff Bible He has it this way, be not busy to your life. The Tyndale, the Kramer, and the Geneva version all had, be not careful for your life. And they use the word careful in the literal sense, be not full of care for the things of life. Now the older versions were, in fact, more accurate. It's not ordinary prudent foresight such as becomes a man that Jesus forbids. It's worry. 

Jesus is not advocating a shiftless, thriftless, reckless, thoughtless, improvident attitude to life. He is forbidding a careworn worried fear which takes all the joy out of living. He's talking about anxiety. He's talking about an attitude that robs the life of all of its dimensions of joy. And so the real translation of our text should be, be not anxious, or have no anxiety, do not worry. Now we find an exposition by Paul on this same verse. 

Go with me to Philippians 4:6. Now Paul is going to say the same thing, but he's going to say it differently. And here's what he says in Philippians 4:6, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Verse 7; And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Now I enjoy studying from the Amplified text, and here's the way it translates. Follow along in the words. It says, Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So Paul is saying that if we turn everything over to God in prayer and in thanksgiving and let Him handle it, that peace will act as a guard and anxiety and fear will not enter our mind. 

Now there's another verse similar to that. Isaiah 26:3-4, Look at what he says, almost the same thing. He says, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed in thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Almost the same thing. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. The lack of anxiety and worry, if I'll just keep my mind on God. Now Jesus said, don't worry. And those who listened to Jesus that day, 2000 years ago, as Jewish people understood what He was talking about, because you see the Jews were very familiar with this attitude to life. It was the teaching of the great rabbis that a man ought to meet life with a combination of prudence and serenity. They insisted for instance that every man must teach his son a trade. For they said that not to teach him a trade was to teach him to steal, that is to say, they believed in taking all necessary steps for the prudent handling of life, but at the same time they said he who has a loaf in his basket and who say 'What will I eat to tomorrow?' is a man of little faith. 

So the Jewish philosophy of life as taught by the ancient rabbis is this, do everything you can as a prudent man. Make provision, study, learn a trade, do all that you can to make your contribution into life and leave the rest to God, have a serene heart. So when Jesus said be not anxious, His listeners understood. They had heard similar words from their rabbis. Now you'll notice that he begins this section with the word 'Therefore' and the therefore refers back to the previous verse in which Jesus declares that a Christian's only master is God. And He is saying because God is your master I say to you do not be anxious. 

Now David said the same thing years before when he penned for us Psalm 23. He said The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. If you ever have the opportunity at the Christian bookstore there's a marvelous little book written by Philip Keller entitled 'An Exposition of Psalm 23'. Doctor Keller lived in South Africa and he had a sheep ranch, and he writes his book from firsthand experience. He had his flock and he cared for his sheep, and he observed the ways of sheep. He tells in his little book that the man next door, the shepherd next door, was not a good shepherd. He really didn't give much attention to his sheep. Some of them were ill with diseases and parasites, and some of them their coat was coated with muck and mud and they could hardly get amount. Some of them were caught in the fence and some of them had gone over the side of the hill into the ocean and it didn't seem like the old shepherd cared a bit, and he didn't really. He wasn't a good shepherd, and that bothered Dr. Keller. He said I watched over my sheep. At nighttime I looked over their little bodies. I made sure that there were no parasites and that they were well. I made sure the burs and all of the things were out of their wool, and he said I watched over them and then I tucked them into their place of rest at night. He said, you know, sheep are totally dependent upon the shepherd for their nourishment, for their care, and for their provision. For sheep are the dumbest animal that God ever created. 

Do you know that a sheep will wallow in its own refuse and drink its own urine? It knows no better. And the sheep must be protected from its self, and that's why it's so imperative that there be a good shepherd. A shepherd that's watching over his flock, and that's why David could say I am so glad that God almighty, the Creator of the universe, the God who loves with an everlasting love, He is my shepherd, and because He's my shepherd I never have a reason to fear or be anxious because He's going to take care of me. Ladies and gentlemen, that's true of all of us if we're children of God. God almighty is our shepherd. He's our Master, and He's going to take care of us. 

Now it's very interesting that in the original text the implied is stop what you're already doing and don't start it again. Be not anxious. That's pretty direct isn't it? Stop it if you're doing it and don't start it again. You say, well, but why should I stop worrying? I'll tell you why. Not only is anxiety and worry wrong it's a sin of great gravity. It's not simply a constitutional infirmity which we may excuse or a mere trifle we need not to be concerned about, rather it is a foul iniquity of which we should seek cleanness and forgiveness because in reality worrying and anxiety is the sin of unbelief. You see unbelief calls into question the goodness and the care of our Creator God. It manifests a lack of faith in His wise and gracious providence and it betrays doubt in my Father's love. 

When I worry and I'm a part of His family, I'm expressing a distrust in His words and I'm even betraying His love. You say how does that work Pastor? Let me explain. I have three boys. I love them intensely and they know that. But if years ago, say Leighton was 14 years of age, and one morning I walk into his bedroom and he sitting there with his pajamas on and he's crying, he's wringing his hands. I say, son, why you doing that? Well daddy I'm just worried. What you worried about? I don't know if you paid the rent. I don't know whether we're going to have a house tomorrow daddy. And I don't know whether I'm going to have food money for the school cafeteria, dad. I know you said you'd give it to me, but I don't know whether I can trust you. Well about this time, I'm his dad, and that would start hurting wouldn't it? And I could say, son, I promise you the rent is paid and I have the provision for your lunch ticket, everything's going to be all right. But daddy, I don't whether I can believe you or not. 

You know, there's an instinct build within all of us as men, and you men will agree, that we want above everything else to be a provider. And when a man looses his employment there's something that's gone. It reduces him. He's less than what God intended him to be; because all he wants to do is he wants to be a good provider. Right men? That's the way we are. And I can understand why men get deeply concerned when they loose their job. Part of their manhood is gone, and yet my Bible tells me that my heavenly Father, if I know as an earthly father to give good gifts to my children, how much more does my heavenly father want to give good gifts to me? That divine instinct of being a good provider is at the heart of almighty God, and when I sit around frustrating and worrying and fretting and taking all the joy out of life, I'm saying God, I don't know whether I can trust You or not. I don't know whether I can believe You or not, and that's why I say worrying and anxiety is a sin, because it's a sin against the heart of our heavenly Father. It's telling Him I can't trust Him, and I don't believe that He has the power to do what He says He's going to do. 

You say I never looked at it that way Pastor. That's why I think that when we now know this we should go home and on our knees say God please forgive me for the times I've doubted Your love, the times that I've questioned Your honesty. Please forgive me. Because You are my heavenly Father and what You want above everything else is You want to take care of me as part of Your family. I tell you this story, but in raising our boys, in the early years of the ministry of our church here, resources were exceedingly limited and the strain and the tensions of life were much, and there were sometimes that paying the rent was hard, and meeting the needs. But you know in our little house the boys slept in bunk beds so at nighttime I'd go there and tuck them into bed and say the prayers with them, and we'd stand and talk but I never had any of my boys say, daddy, I'm really nervous. I can't sleep tonight. Well why son? Well, because I don't know whether I'm going to have breakfast. I don't whether there's corn flakes and bananas, I don't know whether I'm going to even have breakfast tomorrow. 

My boys never said that even though I was maybe concerned as to how good the breakfast would be. Those little boys after we had said our prayer they were tired and it wouldn't be just a minute or two and they'd slip off to sleep, and then I'd stand there and I'd cry. This is why I cried because I said God, help me to trust You as much as my little boys trust me. That's what God wants. That simple trust, because those boys knew that I was their dad and because I was their dad, they didn't have to worry. We've got a heavenly Father who has all the resources of heaven and eternity as His beckon call and He wants to bless our lives, and He wants us to trust Him and not to question His love. 

Now, you know, when you go through the Bible this word be not anxious, or do not worry, it appears over and over. Paul said don't be anxious pray about it. Turn it over to God and the peace of God will garrison your heart. But you'll find another phrase that appears hundreds of times in the Bible, and it's fear not. Fear not. It's God's way of saying this whole truth in a different way. You need not fear. Fear not. Fear not, fear not. I went to the concordance the other day and though I'm going to see how many times this phrase appears in the Scriptures. And I was amazed, hundreds of times, fear not. Let me show you one. This is absolutely fantastic. This is God saying; look you shouldn't be anxious, you shouldn't be fearful. I'm in charge. I'm your heavenly Father. I'll take care of it. 

We're in Isaiah 41. I think this has to be one of the great verses of the Bible. Isaiah 41:10. Listen. Fear thou not; for I am with thee; be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteous. Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded; they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them, and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee; they that war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of nought. For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. And what old Isaiah is saying the words of God, look at, I know that in life there are situations that it seems that everybody is against you. They're contending with you. They're bringing anxiety into your life and frustration. He said don't fear, don't fear. 

Last night at our 7 o'clock service a little mother sat here on the second row with her two little children, and I have watched that mother. And some years ago she went through the trauma of a tragic divorce. It's been ugly all the way because that ex has created as much hell as he possibly could for that little lady. Brought all the anxiety he thought he could bring on her, and I've watched her day after day, I know her because she works here, and I've watched her go through knowing that people were contending against her, making life miserable for her, she could have been anxious. He sometimes refused to pay the childrens' support payment, and yet I watched that lovely lady through it all keep a smile, keep her heart fixed on God, and as I preached last night and I watched her expression she knows, she understands that verse. God said, look at, you don't need to fear. Maybe some around you will create all the anxiety they can, but they'll soon come to nought. Those that confound you. Those that war against you I will bring them to nought. Fear thou not. I will be with thee. 

When you're on God's side and you're doing the thing that right, and you know it, you're doing everything that you possibly can, no matter those around you that are creating the anxiety, you need not fear. Ultimately God is going to win. Let me show you another one. Go with me to Isaiah 35:3-10. This is a good one. Look at this one, verse 3, Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Boy, life sometimes makes us feel weak and feeble. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and steams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

It's the picture of a life filled with so many obstacles, the ravenous beasts, the difficult way, the desert, the wilderness. We all have them, those experiences in our life, and they are the sources that create anxiety, God said listen, the day will come when we will march into Zion totally triumphant. We may not win until that day, but we're going to win. I'm going to tell this story. It's sensitive, but you live part of my life with me as your pastor so I'll tell you. 

I went through an experience 20 years ago that took me through deep anxiety. We had a minister that we released from our staff, and in retaliation he threatened to sue the church. And he knew that I would not ever allow anything like that. I would not take God's name and drag it through the courts. And I said I will, if I have to, I'll sell everything I've got to meet your request, your demands. I'll walk the streets naked the rest of my life, but I'm not going to let you sue God, sue this church. I'm not going to have that kind of shame brought to the house of God. I could have won (snap of fingers) that quick in court, but over the years that position cost us tens and tens of thousands of dollars. And during those, it was a difficult time, because there were times when our monetary resources were exceedingly limited in the earlier days of our church, and the anxiety was, and almost bitterness. I mean, I was angry, and I prayed through that thing, and finally I resolved it with a final settlement and we borrowed money to clear it off and what I'd always prayed was dear God make sure that all that bitterness that was created by that anxiety, God, make sure that none of it is left inside me. And I always wondered what would happen if I met that fellow on the street how I'd react? Would there really be a forgiveness or would I retaliate out of all the anxiety and the problems he created? 

I got my answer last Sunday. At the end of this service an old man came down this row just hardly making it. His wife had a hold of the back of his suit. When he got down here he. I looked at his face and his eyes and his face looked like he had been to hell twenty times and back, the strain and the misery and the pain had left its terrible furrows. He squinched his eyes and looked up to me and said, do you remember me Pastor? I said yes, I remember you. He said I came today to tell you and ask for forgiveness for all the hurt that I brought to this church and all the false words I said against you as pastor, would you forgive me? Do you know the thing folks that thrilled me? When I looked at him it was not with any anger or bitterness. God had cleaned that all out of my heart. Because sometimes anxiety, people that create it, you get so angry at the people who bring hurt into your life. It was all gone and there was genuine pity. Not a degrading pity, but I turned to him and said, sir, it's forgiven and forgotten. Let's never discuss it again. Let's change the subject. 

And he looked up at me and said, do you know how old I am Pastor? I said, well, you're either 86 or 87. He said I'm 87 and I wanted this matter resolved because I don't have much time. I thought to myself of this verse as I was studying it. God says if we're right, even though there are those around us that contend with us and in their contentions bring great anxiety to our soul no matter what the situation is, just keep your eyes fixed on God. Do the thing that's right. He's our heavenly Father and sooner or later He arights it all and He'll have His way. Fear not. Jesus said don't be anxious. If God is your heavenly Father and you're a part of His flock and He's your shepherd, He's going to take care of things. And there's no reason to question His love and doubt His honesty by worrying. It's wrong. Now the Lord willing, next Sunday we're going to take the remaining part of these verses. There are seven fantastic arguments that Jesus uses here in these verses against worrying. We're going to listen to them the Lord willing next Sunday.

Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, would You forgive us because all of us have at times questioned Your love, doubted Your voracity. We didn't really act like children belonging to You. Pease forgive us for distrusting You dear God. And if there are some here today whose heart is filled with anxiety, or whatever the situation may be, would You bring their hearts to peace? Make us to realize we must do our part. We must fulfill our responsibility. We must be Christians in our reaction, but after we've done our part it's all up to You dear God. So take away the fear. I thank you for this wonderful congregation of people. We're all learning how to be Christians and here's a truth that all of us want to learn today, may we never distrust You again dear God, in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you. God bless you.