Moving Beyond Worry (Matthew 6:25-34)

If we are to experience the "glory of Jesus" (refer last week's message), then we will need to deal with many facets of being human that dramatically effect our lives. I have chosen over the next few weeks to deal with three of these ... worry, discouragement and bitterness. First, moving beyond worry ...

(1) What is worry?

Worry is an abnormal [or undue] concern about our own future or the future of others. It is a pessimistic look at the future. Sometimes it stretches back into the past as we consider our previous decision-making and wonder whether we did the right thing (Egerton C Long).

Worry has also been defined as “a small trickle of fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained” (ed. M P Green). So, worry can begin with a particular fear that lies deep within us and then starts to dominate us.

When worry really gets a grip on us (and crosses over many areas of life), we would probably then refer to this as anxiety or an ‘anxiety disorder’, which is a medical condition we would need professional help with.

The dictionary tells us that “worry” is:
· letting the mind dwell (continuously) on troubles
· fretting or stressing over various things
· allowing for no rest or peace of mind
· a general uneasiness.

The original meaning of the English word “worry” was to ‘choke’ or ‘strangle’, relating to the form in which you would interfere with or ‘worry’ others (ie. worrying or annoying someone to death). This signifies that worry can be a real ‘stranglehold’ on your life (Long).

The Greek word translated “worry” in our text from Matthew 6, has the background meaning of ‘being pulled in two different directions’ (say between our hopes and fears), or to be distracted or divided in mind, or for our mind ‘to go round and round’ a problem (with seemingly no solution in sight).

From a Christian and Biblical perspective, to “worry” indicates forgetting about or even denying faith and taking things back into our own hands (Long).

(2) What do we worry about?

· How our children will go in school
· That we will succeed in business or in our workplace, and provide for our family’s needs
· Our health
· Our relationships
· Our financial situation.

In my case I tend to worry most about how people have or might react to things I have said to them. I tend to lose sleep when people have seemed to misunderstand me, unfairly criticized me, or where our ongoing relationship may be tenuous.

A few comments and insights from our Matthew 6 text:

(3) Life is bigger than food (v.25)

Often the thing s we worry about are not the most important things when seen in the light of the whole of life, all the broad possibilities in life, and of course, God’s bigger picture of interactive community life. There is just so much out there to experience, yet we can get bogged down in small areas of thinking and functioning. When did you last miss something really significant whilst worrying about something so comparatively inconsequential?

(4) Placing ultimate trust in God (v.26, 28-31)

Perhaps those being addressed here in this Gospel, with Matthew echoing the teaching of Jesus, are those Jesus’ followers or missionaries of Matthew’s first century church, who had left behind everything that would have made them feel secure (including family, friends and previous religious connections), to head out into the unknown. How far could their faith take them? Would they really survive? God would not want their natural concerns though to lead to worry.

God cares for all of his creation; and this has been proven throughout world history, and often also in our own personal experience of life. Without any great anxiety the birds of the air find enough resources to live on. There continues to be great natural beauty, productivity and resilience in the natural environment; this in no way is benefited by worrying whether certain flowers will bloom again next season. [Action from us will be required where there has been harm done to the environment; but this action should take place not in the context of worry but rather in the context of knowing that ultimately God will renew what has been neglected.]

Plants live and die in short spans; birds have only short lives … yet these have been placed within an ordered system of nature. Jesus wants to say here, that if God cares for such as birds and lilies, then surely God cares greatly for those human beings that He gave responsibility to for the rest of creation. We need to trust in this. Our ultimate trust in all areas of life must rest in God.

Excursus: Warehousing (gathering into barns) … verse 26

The suggestion here that birds don’t gather food into barns, meaning that they don’t stockpile produce beyond the day’s needs, is worthy of consideration. This would certainly be a challenge against any stockpiling (by individuals or nations) that negatively affects poorer or less resourced people. Any thoughts along the line of getting in quickly (and stocking up) before someone else can need to be reassessed … for this is individualistic (not communal) thinking. If it is a propensity to worry, and/or a lack of trust in God that causes such warehousing to occur, then this should also be looked at.

(5) Worry is pointless (v.27, 34) … yet we still do it!

As Jesus points out, worrying about certain things cannot help us in any way. Good planning can help, having goals can help, making good preparations can help (after all the ‘birds of the air’ are quite industrious beings); but worrying can’t help at all. Especially if that worry is directed toward things well into the future which may or may not happen. And even more especially if these are things over which we have no control.

I basically cannot control which way interest rates go, the direction of the Australian dollar, or whether the violence in the Middle East worsens. I can make some wise decisions in financial planning, and offer contributions to world peace, but worrying will solve absolutely nothing. I will say that worrying at least shows that we have human feelings and do care about others. We just need to be proactively focused on the challenges of today, and those areas where we have some measure of input! We need our full energy placed here.

Being concerned for a good outcome is one thing, but worrying about various dire possibilities:
· can lose us sleep, affect our digestion, make us sick and shorten our life,
· negatively affect our capacity to think clearly and decide well,
· keep us from taking proper responsibility,
· paralyze our spiritual growth,
· can rob us of some of life’s possibilities and dampen our joy,
· denies God’s provision for us in the past, and
· means that we might miss reassurances about how God is working in the present.

(6) God knows what we need (v.32)

God knows that we need food, water and clothing. God knows that we need shelter, employment and income. God knows that we need friendship, encouragement and support. God knows everything that we truly need; and what we truly need, God wants us to have. Sometimes life brings opposing forces to bear against our best interests, and we can feel bereft or forgotten; but this doesn’t deter God from knowing and responding to our needs … we just require patience.

Sometimes we might be listening, but other people (who also affect certain situations) aren’t listening … so we need greater patience still! And it is more effective I would argue (following Craig S Keener) to see needs in a corporate way more than an individual sense, thus best allowing God to respond (in terms of the bigger picture that only God usually sees).

Excursus: The folly of the “Gentiles” … verse 32

The term “Gentiles” is used here to represent all those who would trust only themselves or their own small ‘g’ “gods”, and therefore have cause to worry. As the Jews in Mathew’s Christian community would naturally consider “Gentiles” to be without God, then they would readily understand what was being referred to here. Those without God in their lives have cause to worry (and materialism seems to be a common outcome from this mindset); however those who know God through Jesus have no reason to worry anymore! And of course, when people look at how we react to adversity, we want to be numbered amongst the faithful believers, not the faithless lost.

(7) Greatest priority (v.33) – that worry tends to dissipate!

For the follower of Jesus, despite all of life’s responsibilities and complexities, the highest priority is seeking to live out God’s ways in the context of the community in which we reside … being totally absorbed in living for God. This is seeking the priorities of heaven being lived out on earth – as we pray “Thy Kingdom come … Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”.

This is why we were created and then re-created through the work of Jesus. This is our path to being declared right before God and knowingly receiving all that will be important for us to receive. Or paraphrased another way, in seeking first the Kingdom of God, we allow everything else to fall into place. Unduly worrying about less important matters diminishes our efforts for the Kingdom of God.

(8) Is worry sinful?

Well ‘no’ and ‘yes’!

Generally I would answer this question in the negative. Incidences of worry would just be part of us being human – just a part of deep fears coming to the surface.

However, if we continue to choose to worry, when we have been given sufficient resources and reassurances to be able to trust in God (as well as in the support of our family, friends and Christian community) then probably ‘yes’ … it would be sinful to continue to worry.

(9) Some steps forward!

a. Practice faith

Believe that God will keep His promises and see you through each situation. God repeatedly promises: “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5, cf. Matthew 28:20). Exercise your faith in both ordinary circumstances and difficult crises. We can thus begin to look at our problems through God’s eyes, where “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).

b. Pray about every issue

Bring petitions and requests to God. Name the problem and tell God everything about it including your doubts and fears; yet while doing so being expectant that God will bring both insight and changed circumstances. While God already knows about your situation, talking about it opens the door and offers space for God to handle it in His own way. So, look to gain peace of mind through such prayer (Psalm 34:4). Also, Paul expects us to be expectantly thankful in such praying (refer Philippians 4:6) because of our faith.

“Lord, this is Warren. I’ve just been reminded that I should tell you everything. So here I am. I just don’t know if that conversation I had today really helped or hindered that person. I’m really concerned that I stuffed up some of my hard work toward building a relationship with them. Would you give me peace of mind about this? Would you allow this person to understand that I had their best interests at heart? Would you help me to have the right attitudes and words next time we meet? Given the conversation was difficult, would you still bring about some helpful outcomes from all this? I am thankful that the results will be far better than I am currently thinking. I know that this has been the case so many times in the past. I’m going to leave this now in your hands … I thank You that I can. Amen.”

This prayer involved faith, trust, thankfulness, petition, and seeking peace, together with a humble willingness to take personal responsibility in the future as necessary.

c. Consider your growth curve

Think through how some of life’s difficulties have grown you as a person. Whereas worry stunts growth, putting a positive spin on negative circumstances aids growth (Romans 8:28-30).

d. Take on your fears head on

If you have a fear of a certain thing, take positive action to tackle this before it starts to lead towards a pattern of worry (Philippians 4:13).