Rev. David Holwick Z Sermon on the Mount series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 30, 1989
Matthew 6:25-34
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I. "MAD" Magazine and Alfred E. Newman.
A. "What, me worry?"
B. Probably only person without a care.
II. Anxiety and the 20th century.
A. Anxiety is one of most widespread emotions.
B. Levels of anxiety.
1) Minor.
a) Matching socks.
b) Who controls the TV dial.
2) Major.
a) Jesus is focusing on these in this passage.
1> Trinity of cares: eat, drink, wear.
2> Necessities - food to exist, clothes to wear.
A> Not menus and matching socks.
b) Millions of people cannot take these things for granted.
C. Examples of major anxiety for us.
1) Losing a job.
2) Losing your health.
3) Keeping your family together.
4) Affording house, etc.
a) Nothing in life is certain, and it always seems safest
to expect the worst.
III. Effects of anxiety.
A. Causes majority of illnesses.
1) Ulcer - if don't have one, you're not trying hard enough.
2) "Nerves" - not nervous system, but emotional one.
B. Cure sought in drugs.
1) Valium was most prescribed drug in 1970's.
2) Tagamint (stomach ulcers) is most prescribed in 1980's.
a) These help symptoms, but are not a cure.
b) Only a cover-up.
IV. Jesus' answer: he forbids worrying. (Just like everything else?)
A. "Therefore do not worry about your life."
1) KJV - "take no thought". Old English for "don't worry."
B. Worrying is a major emphasis.
1) Adultery - 3 verses.
2) Murder & love - 5 verses.
3) Worrying - 9 verses.
a) Deserves to be studied closely.
V. Different types of worriers.
A. Happy-go-lucky.
1) Does not worry.
2) Good natured but irresponsible.
3) Will like this sermon because he only listens superficially.
B. Hyper-responsible.
1) Worries all the time.
2) Takes life seriously, is burdened with anxiety as a result.
3) This sermon will convict him, so that he will worry because
he worries so much.
C. Committed but confused Christian.
1) Tries to live responsibly.
2) But perhaps a loved one is seriously ill.
He can't be unconcerned.
3) He will question this sermon, saying that there are things
that should concern us, and even cause anxiety.
a) If not our own families, what about unsaved millions?
VI. Balance.
A. Two truths:
1) In one sense worry is a good thing;
not worrying can be irresponsible.
2) In another sense worry is evil;
worrying can signify unbelief and disobedience.
B. Biblical backup.
1) Jesus teaches us to be concerned about human need and our
spiritual condition.
2) Paul burned and fumed over the conditions of his churches.
3) Common thread: non-selfish worrying.
C. Issue in this passage: selfish worrying that forgets God.
1) Reasons why Jesus says we should not worry selfishly:
a) Worrying is incompatible with what it means to be a Christian.
b) It doesn't make a lot of sense even if you're a pagan.
VII. Most important - Worrying reveals a warped perspective. #1
A. It is not spiritual.
1) Verse 30 - those who worry have "little faith."
2) They are ignoring what God can do.
a) Many "Christians" really don't believe in a personal God.
B. True perspective.
1) "Is not life more important than food, and the body more
important than clothes?" 6:25
2) The worth of a human life. (Greater-to-lesser)
a) Back in the 1930s someone estimated the mineral worth
of a 150 pound man at about 98 cents.
More recently, a biochemist recalculated man's worth based
on the "marketable" chemical elements in the average
body and arrived at a figure of about $6 million.
Still more recently, an expert in nuclear power figured
the atoms in the human body, if they could be harnessed,
would be sufficient to produce 11.4 million kilowatts
of energy worth more than $85 billion! #736
b) God is our Creator and Sustainer.
1> He provides us with everything we need for life.
2> Why do we doubt him for minor things?
3) Lesson from nature. (Lesser-to-greater) 6:26, 6:28
a) Birds and flowers do not produce, but are provided for.
1> ((Hold up flower???))
b) If God will do all this for birds and flowers, what can he
do for us?
VIII. Common sense argument. #2
A. The limitations of the human life. 6:27
1) No matter how much you worry, you can't add a foot
to height.
a) But God does it between childhood and adult life.
2) Another translation - add an hour to life.
a) Not possible.
b) Worrying not only can't add to life, it usually takes away.
B. We worry about tomorrow, but trouble always hits you "today."
1) Worrying is being upset about the future. 6:34
2) May happen; may not.
C. Calvin Coolidge.
1) Never seemed to worry.
"Life is like standing on a road with 10 driver-less
cars coming at you. If you wait long enough, 9 of them
will end up in the ditch before they ever get to you."
That still leaves one car, but I'd rather face one than 10.
D. Enough bad things happen; worrying only doubles your pain.
IX. One reasonable worry.
A. Your relationship with God. 6:33
1) Seek God's Kingdom first.
a) How does God really rate in your life?
b) Do you put God ahead of your necessities, or use him
to get more luxuries?
2) His kingdom is wherever Jesus is in charge.
a) Accept Christ and you are in Kingdom.
B. Maintaining the relationship.
1) Seek God's righteousness.
a) Live the way God wants you to live.
b) Don't worry about sins of the past or the sin you may
commit next week.
c) Focus on how you are living right now.
2) Keep God's perspective.
a) The worst that can happen is already past.
b) However dark it may be, the present always has a brighter
side.
c) The best that will happen lies in the future.
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