David's Sermons

Don't Worry

Date: 11/04/00
Speaker: David Meiklejohn
Text: Matthew 6 v 25-34

Matthew 6 v 25-34

  1. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
  2. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
  3. Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
  4. And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
  5. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
  6. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
  7. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
  8. (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
  9. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
  10. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Worry is a dangerous thing. It eats us up inside, it uses up time, and causes us to lose sleep. It can damage our health, our service and our relationship with God and with others. Worry has no redeeming features, and is different from concern. Concern mobilises us into taking action, while worry immobilises use, stopping us from functioning in a normal and healthy manner.

The passage we read has a lot to say about worry, and I want to look at seven reasons why we shouldn't worry.

Seven Reasons Not To Worry

  1. v25 - Perspective - Often we worry about things which seem to be very important at the time, but in fact are not all that important. God has given us our bodies and breathed life into us, yet we seem to think he can't look after the smaller things. If we trust in him, he can look after everything.
  2. v26 - Planning - It's good to plan ahead, but sometimes we get up in trying to control the future, and worry about the things we can't control. There has to be a stage where we've done enough preparation, and we need to leave it there, instead of worrying that things may go wrong which we have no control over.
  3. v27 - Profit - What good can worrying do? Absolutely none! We need to recognise that our worrying is only doing us damage, and serving no useful purpose, to gain a desire to be rid of it.
  4. v28-30 - Perspiration - We need to work at things, but only up to a point. We can't do everything ourselves, and God wants us to rely on him to provide for us. This involves trust, and we must choose to trust rather than worry.
  5. v31-32 - Promise - God says "I will supply all your needs, according to my riches in glory". When we worry that our needs will not be met, it is showing a lack of faith in God. A proper faith and trust in the Lord will smooth over any worries we have.
  6. v33 - Pursue - Jesus tells us to pursue the things of the Lord. We need to put God first, ahead of all the urgent things we have to do. If we put him to the back of the queue, we'll never get around to his things, and our lives will spiral away from him.
  7. v34 - Pace - We need to learn to pace ourselves, take each day as it comes. If there is to be evil on the day, it only makes the evil worse by worrying about it beforehand. If we take a day at a time, we can sleep at night, and wake ready to face the day.

Worry is all about control. We want to be in control of things and don't like it when we're not. The Christian life is all about giving over control to the Lord, letting him take care of things. Peace is knowing that he will look after us, as he has promised. John 14 v 27 says:

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

We can have peace because we know our Father is able, willing and ever watchful. Just as faith drives out fear, peace drives out worry.

© David Meiklejohn 2000
David@Meiklejohn.org.uk
www.meiklejohn.org.uk

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