Jesus’ Surprising Cure For Anxiety and Worry
By Chap Bettis

Introduction:

This morning’s message preparation is unusual. Yesterday, I was very unmotivated to pull together the message on the last purpose of a healthy church, Ministry. But as I was struggling with my own lack of motivation yesterday and began praying, I realized that the reason for the struggle was the state of my own heart. What exactly was the state of my own heart. Why was I so weighed down? Slowly, I began to realize that I had become overwhelmed with anxiety. My heart was anxious.

What was I anxious about? The state of the elections. I realize how much is at stake for our nation and hinges on who is the next president. My heart was anxious about my job situation. I have hooked up with a friend but would I learn things fast enough? Am I learning the right things to make a good living? Would my income level be at what I was at before? Can I juggle the two jobs? My heart was anxious about our new fellowship and different situations there. Different aspects of my family life and parenting were in my thoughts. Proverbs 12:25 says “Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down.” That was certainly the way I was feeling. Weighed down.

Do you feel anxious or worried at times? How would you define anxiety? What types of things make you feel anxious or have anxiety in your heart? How is concern different than anxiety? Let’s look at a passage this morning that addresses anxiety.

Matt 6:19-34
19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Subject of This Whole Section: A Believer, His Money and His God

This whole passage deals with a believer, his money and his God. There are four different sections in this passage: 6:19-21, 6:22-23, 6:24, 6:25-34, In each section of this passage, there is a contrast. See if you can pick out the contrast.

In 6:19-21 the contrast is between laying up treasure on earth and heaven. This passage deals with a believer and where his storage of his treasures. In 6:22-23 the contrast is a little more difficult to understand. If you use eye as a euphemism for what your eye is on, or your goals, it make a little more sense. Your goals illumine your whole body. If your goals are good, then your whole body will be full of light. This passage deals with a believer and his goals. In 6:24 the contrast is between serving one of two masters: God or money. Jesus explicitly says you cannot serve God and wealth. You can serve one OR the other but not one AND the other. This passage deals with a believer and his master: God or money.

And then he begins to address one reason people serve money: Anxiety, worry, fear of the future, desire for security. Notice the therefore in v.25 In the passage that follows there are two commands and nine reasons to overcome anxiety or worry. Scriptural commands are often in pairs: negative first and then positive. Don’t … but do … What is the command of don’t?

The First Command: Stop Worrying

The first command, stop worrying. (vv25-32,34) Jesus repeats that command three times in this passage. V.25, 31, 34. God does not want you to worry. Worry is not a fruit of the Spirit but a fruit of the flesh. And if God commands us not to worry then it is possible for us to control it. God would never give us a command we could not obey. But notice something relieving. Jesus doesn't just leave us there. He gives nine reasons not to be worried. See if you can pick them out.

Nine Reasons Not to Worry

The first reason not to worry is that life is more than food and clothing. V.25. Jesus said be on your guard against all kinds of greed. A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Proverbs says better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife. It is this time of year that we are reminded of the story A Christmas Carol in which Scrooge has plenty of money but an empty life and Bob Cratchet has an empty wallet but plenty of life, love in his house. If you are anxious because of a fear of loss of income, Jesus says to you – its just money. Life, true life, is more than money. So if you are anxious about money, just laugh and say, “It’s only money!”

The second reason not to worry is that your Father will see that his children get fed. V.26. In this verse, Jesus reminds us that our Father feeds his birds, yet we are more important to him than the birds. If he is our heavenly Father, then we are his earthly children. Which is more important to the good father, the children or the pet? Scripture says that we are so important he keeps track of how many hairs are on our head! If the Father is going to take care of his pets, then certainly we are more important than that, he will take care of us. Every time we see a bird getting food it should remind us that your Father will take care of you.

The third reason not to worry is that worry will not change the circumstances. V.27. Jesus asks the question rhetorically. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Worry by definition is thinking, meditating on something you cannot change. Thinking about decisions you have made. Worry is not creative thinking. It is destructive thinking. By being anxious about the election have I changed anything? No. By being anxious about my financial future, I have changed anything? No.

What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but it does empty today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil; it makes you unfit to cope with it when it comes. God gives us the power to bear all the sorrow of His making, but He does not guarantee to give us strength to bear the burdens of our own making such as worry induces. Ian Maclaren

Whatever you are worrying about, you are not changing it by your worry.

The fourth reason not to worry is that your Father will see that his children get sheltered. V.28-30 Just as feeding of the birds proves that you will get fed, so the clothing of the flowers proves that you will be clothed and sheltered. Every time you see a flower bloom it proves that God is robing his flowers and you are more important to your Father than one of his bouquets.

The fifth reason not to worry is that it show our lack of faith. V.30 When we are worrying we are leaving God out of the equation. We are not trusting in his love, his control of events, his care for us. George Mueller once said, “The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.”

The sixth reason not to worry is that it indicates we have become like the pagans, running after things. V.32. Here is a way we can contrast with the world. They want more, more, more. They are worried about their finances. They are consumed with early retirement and the latest fashions and bigger houses and newest cars. This is what they are eagerly seeking (or run after). We are to be different from them.

The seventh reason not to worry is that your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. What a great promise to cling to!! First, he is my heavenly Daddy. Secondly, he’s not far off running the universe. He knows that I need food and clothing. In fact, now Jesus is there interceding for me who knows these things experientially.

The eighth reason not to worry is that your heavenly Father will give you these things. V.33. That promise comes with a condition. That we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness. We will look at that in a minute.

The ninth reason not to worry is that tomorrow will worry about itself. V.34 Each day has enough trouble of its own. In other words, the way that God has designed us is to take care of today’s troubles not worry about tomorrow. Life is rough enough today. Be faithful today. Let tomorrow worry. An average person's anxiety is focused on :

40% -- things that will never happen
30% -- things about the past that can't be changed
12% -- things about criticism by others, mostly untrue
10% -- about health, which gets worse with stress
8% -- about real problems that will be faced

The Surprising Positive Command

That brings us to the contrasting command. In this passage, Jesus counters the negative with a positive. What is the contrasting positive command? A recent popular song finishes the statement, “Don’t worry..” with “Be happy.” You might expect a positive command like: “Trust God,” from Jesus. Instead, the way to deal with worry in this passage is “Keep on seeking first his kingdom and righteousness. In other words, worry reveals you are not seeking his kingdom first. You are seeking your own kingdom and goals first. The verb is a continuing verb. Seeking first the kingdom is not something we do once and for all. Each day, each moment we choose to keep on seeking God’s kingdom first. If we do, then God has bound himself to the promise that he will take care of your financial needs.

You see this passage is a contrast also. Remember when we are started out, I said that every section of this passage was about a Christian and his money. Will you store up treasures on earth or in heaven? Will you set your eyes on good things or bad things? Will you serve God or money? Lastly, will you seek God’s kingdom first and let God worry about what you need or will you seek your own kingdom and finances first and do the worrying about your money.

This does not have to do with the amount of money we have. The NT acknowledged that there were both poor and wealthy followers of Jesus. Primarily this has to do with our identity. What is going on in our hearts and minds. Sinful worry and anxiety indicate a lack of faith, a wrong view of God.

Does that mean we don’t work hard? Does that mean we are consumed with church 7 days a week? Does that mean we never start a business or take courses that will demand lots of time? No. But it does mean we will not be motivated by worry. It does mean we will not be fear driven. It does mean we will not let an anxious heart weigh us down. We will seek God’s righteousness first, knowing that he knows what we need and he promised to supply what we need. And he will bless those who seek his first.

The Implication for Ministry Within the Church

So what does this have to do with ministry? How in the world could it possibly tie in? Matt 13:18-23. We all know the parable of the sower. The first soil represents the heart of those who hear but don’t understand. Those people we know. The second soil represents the hearts of those who hears the word, receives it with joy but eventually falls away when trouble comes. Those people we know also having seen some come in and then fall away. But look at verse 22. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns; this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it become unfruitful. The word worry is the same word in Matt 6. In other words, Christians can become unfruitful because they are caught up in the worries of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth. That’s why Jesus said, many who are first (rich) will be last (poor) and many who are last (poor) will be first (rich). What’s scary is that these people do not fall away!! They keep coming to church!!

We need to address anxiety in our lives, not only because of its effect on me, so that I can live a more peaceful life. But we also need to address anxiety and worry so that we will not become unfruitful.

How Anxiety Attacks the Advancement of the Kingdom

Humanly speaking, the church of Jesus is constantly dependant on two things: the willingness of its people to give time and the willingness of its people to give money. Anxiety over money attacks both of those. If you are worried with money you will work more hours or take a more demanding job to make more. As a result you will have less time to seek God’s kingdom and his righteousness. Your and my fruitfulness in ministry can be affected by anxiety.

Taking time to minister to others comes at the expense of time that could be spent on making money, giving us greater security, freeing us from worry.

What level of income should we have? Should wives without children work? Should you take that course or new job? These are between you and the Lord but don’t let anxiety and worry enter into the equation.

Questions for further reflection:

How would you define anxiety?

What type things do you worry about? Get anxious about?

When does legitimate concern move into the sin of worry?

How is seeking first the kingdom of God a realistic cure for anxiety?

How does worrying make you less fruitful in the kingdom?

Which of the nine reasons not to worry speaks most to your needs?

If you have any questions, comments or observations, please call Chapman Bettis at 401 727-2367 or John Riley at 401-453-5550 or email at johnr@cornerstoneri.com