That’s the way we are. We tend to worry about things that have no eternal significance. The tax man frightens us more than the word of the Lord!

I’m reading from Velma Seawell Daniels’ book, Celebrate Joy. She’s describing her interview with a man who lived in Alaska. She continues,

Mrs. Daniels asked the Alaskan if he knew what the Eskimo meant. He answered that he did but only after talking to another man who had lived in the Arctic Circle for about twenty years. Back to reading her book...

Perhaps some of us would do better in dealing with life if we had that Eskimo’s "one day at a time" attitude. I speak of our tendency to worry and fret over things that haven’t happened yet and may never happen.

It’s a fact of life that we all worry. We know that we shouldn’t. We know it’s wrong. But we do it anyway. Everyone has heard about the effects of worry: it causes ulcers, high blood pressure, heart problems. It drains our energy, affects our social life. We know these facts, but we worry anyway. For some of us, worry is such an automatic part of life that my discussing it here could send us home worrying that we worry too much!

Many people think that worry is the result of the fast paced, high pressure lives we lead today but the truth is worry has been around for a very long time.

Psalm 37:8 advises us, "Do not fret - it only leads to evildoing." Proverbs 12:25 says, "Worry makes a heart heavy".

In the New Testament, Jesus said some things about worry. That’s where we’ll spend our time this morning.

Matthew 6:25-34:

According to Jesus, there are at least four steps necessary, each mentioned in this passage, to eliminate worry – and I want to point them out to all the worriers among us. I’ve called this sermon "You Can Stop Worrying." I really believe that you can because thing things I’m going to tell you come right out of God’s Word. How? First:

I know that sounds oversimplified and it may cause some of you to discount the things I’m about to say. Nonetheless, in this passage Jesus commands no less than three times, "Do not be anxious," or, as another translation puts it, "Do not worry." The presence of these commands is a clear indicator that worry is really a matter of our choice. God doesn’t call us to do things that are impossible. We can assume that if He issues the command, He wants us to take it seriously. Our tendencies toward worry are really controlled by conscious choices we make. There is hope in that. If worry results from our own choices, then we have control and can do something about it.

Now you may need a bit of coaxing in order to see the need to obey God’s command, so let me give you some incentive. First of all:

According to the National Bureau of Standards, a dense fog covering seven city blocks to a depth of 100 feet is composed of something less than one glass of water. That is, all the fog covering seven city blocks 100 feet deep could be, if it were condensed, held in a single drinking glass.

Quite often the things we get worked up about are far larger in their appearance to us than they are in their substance.

Verse 25 says, "For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life, as to what you shall eat, or what you shall drink; nor for your body, as to what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body than clothing?"

There is so much more to life than clothes, food, health, and money! Yet some of us never get far beyond these. To our detriment, we ignore things that are far more significant - things with eternal consequences.

Three men died and were waiting to receive entrance through the Pearly Gates. The first man said to St. Peter, "I was a preacher of the gospel, serving faithfully for 50 years." Peter told him to step aside for further consideration. The second man said he, too, was a preacher of the gospel; "I served the church faithfully for 40 years." Peter told him to step aside for further consideration. The third man stepped up. "I was not a minister, just a government worker with the Internal Revenue Service for 6 months." Peter told him to step right in. The first minister objected, "Why does he get to go in before two ministers?" Peter said, "The truth is, in six months he scared the devil out of more people than either of you did in a lifetime!"

That’s the way we are. We tend to worry about things that have no eternal significance. The tax man frightens us more than the word of the Lord!

Most of our worries are over things that are relatively trivial in the greater scheme of things.

Verse 27 says, "Which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his life’s span?"

The NIV reads, "Who of you, by worrying , can add a single hour to his life?"

The point Jesus is making is that the brow furrowing, hand wringing, and gut wrenching brought on by worry adds nothing to our security.

Worrying is like cultivating and watering ground where you haven’t planted any seed. You’ve wasted water, time, and energy and you still have nothing. It’s much easier to make the decision not to worry when we remember that our worry is a waste. It accomplishes nothing.

Verse 26 says, "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?"

D. H. Lawrence said, "I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself."

It will also finish its life without having worried.

We are God’s creation, made in His image. We are worth more than the birds that God cares for. He has much greater plans for us than for birds! It is beneath our dignity to spend our lives worrying. His plan is that we should live life abundantly, not eaten up with worry.

Also, it is easier to obey Jesus’ command not to worry when we realize that:

In verse 30 Jesus says that worry is the result of a lack of faith.

By worrying we are saying, in effect, "This is a situation over which God has no control. God is helpless or doesn’t care, and I’m on my own!"

Worry is our statement of disbelief in God’s promises to take care of us. Jesus said "Do not worry." The first step to eliminating worry is deciding not to worry. It’s much easier to take that step then we see worry for what it is - a trivial, time wasting, dehumanizing, faithless habit!

The second step Jesus shows us to eliminating worry is:

Verses 31 & 32 say, "Do not be anxious then, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘With what shall we clothe ourselves?’ For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."

Larnelle Harris sang a song a few years ago called "In It After All." The words are instructive:

"Your heavenly Father knows you have need of these things," Jesus says. He knows! He is "In it after all!" Our job is to trust what He has promised.

Furthermore, He wants us to unload our anxiety on Him.

A businessman ran into a friend of his - a stockbroker who had always had problems with ulcers and high blood pressure. "How’s your health?" the man asked his stockbroker friend. "Great. My ulcers are gone and I don’t have a worry in the world." The man asked, "How did that happen?" The stockbroker said "It’s easy. I hired a professional worrier. Whenever something comes along that I need to worry about, I tell him about it and he does all of my worrying for me." The businessman couldn’t believe it. "That’s incredible! I’d be interested in something like that. How much does it cost?" The stockbroker said, "He charges $100,000 a year." The businessman said, "How in the world can you afford to pay him $100,000 a year?" The stockbroker said, "I don’t know, let him worry about it!"

In the same way the stockbroker gave his worries to the "professional worrier," God wants us to give our worries and cares to Him.

1 Peter 5:7 says, "...casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

God has promised to take care of us. It is our job to trust Him.

Paul put it this way in Philippians:

Depending on God to take care of us means that we have to eliminate fearful and faithless phrases from our conversation, such as "I don’t know how I’m going to get by" or "I just don’t think I can make it."

You can make it. You will get by if you trust God to take care of you. He will take care of you!

The third step to eliminating worry, taken from this passage in Matthew 6, is:

Verse 33 says, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all of these things shall be added to you."

A young boy was driving a big hay rack down the road and it turned over right in front of a farmer’s house. The farmer came out and saw the young boy crying and said, "Son, don’t worry about this, we can fix it. Right now dinner’s ready. Why don’t you come in and eat with us and then I’ll help you put the hay back on the rack. The boy said, "No, I can’t. My father is going to be very angry with me." The farmer said, "Now don’t argue, just come in and have some lunch and you’ll feel better." The boy said, "I’m just afraid my father is going to be very angry with me." The farmer and the young boy went inside and had dinner. Afterwards, as they walked outside to the hayrack, the farmer said, "Well, don’t you feel better now?" The boy said, "Yes but I just know that my father will be very angry with me." The farmer said, "Nonsense. Where is your father anyway" The boy said, "He’s under that pile of hay."

The key to eliminating worry is taking God from under the pile of hay where we sometimes keep Him, and putting Him back in first place!

"Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness," is the way Jesus puts it here.

Giving Jesus Christ first place in your life means, first of all, that you accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Maybe you have never done that. Today would be a good day to do it. You’ll never have a peaceful mind free from worry until you surrender your life to Jesus Christ.

Even if you have been a Christian for many, many years, you still need to give Him complete Lordship of your life on a daily basis. The reasons many Christians struggle with worry, fear, and anxiety is because they have let their relationship with God become a secondary priority in their lives. Jesus wants first priority, and He has every right to it.

Eliminating worry begins with deciding not to worry, then trusting God to take care of you, and giving Jesus Christ top priority in your life.

The fourth step to eliminating worry is:

Verse 34 says, "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

I think it’s important to note here that Jesus isn’t recommending a "sit back, do nothing, and let God take care of everything for you" approach. To conclude that is a mistake. We are to deal with our troubles. Indeed, if we don’t we run the risk of falling into the Biblical category of the sluggard. But God has put a time limit on us. We are to deal with today’s troubles and let tomorrow’s troubles take care of themselves.

Paul Faulkner writes, "We have a lot of pickup trucks in the part of West Texas where I live. Those pickups have an extra heavy set of springs called ‘overload springs’ and they work! A good old pickup can carry quite a load of stuff! But, if you took every load that pickup would ever carry, and put it on the pickup all at once, it would collapse. It can carry loads fine, one load at a time. Jesus puts it this way, ‘Let today’s troubles be enough for today.’ And that’s the way we’re made too to carry one day’s troubles at a time."

Jesus is saying that we should handle the demand of each day as it comes, without worrying about the unknown future and things which may never happen.

One person put it this way: "Never trouble trouble ‘till it trouble troubles you."

Conquering worry doesn’t mean that we should live irresponsible, foolish lives. Planning for the future is something also taught by the Bible. It means that we must avoid that anxiety ridden approach to life that destroys our peace and joy. It means that we focus our attention on the present, on the things that we can do today and leaving tomorrow’s problems for tomorrow.

Orel Hershiser attributes his success as a major league pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers to his ability to concentrate on the next pitch. He says that he cannot afford to worry about an earlier bad pitch. He cannot afford to worry about the power hitter standing in the on deck circle. His only hope for survival as a major league pitcher is to concentrate solely on the next pitch he is about to throw.

In the same way, we need to give our full attention to each day as it comes to us. We are not to be anxious about what may happen tomorrow. We must devote all of our energy to living today in a way that brings glory to God.

This takes some effort on our part. We can’t approach each day thoughtlessly. We have to take a long, hard look at ourselves and ask, "What am I accomplishing for the glory of God today?"

The principle that Jesus is teaching in Matthew 6 is simple: Action eliminates worry. Do you want to eliminate worry? Then take action. Decide not to worry. Trust God to take care of you. Give Jesus top priority in your life. Live each day as it comes to you - one day at a time. This kind of action eliminates worry.

A widow who had successfully raised a large family was being interviewed by a reporter. In addition to six children of her own, she had adopted 12 others, and through it all she had maintained stability and an air of confidence. When asked the secret of her outstanding accomplishment, her answer to the newsman was quite surprising. She said "I managed so well because I’m in a partnership!" "What do you mean?" he inquired. The woman replied, "Many years ago I said, ‘Lord, I’ll do the work and you do the worrying.’ And I haven’t had an anxious day since."

We could all profit by following the example of that mother.

I encourage you to consider it and take the words of Jesus in this passage we’ve looked at seriously. You can eliminate worry from your life.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

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All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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