The Open Secret of Worry-Free Living 2
We want to conclude the discussion we started last time: The Open Secret of Worry-Free Living. And we took our text from Mathew 6:25-32.
PRAYER:
Father, we thank You again for another opportunity we have now to interact with Your Word and to fellowship with one another. And we are trusting, O God , that as we discuss in details this text that You have given us in Mathew that You would open our eyes, that You would set us free from disabling worry…in Jesus Name we pray. Amen!
Last time we observed that it is not all worry that is bad. There is the kind of worry or concern that is for others. And we called that enabling foresight: when you are concerned about the welfare of others.
We looked at 1 Corinthians 12:24 and 25 in that regard, and 2 Corinthians 11:24-28. But then, we said that there are other kinds of worry, the bad worry, the disabling worry that Jesus warns us against.
And we said that disabling worry is when we worry or we are anxious about the expenditure of time, energy and resources on nonessential things. And that is a sigh of disabling worry; and secondly worry stems from too much involvement in the things of this world; and thirdly worrying about pleasing the wrong people. And of course when you please people and displease God you are pleasing the wrong people. And then fourthly, we said that disabling worry is worrying about the future. And that brings us to the text in Mathew 6. And we said that disabling worry or bad worry is blind: according to Williams Barclays. Disabling worry is blind.
Mathew 6:25-26, 28
25“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what
you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 28“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin…
This disabling worry that we were warned against is blind – it does not see. Jesus points this out to us when he says, look at the lilies of the field, look at the birds of the air. It is blind. Secondly, it is useless.
Verse, 27Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
That is a rhetorical question. None! It is useless. It does not add anything, rather it subtracts. It will cut your life short. It cannot add to your life.
Thirdly, this disabling worry is heathenic: verses 30 & 32
30Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the
oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
32For after all these things the Gentiles seek [the heathens]. For your heavenly
Father knows that you need all these things.
A heathen who does not have God as father has every right to worry; but not a child of God whose relationship with God is based on faith. George Muller, a man who by faith raised thousands of orphans long ago in England said, ‘The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith and the beginning of true faith is the is the end of anxiety. ’ I love that! The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety.
Again, fourthly, this bad worry incapacitates.
Matthew 6:34
34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Worry does not make us capable of handling the problems of today. But rather it makes us incapable. Someone has observed that worry is nothing but borrowed trouble. It borrows from tomorrow and does not solve anything.
Another person says, it does not relieve tomorrow of its stress. It merely empties toady of its strength and joy. Worry does not relieve tomorrow of its stress. It merely empties today of its strength and joy.
What is the secret of worry-free living? The secret of worry-free living is revealed by the Lord Jesus Christ in the text that we read, Matthew 6:9-20, 24&26, 30-33. We find that the secret lies in becoming a member of the kingdom of God and a responsible member at that. Membership in the kingdom of God is through the new birth without which one cannot enter or see or understand the kingdom of God. That’s what Jesus says in John 3:3. Those who accept the sacrifice Jesus Christ offered on their behalf become members of his kingdom. It is possible to become a member of God’s kingdom and yet not be a responsible citizen. Some people are citizens of Nigeria and are not responsible citizens. They steal from the people and they steal from one another, and they do not obey the laws of the land. Note the association between the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, and the child of God as it relates to worry-free living.
We were taught in elementary schools, in those days, that animals belong to animal kingdom, vegetation belongs to vegetable kingdom, and minerals belong to mineral kingdom. We know that believers in Jesus Christ belong also to a kingdom: the kingdom of God. it will surprise you to know that animal kingdom, vegetable kingdom, mineral kingdom all come under the kingdom of God, for the word kingdom means domain of a king. And the bible teaches us that God is this King, the King of the whole world. God, as the great and loving King takes good care of the members of His kingdom. That’s why He says we should not worry. When people live in obedience to God, they are free from anxiety. Nature behaves naturally. It lives in obedience to the law of God written within them by way of their instincts. Jesus says that animals do not worry for God provides for them as part of His kingdom. The redeemed man lives in obedience to the law of God written within him, according to Hebrews 8:10, though his obedience is not perfect.
An aspect of the boldness of the righteous, Proverbs 28:1 is their confidence in God’s ability to provide for them. The righteous is as bold as lion. And that is when you know that God is able to provide for you. Notice that the unbelieving man is an alien to the kingdom of God and has no claim to its privileges. And that is why the one who does not believe in God, the ‘heathen’, has every right to worry – but not the child of God. Satan asked permission to enter into Peter, in Luke 22:31 &32. His demon asked permission to enter into even unclean animals such as pigs in Matthew 8:30-31. But there is no evidence that he, Satan, or his agent has permission to enter into the redeemed man Judas. John 13:23.
Isn’t it terrible to live outside the kingdom of God? Dear friend, submit yourself to God as you embrace the Lord Jesus, and you will be a member of His kingdom, a member of His family. And you will kiss worry and anxiety bye-bye.
PRAYER:
Father, we thank You for the time we have spent in the Word, and I am praying now that as many as have heard my voice, that Your Spirit will enable them to internalize the Word, and that they be set free from unnecessary worry and anxiety, in Jesus Name. Amen!