You Don T Need to Worry About Your Life

YOU DON’T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT YOUR LIFE Matthew 6:25-34 Pastor Jeremy Mattek – May 14, 2017

I’ve told you this opening story before, but it’s Mother’s Day, and it’s one of my favorites about my mom. I was cut from the basketball team my Senior year, which didn’t make me feel very good. It was shortly after this happened that the director of the choir urged me to try out for the musical. This was the first time our high school had ever put on a musical, and we were doing Oklahoma! And I ended up getting the lead. There were going to be three performances – one Friday, one Saturday, and one Sunday. My parents already had something going on that Friday, so they said they would come to the Saturday performance, which didn’t bother me at all … until opening night. The first note of the musical was mine. I was supposed to start singing the opening song from off stage. And the only thing I was thinking that whole day was, “I want my mommy.” I was so worried about it that I really thought I wasn’t going to be able to go through with it. And then five minutes before the curtain went up, the director was walking by me, in a hurry to wherever he was supposed to be, but he stopped when he saw me and said, “Oh Jeremy, I just saw your mom upstairs.” And then he kept walking. And suddenly I wasn’t worried anymore. Because my mom was there. And that was enough to propel me into what was probably the most memorable weekend of my high school experience. Moms make a big difference in our lives. Sure, they provide clothing and shelter and food from the moment you exit their womb. But more than that, they often have a way of letting us know we don’t have to worry about anything. It starts when we’re very young, before we can talk, when they cradle us in their arms and gently rock us to sleep. As we learn to walk, they hold our hand until we get on our feet. They’re faster than a speeding bullet if we happen to fall. They stay up late at night, waiting for us to come home, even when we forget to text or call. And when we’re fully grown, they’re never really too busy for a talk at all. Moms have ways of taking our worries away. But who takes theirs away? Our lesson from Proverbs 31 had an interesting verse, which you’ll also find on the front of today’s bulletin. “She laughs without fear of the future.” I won’t ask for a show of hands, but if I were to ask the moms in attendance today if that verse always describes them – if they are a woman who has never been afraid of what the future might bring, who has never worried about anything, well, I don’t know that there would be too many moms who believe that describes them. And it’s not just moms. It’s dads too. And daughters and sons. We all worry about so many things. We worry about health and finances, about whether we’ll go through life being entirely unnoticed. People worry if their marriage will ever make them feel as happy as it once did. They worry that the past will catch up with them or that present

1 decisions will have very difficult future implications. You might worry about the tough situation you’re in. Or maybe you just worry about how you’re going to get through a day like today since Mother’s Day isn’t easy for everyone. But whatever the reason you worry, today Jesus reminds you that you can – you can get through today, and tomorrow, and each day of that, without worrying about anything. I know that sounds like a pretty impossible task sometimes. But we have a great God who enables us to do great things, and today reminds us why we don’t have to worry about anything. 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. Sometimes that trouble is pretty troubling. Earlier this week, a 10-year-old girl in Florida who was attacked by 9-foot long alligator. She was sitting in two-foot-deep water last Saturday, inside the designated safe swimming area of a local park, when the alligator attacked her. Thankfully, that alligator was no match for this little girl. She had recently taken a class on what to do if you’re ever attacked by the alligator. So when the gator opened its jaws and grabbed a hold of her leg, she just started poking it in the nose (which apparently is really annoying to an alligator) and then grabbed a hold of the jaws and pried them apart so she could take her leg out of the gator’s mouth. She ended up with 10 stitches, and the gator is on its way to becoming a purse. If you were to live in Florida, would you be worried about gators? Remember, Jesus just told us not to worry about anything. We’ll talk about what he meant by that in a minute. But first, I want to point what he doesn’t mean. When he tells us not to worry, he’s not telling us that we can’t love and care for each other deeply. In fact, if you’re worried about someone, it probably means your heart is attached to them. And that’s a good thing. It’s good when a parent wants their kid home safe every night. It’s good when you care about your spouse, your friends, and your parents. And even your own life.

2 In fact, this whole section highlights that God does too. When he tells you to not worry about your life, he’s saying that he cares for your life. And that he knows that your life is unique. The challenges you face are different than any other person’s. So is the pressure you feel. So are the reasons you feel sad. So is the way your heart cycles through grief when you have to say goodbye to a child, a friend, a mom, or a dad. So are the reasons for your worry. Despite what some might say, there really is no one in the world who knows exactly how you feel. Your life is unique. But Jesus gave each unique life some reasons why they don’t need to worry. In verse 25, Jesus asked, “Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” To help us get what this means, I’m going to ask you a question: What’s easier for a mom to do – to give their child food and clothes, or to give their child life? The answer is the same for every mom. It’s easier to give their child food and clothes, because they didn’t give life to their child. God did. The same God who breathed life into Adam in the Garden of Eden. The same God who brought Eve from Adam’s rib. And the same God knit you together in your mother’s womb in the unique and beautiful way that makes you beautifully unique compared to anyone else who has ever lived. Moms carry that life for 9 months. They deliver that life out of the womb and into the world. They’re able to provide for that life with food because of the body God designed for them. But there isn’t a mom who gave life to their child. God did. Every time. And that means something. If you decided to buy your kid a car for their 16th birthday, would you give them the car and then never hand over the keys? Of course not. You don’t provide the big thing and then fail to hand over what’s needed to run it. That’s what Jesus means in verse 25. God provided your life. Somehow he’s going to provide what it needs to run. In our Catechism class, I recently had the class fill out a budget. I first asked them to come up with their dream budget – what size house would you like, what kind of flashy car, how much would you want to spend on clothes and food every month? We totaled up their dream budgets, and most of our 8th graders thought they could get by if they had $15,000-$20,000 per month. So then I gave them an assignment. I told them that their income was $3000 per month, and they had to give 10% to church – so that’s $300, leaving them with $2700 to meet all their expenses. Their assignment was to plan a budget that met all their needs and didn’t spend more than the $3000 I gave them. Most came back and said they decided to never have a family. And then I told them about my Senior year at the Seminary. Karen and I had been married for over three years. We had two children at the time, and one more on the way. We wanted Karen to stay home with the kids. I went to classes in the morning and worked part-time in the afternoon and evening. Money was going to be tight. And at the end of that year, all our bills were paid, our tummies had enough food, we had clothes on our back, we didn’t have any credit card debt, we didn’t have to borrow from friends or family, and we gave a weekly church offering of more than 10%. All on a monthly

3 income – not of $3000, but of $900. We worried a little along the way. But it was a good lesson to learn early on for us – that if God put lives in our home, then God will provide for them. Somehow. Some way. He always does. That’s one reason we don’t need to worry. Here’s the second. Picture Jesus standing in the middle of an open field and pointing to the birds flying above them and the grass growing beneath them. He points out how birds fly so freely because God provides for them so abundantly; and also makes the blades of grass grow and grow so abundantly that we cut them to pieces once or twice a week. And then he asked the question, ‘What do you think means more to God – grass and birds, or the crown of his creation?’ Jesus directed their attention to the birds and the grass for two reasons: Firstly, to point out that, if God cares so abundantly for the things that are less important, he will not fail to care for what he believes is most important. And secondly, because if his disciples are spending more time focused on the birds and the grass, they’re spending less time focused on themselves. We talked earlier about what worry is not, but here is what worry is. Many people believe that worry is fear that comes because you don’t know. You don’t know what’s going to happen, how you’re going to pay the bills, or how this decision or that decision is going to turn out for you or your children. But that’s not really true. Jesus knows we don’t know. It’s not a sin to not know what’s going to happen. The reason Jesus tells not to worry is because worry is fear that comes from not being in control. Think about the last thing you worried about. I bet you had a solution in your mind as to what would need to happen so that you would no longer need to worry about that particular thing. “If only I would know that _____ would happen.” “If only I could control the outcome of this situation.” “If only I didn’t have to live by faith. If only I didn’t have to trust God when he says it’s going to be ok.” But that’s what Jesus told us to do first when he said “Seek first God’s kingdom.” Worry has less to do with what’s going on in your life and more to do with what’s going on in your heart. The way to stop worrying is to learn to love God and his Word and his promises more than anything. Do you remember the first time you told your mom that you love her? I do. It was my Senior year of high school, during the weekend of the musical. My mom ended up coming to every performance. And after the last one, my mom and dad took me out for ice cream. I was riding in the back seat of the car as they drove me back to campus, feeling overwhelmed with so many wonderful emotions, feeling so loved by my parents, that I told myself that I was going to tell them that I love them before they dropped me off on campus. So I did. That was the first time I ever remember saying the phrase, “I love you” to my parents. I’m not real proud of the fact that it took me to my Senior year of high school for me to say that. I wish I could point to many more times in my life that I told my parents I loved them. I also wish I could go back in my life and point out that I have loved God and his promises so abundantly that I have never been worried about anything. But I

4 can’t. And I don’t think you can either. We all worry. At different times and for different reasons. And yet, as different as we all are, we all have one thing in common. We can all look back and see that God has never failed to love us more than anything. Even when it hurt. Even on the most painful weekend of his life. The God who gave us life allowed his own life to end on a cross so that we could walk through life knowing not only that all of our doubts and worries have all been forgiven, but also that God will pay any cost, he will do anything, to bring us safely to the one place where your soul will be filled so abundantly that you will not even be tempted to worry ever again. And the very best thing you could ever do as a mother, a father, a friend, a son, or a daughter is to remind someone of that each day. Because Jesus promises that each day, we will find something without even trying. “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Each day our hearts will be troubled in so many different ways. Each day you’re going to be tempted to worry about something. So each day, make time to “seek first God’s kingdom.” Open the Word and be reminded of the great promises of God we get to live on. See the place reserved for you and your mom and your loved ones in God’s kingdom. See again how well your unique life is cared for by your Father in heaven, and discover what it’s like to laugh again, without fear of the future, because of the Jesus who gives you the right to walk through life without worrying about anything.