Worry: The Bible's Forbidden Fruit - [Matthew 6:25-34]

Bethlehem Bible Church

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Well, it's a pastor's responsibility very often to try to figure out how to apply the particular sermon to each and every person in the congregation.

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In other words, we say something like this, I'm going to be talking about parenting this morning and so how do

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I engage people who are single? How do I engage the children? Sometimes passages might be in the

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Bible about what elders are to do. So then how do I talk to the congregation, mainly without many elders there, and tell them this is important?

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I could say it's in the Bible, you must know it because it's all profitable for us. But today's particular passage makes it very easy on me because it's something that we all struggle with.

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If I went around the room and asked you, do you struggle with this problem? Every person is going to say,

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I do. Every person is going to say, I can learn from Jesus Christ and his words.

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I can understand this topic better because this is a thorn in my side.

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And the topic this morning, if you've read your bulletin, is worry. Are you a worrier?

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How often do you worry? How often are you anxious? How often do you kind of have that gnawing feeling?

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You kind of get that strangling kind of thing in your throat and you're just thinking, I have pressure.

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I'm worrying. I'm fretting. I don't want to open up that next email. I don't want to go into that next business meeting.

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I don't want to talk to my husband when he gets home. There's all kinds of issues that could precipitate worry. You know what

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I love about Scripture? It deals with worry. Jesus Christ tells us about worry because he doesn't want his people, his children, to worry because they have a heavenly father.

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Did you know, here's their shock value for the day. Now everybody's looking at me now, see?

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John Wesley said that worry is worse than cursing.

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When it comes to saying bad words, foul words, curse words, cuss words, as my children called them in school, you know, there's somebody in the church, they make some swears.

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They kind of added the S to this, they make swears. There's some swears going on at church. Wesley said this, it would be better if you swore than if you worried.

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Now he's trying to make a point. We don't want to do either one. But when it comes to worry, it should be something that the

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Christian does not do. Let's turn our Bibles, please, to Matthew chapter 6. We're learning from the words of Jesus the past two years on the

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Sermon on the Mount, ramping things up here for Matthew chapter 6 verses 25 through 34.

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We'll never finish it all today, but this whole topic from verses, the whole discussion is about the topic of anxiety, worry, and how we ought not do that.

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I think you'll find it very timely. For me, I end up having to live out my sermons very often as I study them.

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You probably have to live out my sermons after you've heard them. But here this Tuesday, I'm sitting in the doctor's office.

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I've been having chest pains for a week. I'm actually working on my sermon. I've got some sermon notes sitting there, thinking

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I'm going to have my EKG, and they schedule me for a stress test and other things. I'm sitting there thinking to myself,

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I'm worried. Now I don't like preaching that gets up here every week saying, you know,

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I struggle in this area, and I'm just like one of you, and all that. I do struggle in this area. I am just like one of you. But the preacher's job is to say, this is what the

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Bible says. But this particular case, I'm sitting there thinking, I'm working on my sermon on worry, and I'm worried.

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And it's nothing to be proud about or commendable. I'm thinking, this is such an irrational, foolish thing.

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Don't I have a heavenly Father? He said, the doctor said, did you do any kind of activity this week?

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And I said, well, rode the bike a lot. I went on a bike ride yesterday. He said, it's not your heart, because you would have fallen over dead yesterday on the bike.

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I said, well, that's good to know. In advance, do you still want my co -pay? Everything looks good.

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I was just, I heard a muscle lifting. That was all it was. But still, things happen when it comes to the media fueling your worry.

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Fear sells, doesn't it? And they will try to make you worried. Global warming is a fear of something, and it will sell.

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It will affect you and policies. Health issues can affect your worry.

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How about if you have someone in your family that's not a Christian, and you don't want them to, for eternity, perish under the holy, wrathful hand of God?

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And if you're not careful, you could worry about those things. So what do we do? What's a prescription of worry?

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What does Jesus say about living in His kingdom, His righteous kingdom? And does worry take place in His kingdom, or should it take place?

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Or should we learn to live underneath this heavenly Father who cares for us?

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As you know, the Sermon on the Mount, just in general, is about one word. It's about the word righteousness.

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It's about righteous living. You've got to have perfect righteousness to get in. That means it has to be given by another, an outside person,

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Jesus Christ, the righteous one. We know that now. And then we want to live righteously while we're in the kingdom.

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The Pharisees came along and said, righteousness is done by what we do and say externally, not necessarily internally.

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And Jesus comes along and says, God wants it all. You just can't do the external things and fake it, and have kind of a good show, you know, act holy, you know,

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God's watching kind of thing. No, He knows everything. He's the eternal, omniscient God.

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And so Jesus comes along the scene with bad theology floating around everywhere and says, righteousness comes first from God, and then it's lived out internally, manifest itself externally.

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And Jesus deals with all kinds of issues. And we've moved to chapter 6. We've seen in chapter 6, verses 1 to 18, about how hypocrisy was so bad.

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And then the last couple messages, we've looked at Matthew chapter 6, verses 19 through 24, talking about allegiance to God, loyalty to God, duty to God, all for Him, all or nothing.

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You can only serve one master kind of theology.

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Now, if you really understand Matthew 6, 19 to 24, a question should pop into your mind, and it's this question.

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If I say about possessions, about money, about things, that they're useful vehicles to do

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God's work, fine. If I say, all these things consume me, we know that's sin, according to Jesus.

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But what if I, God, live full out for you with everything you've given me, I'm a steward of your money,

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I'm a steward of your things, I'm a steward of your everything, your family, my family is your family,

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God. What if I give too much? What if I use it too much?

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What if I don't hoard it anymore, but I use it for the kingdom? Maybe I go without food.

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Maybe I will use it to such an extent, God, maybe you'll demand it to such an extent.

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I don't have enough for me. That's going to make me worried, and so that's what we deal with today. Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 through 34, answering the question that seems to be begging.

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If we live all out, if we don't love money anymore, we sacrificially give, will

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God still take care of me? And Jesus doesn't want us to worry. I think worry,

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I'm going to get ahead of myself, so I better not do that. Let's look at Matthew 6, 25 to 34, and I'm going to read this whole section, and I'm going to tell you ahead of time to telegraph some things that you want to look for.

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Here's what I would like you to look for, congregation, as I read this. How many times does the word worry, worried, or anxious find itself in these 10 verses?

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So first look for those words. I'd probably underline them if I were you. Try to find the imperatives.

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There are six, six imperatives, lots of words like worried or worry, and look for the questions.

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I think you'll see five main questions. Jesus has some questions within questions, but they're five main questions.

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So looking ahead, verses 25 through 34, look for the worries, look for the imperatives, and look for the questions.

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And whatever you do, don't forget it when you see the word bother. All right?

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Matthew 6, 25, for this reason, I say to you, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body as to what you will put on.

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Is not life more than food and your body more than clothing? So we've got a worry in there, we've got a command in there, and a question.

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Verse 26, look at the birds of the air, that's a command, look, that they do not sow nor read nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly

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Father feeds them. Here comes another question, engage your mind. Are you not worth much more than they?

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Verse 27, and who of you, by being worried, can add a single hour to his life?

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There's the word worried, and there we have a question as well. Verse 28, and why are you worried about clothing?

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The word worried's there, and a question. Here comes a command, verse 28b, observe how the lilies of the field grow, they do not toil nor do they spin.

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Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

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I feel a question coming on, verse 30, but if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown in the furnace, will he not much more clothe you?

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You of little faith. Verse 31, do not worry, both the command there and with the word worried.

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Do not worry then, saying, what should we eat? What should we drink? What should we wear for clothing? For the

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Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

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But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

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There's a command, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. And then lastly, verse 34, it's a command with the word worried in it, so do not worry about tomorrow.

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For tomorrow will take care of itself, each day has enough trouble of its own. Would it be fair to say that Jesus commands that we all should not worry, that you should not worry?

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That's exactly right. Here in this passage is found, we find the cure for anxiety regarding kingdom living.

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What kind of kingdom would you like to live in? Do these words, do these words befit a person living in God's kingdom?

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Angst, cold sweats, distress, fidgeting, foreboding, fretfulness, nervousness, anxiety, uncertainty, unease, apprehension, consternation, tension?

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Not in God, the Father's kingdom, not God, the Son, the King's kingdom.

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I like these words better. This is what the livery or the dress of the Lord's kingdom should be, calm, trusting, relaxed, serene, assure.

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So let's tackle, let me give you several reasons why we shouldn't worry, and I'm going to tackle what Pink calls this flagrant sin.

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Don't you hate it when you sin? I hate that about me when I sin. Just think, what are you doing?

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I hope, by the way, you preach to yourself when you sin. Mike, why are you sinning? I'm sitting there in the doctor's office going,

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I can't believe I'm doing this. I can't believe I'm sinning right now. I hate that about me.

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I hate sinning. I have a father. So then, short, long story short, I'll just tell you, I had to turn it into something else.

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So the lady said to me, well, what are you doing? I wanted to go,

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I'm worrying, isn't that obvious? What would you do? I said, if I told you what

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I was doing, you wouldn't guess in a million years. She said, what are you doing?

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What are you studying? You were in here for your knee x -ray a month ago and you were studying this. I said, I'm a Bible teaching pastor and I'm working on my sermon.

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Today it's about worry. And she goes, I said, you should have seen your face. I said, did you grow up Christian?

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She said, no. She said, just a little bit, maybe in a Lutheran church. I said, well, there's something better than worry.

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I might as well preach while I'm here. And so I said to myself, oh, you know, one thing I never heard when I was a Lutheran was, you must be born again.

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I heard you got water on your head and when you're eight days old and you're good to go. I never read in John chapter three where Jesus said, you must be born again, or you can't even see the kingdom of heaven.

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Are you born again? And then off we went. I don't know if she were even here today, but I invited her to come to church.

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Here's the website. Please come. What does this have to do with anything? I have no idea. Nine reasons.

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I was trying to engage you. That could have been one of my points, turn worry into something active, but that'll be later.

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Here's God's prescription. So we analyze the sin of anxiety properly and we don't want to worry.

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We want to fully trust in the Father. That's what we're talking about, full trust in the Father. Let me give you nine reasons from Jesus that you shouldn't worry.

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Number one, you must not worry because, number one, all sin, all worry is sin.

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All worry is sin. The first reason why you shouldn't worry is because Jesus says it's sinful.

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If he says don't do it and we do it, well, that's called sin. And we've seen, again, if you look at verse 25, do not be worried.

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Verse 31, do not worry. Verse 34, do not worry. When we break

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Christ's law, when we break God's law, it's called sin. And so I can ask you the question, when you worry, do you say to yourself,

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I'm sinning? Or do you have some kind of excuse? And, by the way, we live in a society that loves excuses for worry.

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They love it. Because if you say it's sin, then you need relief, you need forgiveness, you need help from the outside.

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Edward Hallowell, very famous psychiatrist, wrote the book Worry, said, quote, worry serves a productive function.

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If that function is, God forgive me, then I would agree. But that's not what he says. He said good worry leads to constructive action.

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And he said, by the way, in his book, Worry, don't worry by yourself, worry in a group.

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And I just thought, what kind of false fellowship group is this, where you just get together and worry together?

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You probably don't feel so bad. You're a worrier, yeah, you worry this much. I worry all the more. He said, you know, anxiety is a normal reaction to stress.

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Not in God's kingdom. That's the way we used to live. That's the way we used to deal with things.

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We will control the situation. We will deal with it. And when we worry, you know what, it's not a sin, it's gad.

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Who knows what gad is? I guess if it was on the electronics, it would be e -gad kind of thing.

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But gad is generalized anxiety disorder. And many of you probably have it. Four million people, according to one study, says they have generalized anxiety disorder.

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Or maybe you don't have gad. Maybe it's something biologically in you that makes you worry. Some say it's neural circuitry.

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I don't know if I can pronounce these right. But amygdala and hippocampus, that underlies anxiety.

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But the creator, Jesus says, when you worry, see things from God's perspective and just say,

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Jesus told me not to do it. That's not kingdom living. God, that's sin. It's the first thing I was doing when

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I was reading that paper and I'm studying. I'm thinking, why am I worried? God, forgive me. This is wrong.

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This is sinful. If you start playing the disorder game, you're in big trouble.

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There's no hope for you. If you misdiagnose, the solution is going to be wrong.

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Every doctor knows that. 19 million people, according to this study, have anxiety disorders.

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And they relabel sin. And then what happens? $42 billion a year spent on the economic burden of anxiety disorders, according to Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

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Let me find out if you have a disorder. Ready? I'm going to give you one, two, three, four, five, six, seven questions.

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And if you have at least three of these at any time in your life, you might need more than counseling.

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You might need medicine. Yes or no questions. Have you been bothered by any of the following in the last six months?

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Number one, restless, feeling keyed up or on edge. All right, one down, two to go.

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Are you easily tired? Friend, this is like a horoscope.

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Make it as general as possible. And now I have a job dispensing tablets. Problems concentrating.

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Number three, problems concentrating. I couldn't pass that up. All right. Irritability. Muscle tension.

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Trouble falling asleep. Trouble staying asleep or restless or unsatisfying sleep. And then lastly, anxiety interfering with your daily life.

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From the website, if you answered yes to at least three of these questions, it is possible you have generalized anxiety disorder.

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Now, if you're on medication, I'm not saying stop it. I'm saying if you are on medication, you should say this.

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I can't blame a syndrome, a disorder, or anything else. I am making myself sin.

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That's what you have to say. This is not slapping people who have to take medicine. We'll get to the medicine issue maybe later.

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But if you have the wrong diagnosis, disorder, I'm born with it, you will have the wrong solution.

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Confession, repentance. Turn with me, if you would, to Proverbs 28 .13. If you have not memorized this, you need to memorize this.

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I mean it, a life -changing verse. This has to do with anything, whether it's we're feeling bad, we're feeling worried, we're full of anxiety, anything like that.

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We've got to do the right thing. And when we do it God's way, there's hope. This is not something negative or down.

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Doing God's business God's way yields hope. It's an eternal truth. We have to admit worry is sin because, number one, we're realists.

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Number two, we believe the Bible. And number three, look at the hope. Don't forget this, Proverbs 28 .13.

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He who conceals his transgressions. God calls it a sin, I call it a syndrome.

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God calls it a transgression, I call it a disorder. I didn't do it. It was my environment.

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It was my mother. It was my father. I got spanked when I was a kid. Whatever it is, will not what?

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You conceal your transgressions, you will not what? Prosper. But he who confesses,

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God, I agree. You say worry is sin, I say worry is sin. And forsakes, God, by your grace,

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I'm running from this. I hate it in me. I don't want to do it. It doesn't befit living like a son of the king, son of the heavenly father.

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If they confess and they forsake, these people will find what? Those that don't confess, that conceal, don't find mercy.

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They don't find compassion. If you struggle with worry and you think a pill can solve the problem, and you think it's because it's not anything that you do, it's something that's done to you or born in you, you are not going to find

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God's compassion. I want you to have the compassion of God. Wrong diagnosis, wrong prescription, wrong solution.

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Now let's go back to Matthew 6 and see specifically what's Jesus saying. And he's linking it to the past discussion.

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We're still talking about worry is sin. It's always sin. And it stems from kind of a divided thought in our mind and in our hearts.

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We're not going to say it's a disorder. Jesus called it a sin. We're not going to call it a disease or a syndrome.

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That just is a blame shifting. What does Jesus specifically say contextually, verse 25?

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For this reason I say to you, do not be anxious for your life. What reason would that be?

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It's a fair question. For this reason I say to you, in light of what was just said earlier, verses 19 through 24, don't be anxious.

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In light of the discussion about treasures and masters, two perspectives, in light of this you can't serve

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God and money, then don't worry. What does that mean? Why would he say, for this reason

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I say to you? What's the connection? What's the link? Because of the fact that you can't serve

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God and money, don't be worried. Jesus is saying if you can't serve both, then why be torn and divided trying to do that?

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Did you know the word worry means a divided care? Divided thought? Distracted?

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Torn? Split? Jesus is saying this. If you become so preoccupied with things and materialism, you are going to be, by default, worried about those things.

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Thinking about those things. Concerned about those things. Waking up thinking about those things. It's a natural outgrowth of it.

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We serve God, though, instead. It rules out serving money. Mount says the logical conclusion is that followers of Christ should not be anxiously concerned about food and clothing.

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Because God's going to provide. Allegiance to God is absolute. We know

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God will take care of us. If you notice in the text, Matthew 6 .25, it's a present imperative.

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It means this. If you are worrying, stop. If you aren't worrying, what? Don't start.

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That's exactly right. I can't help it. Really?

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But there's white lies and there's black lies, and there's white worrying and there's black worrying. I'm a white worrier.

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What did Paul, Jesus' apostle, say in Philippians 4? Be anxious for nothing.

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I looked at a couple of dictionary words and definitions for anxious. Webster, the modern one, said characterized by extreme uneasiness of mind are brooding fear about some contingency.

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Collins said worried and tense because of possible misfortune and danger. Webster, 1913, said a state of restlessness and agitation, often with general indisposition and a distressing sense of oppression at the epigastrium.

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I guess that's why it was 1913. Here's where the word worry comes from etymologically in English.

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It means to this. Strangle and choke. That's exactly what the word means.

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It's almost a description of what happens. It means to strangle. That's the old English word.

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To grab by the throat with the teeth and shake. It's been used of. And then it started in the 16th century, picking up connotations of harassment, attack.

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There's a related word fret. Fret means to gnaw or to eat. It's almost like some kind of beaver's teeth eating that tree at the bottom to break it down.

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Now, if you have a King James and it says take no thought, take no thought is 1611 talk meaning don't be anxious.

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It doesn't mean just don't think about it. And when we think about normal preparation for the affairs of life, fine.

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Excessive concern and worry. It's never right. And so what does he say in the rest of the verse?

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Verse 25. Do not be anxious for your life as to what you shall eat. What you shall drink. Remember who he's talking to.

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People with one set of clothes. They're dependent on the rain to come down to water the plants.

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They're dependent on the snow on Mount Hermon to come down and feed the streams. Don't be anxious as to what you eat, what you should drink or your body as to what you should put on.

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And here comes the question. Boy, isn't it a precise question? Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

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If God, in other words, has given us life and a body, which are more important than food and clothing, won't he give us the lesser?

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He gives us the greater. Won't he give us the lesser? So why are we concerned with what Stott calls the world's trinity of cares?

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Eat, drink, and wear. How can we stoop so low to bow and worship them?

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But, you know, you don't know my situation, Pastor. You don't know my circumstances.

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My doctor says it's okay. I can't help it. I don't worry as much as some other people. My support group says it's fine and natural.

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Easy for you to say. Friends, we're Christians, aren't we? Jesus says don't worry. We know it's a sin.

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It should be settled in our hearts and our minds. If you're a worrier, then my homework for you is pray

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Psalm 51 and just confess the sin of worry. If you're a worrier,

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I think you should also read Jerry Bridges' book called Trusting God, which leads me to point number two.

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Don't worry, number one, because it's sin. Don't worry, number two, because if God feeds the lowly birds, then won't he feed you?

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Don't worry, number one, because it's sin. Number two,

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God cares for birds. Don't you think he'd care for you? You can trust in this God. This is an amazing verse.

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Look at the birds. By the way, I used to always think bird watchers were just these, basically people who were too old for their own good, and they would just watch birds.

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And I'd always, you know, drive by on the bike or something, and I'd go, look at the bird watchers. I don't say that anymore.

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Two reasons, because number one, I'm old. The doctor actually said to me, because I'm one year away from 50, he said, well, since you're approaching the golden years, we'll get that nuclear stress test.

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I said, golden years? That doesn't bother me as long as I can get, like, discounts at Denny's. I thought senior citizen discount,

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I was good. Jesus says, be a bird watcher. Watch the birds.

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It's a good lesson for all of us. It's a command, actually. Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet you're heavenly father.

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He didn't say they're heavenly father. Birds don't have a heavenly father. They have a creator. He feeds them.

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Are you not worth much more than they? That's the solution to the problem. I have a heavenly father.

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We've looked at this many times. How many times do you see the word father in Matthew 5, 6, and 7?

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We've got a father. The Pharisees don't have a father. We have a heavenly father. Maybe your father on earth was bad and a bad provider and abusive, but this is the heavenly, holy father.

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The solution, Jesus says, number one, see it's sin. Number two, don't forget about God the father.

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That's so much better than the world's options for anxiety reduction.

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I found so many this week. Here's my favorite one. I've talked about this one before.

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G. Gordon Liddy was anxious, and he was anxious over three things. High voltage electricity, heights, and rats.

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So he climbed up an electrical pole and ate a rat. It's a good way to get over worried, don't you think?

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I don't know if it was cooked or not. I'd much rather say, I've got a father in heaven.

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He loves me. He cares for me. He's given me Christ Jesus, the greatest gift.

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Won't he take care of everything else? Yeah, God, I know your son that died for me, and he assuaged your wrath on Calvary and was raised from the dead, but I think you're kind of forgetting

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I'm hungry. I don't have anything to eat. This is so much better solution than one website that said, here's how you reduce worry.

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Say no thank you to extra projects you don't have the time or energy for. Live one day at a time.

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Don't sweat the small stuff. Laugh. Every day do at least one thing you really enjoy.

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Don't rely on your memory. Write down appointments, when to pick up the laundry, when library books are due. Get up 15 minutes early in the morning so you don't start the day all frazzled.

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And keep a duplicate car key in your wallet. Those are more stupid than the rat thing.

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I kind of like the rat deal. You could call 1 -888 -ANXIETY.

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You could call the National Anxiety Foundation. You could call Anxiety Disorders Association of America.

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You could read Anxiety and Depression by Robert Priest. You could read Don't Panic, A Guide to Overcoming Panic Attacks. You could read

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Self -Help for Your Nerves. You could take Xanax, Valium, Ativan, Serax, Librium, Buspar.

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You could take anything you want. And even from the shrink's own mouth they said this, quote, Medications, although not cures, can be very effective at relieving anxiety symptoms.

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Yes. Isn't that true? But friends, let me just tell you this. If you have anxiety symptoms, it's a gift of God.

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Because then when you feel bad, that feeling wants you to get away and out from under that feeling, yes?

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I remember when I was running between college dorms in a thunderstorm at University of Nebraska, trying to stay dry without an umbrella, running from one place to the next.

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And I'd run full blast and then go inside, walk through that building, trying to go from building to building to building to finally get to my psychology class or whatever it was.

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And about the third door I ran up full blast. It was 1981. And I slipped and my feet went all the way through the eight -foot glass door.

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And I thought, well, I don't know if I really want to go to the health place and have some rinky -dink kind of person work on me or something.

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My leg kind of hurts, though. So Wayne, my roommate, why don't you go out and get a quart of Jack Daniels?

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You know what? After quite a few sips of Jack Daniels, my leg felt great. It felt really good by about midnight.

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No pain at all. For those of you that are looking at me like this,

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I wasn't a Christian, of course, at the time. I woke up in the morning and guess what happened? My leg was killing me and my head was hurting, too.

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It's good. It's built in. When you feel bad, God is trying to tell you, according to Proverbs 28 and 19, you're doing wrong things.

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And you plant corn, you harvest corn. And you're not trusting in God the

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Father, you feel worried. So why suppress those symptoms? There's a bigger problem. And here

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Jesus says, take a good, long look at the faithfulness of God in nature.

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Just go take a walk. Do you know what Jesus says? Your sin of worry can be solved with doctrine.

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Jesus says, you need a good dose of doctrine. You need to be like one of these kind of ducks or geese and just open up your mouth wide and they jam in all the meal to make some kind of pate or something.

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You need to open up wide and just take in the goodness and faithfulness of God in nature.

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Cured with doctrine. And look at God's goodness to birds. Faithfulness to birds.

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Provision to birds. Are you worth more than a bird? Absolutely.

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Open your eyes. Take a walk so we don't sinfully distrust the Father. That's why

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Wesley said it was like cussing. Questioning God's love. God, when we worry we say this,

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God, I don't really think you care. You say you care, I don't think you care. Oh, that hurts.

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So here, if you take a look at the text, verse 26, look. An aorist imperative.

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Look, it means to look straight at. Not to just glance, but to stare at. You stare at something so if someone asks you ten minutes later, can you describe the birds, the feathers, what their feet look like, do they have any nails on their toes, how many feathers they had, what were the colors of the feathers, what were the feathers' colors underneath, you're going to have a test on that bird.

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Five minutes to study that bird and there's a test. That's what Jesus says. Serious thought.

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Martin Lloyd -Jones says, quote, the essence of worry is the failure. Look at the birds.

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I love it in Luke 12, Jesus said, consider the ravens. Birds, some are clean in the

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Jewish system, some are dirty. So we don't know what he's saying in Matthew 6. Look at the clean birds, look at the dirty birds.

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But in Luke 12, Jesus says, look at the ceremonially unclean birds, look at the dirty birds, look at a raven.

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How does God provide for the raven? Steve and I were talking about this yesterday. Today, how does he provide for ravens?

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Answer, roadkill. But it's provision. And Jesus doesn't say, imitate birds.

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He says, look at them but see through them to observe God's providential care. He doesn't say, look at birds and notice they don't do anything, so I guess

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I don't have to work and I'll just have everything handed to me. No, birds do things. Birds, you know, squirrels by instinct do things.

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But he doesn't say, imitate birds. He says, look through the birds to notice God's providential care.

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You know the song, probably, His Eye is on the Sparrow by Seville Martin. I sing because I'm happy.

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I sing because I'm free. For his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches.

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A Jewish proverb says, worms eat you when you're dead. Worries eat you when you're alive.

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True or false? Worry is like practical atheism.

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Worry essentially says, there is no God. I think that's true.

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So Jesus says, look at the birds. And notice at the end of the verse, are you not worth much more than they?

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It's emphatic in the Greek. Are you a person given a soul, an eternal soul? I hate to tell you, but all good birds don't go to heaven.

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Birds are just birds. They don't do anything. Birds aren't made in God's likeness.

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Birds aren't made in God's image. Birds are birds. Remember going out shooting birds with BB guns, and you just go, they're just a bird.

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I don't do that anymore, but I've got a couple, Kim bought a couple lovebirds last month, and I want to shoot those with BB guns half the time.

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But I look at them, and I go, look at the little lovebirds. I try to pick them up because they haven't been handled for a while, and that one bird just bit my,

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I didn't have gloves on or anything, and he put his beak right here, and he said, ah, he's trying to bite me and kill me,

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I thought. Trying to kill that bird. They're not lovebirds, they're hatebirds. And now sitting in my kitchen forever and for always,

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I think they live to be like 900 years old, I think, I'm going to die with these birds in my house as a testimony of how

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God takes care of birds. Now, we went out of town for a couple days this week, and we arranged people to come feed the birds.

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Arsenic, I'm just kidding. We, sinful as we may be, care for the birds.

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I've got a question for you. I have four children, Haley, Luke, Maddie, and Gracie. If I feed my birds, but I didn't feed my children, what would you think of me?

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What would you think of me? You would think, what kind of provider is that?

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It is wrong. You'd think, that is bizarre. That is just illogical. That can't happen.

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If you feed the children, you're going to feed the birds, and if you feed the birds, of course you're going to feed the children.

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That is exactly the point of Jesus. We feed birds, God feeds the birds, won't we take care of our own children?

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One man said, nobody ever saw an earthly father feed his birds and abandon his children.

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Trusting in God's unfailing promises. Anything less is a swear word.

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Job 38 .41, God prepares for the raven its nourishment. Psalm 147 .9,

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God gives the beast its food, and the young ravens which cry. God is good and He's always good.

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He's admirable and always admirable. He's attractive and always attractive. Luther said this, you see,

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God is making the birds your schoolmasters and teachers. It is a great and abiding disgrace to us that in the gospel, the help of Sparrow should become a theologian and a preacher to the wisest men.

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Whenever you listen to a nightingale, therefore you are listening to an excellent preacher. 1

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John 3, see how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God. Such we are.

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There's a common poem that used to float around, said the robin to the sparrow, I should really like to know, why these anxious humans rush about and worry so, said the robin to the sparrow, friend,

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I think that it must be that they have no heavenly father, such as cares for you and me.

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You might want to just underline it in verse 26 right there, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.

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They're irrational, they're transient, and God takes care of them.

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All right, one more for, I think, today. One more for today, the third reason why we ought not to worry, from the words of Jesus.

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Number one, it's sin. Number two, by greater to lesser, or lesser to greater, if God feeds the birds, won't he feed us, of course.

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Number three, worry accomplishes nothing. When you worry, it doesn't do anything.

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It doesn't accomplish anything, and Jesus uses a question here in verse 27. By the way, we're just marching through the text.

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Expository preaching, verse by verse by verse. Jesus's outline is my outline. Jesus's text is my text.

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That's what we do when we preach. What does God say in this text? What does he mean when he says it?

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Verse 27. Don't you love the question? Which of you, by being anxious, can add a single cubit to his life span?

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What person in his right mind says, if I worry, there's either two ways to translate this.

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I can either get taller by 18 to 22 inches, or my life can be lengthened in time.

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Now, several times in the scriptures, some kind of measuring device is used for a portion of time.

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For instance, Psalm 39. Behold, you have made my days as handbreadths.

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So I don't think Jesus is saying, look, if you worry all the time, you think that worrying could actually make you taller?

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Kind of like the kid with the growth bean, just a growing bean when you're a kid. I always used to say to myself, my dad's 6 '5", my mom was like 5 '11".

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I'm going to be 6 '4", point guard for the San Antonio Spurs replacing

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George Girvin. I'm going to be the guy. I just hope

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I can get a little taller. And then I used to think, maybe it's because my mom smoked while I was in the womb, that's why I'm shorter. I'm just never going to make it.

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If you worry, you think you're going to get taller? Do you think that's what Jesus is saying? I don't think that's what He's saying at all. He's saying this, if you worry, do you think you're going to add anything to your life span, the length of your days?

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Frankly, it's going to do what? The opposite. From the human perspective, it will cut down your days, not add to them.

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God's sovereign. He's predetermined your hour of death, the type of death. Job 14 .5, since His days are determined, the number of His months is with thee, and His limits thou hast set so He cannot pass.

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He's fixed the time of our death. So we don't have to be concerned. Stonewall Jackson said that very thing.

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My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed. God has fixed the time for my death.

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I do not concern myself about that, but to always be ready no matter when it may overtake me.

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And so Jesus is saying, you can't add to your life when you worry.

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Dr. Mayo of the Mayo Clinic said, worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, and the whole nervous system.

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I have never met a man or known a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry.

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So Jesus comes on the scene, and He says the false teachers are talking about a righteousness that's hypocritical and only external.

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Let me talk to you about a righteousness that's internal, external, not hypocritical. It's a righteousness that says, with my life and my things and my possessions,

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I don't want to be divided. I want to be a one -thought person. That's the kingdom of God. And we're going to see next week that if you're living for the kingdom of God, it's going to take away your worry.

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Conversely, when you're worried, you might ask yourself the question, am I all out in my allegiance for God? Charles Allen tells this story.

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As World War II was drawing to a close, the Allied armies gathered up many hungry orphans.

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They were placed in camps where they were well fed. Despite excellent care, they slept poorly. They seemed nervous and worried.

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Finally, someone came up with a solution. Each child was given a piece of bread to hold after he was put to bed.

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This particular bread was not to be eaten, just held. The piece of bread produced wonderful results.

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The children went to bed knowing instinctively they would have food to eat the next day. That guarantee gave the children a restful and contented sleep.

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Here's your piece of bread for tonight. You have a father that has sent his son to die in your place, raised him from the dead, and if he's given you the greatest gift, won't he give you everything else?

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So live like you have a father. There'll be bread for tomorrow. Let's pray. Father, we look forward to the day where sin, especially the sin of worry, is gone.

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Heaven will be wonderful that we can completely trust in you. It'll be wonderful where there not even be any faith in heaven, it'll all be sight.

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Lord, we admit from elder to deacon to nursery worker to person who puts up the chairs, we all struggle with worry.

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And Lord, it is irrational, it is nonsensical, sinful, and we admit that. And we would ask,

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Lord, that you would be free with your forgiveness, that you would cleanse us and wash us. We want to be single -minded.

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We want to serve you. And Lord, I'm sure things will come up this week that will make us want to worry.

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Lord, would you help this dear congregation to immediately begin to look and to observe and to think about you and your goodness and your kindness and your faithfulness, the track record that you have of excellent workings in our lives.

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How could we not trust you? So Lord, increase our faith this week and help us as we all struggle with this.

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Surely, I'm positive it'll come up this week. And when it does, Lord, help us to conquer the sin of worry.