Do Not Be Afraid Matthew 6:25-34

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What I'm about to read is the article that I wrote in September's newsletter, but I'm going to read it right now since it fits our sermon for today.
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It goes without saying that we have been living in turbulent times. In December, we heard the news that there was a virus spreading fast in China.
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Then it began to spread all around the world, and in March, hit America with full force.
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Early on, we didn't know how serious the virus was. We know from world history that there have been pandemics that have caused mass death.
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At the end of World War I, the highest estimates say that the Spanish flu killed about a hundred million people.
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This is remarkable considering the fact that at that time in world history, a little under two billion people lived on planet
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Earth. This means that the most generous numbers say that about 2 % of the world died from the
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Spanish flu. In March, when the virus started, people were rightly afraid.
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In this world, there are legitimate and illegitimate fears. If a major storm is coming, the correct emotion is fear.
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But even then, you cannot let fear overtake you as God's peace goes with you. But sometimes there are illegitimate fears.
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This would be like a healthy 25 -year -old who fears that he is going to die from a heart attack.
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This is irrational, and God can take away this fear as he takes away the legitimate fear.
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But in March, it was appropriate to have a legitimate fear about this virus.
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I preached a sermon on March 15th where I gave my reflections on the coronavirus, and one of the points
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I made from scripture is that Jesus tells us not to be afraid. We cannot let fear rule us, even if at times fear is the appropriate emotion.
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Now let's fast forward to six months later. They say that hindsight is 20 -20, and that's so true.
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Is it legitimate to have a high level of fear about this virus?
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Before I say what I'm going to say, some people wonder, should we weigh in on things like this?
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Should churches weigh in on things like this? My perspective is, as your shepherd,
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I feel like you need to hear from me how to think of this biblically, how to see the truth, and so this is why
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I'm doing what I'm doing here. Now we know this virus pretty well, and here's what we know.
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This virus is serious, but it's only serious to a very small percentage of the population.
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The virus is serious to the and those with underlying conditions.
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Over 40 percent of the deaths in America have taken place in nursing homes.
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According to data from August 12th, there have been 164 ,000 deaths. Now it's interesting, there was a stat released recently by the
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Centers for Disease Control, and what that stat showed is that only a small percentage of the 164 ,000 actually died from COVID -19.
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What the stat is saying is that if you had COVID when you died, that's 164 ,000 people, so it's good to know the details of that.
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Sadly, because of misinformation, which is at an all -time high right now, you're not going to really hear the truth unless you dig for it.
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Those numbers said that only a small percentage of these deaths were caused by COVID, and I was listening to a pastor recently who looked at the stats, and he said that you have a 99 .9
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percent chance of surviving the coronavirus, and that's true. In Polk County, where we live, two people have died from COVID -19.
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Think about how many have died from automobile crashes already this year.
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The number is more than two, and yet nobody thinks twice about getting into a vehicle.
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So in 1918, the highest estimates say that about two percent of the world died from the
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Spanish flu, the largest pandemic in modern history. But in 2020,
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COVID -19 deaths are a minuscule percentage. It's very, very small.
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The numbers aren't too much different than the seasonal flu. Now, as I downplay the seriousness of this and how it's been portrayed by so many,
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I don't want to be misunderstood. This is not a virus that you want to get. My in -laws got it, and in the case of my mother -in -law, it was very serious.
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She went down to Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul, but it's important to know she also has underlying conditions.
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So it's not surprising that it was serious, and we are very grateful that the Lord pulled her through. But as we look at our society, health and government officials have put in place measures like this is the
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Spanish flu of 1918, the largest pandemic in modern history. In fact, the measures that we experience right now have been more severe in many ways.
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In 1918, churches only shut down for one month. In some states, governors still are not allowing some churches to gather, and we're here five or six months later.
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And some churches are defying this order, and I believe that they are in the right in doing that.
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When there's a government overreach, then at that point you have to go against it.
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And what we have seen is panic in many people's eyes. The mass hysteria has made many in our world, our country, and even our community afraid.
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And to some of you watching or listening to this right now, I understand why you might be taking extra precautions because you are high risk, or you are frequently around those who are high risk.
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But the fact remains that to the vast majority of people, this virus is not a legitimate threat, and therefore it's not a legitimate fear.
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Over the last six months, we have clearly seen that some of our leaders have an agenda, and others have been influenced by all the noise, and all this is pushing people to be afraid.
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But we should not fall into fear as these alarms continue to sound. To live in fear is no way to live.
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Fear robs you of your joy and peace, and it robs you of the life that God has called you to live.
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Every one of us is very susceptible to fear. We are a scared people.
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In the last six months, we have seen this probably more than ever in our world.
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We have seen how easy it is for people to get very afraid, even if the threat to one is astronomically low.
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Now, not everyone is afraid of the virus, but even if you are not, you do have fears in your life.
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And Jesus has a word for you and I as he talks about fear in the Sermon on the
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Mount that we are going to look at this morning. So this time, I encourage you to turn in a
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Bible with me to Matthew chapter 6. We'll be looking at verses 25 through 34. And if you're using a red
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Bible in the pews, it's on page 965. This sermon is titled,
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Do Not Be Afraid. Those words, do not be afraid, are uttered 365 times in the
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Bible. And that's the title of this sermon. And here's our big idea. Do not worry about your life in this world.
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And we're going to see two reasons why. And if you have a bulletin, there is an outline that you can look at. But before we jump into our text, let me give you a little recap of where we were last week.
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In the book of Matthew, we looked at verses 16 through 24, where we heard the call to wisely invest ourselves for Christ's sake.
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We are not here to live for ourselves, but to do the work that God has called us to do. Our big idea last
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Sunday was to live for the mission greater than ourselves. And in these verses, we saw two ways how.
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The first is by investing wisely in that which will never fade. The second way how is by submitting entirely to your holy master.
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We should not live for treasures that will perish, but rather live as good stewards in this life, where we will store up for ourselves treasures in heaven that will endure forever.
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So that was last Sunday. And if you want to hear that sermon, it's online. But at this time, we're going to look at the text we're going to dig into here.
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I want to begin by reading the text before we start looking at the verses. So Matthew chapter six, verses 25 through 34.
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These are the words of Jesus. Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
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Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.
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Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to the span of his life?
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And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin.
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Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
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But if God so clothes the grass of the field as today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you or you of little faith?
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Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear?
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For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them all.
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But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
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Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Now, verses 25 and 26,
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Jesus starts off by saying, therefore, I tell you. Now, it's interesting.
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Whenever we see the word therefore, we need to ask the question, what is it there for? This section, verses 25 through 34, is connected with the previous section where Jesus told the crowd, you cannot serve
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God and money. Your allegiance cannot be to the things of this world and also to God.
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They're in conflict with one another. You must choose one or the other. In this section, as I already alluded to in the introduction, we are going to see that worldly people have a particular focus in this life, while believers have another.
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The wrong focus leads to worry. So at the beginning of verse 25, Jesus says, do not be anxious about your life.
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In this passage, Jesus gives three common examples where people frequently find themselves anxious.
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These are food, drink, and clothing. Now, as we are reading this, we need to remember the original audience.
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These would have been three concerns that first century people had. Jesus is talking to Galileans in northern
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Israel, many of whom did not have the wealth that we enjoy as Americans.
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If you look at world history, we live like kings. We have homes, land, a stockpile of food and drink.
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We have plumbing. We have cars. We are rich. We're not poor people.
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We must always remember that. Largely speaking, we are very wealthy. If we compare ourselves with Bill Gates, then yes, we don't have a lot.
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But if we compare ourselves to first century Jews, we are very rich.
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In this context, Jesus is talking about the basic needs that we so often take for granted.
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So in this verse, Jesus says, do not worry about food, drink, and clothing. And at the end of verse 25, he says, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
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So he asks the question, what Jesus is saying is all of our focus should not be on continuing our life in this world.
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We need food and drink to live. Yes. But think about how much focus we have on our bodies, on self preservation.
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Our secular world worships the body. They do this because they are trying to hold on tightly to that which will eventually pass away.
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This is why you see old people who are trying to look like they're 40.
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Diets and fitness programs are incredibly popular. People are trying to hold on to this life.
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And this is because there is no hope for the next for these people. This life is the main event.
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This is all there is to the secular mind. Something something there might be heaven and hell.
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Yes. But they're not so sure. So the thinking is, let's live for this life.
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Let's preserve the body to live for self preservation is sinful.
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Now, you might say, well, Pastor Seth, don't I see you running, taking care of your body? You seem to care about that.
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Yes, taking care of your body is good, but there needs to be balance in this.
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First, Timothy, chapter four, verses seven and eight says, train yourself for godliness, for all bodily training is of some value.
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Godliness is a value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
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First Corinthians 619 says that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. So we should take care of our bodies.
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Yes, we should be good stewards of what God has given us. The body is a gift from him.
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However, we should not make an idol out of our body like the world does. I have news for you.
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If Christ delays his return past our lifetime, everyone in this room will be dead.
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This body you have is temporary. Do not hold on to it like the world does.
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Jesus also talks about clothing in relation to one's appearance. He says, is not your life more than clothing?
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Now, it's not bad to have nice clothes. Some of you are nicely dressed today.
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I should say all of you are nicely dressed. But if that is where our focus is, then that is sinful.
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We can make an idol out of the way we look. The people that Jesus was talking to did not have much clothing probably, but they saw the more well -to -do in society in the first century society who had clothing, and they had nice clothing.
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And to see this would lead to a discontentment with the little clothes they had.
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They even wondered if they would have any clothing for the future. And what Jesus is saying is whether you are worried about having enough clothing for your body or want more to measure up with society, do not occupy your mind thinking about your perceived need.
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Now, Jesus gets after this concern they might have for food, drink, and clothing by giving two illustrations as to how the
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Lord provides for his creation. In the middle of these two illustrations, he also teaches on what we should think about the span of our lives.
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And we will look at that after we look at the two illustrations. But let's first look at the first illustration in verse 26.
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Jesus says, look at the birds of the air. They neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly
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Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
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In this illustration, and in the second one that we will see in a little bit, Jesus uses a lesser to greater argument.
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In other words, if God takes care of things less important than you, then of course he's going to take care of you.
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Jesus first addresses food and by implication drink as well. And this is really fascinating to think about.
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As people who live where we do in rural northwestern Wisconsin, we can understand this verse better than city people and suburban people like me.
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We have farmers in this church and you have food because you sow.
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And then as God sends sun and rain, you reap a harvest. This is what humans do to eat.
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But this is not what birds do. Birds do not plant food.
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And Jesus says there's not food waiting for them that was stockpiled in a barn.
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Birds don't work for food like humans do. Most food for humans must be grown or in more modern day times here, food is often manufactured as well.
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He didn't make birds that way. He made them to have instincts to find the plentiful resources that God has for them.
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Birds eat seeds, fruit, insects, fish, acorns, and even roadkill.
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And look at Highway 87, right? Pretty much every day we can see that. God provides for them.
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They also have plentiful water in oceans, lakes, rivers, and ponds. The Lord makes it so that birds and all wildlife can live on this planet.
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It's interesting. My sister -in -law was here the other day and I took a picture of an owl on our sign off 87.
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It was just standing on the pole. And I think it was one of those barn owls. Maybe you know better than I do.
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But she was saying what that means is that this is a good habitat to live. That's what she said. So the
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Lord's provided for them here. We can see that. But the Lord indeed does provide.
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And some of you, I say this jokingly kind of, some of you are even being used by God to provide.
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Even as bears come to your bird feeders. What is interesting is when
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I was growing up, my mom had a plate in the window. She had a sun window and there was a plate with two birds on it.
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And these two birds were having a conversation. And what they said was, why do these humans worry?
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Don't they have a heavenly father like we do that takes care of us? And as I read that,
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I was like, OK, that's straight from the Sermon on the Mount. And we need to learn the lesson from birds.
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The point Jesus is making here, he states at the end of verse 26, are you not of more value than they?
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This rhetorical question has an obvious answer. Of course you are. Genesis 1, 26 and 27 says that out of all of God's creatures, only humans are created in the image of God.
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This means that we are like God in ways that nothing else in all creation is. You are the pinnacle of creation.
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Even angels are lower than you in God's plan. Hebrews 1, 14 says angels are ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.
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Angels have intellect like we have, but they are only God's servants who exist to praise him and serve us.
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Only humans are created in the image of God. If you belong to Christ, you are very precious to God.
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He is far more committed to us than we could ever imagine. Birds are a part of God's creation and he takes care of them.
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But his care for animals pales in his comparison for you.
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He will provide your food and drink and everything that you need. That's the point he's making here.
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Now in our text, Jesus gives another illustration in verses 28 through 30. He says this, and why are you anxious about clothing?
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Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even
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Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. And then
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Jesus makes the argument, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you,
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O you of little faith? What Jesus says here is that God clothes the grass of the field.
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He clothes it by putting beautiful flowers in it. In the
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Galilean region, where Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount, they would have had many wildflowers, beautiful flowers.
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This made the area gorgeous. And it's still this way today if you visit
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Israel. And we have wildflowers in America as well. The most well -known wildflower might be the dandelion.
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And now you may be wondering, is a dandelion a flower or a weed? Well, the answer is both.
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Weeds are plants that you don't want in a particular location, so you pull them out. We usually don't like dandelions, and so we usually pull them out.
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But they are quite a sight to see. And what's interesting is that we were having a conversation this week, and we were sitting in our backyard, and Brianna and my sister -in -law mentioned the goldenrods that were growing as well.
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And maybe you have that in your yard as well. If you want them there, it's quite a sight to see.
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They're beautiful. God clothes them. He clothes the landscape with these flowers.
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He makes it look nice. And what Jesus says in verse 29 is that the splendor of these flowers of the field is greater than King Solomon's splendor during his reign in Israel.
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What we know from reading the Old Testament is that Solomon was one of the greatest kings in world history.
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He ruled at the height of the kingdom of Israel. In 1 Kings chapter 10, the queen of Sheba traveled a long, long ways to see his greatness.
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And when one looked at him, he would have carried with him splendor. Even with this in mind,
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Jesus is saying the splendor of the grass that is covered with flowers is greater than Solomon's beauty as he sat on the throne.
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Jesus talks about how wonderful the grass is decorated. But then he says something astonishing.
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That is, the grass is disposed of in an instant. Its life is short -lived.
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He says it's today alive, and tomorrow it is thrown into the oven.
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What does this mean? This is what one author wrote. Ovens were made of hardened clay and were used primarily for baking bread.
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When a woman wanted to hurry the baking process, she would build a fire inside the oven as well as under it.
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Fuel for the inside heating was usually composed of dried grass and flowers gathered from nearby fields.
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Once the flower's beauty was gone, it had little use except to be burned up as fuel for baking.
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Then it was gone. So these flowers would be beautiful for a time and then burned up.
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So why does God go through all the trouble of making something so beautiful and then having it fade and die?
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The answer is, it's no trouble for him to do that. He's the creator of all things.
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He's all -powerful. He can do it in an instant, and he's glad to do it to show his beauty as he makes it.
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Now, Sean is a carpenter. Imagine him building a beautiful building, let's say the
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Madison Building, which he did so much work on, and then tearing it down a year later.
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Sean had to put tremendous effort into making it, so he's not going to tear it down because, think of all the work it would be to rebuild it all over again, right?
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If he's going to make something look really nice, this is a long investment. Hopefully this building lasts 50, 60, 70 years when it's built nice.
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God doesn't have to do that because he could just have something and make it in an instant, and then it comes back the next year and it looks beautiful as well.
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So it's here for a short time, and then it's thrown into the oven, and then the new flowers come the next season, and they're replaced.
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God clothes them with beauty even though they are short -lived. And Jesus says, will he not much more clothe you,
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O you of little faith? This rhetorical question, once again, has an obvious answer.
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Of course, he will provide you with clothing. Now, Jesus mentions here specifically that God will provide food, drink, and clothing, but the application is much broader than that.
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He will provide all your needs, whatever you have in your life right now. I mean, you may have a need.
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What Jesus is telling you is that God will provide for you. He gives you food, drink, shelter, work, money, possessions, health, and more.
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He even gives you the right friends at the right time. I think of my life, and I'm thinking that friend is the exact person
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I needed at that point in my life, and God is so kind to give you that.
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He provides for us, and Jesus is making it clear that you don't need to worry. God provides.
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His provision is always there. We should thank him for his past provision and trust him for his future.
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So these are the lesser to greater illustrations that Jesus uses to show us that, of course, God will take care of us.
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He takes care of birds. He takes care of the grass. So, of course, he's going to care for his image bearers.
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But now, let's go back to verse 27, this verse that's in between these two illustrations that he gives.
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Jesus says this in verse 27. In which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?
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Earlier, I mentioned that people try to hold on to life by taking care of their life in this world obsessively through strict diets, excessive exercise, anti -aging measures, excessive visits to the doctor.
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A hypochondriac fears death, and so they constantly visit the doctor when there really is no imminent problem.
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When famous baseball player Ted Williams died, some members of his family wanted to freeze his body so that as technology advanced, maybe they could bring him back to life in the future.
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You want to talk about holding on to this life? I can't think of a better example than that. But the
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Bible is very clear. Hebrews 9 .27 says it's appointed for man to die once and then comes judgment.
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But people want to live forever. Death is the greatest fear that people have. I know there was a study a while back that said that public speaking is the greatest fear.
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I don't think that's true. Death, if you were to take a survey over several hundred years, thousands of years even, people would say that death is the greatest fear that there is.
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Hebrews 2 .15 says that death is a lifelong slavery that hangs over unbelievers.
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But when you come to faith in Christ, the slavery is gone. You have no reason to fear.
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Everyone who believes that Jesus died for your sins and rose again from the dead has eternal life.
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And when you know Christ, you are united to the one who conquered the grave. For the believer, death is passing through to a much better place.
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Just like we read today in the psalm, because he lives, it's like crossing the river to your home.
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And one day you will get a new body where you will dwell in forever joy with God.
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As Philippians 3 .21 says, he will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.
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But this is not so for the unbeliever, the one who has never found refuge in Christ.
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This person truly should fear death. And if you are here today, listening or watching, and have never believed in Christ, believe in him this day.
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He paid for your sins when he went to the cross. And if you sincerely believe that, you have no reason to fear death, as I already mentioned.
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But you can see why people worry when they don't have Christ. They have no one to rely on to take care of them.
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They have no promises to hold on to. So the life of an unbeliever is an unstable one.
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And Jesus says, don't be like the unbeliever. In verses 31 and 32, he says, do not be anxious saying what should we eat or what should we drink or what should we wear?
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For the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
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Jesus says clearly that if we live a life of worry, then we live like an unbeliever.
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And we have seen this with COVID -19, have we not? What we have seen is that people's minds are preoccupied with this virus, with little attention paid to the most important things.
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Why aren't people afraid of what's going to happen to them when they die? That's where the focus should be. And if you're in Christ, then you have no fear.
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But if you don't, there should be great fear. We should expect the world to have the focus on the wrong places.
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And that is what we have seen. The world is focused on self -preservation and the world fears death and the world trusts in itself for preservation.
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You may have noticed over the last several months, there's been so much focus on the physical, but no focus on the spiritual.
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They didn't call churches essential, and they still haven't as far as I know.
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And yet as Christians, we know the heart, the heart is really what matters.
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And yes, within reason, we should take care of our bodies. But if you're excessively trying to preserve your body to the neglect of your soul, think of the damaging effects.
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Depression is off the roof right now in society because people have lacked community.
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They have lacked fellowship. And we can see it's been put on display to see the importance of that.
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And how many times have we heard over the last several months that science is going to get us out of this? Hope is in self and hope is in medical experts and not
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God. People are worried because they don't have an all -powerful, wise, and good
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God to trust in. We should expect the world to be preoccupied with fear.
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Safety and security is not found in health professionals or governors. We should submit to our governing authorities, yes.
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But when they desire to run your life and it hinders your walk with Christ, this is where we need to stop listening and trust
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God. It takes wisdom to navigate through this. And as I already mentioned, this is happening everywhere.
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But this type of environment grabs unbelievers because fear already has a deep hold on the heart of an unbeliever.
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And this is just one new thing that has been added. And it's interesting that we live in a world where people are longing for peace.
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And God created us to long for peace. But people try to find it in the wrong places when the only place that it is found is in Jesus Christ.
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So this is our first reason here. Do not worry about your life in this world. And the first reason why is that unbelievers foolishly focus their attention on the things of this world.
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And here's the second reason why we should not worry about our life in this world. And that is believers are wisely to focus their attention on the things of God.
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Verses 33 and 34. Let me read these again. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you.
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Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow. For tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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Here's a good way to summarize these two verses. Is your focus on the things of God or is it on the world?
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And if it is on God, then he will take care of everything else. He will take care of your needs.
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In other words, you don't need to worry about food, drink and clothing or the essentials of life because God already has that taken care of.
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If our mind is focused on God, then we will not be preoccupied with something like a virus like we have seen.
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And when our mind is in the right place, we can be productive for Christ's sake. If we are not concerned about self -preservation like the rest of the world is, then we can be productive and live the life that God has called us to live.
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And again, I say all this with a reasonable approach. I'm not saying take a reckless, abandoned approach.
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But what I am saying is the plague of fear that has taken over our world is not where a
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Christian should have their focus. And what an opportunity, by the way, it is for Christians to speak into others' life during this time.
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The Lord has given us a giant open door and may we do that. What we have to keep in mind is that God knows the day that you are going to die.
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You can be the healthiest and fittest person in the world and still die young if that is
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God's will. Now, many of you know I'm a distance runner and I love studying the history of running.
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The most famous distance runner in the history of America was a man by the name of Steve Prefontaine.
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He ran in the early 1970s and at the time of his death, he held every record from 2 ,000 meters all the way up to 10 ,000 meters, every
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American record. And he took the world by storm. He was a phenom in high school and won everything in college and then went to the
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Olympics. And the last day of his life, he ran a race and he won like he usually did.
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And that night he went to a party and on his way home, he lost control of his vehicle. It hit an embankment, flipped over and he got stuck under it and suffocated to death.
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He was at the peak of his career, the healthiest person you could imagine, the picture of health.
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And in a moment, his life was gone. When you see someone in their prime taken, this is when the brevity of life really should wake everyone up.
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What the Bible says is that God knows our days. As the psalmist wrote in Psalm 139, 16, in your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
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What Jesus says specifically is that our focus should be on God's kingdom and his righteousness.
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When Jesus says kingdom, this means God's rule in his will. We have seen this theme already in the
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Sermon on the Mount. We are to live as kingdom citizens now. And as we live as kingdom citizens, we will pursue his righteousness.
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As Jesus says, our life should be focused like Paul's life was.
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The apostle Paul wrote in Acts 20, verse 24, I do not account my life of any value, nor is precious to myself.
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If only I may finish my course and the ministry that I have received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
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Paul did not live a life of worry and self -preservation. He lived as if his citizenship was in heaven.
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And he took many risks. And what an example that is for us. We need to be willing to give it all for Christ.
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Second Timothy 3 .12 says that all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
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As you walk closer with him, the more challenges you are going to face. And this world is opposed to God.
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And if you are different enough from the world, they will call you out. Look at the climate of our country, the direction our country is moving.
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Biblical Christianity is at odds with it. Our aim should be faithfulness to Christ above all, not to be liked, not to live for self -preservation.
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In 1956, missionary Jim Elliott was martyred for the faith from a tribe in Ecuador.
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He died at the age of 28. His most famous quote is this, he is no fool to give up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.
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Let me say that again. He is no fool to give up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.
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If our focus is on God, then our focus will not be on the worries of life, where the
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Gentiles, who are unbelievers in this text, where their focus is.
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In Colossians 3, verses 1 and 2, the Apostle Paul wrote that we are to occupy our minds on the things that are above and not the things that are on the earth.
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We are called to trust the Lord with everything we have. A believer is like a ship that is steady through the storm.
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As the waves of life crash, life is full of things that we can be worried about.
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But as Christians, we never have to worry. Even in the seemingly dire situations.
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In fact, in this passage and in Philippians 4, 6, we are commanded not to worry.
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Let's say that you go to the doctor and you get the diagnosis that you have six months to live.
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This is an opportunity to be very afraid. But the Christian does not need to fear.
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God will take care of you in this life. And when this life is over, you will be with him forever. He will take you securely to be with him.
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This is so much different from how the world lives. The world is full of chronic worriers.
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And without a God to trust in for peace and joy and comfort, we should be surprised that more people don't suffer from anxiety.
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And a lot do. It's interesting that some people distract themselves.
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That's how they deal with anxiety. There are a small percentage of people who are just carefree people and they just don't really get anxious.
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But anxiety is a serious problem. And it's there primarily because people are not resting in God when
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God has called them to do so. So what this sermon, what this text has called each of us to do is do not worry about your life in this world.
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And we have seen two reasons why. The first is this, that unbelievers are the ones who foolishly focus their attention on the things of this world.
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And the second reason why is that believers are to wisely focus their attention on the things of God.
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We live in a world where people have a right to be afraid. But this is only so if one does not know
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Christ. If you know Christ, you should not be afraid. And that during this season of fear, may we trust
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God and not be afraid. What praise this brings to God and what a powerful testimony this is to the world around us, this open door that he's given us to say, let me tell you about Jesus.
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So may we live this out. May we model it and may we share this testimony to the world.
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Now, next Sunday, we are going to look at a very well -known passage, and it's one of the most misunderstood passages in the whole
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Bible. It says, do not judge or you too will be judged. What does that mean?
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We will unfold that next Sunday, Lord willing. At this time, let's bow our heads in prayer.
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Father in heaven, I pray that each of us, Lord, would build a pattern of life where we do not fear, where we carry the peace of God with us.
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As the apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
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So, Lord, may we live with the knowledge that you will provide for us and may we trust you and may we carry with us this peace that you promise to every one of your children.