Luke 12:22-34
Do not be anxious
Are you anxious? Maybe you find yourself feeling worried
about a problem at work or with your boss or supervisor. Maybe you become
anxious or tense when driving home in busy rush-hour traffic as cars speed by
weaving in between lanes.
Maybe you experience butterflies in your stomach waiting for
the results of a medical test as you flip back to your “MY CHART” app on your
phone every few minutes.
Anxiety – we’ve all experienced that tense feeling of
restlessness; when you experience trouble concentrating or thinking about
anything other than the present worry. It can produce panic, uneasiness, mixed
with feelings of doom or danger.
For some people, these feelings of anxiety are more than just
passing worries on a stressful day at work. It can worsen over time. Sometimes
becoming so severe that it interferes with your daily life.
Whom among us have expressed not only to ourselves, but also
to anyone within earshot, “this is just
stressing me out!”
We often fail to appreciate what damage worry can do to our
lives. Research clearly shows that
stress deteriorates our immune system. People under constant or high stress
show lover T cell counts, essential for immune response. Stress has a definite
effect on fertility. Prolonged stress has been shown to affect the brain,
making a person less able to respond to - future stress!
1.
The Savior gives us a warning against
worry.
A.
“Therefore I say to your, do not worry about
your life.” Greed and worry are closely connected. Greed can never get
enough. Worry is afraid it will never have enough. Neither have their eye on
the Savior.
You can be as unfaithful to the LORD
through care as well as through covetousness. Both work of the same
premise. That the Savior is incapable to
act.
“Do not worry.”
This is your Savior’s loving command.
B. There is a difference between a godly
sense of responsibility and an ungodly, untrusting worry. However, an ungodly,
untrusting sense of worry usually masquerades as responsibility. Hence, the
Savior’s warning, “Do not worry!”
2.
There are reasons not to worry.
A. Consider the ravens…the Savior
reminds us. The LORD feeds them. The LORD provides for mere birds. He takes
care of them. We should expect that the LORD would take care of you. They take
not. The birds didn’t worry. But they do work. Birds don’t just sit with open
mouths, expecting the LORD to feed them.
B. “Of
how much more value are you than birds?” The worry many people have over
the material things of life is rooted in a low understanding of their vale
before God. They can’t comprehend how much He loves and cares for them. Thus
Jesus entered time and space to be your Savior.
1. Jesus was that man, despised and
rejected by men. He knew sorrow and grief so intimately that He could be
called, “a man of sorrows.”
2. Most of our sorrow in really just self-pity.
It is feeling sorry for ourselves. Jesus never once felt sorry for Himself. His
sorrow was for others. And for the fallen.
3. He was a man not of sorrow only but of
sorrows. He knew all the suffering of body and soul. He understood the
sorrow of the man who actively struggles to obey. He know the sorrows of the
woman who sits still, and passively endures.
The sorrows of the lofty He knew. For He was the King of Israel. The
sorrows of the poor He knew. For he had nowhere to lay His head. Sorrows
relative. Sorrows personal. Sorrows mental. Sorrows spiritual. Sorrows of all
kinds and degrees assailed Him. Affliction emptied his quiver upon Him. Making
His heart the target for all conceivable woes.
4. “Which
of you by worrying can add one cubit to His stature?” Worry accomplishes
nothing. We can add nothing to our lives by worrying. There may be greater sins
than worry. Nevertheless, there is none more self-defeating and useless.
5. He even clothes the grass. He will go
so far as provide for the fields we mow. So He will certainly take care of you.
You can be confident of the power and care of the loving Heavenly Father.
Jesus concludes with this thought. So do not seek what you should eat or
what you should drink do not have an anxious mind. Jesus’ good news is simple.
You do not have to hold on to the things of this world by a death grip. Jesus
let go of everything. Heaven itself He held and was happy with a simply trust
in God our Father.
In this sinful, troubled world, it is altogether too easy to succumb to
the cares of this life and become anxious. But your heavenly Father, who
desires only what is best for you, provides not only for your earthly needs,
but also, more importantly, has provided for you eternally. You can rest secure
in the fact that you have a loving and gracious Father who knows your needs and
provides for them.
