Christ Church
Feb 15,2003: 6.00pm
Matthew 6:25-34
Worry is a sin!
It is not a, perhaps rather tiresome weakness. Some people say, with some regret, and often as a way of excuse “I'm a born worrier”. We wish we didn't, and we envy those who seem to go through life care-free. But that's the way we were born; the way we were brought up and such have been our experiences of life that we can't help but worry. Rather in contradistinction, R H Mounce says this:
  Worry is practical atheism and an affront to God
That is one of the main burdens of tonight's passage. Indeed, how does it begin?
He says this: Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; about your body, what you will wear. Is not the life more important than food, and the body
John Stott in his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount (from which of course these verses come) says this:
  It is a pity this passage is often read in church isolated from what has gone before. Then the significance of the introductory Therefore I tell you is missed.
The emphasis of the preceding verses is really on a choice between two alternatives, which really dominate the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord Jesus Christ puts it as a distinction between where our treasure is, in heaven or on earth (where moth and rust destroy, thieves break in and steal). Then it is about the eye being the lamp of the body. We actually miss the full force here. It's put as between a 'good' or 'bad' eye- but a 'good eye' meant to be generous. It's a choice between 'I want for me' or 'I want for others'. Then it's, and this is the fundamental point, between whom we serve: God or Money. What we have to decide is: Do we serve God or do we serve selfish interests, of which money is one of the most de terming. Most tellingly in verse 21, the Lord Jesus Christ says: Where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.
In 14th century Germany there was a mystic by the name of Johann Tauler. It is told* of him that one day he met a beggar. “God give you a good day, my friend”, he said. The beggar replied, “I thank God I never have a bad one.” Then Tauler said, “God give you a happy life, my friend”. “I thank God”, said the beggar, “I am never unhappy” In amazement Tauler asked, “What do you mean?”. “Well”, said the beggar, “when it's fine, I thank God. When it rains, I thank God. When I am hungry, I thank God. And since God's will is my will, and whatever please him please me, why should I say I am unhappy when I'm not?”. In astonishment, Tauler looked at the man. “Who are you?”, he asked. “I am a king”, said the beggar. “Where, then, is your kingdom?” asked Tauler. The beggar answered quietly, “In my heart”. His heart was right; his ambitions were right, and he knew nothing of worry..
We need, too, to note that the Lord Jesus Christ not only told us not to worry, but linked this in (v 33) with the command Seek first (that is above all else) God's Kingdom and his righteousness.
A lot of this section has a rather negative tone. Do not..comes in not a few times. Do not worry; especially do not worry about food, drink or clothing. How bang up-to-date Jesus' words are in this 21st century. Look in our papers, magazines, television, look at the advertisements that abound on the walls of the London Underground. Aren't these just the things that preoccupy a stressed, worry-filled generation. John Stott tells of being sent a complimentary copy of a magazine entitled Accent on good living. It is clear from the adverts that what comprises “good living” consists in champagne, cigarettes, food, clothing, antiques and furnishings! Yet these things do not satisfy. Theses things are what Matthew 6:24 calls “Money”, or perhaps better, the old word “Mammon” Verse 32 tells us the pagans run after all these things. And not only run after, but worry that they will not get them, lose them, have them stolen, and worry because the 'Joneses' have more or better of them.
Now the Lord Jesus Christ never said we weren't to deny these needs. He knows we need them: indeed he teaches us to pray: Give us today our daily bread (v11). No! It's the making of these things our goal, our god that we go wrong- when like the pagans we “run after them”. The good seed sewn among thorns is choked by the “good thins of this life”. Its preoccupation. As Bishop Ryle, that great Anglican divine of the 19th century said:
  Prudent provision for the future is right; wearing, corroding, self-tormenting anxiety is wrong
This kind of all-consuming worry is wrong, is sinful, on two grounds:
It is incompatible with Christian faith
It is incompatible with common sense
Firstly, worry is wrong because it in unChristian
which doen't mean that if you ever worry you are not a Christian.
If we think about the birds. God looks after them. If we think about the grass of the field. Even though it lasts but a brief time, it is clothed by God. If you think of the flowers, they never worry about growth. Yet they are of more beauty and splendour than Solomon, robed in splendour. In fact, we're reminded that however much we worry we can't add a single hour to our life.
However much we worry, everything we ever need is provided by our heavenly Father. Life's luxuries are a different matter. Those who propound a 'prosperity gospel' have never taken this teaching to heart. Our very next breath comes only because God so ordains it. The old doggerel reminds us of these truths:
Said the robbin to the sparrow
'I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and worry so'
 
Said the sparrow to the robin
'Friend, I think it must be
That they have no heavenly Father
Such as cares for your and me'
Then secondly,worry is incompatible with common sense
Jesus speaks about 'today' and 'tomorrow'.  And he ends by saying Each day has
enough trouble of its own. We're never promised a trouble-free life just because we Jesus' followers.
But it is folly and sin to worry about tomorrow and what it might bring. If we're trusting God as out Father today, then he will be tomorrow as we can continue to trust him. How much time and energy do we waste worrying about what might happen tomorrow. Worry is never about the present moment. It is self-defeating, and we rob ourselves of any joy in the present moment, for fear of what tomorrow may bring!
Remember the old beggar. He said he was a King. Certainly if we're Christian we serve the King of Kings. We should be seeking his Kingdom and we should be seeking his standard of righteousness. If we're doing this then we should and can know that he has promised that every minute detail of our life is under his watchful care. If that be so, there can be no room for worry.
Worry is sin and for the Christian there is only one response to sin. Bring it to the Cross and leave it there.
 
*Told by Michael Green in The Message of Matthew, IVPress.