Overcoming worry part 1

Overcoming Worry Overcoming Worry Part 1Part 1

Mathew 6:25 to 34Mathew 6:25 to 34

I – INTRODUCTION to the topic and contextual background

• This part of Mathew belongs to a greater passage known as the Sermon on the Mount in here, Jesus gives the standards of the Kingdom (Mathew 4:23) which is very different from the standards of Jewish laws.

• In Chapters 6 versus 19 to 34 Jesus gives the Kingdom code of conduct with regards to our attitudes towards material possessions.

• Verses 19 to 24 talks about what are attitudes should be if we have lots of possession. Verses 25 to 34 talks about our attitude regarding even the basic necessities of life.

• There is an often repeated phrase in the passage is “Take no thought.” which is the word “Merimnao” What this basically means is "Be not anxious...." or “Don't worry” The words appears 4 times in this passage, verse 25, 28, 31and 34.

WHAT IS WORRY AND WHY CHRISTIANS SHOULD NOT WORRY ?

• The English word "worry" comes from an old German root wurgen. Interestingly enough it means "to choke" or "to strangle.“

Worry is saying "God, I know You mean well by what You say, but I'm just not sure You can pull it off.“ Worry is the sin of distrusting the promise and the providence of God

God does not want His children preoccupied with the mundane, passing things of the earth. He wants us to set our affection not on things of the earth but on things above.He wants us to lay up our treasure in heaven and to seek first the kingdom of God. In order to free us to do that He says

I - THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE (v. 25)

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat,Or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is notthe life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” Mathew 4:25

- Verse 25 says "stop worrying.“ (merimnate) - Verse 3l says “don’t start worrying. (Merimnesete)

- "...for your life..." = psuche. It has to do with the fullness of earthly life.

- The word "Therefore..." is a conclusion taken from the premises laid down in verses 19 to 24 which are: He said that earthly treasures corrupt , Earthly treasures blinds your spiritual vision and that you must make a choice between God and money.

- Therefore, don't worry about those kinds of things. That should not be your preoccupation. In the next set of verses even in the most basic things of life, Jesus said we should not worry. He gives us four reasons

II– THREE REASONS WHY WE SHOULD NOT WORRY

B.) It’s unwise because of our Father (vs. 26 to 30)

D.) It’s unwise because of our Future (vs. 34)

C.) It’s unwise because our Faith (vs. 31 - 32)

A.) It’s unnecessary because there’s to life than the physical (vs. 25)

A.) Because life is more than the physical (vs. 25)

“Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

• Most people in our world are totally consumed with the body

• That's the way most people live. Isn't life more than that

An Interview with God

I dreamed I had an interview with God.

“So you would like to interview me?” God asked

“If you have the time” I said.

God smiled

“My time is eternity”

“What questions do you have in mind for me?”

“What surprises you most about humankind?...”

God answered...

“That they get bored with childhood.

They rush to grow up and then

long to be children again.”

“That they lose their health to make money

and then lose their money to restore their health.”

“That by thinking anxiously about the future,

they forget the present,

such that they live in neither the present nor the future.”

That they live as if they will never die,

and die as if they had never lived.”

God’s hand took mine

and we were silent for awhile

And then I asked...

“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?”

God replied with a smile

“To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.”

“To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most,

but is one who needs the least.”

"Thank you for your time," I said humbly.

"Is there anything else you would like your children to know?"

God smiled and said, “Just know that I am here... always.”