Brad Kilthau
We have a question that is to be answered today by us, and the question goes this way: It says, "health officials are telling us that worry and anxiety are at an all-time high in the United States. Yet, we as believers are told in the Bible not to worry. How are we supposed to deal with anxiety and be obedient to the Lord's commands?" And so Tim, I'm going to let you take it and start with that.
Tim Hebbert
I think that first of all, it's good to acknowledge and understand that all of us have moments and times where we deal with anxiety. It's one of those things that we're never going to completely escape. Yes, we're not supposed to worry, but I always tell people, "when I got saved, I got grace. I didn't get perfection." So, it's one of those things that we have to deal with from time to time in our lives. But God gives us, in His word, and Jesus teaches us things about it. One of the scriptures, Brad, I think most people like to quote---I'm one of those---comes from the sixth chapter of the gospel of Matthew. Verse 25 says, "that is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life. Whether you have enough food or drink or enough clothes to wear, isn't life much more than food and your body more than clothing?" It's true. But if we don't look at what Jesus is teaching ahead of that, we don't completely understand what he's saying. And I think one of the things that anxiety does in our life is it exposes what we value most. So, if we want to back up, say to verse 19 in Matthew, Jesus begins that teaching from that point with this, "don't store up treasures here on earth where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desire of your heart will be." Then he goes on to say in verse 22, "your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is." Verse 24, "no one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; You'll be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." One of the things that my dad always told me about the years, his almost 50 years of pastoring, that peoples' struggle with anxiety had to do with money. And he said, in most cases it's because of debt that they'd acquired, because they had their eyes on the wrong things. And I think what Jesus is telling us before he says, don't worry about things is, "what do you value most? Who do you value most?" And then after that passage of, don't worry, he goes on over the next 10 verses to talk about who his father is, what his father will do in our lives, if we'll just trust Him. We don't have to worry about the things that we need. God's going to provide all the things that we need in our life. And so, at the very end of chapter six, he says, "don't worry about these things saying what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers. But your heavenly Father already knows all you need. Seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and He will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow we'll bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for us." He's basically telling us through that, is, the things that we really need also reveals who God is for us. He is the provider. He's Jehovah-Jireh, as the Old Testament would tell us. He's the one that we can count on and trust. And I got to thinking about this on the drive over today, Brad. We talk about the faithfulness of God, but until we're in a place where we need it and we experience it, until we've had that moment in time, then it's just a theory that we're taught. Experiencing that faithfulness of God sometimes comes, and He begins to reveal Himself when we're the most anxious. What do you think?
Brad Kilthau
I agree Tim, and I like how you brought that together because this is the Sermon on the Mount. It's a lot of red ink all the way through our Bibles. It's not just some little cherry picked topic that Jesus brings out here. And that's true, that's true. And when you think about worrying, worrying is really, you feel like it's out of your control. And once it's out of your control, that's when you start to worry. And of course, finances and so forth is going to bring that up in a person's life when things start to get tough. And some of the things, I look at the same passage, I look at the words of Jesus here. I think this is so straightforward when it comes to this very important issue that we're all dealing with right now, is this worry and anxiety. But you'll notice that there's a rule that Jesus gives in these verses, especially these last 9 or 10 verses that you mentioned here. And the rule is, "do not worry." He says it three times. Three times. It is an absolute command that God gives to us. And so I look at it as the Lord is saying this. It's an action that you're already involved in that you need to stop. So if you're not worrying, don't start worrying. And if you're worrying already, he says, "Stop it." Stop it. And we say, "well, how can we do that? How can we stop worrying, especially about certain things in our lives?" But you got to notice in the verses, Jesus is talking to this crowd about what you're going to eat and what you're going to wear and those kinds of things. And here in Western Nebraska and in the United States, we're not worried about those things like those people were. You know, those people, the crowd that Jesus was talking to at that time, they were worried about if they were going to get another meal. We don't worry if we're going to get another meal, we wonder what we're going to eat. We'll say, "well, am I going to have Italian or German or whatever tonight?" But they wondered if they would ever get another meal. They wondered if they'd ever have enough clothes when it got cold, because the only clothes they had was what's on their back. They couldn't go to a closet. All we do is wonder if it looks good on us, and if it doesn't, we go put something else on. They had absolutely some very important things to worry about. And just like you said, Tim, if we get to that place of where we're going without, then we'll finally realize what worry really is. But Jesus speaking to that crowd, then can also, we can see the application for ourselves. He says, "I'm telling you, do not worry." And the reasons we don't have to worry, as you read through those verses, is first of all, you got to realize he's our master. And again, when you look at the culture that this was written in, it was a master slave culture. I think there was like 120 million slaves at the time of Jesus, I've heard. And so this was very common. People were used to that. But today, when we think about being a slave, we go, "oh, I'd never want to be that. I want to be a free man. I want to make my own decisions." But actually, the people in that day and time, when they were a slave, it was something of comfort. Because they knew that when it comes to food, that's my master's responsibility. When it comes to what I'm going to wear, that's his responsibility. All I got to do is go to work, do what he tells me to do and it's his responsibility to take care of me and my family. That's the deal in this situation. And that's the way the Lord, I think, wants us to look at Him. "I got it. I'm your master. You just do what I've called you to do. I will take care of my end of the deal." Another thing is, he says that, "don't worry because of our father." I mean, look at verse 26. He says, "look at the birds of the air, for they neither sown or reap nor gather into their barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you much more valuable than they?" And think about what Jesus just said there. He didn't say, "their heavenly Father feeds them." He said, "your heavenly Father feeds them." In other words, "your father, who loves you so much more than a bird in air is taking care of everything else, even outside of your realm." And the birds don't worry. You know, if you get up in the morning, those birds are singing, they're making noise, they're running, they're all over the place. They're just having a heyday. They're not worried about anything. I think if those birds could talk to us, sometimes they would say, "you fools, look at how your father has taken care of us. And yet you sit here and you worry and fret about different things." I often have to laugh because I think maybe a bird brain could straighten us out sometimes in our thinking and how he would talk to us. But then also, of course, verse 27, I think because of our future, he said, "which of you by worry can add one cubit to his stature?" Some people look at that cubit by physical growth. Some people look at it, "could he add one more day to my life or whatever?" But whatever it is, why would you worry about that? Because worry isn't going to change your future. The only thing worry is going to do is starve you of the present, because you're worrying about the future. And we should never be in that place. We should be people that are like the birds. Again, just get to work. Be busy about the kingdom and the kingdom work, and He's going to take care of all the rest. And you might say, "what's the kingdom work?" Well, as in that same chapter, he talks about how we're supposed to pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name," the Lord's Prayer. He teaches us how to pray. One of the things we should be doing is praying, praying, praying. Not just for ourselves, praying for others. Find your spiritual gift. Get to work. In other words, rather than worry, work. I think work is the antidote to worry. That's what Jesus is saying here. And so again, there's so much good stuff to draw out of these verses, Tim. And I think, if anyone's in a place of worry in their life right now, this would be a great passage of scripture to go to.
