Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34
24 ‘No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. 25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?" or "What will we drink?" or "What will we wear?" 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
Eleven years ago, more than a few people sat at the edge of their seats wondering if the world was going to come to an end. The calendar was about to change from 1999 to 2000. Oh, and believe it or not, I’m not talking about those of a religious persuasion who believed Christ would return sometime during that year. No. I’m not talking about faith-based fear. Rather, I am talking about television and media pundits and computer programers who believed the Y2K bug would cause computers to become confused and cease to operate.
I am sure more than one of you here this morning remember the dire predictions. Most computers had been programed to only recognize only six digits when it came to the date. For instance January 1, 1999 was represented by 01/01/99. Some believed when the switch from 99 to 00 occurred, computers wouldn’t know to leap to 2000. Instead they would try to revert to 1900 or worse...they would shut down completely because an ascending number assumption would suddenly become invalid.
There were more than a few pundits including John Hamre, United States Deputy Secretary of Defense who said, "The Y2K problem is the electronic equivalent of the El Niño and there will be nasty surprises around the globe."
Thoughts ranged from complete power failure to nuclear plants melting down. Some folks began preparing for the worst.
Midnight hit, and not a darn thing happened for 99.44% of the world. If you look on Wikipedia, you will see several documented instances that might have been related to the Y2K bug, but they hardly shut down government or the economy or our vehicles or anything for that matter.
And yet...
How much worry was generated over this problem?
How many people spent countless hours agonizing as to whether or not when they woke up the following morning if things had gone to h-e double hockey sticks in a hand basket? More hours were spent worrying about the problem than actually cleaning up the few minor glitches that did occur.
In reality, the problem wasn’t really a problem.
Such is the case with much of our worrying. I ran across an interesting little blurb in my sermon research this past week written by Brian Stoffregen in his writing entitled "Exegetical Notes". Brian says, "Some years ago I read the following in a business magazine:
Stress management experts say that only two percent of our "worrying time" is spent on things that might actually be helped by worrying. The figures below illustrate how the other 98 percent of this time is spent:
40% on things that never happen
35% on things that can't be changed
15% on things that turn out better than expected
8% on useless, petty worries
Did you catch those numbers? 98% of the time we spend worrying, we worry about things that never happen, cannot be changed, turn out better than expected, or are petty and useless. Given these numbers, do you think worry is a wise investment?
For those of you who are business people out there, let me rephrase that question. If someone came up to you and said, "I’ve got an investment opportunity for you. There is a 98% chance that you will lose everything you put into it, but there’s a 2% chance we’ll hit it." How many of you would invest? Think about that.
Think about that as you hear once again Jesus’ words this morning about worry. "‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31Therefore do not worry, saying, "What will we eat?" or "What will we drink?" or "What will we wear?" 32For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today."
Jesus takes worry one step further. Not only does Jesus convey the poor investment worry is; Jesus tells us that worry is one of the ways we show our distrust of God. "If God feeds the birds, don’t you think He’ll feed you?" Jesus asks. "And if God clothes the lilies of the field as beautifully as He does, don’t you think He will clothe you? Don’t you think you are important to God? Don’t you think He knows you need all this stuff? Trust that He will provide. Stop worrying about it."
Oh but that’s the rub isn’t it? Do we have enough trust, enough faith in God to stop worrying? Do we have enough faith, do we have enough trust in God to seek only His Kingdom and shove aside all the other stuff that gets in our way? Do we have enough trust, do we have enough faith in God to deal with our worries which hit us right here and right now? Do we have enough faith, do we have enough trust in God to leave the future in His hands instead of thinking it’s all up to us?
Oh those are some very, very tough questions. Those are ones to ponder and roll around up in the cerebrum for more than just a few minutes. Can I trust God enough when gas prices look like they are going to shoot through the roof? Can I trust God enough when food prices are going to head that direction as well? Can I trust God enough even if such a spike in those prices along with a continually falling housing market leads to a double dip recession or even a depression?
Let’s talk about a few other scenarios that people face. Can I trust God enough if I find out that lump which is causing me pain is cancer? Can I trust God enough if I discover my child has a learning disability? Can I trust God enough if the uproar in the Middle East leads to armed conflict and I have a child in the military? Can I trust God enough if another cold snap comes and damages my crops or my herd? Can I trust God enough if this drought continues and my land becomes even more parched than it is? Can I trust God enough and place all these things and more in His hands and stop my worry?
I don’t know about you, but I simply cannot.
That’s right. You heard me right. I can’t stop worrying, and I bet you can’t either. I’m sure you didn’t exactly expect to hear that, but I’m not going to stand up her and speak platitudes. I’m going to tell you the truth. Worry is a habit that is extremely hard to break, but I am hoping that in my life and in your life, we can hear Jesus’ words ringing in the back of our heads for just a little while. I am hoping we can hear Jesus say, "Your Heavenly Father knows what you need. Seek His Kingdom and He will grant it to you. Today’s worries are enough for today. Don’t worry about tomorrow’s." I’m hoping we can hear such words and lessen our anxiety, lessen or worries. And trust God a little more. For when we do, we can focus on the real worries of the world.
And what might those be? Another story I heard this week: A man was seen fleeing down the hall of the hospital just before his operation. A security guard stopped him before he could leave the hospital and asked, "What's the matter?"
The man said, "I heard the nurse say, 'It's a very simple operation, don't worry, I'm sure it will be all right.'"
"She was just trying to comfort you," said the security guard. "What's so frightening about that?"
"She wasn't talking to me," exclaimed the man. "She was talking to the doctor!"
Now that, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is a cause for worry! But, may everything else become less worrisome as we remember our Heavenly Father knows what we need and He has promised to provide. Amen.
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