November 9, 2014
TREASURE: 4. Don’t Worry ‘Bout a Thing
Matthew 6: 25-34
Preface to the Word
Three Little Birds by Bob Marley
Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.
Singin’: “Don’t worry about a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
Rise up this mornin’,
Smile with the risin’ sun,
Three little birds
Each by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin’, (“This is my message to you-ou-ou:”)
Singin’: “Don’t worry ‘bout a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right.”
Singin’: “Don’t worry (don’t worry) ‘bout a thing,
‘Cause every little thing gonna be all right!”
For the last 8 weeks, during this discipleship season we’ve called “Kingdom Treasures,” we’ve
been digging around for treasure in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as recorded in the Gospel of
Matthew. It has brought us to this day, which we celebrate as Consecration Sunday and bring to
the altar our commitments of support for the mission and ministry of this congregation in the
year to come.
Here’s a question for us today:
Are the commitments we are presenting to the altar today determined more by faith or by worry?
Listen to what Jesus preaches to the crowd in his Sermon on the Mount…
Scripture Reading:Matthew 6:25-34
Sermon
Don’t Worry Baby by The Beach Boys
Well it’s been building up inside of me
For oh I don’t know how long
I don’t know why
But I keep thinking
Something’s bound to go wrong
But she looks in my eyes
And makes me realize
And she says “Don’t worry baby”
Don’t worry baby
Don’t worry baby
Everything will turn out alright
I.
Don’t worry baby
Don’t worry baby
Don’t worry baby
A. Don’t worry, baby….
B. That song is so last century, but it still connects with so many of us trying to negotiate life in
the twenty-first century. There is something plaguing us today. It could even be called an
epidemic. An epidemic is simply a disease in a given human population in a given period of
time that substantially exceeds what is expected.
I’m not talking about AIDS or Ebola or the enterovirus so many kids are catching today. Our
current epidemic is worry. We live in an age of anxiety, a time of countless worries. It’s
estimated that more than forty million people in this country have been diagnosed with an
anxiety disorder. This says nothing of the all the rest who deal with worry every day.
Some worry is good, mind you, since it serves as a survival mechanism that keeps us out of
trouble. Usually, though, when we talk about worry, we’re talking about that irrational,
unhelpful stream of concerns that plagues us rather than protects us; that hinders us rather
than helps us. Worrying may grow out of an instinct for survival, but it can grow into a
destructive force rather than a life giving emotion.
C. What do you worry about? What keeps you tossing and turning at night?
Often it’s money and whether or not there’ll be enough. Will there be enough for what we
need and what we want to do? And if it’s not about money itself, we worry about our jobs by
which we earn our living. If we’re retired, we worry about outliving our resources or what
would happen if we experienced a catastrophic illness or injury. We worry about our health
and having adequate health insurance. We worry about our kids and grandkids and all the
pressures they have to deal with in today’s crazy world. We worry about terrorists and
immigrants and jobs and the stock market and the direction our country is heading.
Finances, family, future. So much to worry about…
Don't Worry, Be Happy by Bobbie McFerrin
Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy
II.
A. For as long as there’s been music, we’ve had songs about worries and overcoming them. In
fact, there is something in the songs themselves that seems to help alleviate worry.
So far, I’ve played three “don’t worry” songs that were popular for my generation – Bob
Marley’s “Three Little Birds” (also known as “Don’t Worry ‘Bout a Thing”), “Don’t Worry,
Baby” by the Beach Boys, and Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” If these
weren’t your “don’t worry” songs, perhaps you can think of the songs that were (or are)
popular for your generation.
It can be comforting to have someone sing to us, recite to us, pray for us using “don’t worry”
songs. It’s not easy to rationalize our way out of worry and a song can help!
B. Long before Marley and McFerrin, Jesus of Nazareth shared his own “don’t worry” song.
Seated on the top of a hill and speaking to a crowd of people gathered around him, Jesus said,
“Don’t worry about your life, what you’ll eat or what you’ll drink, or about your body, what
you’ll wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes?”
He sang about birds and flowers… and said that we were more important to God.
C. But what does Jesus know about facing economic instability, and debt ceilings, and fiscal
cliffs?
Just about the time that question forms in our mind, we remember that what we are facing
today is really nothing new. We are not the first generation to fear for our future, just the
latest. The people Jesus spoke to on that hillside on Galilee experienced the same emotions
we do today. He told them, “Don’t worry.” He tells us, “Don’t worry.”
It’s not that Jesus isn’t concerned about material things…food, drink, clothing. It’s that he’s
more concerned about our hearts. He knew that one of the things that rob our hearts of joy
and peace and faith is an irrational fear surrounding the stuff we think we need or crave.
D. Listen to what Jesus included in his “don’t worry,” song…
1. First, Jesus encourages us to see God’s care by noticing the wild birds and meadow
flowers. Let’s call this the “God Perspective.” When we move too quickly through life,
worrying about this and worrying about that, we lose our God perspective and become blind
to the lesson of the birds and flowers. With a God Perspective we can see that God feeds the
birds and dresses the flowers. God takes care of them. And God will take care of you. You
are God’s treasure.
Three little birds
Each by my doorstep
Singin’ sweet songs
Of melodies pure and true,
Sayin’, (“This is my message to you…”)
Don’t worry ‘bout a thing,
Cause every little thing gonna be alright.
Does this mean that those who place their trust in God don’t have to work, don’t have to be
responsible, don’t have to invest themselves in living… that they can just sit back and relax
and expect God to take care of all their needs? No. This is not what Jesus is saying here. He
is simply saying that we are valuable to God. He knows there will be times in our lives we
are going to worry about “what we will eat,” and “what we will wear.” In those times, he
wants us to remember that we are God’s creation; that God cares about us and for us. The
birds and flowers give us perspective on how God looks at us and loves us. Let that truth
control your heart rather than worry.
We read the scripture, we join a faith community for worship, we make prayer a pattern of
life because we need God’s perspective. Jesus’ “don’t worry” song reminds us that God
wants to give all we need and to be all we need. We are God’s treasure and we discover
God’s treasure in Jesus.
2. Second, Jesus’ “don’t worry” song recognizes that life is uncertain – that it can be dangerous,
unpredictable, and wild; that worry will most certainly come. We will feel anxious about
caring for and protecting the “treasures” of our life. But Jesus’ “don’t worry” song bids us
not to get carried away with our worry. God already knows everything we need.
His song gives us practical wisdom for giving and living. It asks, “Who among you by
worrying can add a single moment to your life?” What do we gain by worrying, other than
stress and anxiety and damage to our bodies? Don’t worry!
Bobby McFerrin’s “don’t worry” song makes it sound so simple:
In every life we have some trouble, when you worry you make it double … don’t worry, be
happy!
Sounds good, doesn’t it? Who of us doesn’t want a more carefree, worry-free, happy
existence? Is this what Jesus just saying, “Come on people… don’t worry, be happy?”
Not really. His message isn’t that we can talk ourselves out of anxiety or into happiness. He
isn’t saying use logic, practice the power of positive thinking, and move on. Instead, he’s
pointing us toward the root cause of most worry – which is thinking that ultimately it’s all up
to us and that we are in control. We think that time and life are dependent on us!
Jesus points to God, who does hold time and life, and tells us to trust more than worry.
Worrying may not add a moment to our life, but trusting in God will allow us to embrace the
time that God has given us here.
III.
A. So. What do you think? Would you say that it is faith that energizes or worry that restricts
the commitment we lay on the altar today?
B. If we took the energy and emotion we expended in worry and invested them into a faith in
Jesus Christ, God will gift us with a new happiness and freedom in our lives. “What will I
eat? What will I drink? What will I wear?”… That’s where our worry takes us. But Jesus’
“don’t worry” song directs us instead to “desire first and foremost God’s reign, God’s
goodness, God’s providence – and all these things will be given to you as well.” For when
the things of God become what we treasure the most, we discover that the other things we
obsess over no longer control our mind, heart, and spirit. As we give our hearts more and
more to God, our “treasure” is more and more located in God and not in the things and the
worries of this world.
C. Every day we are given the task of trusting God with the people and things that are most
important to us… our treasure. When we try to maintain complete control of our treasure
and take sole responsibility for our needs… that’s when worry takes over our life.
Seek God first... Let faith guide your life... Don’t worry… be happy!