Defeating Worry Introduction
Today, we’re concluding our message series “Need Direction?” In this series, we’ve been talking about how to get God’s guidance for our lives. We need God’s guidance in order to make right decisions and stay on track with God’s plan for our lives.
Today, our message is entitled “Defeating Worry.” We’re going to be talking about worry in the context of making decisions. First last answer the question “What is worry?” Worry is anxiety, concern or even fear of something bad happening in the future. We don’t worry about the past or the present, we worry about what may happen in the future.
So, people may worry before making a decision. Will I make the right decision? If I don’t make the right decision, what will happen in the future? People may worry after making a decision. Will this decision work out in the future? You can even make a decision based on worry. Since I am worried about X, I will make a decision to minimize my worry about X.
Worry is the polar opposite of faith. Faith looks to the future with hope and anticipation of good things happening. Worry, on the other hand, looks to the future with fear and anxiety of bad things happening. What does the Bible say regarding worry? The Bible tells us as believers, as people of faith, that we should not worry, but have faith.
Philippians 4:6 (NLT) Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.
So, rather than worry about bad things happening, we are to pray and believe God for good things to happen. As we seek for God’s guidance on direction in our lives, we must be confident and believe that God will answer our prayers and lead us forward in his plan for our lives.
When we worry, we look into the future and see bad things. Those bad things look big and we look small in comparison, so we worry. We wouldn’t be able to deal with those big bad things. When we have the eyes of faith, we look into the future and see God. We see God who is bigger than any bad things. We see God who has promised to bring good into our lives. Focusing on ourselves promotes worry, whereas focusing on God builds faith. We can defeat worry in our lives by focusing on pleasing God and trusting Him to work everything out.
This morning, as we talk about defeating worry, think about defeating your biggest worries in life. It’s time for those worries to be removed through God’s power.
How to make worry-free decisions
Luke 12:16-17 (NIV) And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
We’re going to begin today with a story or parable that Jesus told. The stories that Jesus told weren’t meant to entertain, they were never meant to be funny, they were meant to teach us God’s truth. As Jesus begins His parable, He introduces us to a rich man who had just gotten a very good crop for the year. Nothing wrong with being rich or having a good crop. Yet, the first things we notice about this particular rich man is that life is all about himself.
He wants to know what he should do with good crop he has just harvested. “What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.” Notice all the first-person pronouns, I and my. This rich man was very self-centered. Jesus is obviously giving us a negative example, someone we are not to be like.
Don’t seek to please yourself
Luke 12:18-19 (NIV) “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”‘
So the rich man makes some plans, and again, it is all about I and my. What did this rich man determine to do with the good crops that God had blessed him with? This rich man had decided to store them up for himself. He would then take life easy, eat, drink and be merry. This rich man wanted to eliminate worry from his life by taking everything he had and making sure that it was designated for his use alone. He was simply seeking to please himself. In the next verses, we’re going to see what God thinks about living to please yourself. So, don’t seek to please yourself, rather …
Give yourself to God
Luke 12:20-21 (NIV) “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”
What happened to the plans of the rich man? God considered him a fool for making decisions and plans without consulting God. That very night, the rich man died and all his grain and goods that he had planned to store up were given to others. What did Jesus identify as the rich man’s sin? Jesus said that the rich man had stored up things for himself, rather than being rich toward God. And what happened to this rich man will happen to anyone who follows his bad example.
What does it mean to be rich toward God? This will become clearer as we continue on with Jesus’ teaching. Suffice it to say, that being rich toward God is using the things that God has given you, not for your own pleasure, but to please God. Our lives and the good things that God has entrusted to us are not for our own pleasure, we are to give ourselves and God’s blessing back to God.
In what ways are we tempted to be like this rich man? We are tempted when we take the things that God has blessed us with and decide to use them for ourselves alone. We are tempted when we decide that the solution to worrying about the future is not giving ourselves and our resources to God, but keeping them for ourselves. We are tempted to be like this rich man, when we think of retirement as a time to take life easy, eat, drink and be merry, rather than a new season to serve God.
When we are self-centered, we will worry about ourselves. As we grow in being God-centered, our worries will diminish and be replaced by trust in God, from whom everything we have comes. So, following this story of the rich fool, Jesus goes on to some direct teaching on worry.
Don’t worry about yourself
Luke 12:22-23 (NIV) Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.
Jesus’ teaching on worry begins with the word, Therefore. Therefore, in light of what I’ve just told you about this rich fool. This rich fool was someone who was so worries about his life, food and clothes, that he took all that he had been blessed with and kept it to himself. Therefore, don’t worry about those things as the rich man did.
Jesus is telling us that the life God has for you is so much richer than worrying about life’s necessities. When you worry about paying the bills, putting food on the table and clothes on your backs, you are living life far beneath the plan that God has for you. Rather than worry …
Believe God will take care of you
Luke 12:24 (NIV) Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!
Jesus says, look at the ravens flying around. They don’t sow and reap like that rich man. They don’t have barns to store up their crops. But God takes care of them. And if God takes care of the lowly birds by feeding them, surely He will take care of you. Because you are much more valuable than a bird.
Jesus then invites us to look at the wild flowers, who are clothed in great beauty. The wild flowers don’t do anything to be dressed in beauty. So, God will surely clothe and take care of you, if you put your trust in Him. Rather than being self-centered and worrying, what should we do in life?
Seek to please God first
Luke 12:31 (NIV) But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
The rich fool sought to take care of his own needs, that was his mistaken focus in life. Rather, Jesus instructs us to seek first His kingdom. What does it mean to seek His kingdom? To seek God’s kingdom is to seek first and foremost to please God, not yourself. To seek His kingdom is to seek to do whatever you can to expand God’s kingdom through His church.
And if Jesus stopped there, we would wonder, Well, Jesus, than what happens to me? If I seek to please you, if I seek your kingdom, how will I be fed and clothed? Jesus answers that question by promising that “these things will be given to you as well.” In other words, when you seek to please God in your life, God will take care of you. He has your back.
And if God has promised to take care of you, is there any reason to worry? None, whatsoever. Worrying is the mark of the foolish. Trust if the mark of the wise believer.
Now is Jesus saying that we don’t need to work? That He will send food and clothes down from heaven? Not at all. Work is a blessing from God. Our work can honor and glorify God if we do it for him. When we seek his kingdom on our job, God will use that job not only to advance His kingdom, but also to meet our needs. Jesus’ whole point is that we mustn’t fill our mind with negative worry, but rather with positive seeking of His kingdom.
Don’t be afraid of the future
Luke 12:32 (NIV) “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
You might worry, if I seek God’s kingdom, will I find what I’m seeking? Jesus sets our hearts at eases, by telling us not to be afraid or worry if we are seeking His kingdom. Why? Because God, the Father is very pleased to give us His kingdom. As we seek God’s kingdom for our own lives and the lives of others, we will find what we seek for. The rich fool did not seek God’s kingdom, he was not rich with God, he only cared about himself. So, Jesus now tells us how to be rich toward God and …
Lay up treasure in heaven
Luke 12:33 (NIV) Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.
All of Jesus’ teaching here is instructing us to do the exact opposite of what the rich man did. Rather than storing up your resources, sell them and give to help the poor. Who are the poor? We, of course, think of those who are financially poor, but the term also encompasses those who are poor in spirit, those who need to know God. In other words, use your resources, financial and otherwise, to extend God’s kingdom, to help others and tell them about Jesus. When you do that, you are storing things in barns on this earth, you are laying up your treasure in heaven.
When you have treasure in heaven, it is secure in every respect. It will be there, waiting for you when you pass from this life to the next as a believer. You lay up treasure in heaven by giving to God. You give to God by giving to His work in the church and to those who God directs you to give. When you do that …
Your heart will be secure
Luke 12:34 (NIV) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
In the case of the rich fool, his heart was trusting in and depending on his crops stored in his barns. When he died, he lost everything. Jesus is saying that when you lay up treasure in heaven, your heart will not be focused here on this earth on yourself and your resources, When you lay up treasure in heaven, your heart will be focused on heaven as well. Your heart will be secure, you won’t have any need to worry or be afraid of the future. You will defeat worry and be secure.
What do you think is the top issue that Americans worry about? The top issue that people worry about is finances. Isn’t interesting that money and the necessities of life are what Jesus addresses in His teaching? Worrying about finances is a big issue in many believer’s lives.
Here is how the thought process goes. We barely have enough to meet our bills or we don’t have enough to meet our bills, so we worry about having enough money in the future. Since we don’t have enough money right now, we can’t possibly give a tithe or 10% to God’s church. When we have enough extra money so we don’t have to worry, we’ll give a tithe to God, because then we’ll be able to afford it.
You know what? That time when you have enough extra money to give to God never comes for many people. So they live their lives in perpetual worry about money. They have put God last in their lives and have put themselves first. Jesus teaches that the way to defeat worry, particularly worry about money, is to put God first. Lay up treasure in heaven by giving your tithe, 10% of your income first to God, even if the math doesn’t add up. Simply obey Jesus. Then, believe God to bless you and meet your needs, as Jesus promised.
That is the key to defeating worry in the area of money. And when you defeat worry in the area of finances, you’ll be able to defeat worry in other areas as well, following the same principles. You don’t need to be afraid of the future.
Today, we’ve talked about defeating worry and making worry-free decisions. We mustn’t be like the rich fool, who was self-centered and sought to deal with his worry by pleasing himself. Rather, believe that God will take care of you as you seek to please Him first of all. Give God the first portion, the first 10% of your income, and believe that He will meet every need you have.
Lay up treasure in heaven, not on this earth. When you follow Jesus’ direction, you will defeat worry and your heart will be at peace.
Message Audio, Outline & Study Guide
Need Direction? Message Series
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