No Worries
Sports fans can be strange. Really, any kind of fan can act in very strange ways because, after all, ‘fan’ is short for ‘fanatic’ and fanatics can assign a seriousness and energy to their cause that results in all manner of unusual behavior: Grown men will paint their faces in the colors of their team and regularly wear its jersey and uniform, and some will neglect valuable time with their families for their favorite club or sport. I must confess that I have fit that profile back in the day, including having a transistor radio to my ear for the duration of a family picnic in 1984 so that I could listen to the Detroit Tigers’ game (Hey, c’mon, that was a World Series team). We choose what or who is important to us, and then it or their priorities become ours. Our fortunes are tied to it or them. If they do well, you do well. If they are down, you are down.
In Jesus’ famous ‘Sermon on the Mount’, He dealt with our ultimate allegiances, saying in Matthew 6:24: You cannot serve God and Money. That is, when you serve the one you’ve taken from the other because it’s a zero sum proposition. Allegiance to Money can easily rival devotion to God because Money is the means of our pursuing and obtaining what we desire. As such, our lust for Money reveals what we care about most.
To this point many readers may not see relevance to their own lives since we don’t think of ourselves as money hungry and perhaps don’t have much of it in any case. However, Jesus makes an interesting connection in what He says next: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life …” (Matthew 6:25a). The word ‘therefore’ connects Money and worry. Jesus is saying you cannot have two competing ‘gods’, and what we worry about, what we care about, demonstrates which ‘god’ we serve, whether an idol or the true and living God.
An idol is any replacement for God, and once we have enthroned it we look to it for the things we should entrust to God. When you choose a ‘god’, its priorities become yours. If you choose Money as your ‘god’, then your priority will be those things Money can obtain. Having chosen your ‘god’, you then adopt as most important to you what is important to your ‘god’. And you know which ‘god’ you’re serving by what you are concerned with, by what you think about, by what you pursue.
Christians Do Not Care About Things
This does not mean that we have no legitimate concerns. The same Greek word translated ‘worry’ in Matthew 6:25 is rendered ‘concern’ in 2 Corinthians 11:28 where Paul says, “I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.” But sinful worry is focused on lesser things, and/or things we cannot change. The Bible says that “Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made (Luke 10:40), ‘distracted’ from focus on Jesus for which He upbraided her: “Martha, Martha … you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one” (Luke 10:41-42). In Jesus’ parable of the soils He said: “The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature” (Luke 8:14).
Christians do not care about things because life is too important: “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25b). When we worry about food and clothes, we are saying something about our view of what life is, and also something about God. Our view of life can easily be reduced to earthly things and earthly concerns and when it is, we live as practical atheists because the ‘god’ we believe in is apparently irrelevant to what we think life is really about – physical well-being. But life is more than matter. Life is more than the physical world that we can see. Most reality shows do not actually show reality because most of them do not address our relationship with God. We say we believe that life is both physical and spiritual, but when we’re focused on and worried about the physical, we betray a materialist mindset – that matter is really what life is all about.
Christians do not care about things, because life is too important, it’s more than things, and because we are too valuable. After comparing the Father’s care for birds and grass “which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire” Jesus asked: “Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26) and “Will He not much more clothe you?” (Matthew 6:28). As we think about the lower creation of birds and grass and flowers, it could make us miserable because we, like it, have short lives that are easily extinguished. And that is all true if ALL you have is this life. But if your life is found in God and your relationship with Him, then your value will last as long as He does!
Christians do not care about things because life is too important, because human life is too valuable, and because worry is too weak: “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:27). If you’re focused on earthly things like food and health and clothing, then it follows that you’ll want to enjoy them for as long as you can. But just as worry cannot provide the things you want, it also cannot provide the time to enjoy them. In fact, worry and anxiety may well shorten your life! Money and the physical benefits it can supply are very weak ‘gods’, because they’re not always there, and even when they are, you worry about how long. If the things that money can buy are your priority, then Money is your ‘god’, and worry is always its slave. When money is there, it provides happiness for the time being, but only for the time being. And when you don’t have it, it still has you if you’re worried about it.
Christians do not care about things because life is too important, human life is too valuable, and worry is too weak, and we are too different: So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ FOR the pagans run after all these things (Matthew 6:31). We don’t worry about temporal, physical, material things because that is precisely what unbelievers do, and we’re radically different. When we work for a living or save or purchase, we’re not serving Money. Rather, we’re saying to the world, “I’m SERVING my God and USING yours.”
Christians Care About God and God cares about Christians
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). If you find yourself worrying about lesser things it is because you have devalued God in your heart and mind. The remedy is to adjust the focus of your faith. Jesus said in this passage, “You of little faith.” (Matthew 6:30). ‘Faith’ in Scripture is the same word for ‘belief’. We should ask ourselves, “Do I believe that God is most important?” “Do I believe that God can supply my needs?” For Christians whose Father is God, the answer should always be an unequivocal ‘Yes!’ because “Your heavenly Father knows that you need [these things]” (Matthew 6:32). God meeting our material needs is inherent in our relationship with Him as our Father. Christians have no reason to worry, and every reason to trust God. If we are children of the Heavenly Father then we should always be able to say, “No worries.”
Ken Brown is the pastor of Community Bible Church in Trenton, MI. We republish his article by permission.
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