Video of this worship service can be viewed on Facebook here -
https://www.facebook.com/david.p.charlton.9/videos/10164216105540298
And on Vimeo here -
https://vimeo.com/459977051?fbclid=IwAR06daFxFKmYy9mDa9iHZVjTv6Cc5aTn0rzE5sw8oERTIfKZhV6RIvw5Qy8
When I have the opportunity to visit a church on a Sunday any time I am away, a number of questions go through my mind, as not only a worshipper, but as an observer. Chief among the questions are, if I sat in the congregation every week, what would I want to hear, and, more importantly, what would I needto hear? That has been an especially present question on my mind through these months of pandemic, and the question of what we need to hear has very much guided me in the preparation of sermons during these months.
As we continue the series What Did Jesus Do, we come to a passage that struck me as an incredibly obvious passage for this time, and it is the passage in which Jesus tells us not to be anxious or to worry.
Um, right. Who has been worrying? Anybody? Of course not! Who has been anxious? Anybody? Of course not! We’ve got it all perfectly together, don’t we? No problems at all.
Well, in all honesty, we’ve had more than our share of worry and anxiety through these months. Follow along as I read from Matthew 6:25-34 –
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.
30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
When I read that first verse –therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?I can’t help but think about how those words play out in my family. Do not worry about what you will eat, for instance. For Tanya, eating is mostly a utilitarian act. I enjoy eating; Tanya eats because it is necessary to eat. But occasionally, she does get excited about food, and on those days, she will come home from work and say, I had such a good lunch today, which is my cue to ask, what did you have for lunch today? And she will say, I had a grape, a piece of lettuce, and 3 Goldfish crackers, and it was so good! What did you have for lunch today? My response is, I had a box of Oreos, a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, and I drank an entire 2 liter of Coke. And it was sooo good, and it was sooo much better than that sad little lunch you had! And for somebody who doesn’t really care about food, the first question she generally asks me in the mornings is, what do you want to do about dinner? When she asks me that question, I’m still stumbling around with sleep in my eyes while she’s already been up for a while (she gets up before 5:00 a.m.). I don’t think very well first thing in the morning, so I’ll ask, well, do we have any leftover Oreos or Krispy Kremes? And when it comes to what to wear, there’s another real contrast. This afternoon, as she does every Sunday afternoon, Tanya will open her closet and pick out all of her clothes for the entire week, and then she will iron all those outfits, hang them on the inside of her closet door, and put out all the accessories and the shoes needed for each outfit. It is an amazing feat of organization, and a lot of work. It’s much simpler for me. Tomorrow morning I will look in my close and know that it’s Monday. That’s the day I wear my green polo and khakis. And it’s green. Not avocado. Not emerald. Not viridescent. Green. It’s Tuesday. That’s the day I where my blue polo and khakis. It’s Wednesday. That’s the day I wear my red polo and Khakis. Tanya often asks what it is with men and khakis. When you wear khakis every day, you’ve already reduced your decision-making by half, and that’s a big win in my book.
A friend of mine has told me time and again that the words of Jesus in verse 34 – take no thought for the morrow(he likes to use the King James Version) – may be the most important of all the words of Jesus. Each time I’ve heard my friend make the statement about the importance of those words I’ve bristled a bit, because I do such a lousy job of living out those words that I’d prefer to push them further down the list, but I know they belong at least in the top 10, and maybe the top 5. Maybe the top 3. Maybe even the top 2.
Now, I want you to notice something very important about this passage. What does Jesus tell us not to worry about? Tomorrow. He does not say do not worry about today. Have you ever noticed that? I believe Jesus acknowledges, when he says to not worry about tomorrow, that there are many matters in life that provide genuine cause for worry and anxiety. Today. Jesus is notsaying that we should not worry; he is, I believe, recognizing the reality of our worry about many matters in life, but tells us that we should not put upon ourselves more worry that we need or can manage.
What I am not going to do this morning is offer you a three or four step plan that guarantees you will never again worry. That is totally and completely unrealistic. Totally and completely. Instead, I will speak more to what I would call worry and anxiety management, and I will offer three categories to which I will briefly speak – Perspective, Control, and Action.
1. Perspective.
When Jesus says, in that first verse, therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?he is offering a warning to not raise our worry about the necessities of life to a level that is higher than is deserved. It is important to note that Jesus is absolutelynottelling us that having food and clothing – the necessities of life – is not important. What he is saying is that many of us have those needs of life in either adequate or abundant amounts. When we have enough, then, we should not become so obsessed with our concern over those elements of life that we forget about the needs of others.
Here is what we must remember about worry and anxiety – it turns us inward, and if we are worried about not having enough of the basics of life – even if we have more than enough – our attention is diverted from the ways in which we can help other people who truly do not have enough of the necessities of life.
Our perspective, as followers of Jesus, should not be only about ourselves, but about others. All throughout the gospels, Jesus speaks of the need to care for those who are in need.
Matthew 25:31-46 is the great example –
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
but it is found in the parables as well, such as the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 –
19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”,
the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18:1-8 –
1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”,
the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37 –
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”,
and on we could go. This calling is echoed throughout the letters of the New Testament as well, such as Philippians 2:1-4 –
1Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
I am grateful to not have to worry about what to eat or what to wear. In fact, the worry I have is what to eat out of all the choices I have, and what to wear out of a similar bounty of choices. But others are not so fortunate, and if I elevate my concerns to an unreasonable level, my perspective becomes turned into myself and away from the very pressing needs of those who are not so fortunate.
2. Control.
I really love the Serenity Prayer. For years I had a medallion on my keychain that had the prayer etched on it. It belonged to my father, then it was passed on to me, and a while back I passed it on to Nick. You know that prayer, I’m sure. Written by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, sometime in the early 1930s, it says – God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Simple and to the point, it offers us some important truths. It tells us, for one, that not everything is within our control. In fact, we all understand that a great deal of life is not under our control, and that is one of the reasons why we experience so much worry and anxiety, isn’t it?
To some extent, every one of us is a control freak. Do you agree? If you don’t agree, you’re most likely a realcontrol freak, because true control freaks are generally in denial. In fact, I can be such a control freak that I often have to fold and place the towels in our linen closet in a particular way. I have been very proud that I am learning to not rearrange them if Tanya puts the towels in the closet, because she does it wrong. Are any of you that much of a control freak? Thank you to the few who are willing to cautiously raise their hands – it’s good to know I’m not alone!
All of us want to control our surroundings, our circumstances, and almost every facet of life. And don’t feel there is anything wrong with you for wanting to be in control because it is one of the most natural states of being human. We aren’t able to control much of what happens to us in life, so that is why we become obsessed with controlling things such as how towels are placed in a closet. We simply cannot control much of life. We have no power over market downturns that wreck a retirement plan or portfolio, we have no control over the downsizing or closing of the company for which we work and the impact it has on our family’s finances. We can work hard to care for our health, but we cannot control the reality of living in the midst of a pandemic (although we can wear masks and take other precautions, which helps to keep others and ourselves safer), so for those of us who are control freaks, we have really been challenged this year.
Jesus spoke to an audience of people who had very little control over their lives. They struggled mightily for their daily existence. Their life span was not very long. Almost half of the children born in the time of Jesus did not live to the age of 10 years old. To live to my age would have been quite an accomplishment. They did not have the time or the resources to take vacations or to enjoy even a few luxuries in life. They had no real conveniences in life. They had no control over their political destiny, as Rome controlled everything. They did not have the opportunity to elect their leaders. Okay, maybe they were better off in that respect. They were people who had little choice but to endure what life brought to them, and what life brought to them was hardship, struggle, and difficulty. They had many reasons to be bitter, they had many reasons to be discouraged, but in the words of Jesus, they found hope. God was concerned, Jesus said, about their daily needs, such as food and clothing. While many people believed their lives had little or no meaning and that their lives mattered little, Jesus told them their lives did matter and their lives had meaning. We grow up with the idea that we are valuable and that our lives matter and that we can accomplish great things. Not the people in Jesus’ day. They had little, if any, hope. But Jesus gave them hope, reminding them that God is in control. Not Rome. Not any sort of fate, but God.
3. Action.
In verse 33 Jesus says, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Seek. Well, we’re always seeking something, aren’t we? We’re seeking a new opportunity in our work and careers. We’re seeking a new place to travel. We’re seeking a new experience. There is much that we seek in life. But Jesus reminds us to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
When Jesus speaks of seeking, he is speaking of taking action. As a person who is blessed, it is absolutely incumbent upon me to take actionto help those who are struggling in life. I am not to be seekingonly what I can do for myself but am called to seekways in which I can help others and then take the appropriate actionsto do so.
It has been said that the word faithis not only a noun, but a verb. That is, it is a word of action. Too often, people use the word faith as a way of describing belief, and, in some cases, the proper kind of belief. Faith, however, is really about action. As James says in 2:17-18, in the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will should you my faith by what I do. Those are very straightforward words about the importance of taking action.
We do not come to church in order to be told what to believe (at least not in a Disciples church), but to be challenged by the study of the Scriptures and the prompting of the Spirit to leave our time of worship and to seekways to take actionas the hands and feet of Jesus in our community.
When the pandemic began earlier this year, and cancellations came, I started to remove most everything from my electronic calendar. At the time, it seemed pointless to leave all those scheduled activities on my calendar if they were not going to take place. I chose not to remove them, however. After thinking about it, I decided to leave everything on my calendar for a couple of reasons. For one, each time I received a reminder on my phone, I would take a moment and pray for those who would have been impacted by the activity, had it taken place. Second, I wanted the daily reminders I received to prompt me to think about how we can continue doing ministry in such a challenging time.
Yesterday, I had a reminder that a group of us were scheduled to depart this afternoon for eastern Kentucky, where we would spend a week working with the Christian Appalachian Project. We are greatly disappointed that we cannot go, and I am very sorry for how CAP has been affected by the pandemic. CAP already had a 2-year waiting list for home renovations. The waiting list had grown so long that CAP was no longer adding to the list. Imagine how many people are now waiting for help, as a result of the pandemic. But CAP is still working. They are still taking action, providing ministry in the eastern part of our state. Yes, it is somewhat diminished in size and scope, but ministry is still happening. Likewise, our church continues to do ministry. In a Zoom meeting with the Outreach Committee last week, I was impressed with the long list of what continue to take place. Yes, we were doing more before the pandemic, but considering the challenges we now face, it is amazing that we continue to do so much. Even in challenging times, we continue to take action. In fact, the challenge of these times pushes us to work harder to take what actionswe can take. Remember the words of the Serenity Prayer – give me courage to change the things I can. Jesus never taught acquiescence and resignation, no matter how difficult life becomes.
Keep yourperspectivein line with God’s kingdom. Remember that God is in control, especially when it seems that everything in the world is out of control. And let’s get out there and take action! Amen, and amen.
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