Last week, Pastor Tyler spoke about the first half of Matthew 6. Didn’t he do a fantastic job? In the first 18 verses of this chapter, Jesus describes the Christian’s private life ‘in the secret place’ (giving, praying, fasting); In the section that we will cover today, Jesus is concerned with our public business in the world (questions of money, possessions, food, drink, clothing and ambition).

In both sections the same insistent challenge of Jesus is heard, the call to be different from the popular culture: different from the hypocrisy of the religious (1–18) and now different also from the materialism of the irreligious (19–34).

Let’s get started today; I am going to read the whole section, so I encourage you to assume the position of someone sitting by the base of the mountain listening to Christ as He said:

There are so many good parts to this passage that we could spend some time on:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

“You cannot serve God and money.”

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

But in studying this passage, I discovered the real focus is a topic that is extremely relevant TODAY.

Matthew 6:25 – ESV - “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

Early this week I read Max Lucado’s book “Anxious for Nothing”. I pulled several thoughts from the book and I highly recommend it. I love how he opened chapter 1:

“ANXIETY IS A METEOR SHOWER OF WHAT-IF’S…What if I don’t close the sale? What if we don’t get the bonus? What if we can’t afford braces for the kids? What if my kids have crooked teeth? What if crooked teeth keep them from having friends, a career, or a spouse? What if they end up homeless and hungry, holding a cardboard sign that reads “My parents couldn’t afford braces for me”?

Fear and anxiety are not the same but they are related. Fear is what you may experience if you were to see a snake coiled next to the path on your hike. Anxiety is the voice that tells you, Never, ever, for the rest of your life, can you walk this trail again. There MIGHT be a snake . . . somewhere.

There IS…that’s fear
There MIGHT BE, it could happen, what if…that’s anxiety

In a given year nearly fifty million Americans will feel the effects of a panic attack, phobias, or other anxiety disorders. Our chests will tighten. We’ll feel dizzy and light-headed. We’ll fear crowds and avoid people. Anxiety disorders in the United States are the “number one mental health problem among . . . women and are second only to alcohol and drug abuse among men.

How about you? Have you felt the tightness, the tension? Do any of these signals resonate with you?

o Are you laughing less than you once did?
o Do you see problems in every promise?
o Would those who know you best describe you as increasingly negative and critical? •
o Do you assume that something bad is going to happen?
o Do you dilute and downplay good news with doses of your version of reality?
o Many days would you rather stay in bed than get up?
o Do you magnify the negative and dismiss the positive?
o Given the chance, would you avoid any interaction with humanity for the rest of your life?

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life”

What is the ‘therefore’ there for?

“where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” What you focus on is what you treasure!

“if your eye is healthy, (good focus) your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad (bad focus), your whole body will be full of darkness.”

“You cannot serve God and money.”You cannot have two different focuses at the same time!

Anxiety enters when your focus is the problem. Anxiety decreases as your understanding of your heavenly Father increases. Here is another way of saying it.

YOUR PROBLEM IS NOT THE PROBLEM BUT THE WAY YOU SEE THE PROBLEM IS THE PROBLEM

The apostle Paul actually gives an incredible map on how to face this issue and win against anxiety.

Did you catch verse 6 where it said, “DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT ANYTHING”? Can I remind you where Paul wrote this letter from?
The circumstances were miserable. He was in jail, under constant surveillance. No reason to hope for release. Yet with shackles dangling from his wrists, Paul announces just a few verses later in:

Do you want to know how NOT to be anxious, learn Paul’s secret. Be content with what you have! When he wrote this, he had so little. He had a jail cell instead of a house. He had four walls instead of the mission field. He had chains instead of jewelry, a guard instead of a wife. How could he be content? Simple. He focused on a different list. He had eternal life. He had the love of God. He had forgiveness of sins. He had the surety of salvation. He had Christ, and Christ was enough.

What he had in Christ was far greater than what he didn’t have in life

Riches did not attract him.
Applause did not matter to him.
The grave did not intimidate him.
All he wanted was more of Christ.
As a result, he was content.
As a result, he was NOT anxious for anything.
In Jesus, Paul found all the satisfaction his heart desired.
You and I can learn the same.
Christ-based contentment turns us into strong people.
Since no one can take our Christ, no one can take our joy.
Can death take our joy? No, Jesus is greater than death.
Can failure take our joy? No, Jesus is greater than our sin.
Can betrayal take our joy? No, Jesus will never leave us.
Can sickness take our joy? No, God has promised, whether on this side of the grave or the other, to heal us.
Can disappointment take our joy? No, because even though our plans may not work out, we know God’s plan will.
Death, failure, betrayal, sickness, disappointment—they cannot take our joy, because they cannot take our Jesus. Please take note of this sentence:

What you have in Christ is greater than anything you don’t have in life!

SO, be anxious for NOTHING! Is that even attainable? Listen to what Lucado says:
“What does all this anxiety mean? All this fear? Trepidation? Restlessness? Insecurity? What does it mean? Simply this: you are a human. It does not mean you are emotionally underdeveloped. It does not mean you are stupid, demon possessed, or a failure. It does not mean your parents failed you or vice versa. And, this is important, it does not mean you are not a Christian. Christians battle anxiety. Jesus battled anxiety, for heaven’s sake! In the Garden of Gethsemane He prayed three times that He wouldn’t have to drink of the cup (Matt. 26:36–44). His heart pumped with such ferocity that capillaries broke and rivulets of crimson streaked down His face (Luke 22:44). He was anxious. But He didn’t stay anxious. He entrusted His fears to His heavenly Father and completed His earthly mission with faith. He will help us do likewise. There is a pathway out of the valley of fret. God used the pen of Paul to sketch the map.”

“Be anxious for NOTHING!”? Does that mean that we should NEVER experience any anxiety? Is this what he meant? Not exactly. Paul wrote the phrase in the present active tense, which implies an ongoing state. It’s the life of perpetual anxiety that Paul is addressing. The Pope Translation reads, “Don’t let anything in life leave you perpetually breathless and in stress.”

The presence of anxiety is unavoidable, but the prison of anxiety is optional.

There are 4 parts to Paul’s map found in Philippians 4.

1) CELEBRATE God’s Goodness - “Rejoice in the Lord always”
Turn your attention away from the problem, and for a few minutes celebrate God. It does you no good to obsess yourself with your trouble. The more you stare at it, the bigger it grows. Yet the more you look to God, the quicker the problem is reduced to its proper size. Someone said, "When you gaze at your problems and glance at God, they always seem big. Glance at your problems and gaze at God and everything seems small in comparison.”
This was the strategy of the psalmist.

Do you see the intentionality in those words? “I will LIFT up my eyes.” Do not meditate on the mess. You gain nothing by setting your eyes on the problem. You gain everything by setting your eyes on the Lord.

As long as Peter focused on the face of Christ, he did the impossible…he walked on water. Yet when he shifted his gaze and instead of ‘lifting his eyes to Christ’ he ‘lowered his eyes to the water and the waves, he sank like a stone. If you are sinking, it is possible that you are looking in the wrong direction? LIFT your eyes, CELEBRATE God’s goodness!

2) ASK God for Help – “let your requests be made known to God.”
Fear triggers either despair or prayer. Choose wisely.

o God said, “Call on me in the day of trouble” (Ps. 50:15 NIV).
o Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you” (Matt. 7:7).

There is no uncertainty in that promise. No “might,” “perhaps,” or “possibly will.” Jesus states unflinchingly that when you ask, He listens. So ask! When anxiety knocks on the door, say, “Jesus, would you mind answering that?”

3) LEAVE your Concerns with God – “guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”

Have you ever left an item at the repair shop? Perhaps your iPhone broke or your computer stopped working. You tried to fix it but had no success. So you took it to the specialist. You explained the problem and then . . .

o offered to stay and help him fix it,
o hovered next to his workbench asking questions about the progress,
o threw a sleeping bag on the floor of the workshop so you could watch the repairman at work.

If you did any of these things, you don’t understand the relationship between client and repairman. The arrangement is uncomplicated. Leave it with him to fix it. Our protocol with God is equally simple. Leave your problem with him.

Casting is an intentional act to relocate an object. I preached on this passage some time ago and pointed out that how often we use the wrong definition of cast. We keep reeling our anxiety right back in.
Let this ‘casting’ this ‘throwing’ be your first response to bad news. As you sense anxiety welling up inside you, cast it in the direction of Christ. Do so specifically and immediately…and don’t reel it back in.

4) MEDITATE on Good Things –
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

The Bible’s most common word for worry is the Greek word merimnato or merimnate. This is a compound of a verb and a noun.. The verb is divide. The noun is mind. To be anxious then, is to divide the mind. Worry takes a meat cleaver to our thoughts, energy and focus. Anxiety chops up our attention. Think about what English word it sounds like…merimnate…marinate. To marinate something is to saturate something in your secret sauce so that the flavor is changed for the better.
Are you marinating your mind with the size of the problem or are you marinating your mind on the power and majesty of Christ? One leads to anxiety and one leads to worship. When you marinate on Christ, you are fulfilling in a practical way, the last part of this section of the sermon on the mount.

So, CELEBRATE
ASK
LEAVE
MEDITATE
C.A.L.M. – That is how you can defeat ANXIETY.

And remember v. 34

What is Jesus saying? Stay in TODAY. There will be enough ‘worries’ today that you do not need to imagine ones and be anxious about tomorrow.

Today, I will live today.
Yesterday has passed.
Tomorrow is not yet.
I’m left with today.
So, today, I will live today.
Relive yesterday? No.
I will learn from it.
I will seek mercy for it.
I will take joy in it.
But I won’t live in it.
The sun has set on yesterday.
The sun has yet to rise on tomorrow.
Worry about the future? To what gain?
It deserves a glance, nothing more.
I can’t change tomorrow until tomorrow.
Today, I will live today.
I will face today’s challenges with today’s strength.
I will dance today’s waltz with today’s music.
I will celebrate today’s opportunities with today’s hope.
Today.