WEBVTT 00:01.300 --> 00:03.500 Grace, mercy, and peace 00:03.500 --> 00:07.800 be unto you from God, our Father and our Lord, and Savior, Jesus the 00:07.800 --> 00:10.000 Christ. Amen. 00:11.600 --> 00:15.800 The text for today's sermon is the Gospel reading, which you heard 00:15.800 --> 00:16.600 read earlier. 00:18.200 --> 00:23.700 Yeah, if you want to leave this life in a hurry, spend all your time 00:23.700 --> 00:30.900 on work and worry. That line from a country singer that I used to 00:30.900 --> 00:36.600 listen to Darryl Worley called "Work and Worry" warns 00:36.600 --> 00:39.000 what can happen when one worries. 00:39.600 --> 00:43.900 Yeah, if you want to leave this world in a hurry, spend all your time 00:43.900 --> 00:45.300 on work and worry. 00:47.000 --> 00:52.100 Well, in the Bible, there are no shortage of commands to work to 00:52.100 --> 00:52.900 serve. 00:53.200 --> 00:55.200 Actually, we embrace that as a good thing 00:55.200 --> 01:00.300 it didn't come through in this song. But but we actually see a lot 01:00.300 --> 01:03.300 more passages in scripture on the commands 01:03.400 --> 01:09.400 not to worry. Listen, again, to these from today's Gospel reading. 01:10.300 --> 01:14.800 Therefore, I tell you do not be anxious about your life. 01:14.800 --> 01:18.000 What you eat nor about your He what you will put on. 01:19.100 --> 01:23.600 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of 01:23.600 --> 01:24.200 life. 01:25.100 --> 01:29.000 If you then are not able to do as small, a thing as that. 01:29.500 --> 01:31.900 Why are you anxious about the rest? 01:33.000 --> 01:38.100 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be 01:38.100 --> 01:39.100 worried. 01:39.800 --> 01:47.400 Thus says our Lord. What we know from our own experiences that worry 01:47.400 --> 01:52.600 is one of the worst Investments that we can make it is really a royal 01:52.600 --> 01:58.700 waste of time if you will. One estimate that I read said this regarding 01:58.700 --> 02:01.000 the things that people worry about. 02:01.200 --> 02:04.600 I don't know how scientifically accurate 02:04.600 --> 02:06.900 this is, but it makes sense to me. 02:07.200 --> 02:07.900 Here it goes. 02:08.500 --> 02:12.800 40% of the things we worry about are things that will never happen. 02:13.600 --> 02:18.100 30% are about things that can't be changed 02:18.100 --> 02:25.900 anyway. 12% are about criticism from others, that's mostly untrue. 02:27.000 --> 02:33.000 10% is about our health, which of course, gets worse with worry. 02:34.000 --> 02:40.300 And then only 8% are about real problems that we can face 02:40.400 --> 02:46.800 and we need to face. A British executive named J. Arthur Rank 02:46.800 --> 02:48.800 illustrates the folly of worry. 02:49.100 --> 02:55.400 He had this, he was diagnosed with a worry born stomach ulcer so he 02:55.400 --> 02:59.900 used some of his business acumen and strategy to figure out a way to 03:00.000 --> 03:01.300 address this problem. 03:01.800 --> 03:07.600 And he came up with with this approach. He decided to do all his 03:07.600 --> 03:12.200 worrying on one day a week, which by the way happened to be Wednesday. 03:13.200 --> 03:18.900 And so what he did was when anything happened that caused him anxiety 03:18.900 --> 03:23.700 or annoyed his ulcer, he would write it down and put it in what he 03:23.700 --> 03:29.100 called his "worry box" and then he would forget about it until next 03:29.100 --> 03:29.800 Wednesday. 03:30.100 --> 03:32.400 I don't know if I could do that, but he did. 03:32.900 --> 03:37.500 The interesting thing he reported was that on the following Wednesday. 03:37.600 --> 03:41.700 when he opened his worry box, he found that most of the things that 03:41.700 --> 03:43.300 had disturbed him 03:43.300 --> 03:46.500 the past six days were already settled. 03:47.100 --> 03:50.900 See, it would have been useless too have worried about them 03:50.900 --> 03:56.900 anyway. But it doesn't really matter how useless it is 03:57.800 --> 04:04.000 worry is still a problem, even for the Disciples of Jesus Christ. As we 04:04.000 --> 04:09.300 see from so many passages encouraging us, not to worry. 04:10.500 --> 04:18.500 So today's sermon is a sermon on this worried freeing text to give you 04:18.500 --> 04:21.899 one more encouragement to do just that. 04:22.800 --> 04:23.600 To not worry. 04:25.000 --> 04:27.500 Well, how do you approach that first of all? 04:28.800 --> 04:31.100 We need to say what worry is. 04:32.100 --> 04:33.000 It's sin. 04:34.700 --> 04:37.900 If you are to begin to deal with worrying, you must first 04:37.900 --> 04:42.100 acknowledge that worry is sin. And really sin, 04:42.100 --> 04:46.000 when you think about it, that is no less serious than blasphemy. 04:48.100 --> 04:49.200 Our worry is sin 04:49.200 --> 04:51.500 first of all, because it is directly 04:51.500 --> 04:56.700 contrary to the way, God created us to live. The illustrations Jesus 04:56.700 --> 04:58.600 uses in this text 04:58.700 --> 05:04.500 kind of bring that home the natural way for us to live as as the humans 05:04.500 --> 05:08.300 God created is to be dependent and trust in him. 05:09.900 --> 05:17.800 Secondly, worry is sin because it makes us unproductive and keeps us 05:17.800 --> 05:19.500 from living for God 05:19.500 --> 05:24.800 and for others. For doing the work that God calls us to do to do it 05:24.800 --> 05:30.100 well. But most of all it's in because it's unbelief. 05:31.400 --> 05:35.700 I sometimes refer to it as functional atheism, its living as if there 05:35.700 --> 05:42.700 is not God caring about us if if he doesn't exist. Or it's telling 05:42.700 --> 05:46.300 him, I don't trust you that you'll take care of me. 05:46.300 --> 05:49.800 So I'm going to have to worry about all of these things. 05:51.500 --> 05:54.600 Jesus addresses, this in our text. 05:54.700 --> 05:59.800 He says consider the ravens they neither sow nor reap. 06:00.000 --> 06:05.100 They have neither storehouse nor barn and yet God feeds them of how much 06:05.100 --> 06:07.600 more value are you than the birds? 06:08.500 --> 06:12.400 And which of you by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span 06:12.400 --> 06:13.200 of life. 06:13.700 --> 06:15.900 Oh you of little faith. 06:17.700 --> 06:21.100 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, he says and 06:21.100 --> 06:23.700 your father knows that you need them. 06:23.900 --> 06:28.300 And in Matthew's gospel, Jesus says that when we worry were, were 06:28.300 --> 06:30.900 acting like pagans like unbelievers. 06:31.400 --> 06:35.100 It's nicely captured in the hymn that we just sang as well. 06:35.500 --> 06:37.200 Yes, worry is sin. 06:38.000 --> 06:39.900 It's not living by God's design. 06:39.900 --> 06:41.400 It's not trusting God. 06:42.800 --> 06:45.200 And Jesus says to us worriers. 06:45.200 --> 06:47.200 Oh, you of little faith. 06:47.800 --> 06:49.000 What do we do then? 06:49.700 --> 06:51.900 What do we do when we see our sin? 06:52.400 --> 06:59.200 When we recognize that we are blowing it. That, we acknowledge 06:59.200 --> 06:59.400 that 06:59.400 --> 07:03.300 we worry a lot. And realize that really, we have a bigger problem with 07:03.300 --> 07:04.300 our worry 07:04.700 --> 07:09.700 then the things that were worrying about, usually. Oh you of little 07:09.700 --> 07:10.400 faith. 07:11.300 --> 07:12.400 So here's what we do. 07:12.900 --> 07:15.900 We started off today service, with one of those things. 07:16.500 --> 07:18.300 We confess our sin to God. 07:19.500 --> 07:26.600 We acknowledge that we are sinners and then knowing the Absolution we 07:26.600 --> 07:29.000 thank God that He sent Jesus. 07:29.800 --> 07:36.700 The only perfect non worrier to ever live. The Father sent him to us. 07:37.300 --> 07:41.600 When he first came to people on this Earth Jesus observed their 07:41.600 --> 07:46.200 harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd and then he went 07:46.200 --> 07:49.100 to work to serve those sheep. 07:49.600 --> 07:53.700 Those lost and anxious sheep with their sin, infested lives. 07:54.300 --> 08:00.300 He lived perfectly. He was one with the Father, always in prayer, not 08:00.300 --> 08:05.900 doubting or turning away fearlessly suffering that Judgment of the 08:05.900 --> 08:12.500 law, on our sin, on our failure, to fear love and trust in God, above 08:12.500 --> 08:13.400 all things. 08:14.800 --> 08:21.300 Yes, Jesus, Jesus died and rose from the dead to pay for all of your 08:21.400 --> 08:27.500 sins, including the sin of worry and failure to trust in your heavenly 08:27.500 --> 08:30.300 Father. With that in mind 08:30.900 --> 08:38.000 consider that Jesus commands here, not to worry in love. 08:38.200 --> 08:38.799 Yes, 08:39.200 --> 08:40.700 these are firm commands. 08:41.000 --> 08:42.100 He means business. 08:43.000 --> 08:45.100 He wants your trust. 08:45.900 --> 08:49.700 He is a jealous God after all, and he doesn't want you trusting in 08:49.700 --> 08:50.800 other gods. 08:52.700 --> 08:57.600 But he says, do not be anxious about your life 08:58.700 --> 08:59.800 because you don't need 09:00.000 --> 09:00.900 need to. 09:02.000 --> 09:07.300 Your heavenly Father's knows what you need and he loves you. 09:09.700 --> 09:13.900 One of my favorite illustrations of what it is like to trust in God 09:13.900 --> 09:18.400 with your life, is an activity that I always enjoy doing with youth in 09:18.400 --> 09:22.400 our congregation and we did it often. 09:23.900 --> 09:29.100 We would do it at camp and I often look for a camp that had a high 09:29.100 --> 09:34.000 ropes course because this ropes course, perhaps some of you have 09:34.000 --> 09:39.200 participated in a high ropes course, is an activity that helps you 09:39.200 --> 09:41.900 overcome fear and anxiety. 09:43.100 --> 09:46.200 And I think it's a great illustration of Faith. 09:46.200 --> 09:49.100 The kind of faith we heard about in the epistle today. 09:49.700 --> 09:54.700 Let me explain what I mean by this. So a high ropes course if you're 09:54.700 --> 09:56.800 not familiar with, it is an obstacle 09:56.800 --> 10:01.500 course. It's something that you have to go through where you you walk 10:01.500 --> 10:02.900 on a balance beam. 10:02.900 --> 10:07.400 You have to, you have to go on cables, you overcome obstacles and all 10:07.400 --> 10:08.100 of that. 10:09.000 --> 10:14.400 But the catch is that all of this is done, at least 30 feet in the air 10:14.900 --> 10:18.000 with open space between you and the ground. 10:18.300 --> 10:22.800 So, if you can imagine being up about as high as where the rafters 10:22.800 --> 10:28.200 start in this chapel and there you walk across a narrow balance 10:28.200 --> 10:32.700 beam. There you, you swing from ropes, the, whatever the particular 10:32.700 --> 10:37.300 obstacles are. That changes things, right? 10:37.300 --> 10:39.800 It creates fear and anxiety. 10:40.100 --> 10:44.400 Especially if someone's afraid of heights. You climb the small ladder, 10:44.400 --> 10:46.800 you get up there and you go through this course. 10:48.400 --> 10:51.600 Well, what is the key here? 10:52.300 --> 10:53.700 How does this help people 10:53.700 --> 10:55.200 overcome fears? 10:55.200 --> 10:57.400 Wouldn't it just heightened their fears? 10:59.200 --> 11:03.700 The answer is that you learn to trust that even though this looks 11:03.700 --> 11:07.400 scary, you are perfectly safe. 11:08.400 --> 11:10.000 You are perfectly safe. 11:10.600 --> 11:14.100 And the reason for that is before you start the course, before you 11:14.100 --> 11:18.600 even go off of the ground, you get strapped in to secure harnesses, 11:18.900 --> 11:22.300 that will make sure that even if you stumble and fall, you'll only 11:22.300 --> 11:29.000 fall a couple of feet at the most. And what that happens is after you 11:29.000 --> 11:32.700 get up there and you see this below and you start to fear, they say, 11:32.700 --> 11:35.100 okay just fall off for a minute and let it catch 11:35.100 --> 11:40.600 you. See, see that it works and you begin to trust the security 11:40.600 --> 11:45.900 system that you're in and the fear the irrational fear as it turns out 11:46.200 --> 11:47.400 starts to go away. 11:49.500 --> 11:54.700 Learning to trust in the support system that promises to take care of 11:54.700 --> 11:59.700 you is what makes this work and therein lies the illustration. 12:00.400 --> 12:05.200 Facing fear is about trusting, God. 12:05.200 --> 12:09.000 And you might think of the, the security system 12:09.000 --> 12:11.100 the Holy Spirit uses to keep you in 12:11.100 --> 12:16.000 place are those tangible means where he locates his promises for you. 12:16.000 --> 12:19.000 In your baptism there 12:19.000 --> 12:20.200 you can remember that 12:20.200 --> 12:21.700 God is for you. 12:21.700 --> 12:26.800 He put his name on you, your secure and safe in the Grace of Christ. 12:26.800 --> 12:33.700 And all those promises from God, are for you. Or consider, when 12:33.700 --> 12:39.600 you come to this altar emptying, your worry box, if you will into the 12:39.600 --> 12:43.500 gracious hands of Christ, as you receive the body and blood of the 12:43.500 --> 12:46.100 Lord promising to be with you. 12:47.500 --> 12:52.800 Jesus will support and secure you no matter what you face. He will 12:52.800 --> 12:56.600 provide for you as he does the birds and the flowers. 12:57.200 --> 13:01.300 He promises that he is more capable of helping you face whatever 13:01.300 --> 13:04.200 obstacles you have before you than anything else. 13:05.200 --> 13:10.900 Whether that anxiety is a test. Whether that anxiety comes from having 13:10.900 --> 13:15.200 to have a difficult conversation or just looking at an uncertain 13:15.200 --> 13:15.800 future. 13:17.200 --> 13:20.600 In our cases it's not so much worrying about whether we're going to have 13:20.600 --> 13:23.300 food or clothing but it doesn't really matter 13:23.300 --> 13:28.700 the sinful flesh always finds something to have anxiety about. And so 13:28.700 --> 13:35.500 you can come back and say I am baptized I have that promise of Christ 13:35.500 --> 13:40.200 being with me and for me. And you've had that promise from the 13:40.200 --> 13:44.900 beginning of your life of faith and Jesus promises, he will see you to 13:45.100 --> 13:45.500 see you 13:45.500 --> 13:51.200 through to the end. Lo, I will be with you always to the very end of 13:51.200 --> 13:52.000 the age. 13:54.200 --> 13:57.100 Which brings us to the final obstacle 13:57.700 --> 14:00.700 you might say in the challenge course of life. 14:01.400 --> 14:06.200 It is as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you not only have his security 14:06.200 --> 14:12.000 and support throughout this life, He is there to deliver you 14:12.300 --> 14:17.800 even when this life ends. He is there to take you to your heavenly 14:17.800 --> 14:18.300 home 14:18.900 --> 14:21.900 you don't even need to fear death or hell. 14:23.100 --> 14:24.700 Jesus promises 14:26.400 --> 14:30.000 His harassed and helpless little sheep behold 14:30.000 --> 14:34.400 it is my good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 14:35.700 --> 14:40.400 This is something that you have a foretaste of now at this altar, as 14:40.400 --> 14:43.800 you come here and receive by faith, the promises of Jesus. 14:45.300 --> 14:49.900 And it's something you will know in its fullness when the same Lord 14:50.000 --> 14:55.500 returns to bring you new life in his new Eternal Kingdom. 14:58.300 --> 14:59.700 So, you have nothing 15:00.000 --> 15:07.400 to fear, you are free now to work and study without worry. 15:08.100 --> 15:11.900 Free to serve as his disciples for his kingdom 15:12.300 --> 15:18.400 that has no end. Even as the peace of God, which surpasses all 15:18.400 --> 15:19.400 understanding 15:19.800 --> 15:20.800 keeps and guards 15:20.800 --> 15:25.100 your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus. 15:25.600 --> 15:26.100 Amen.