Scripture Lessons

From the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6:
‘²⁵Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” ³²For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

"Deciding for God "

A Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Jean Niven Lenk

at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton

United Church of Christ

Some of you may have seen the TV commercial that depicts a fellow named Stanley Johnson, who seems to be living the American dream. With a plastic smile on his face, he tells us that he has a great family, a four bedroom house in a great community, and a new car. “I even belong to the local golf club,” Stanley tells us. “How do I do it?” he asks. “I’m in debt up to my eyeballs… Somebody help me.”

Stanley’s American dream has turned into a nightmare, and many of us can probably relate. Maybe it is our great family that has fallen apart, or maybe we can no longer afford our beautiful house. Maybe we’re having difficulty trying to make ends meet in the face of the rising costs of gasoline, heating oil, food, and health care. Maybe we’re anxious about how the looming recession might affect our jobs, our savings, our retirement. Maybe we’re worrying about our children or our parents; our health or a loved one’s; how we’re going to get through today; how we’re going to survive tomorrow; the list is endless!

Doctors say that chronic worry can cause health problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart trouble, and yes, even death. A Mental Health Committee reported¹ a few years ago that half of all the people in our hospital beds are there because of the effects of worry. When we add to that list the mental fatigue of nights without sleep and days without peace, then we have a picture of the havoc worry plays in destroying the quality and quantity of life.²

Now, it is true that a little bit of worrying can be beneficial if it leads to our sorting things out and coming up with a solution to a problem.³ But most of our worrying is just plain useless.

Consider these numbers:⁴ 40% of the things people worry about will never happen; 30% of the things people worry about are in the past and can’t be changed; 12% of worry is on needless concerns about one’s health – and note the irony, that needless worrying is in itself detrimental to our health -- and 10% of our worrying is about petty or miscellaneous concerns. Only 8% of our worrying is focused on real or legitimate concerns, and half of them we have no control over anyway. In other words, 96% of our worrying won’t do anything but hurt our health.

The word "worry" comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning to strangle or to choke, and that’s what worry can do; it can "choke" the joy out of life.

We may think that worry and stress is a problem unique to modern times, but worry has been afflicting human beings probably since the beginning of time. Our Gospel lesson this morning comes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He knows the people in his audience are each dealing with their own anxieties. Like us, they have to deal with paying their bills, feeding their families, pleasing their employers, paying their taxes. And so, standing in that outdoor classroom on a Galilean hill, he tells them, in the words of the New Revised Standard Version, “do not worry about your life.”

As he speaks, he points toward the sky and says, "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" His eye falls on the flowers blooming in the brush of the Mount, and he says, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Then Jesus points out the practical reality of worry: “Can any of you, by worrying, add a single hour to your span of life?”

These are familiar, beloved words of Jesus, but I just love the way The Message really breaks this passage open for us. Listen to Jesus’ words translated from the Greek a bit differently.

“Has anyone, by fussing in front of the mirror, ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion – do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers…”

And then he gives the solution for a worried anxious heart. “What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality…”

What Jesus is inviting us to do is to “decide for God.” This is how the opening words of this passage are translated by The Message – “decide for God, live a life of God-worship.” Much of worry is rooted in the misguided belief that we are all alone in this world, that everything depends on us. Our worries and anxieties can settle over us like a thick fog that prevents us from seeing and trusting in God’s loving presence. When we focus all that attention on ourselves and our problems and our failings and our needs, it only serves to distract us from God. But if we refocus on God, then our worry will disappear.

This is one of the divine paradoxes in Scripture. If we take the focus off ourselves and instead turn our attention toward God, deciding for God, trusting God, putting God first in all things, it is then that our worries will diminish. When we turn away from our own needs, it is then that our needs will be met, because the God who gave us the gift of life will not leave us to our own resources and our own strength.

But it is so hard to do, isn’t it? Even though we profess to believe in God, how often do we turn to everything else before God? There is the story of two church deacons – not from here -- who were discussing the financial situation of their church. One said to the other, "Well, I suppose we should pray about this." The other replied with concern, "Oh no, has it come to that?!" Jesus is saying it should begin with that! Our challenge is to put God first in every area of our lives. But this can be a challenge, even to people of faith. Even to a pastor.

Sometimes the scripture lesson assigned for a particular Sunday is just what we need to hear. And these words from Jesus are just what I have needed to immerse myself in this past week. Because I will confess to you that I have been worrying a lot lately -- worrying about our beloved church. I am worried because there are people who used to sit here in the pews on Sunday morning whom we have not seen lately. I am worried because our stewardship contributions have gone down this past year. I am worried because we are still taking too much money out of our investment fund principal in order to balance our budget. I am worried because not enough people are willing to volunteer to do the work of this church.

I was confessing my worries to some church members the other evening, and my dear brother in Christ Tom Kent said, “We need to pray about this.” And we did. Heartfelt, tear-soaked prayers for our church and for our congregation. And you know what? Since that evening, my worries have disappeared. Thank you, Tom, and to all who were there that evening for pastoring to me and for refocusing my attention on God.

In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul sums it up this way: “Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.”⁵

Wonderful, indeed! Amen and amen.

¹Per “Dealing with Worry,” http://home.austarnet.com.au/gerhardy/pent22_03.htm.

²Edward Podolsky, MD, Stop Worrying and Get Well (New York: Bernard Ackerman Incorporated, 1944).

³“Take Time Out of Constructively Worry: Worrying in the Genes, Scientists Say,” www.thebostonchannel, February 20, 2008.

⁴Zig Ziglar, “Worry,” Mary 6, 2007, http://www.accomplishlife.com/articles/1012/1/Worry/Page1.html

⁵Philippians 4:6-7, The Message by Eugene Peterson.