Title: Fear vs. Faith – 9
“Worrier or Warrior”
Text: Matthew 6:25-34
Matthew 6:25-34, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
In our text we find the word “worry” 6 times. Jesus is trying to constantly remind us in this passage that we have NO reason to worry. He tells us not to worry about today, not to worry about yesterday and stop worrying about tomorrow. All these things will take care of themselves. I want to ask you the question, “Are you a worrier or a warrior?” We are going to talk a little more about this as time goes on this evening.
➢ Researchers have found that 40% of the things we worry about never happen. 30% are in the past and cannot be helped. 12% of our worry involves the affairs of other and are not even our business. 10% relates to sickness, real or imagined. That leaves only 8% of things we worry about that are even likely to happen.
➢ The Wall Street Journal published an article about the “worry gene” scientists have discovered. Research scientists from Yale have identified a worry gene that may contribute to chronic worry. It is a gene inherited from one’s parents. Yet, even these researchers conclude that having inherited a worry gene does not mean you cannot overcome worry!
The fact is: you don’t have to live with anxiety and worry.
➢ “Worry is a low-grade fear. It is interest paid on trouble before it comes due.”
In most cases, according to statistics, what we worry about does not happen. The “trouble” that we stew over just never comes to pass. How do I become a warrior and not a worrier?
I. STOP ALL THE COMMOTION
Some may be thinking, what does he mean by that? Well what I mean is stop blowing things out of proportion. Stop getting yourself all worked up about things that really don’t matter in light of eternity. Don’t allow the circumstances of your life to control your emotions, to make you angry, to get you all worked up.
There is a story in the Bible that I have shared on numerous occasions, but I want to touch on this story one more time tonight to help this point become a little clearer. Jairus, a synagogue official, came and fell at the feet of Jesus begging Him to come and pray for His daughter who was very sick. So, Jesus started towards his home. But while they were on their way, Jairus’ servant came and told him his daughter had just died. They told him not to bother the Master any longer. It is too late. Jesus hears the servant and turns to the desperate father and says in Mark 5:36; “Do not be afraid, only believe.” Jesus was saying to the ruler, don’t be a worrier, be a warrior. ONLY believe what I say, not what circumstances say. ONLY believe in Me, not in that report. Don’t allow fearfulness and worry in your life, because if you allow worry or fear in, I can’t do anything for you, you have to be in warrior mode, not worry mode if you want results. We don’t see any signs of worry in Jairus’ life.
When they arrived at the house, everyone was weeping and wailing. Jesus says in Mark 5:39; “Why all this commotion and wailing. The child is not dead, she is just sleeping.” Jesus was actually saying, you are getting yourselves all worked up about nothing. How could He say such a thing? This girl, in their mind, is dead. And He gets all upset at them because they are getting so worked up about nothing. and He says, she’s just sleeping. To Jesus, they are worrying about nothing. He actually gets so mad at them that He kicks them all out of the room. He couldn’t have all that commotion going on if He was going to work His miraculous power. After everyone clears the room, He takes the girl by the hand and tells her to get up. She wakes up and rises to everyone’s amazement.
When I read about this miracle, as I have so many times, I began to realize that Satan tries to get us to focus on our problems and make a great deal over it. The problem becomes greater in our minds than the power of Jesus. To the enemy’s approval we make a great commotion over nothing. Some people will argue that this experience is not a nothing. But you can’t argue with Jesus. In His mind, it is no greater to raise a girl from the dead then it is to raise her from a night’s sleep.
I know some of you must be facing insurmountable obstacles, but Jesus is trying to get our attention and let us know that your problem is no big deal to Him. That doesn’t mean that He doesn’t care, that just means that He is able to take care of it if you would give it to Him. He is telling us to stop all the commotion. Stop getting yourselves worked up over these problems that you are facing and start looking to the God of the impossibilities instead of the problems. Stop all the commotion.
If you want to be a warrior, you have to learn to lean on the everlasting arms of the Savior. A worrier takes matters into his own hands, therefore he worries about it, but a warrior takes matters and puts them into God’s hands, therefore he doesn’t have to worry about it because they know that God has it all under control. God’s definition of warrior and the world’s definition of warrior are entirely different. Are you going to be a worrier or a warrior? We have to decide to become a warrior and not a worrier. So, in order to be a warrior we must stop all the commotion. We must also realize that:
II. GOD SPECIALIZES IN UNEQUAL FIGHTS
I want to cover a number of Old Testament stories to prove to you that God specializes in unequal fights. The world’s definition of warrior is to go out into battle well trained in military strategy. God’s definition of warrior is to be obedient to whatever God tells you to do.
II Samuel 23:20-22; “Benaiah son of Jehoiada was a valiant fighter from Kabzeel, who performed great exploits. He struck down two of Moab's best men. He also went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion. 21 And he struck down a huge Egyptian. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, Benaiah went against him with a club. He snatched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he too was as famous as the three mighty men.”
Benaiah was one of David’s mighty men. You will notice in the Scripture that we just read that Benaiah jumped in a pit with a lion and killed him, but the Bible makes mention on purpose that Benaiah jumped in that pit on a snowy day and did this. It is one thing to kill a lion as David did, but Benaiah killed him with ice and snow under his feet. In the midst of fear Benaiah had courage to take on this lion and go and steal a spear from the enemy and kill the enemy too. I can just picture this Benaiah as a warrior. Why? It was only because God was with him. That is what made him the warrior that He was. It was an unequal fight, but didn’t matter to Benaiah because he knew that the Lord was with him.
Knowing that God specializes in unequal fights will give us courage. That means when you are up against something that you cannot win, that we need to remember that God specializes in unequal fights. Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. Courage is standing in the face of fear and worry and doing it anyway. It is not the absence of fear, but it is taking action in spite of fear.
➢ Someone once said, “Courage is fear that has said its prayers.”
➢ Mark Twain said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear. It is the mastery of fear.”
God needs some men and women in these troubled times to have the courage to say, “God said to do it, and I am going to do it.” Even if you have to get into knee deep snow and fight a lion, you say, “Bring it on! I will not retreat in fear, because I know what God told me. I will not worry because I know what God’s Word says about my life and the things that I am facing, therefore I make a decision, “NO FEAR HERE.”
➢ You may be at a crossroads in your life right now where God has told you to do a hard thing. Let me encourage you to take courage and stare fear in the face like a warrior and do exactly what God has told you to do. “The steps of a righteous man are ordered of the Lord.”
➢ If you’re here and you are sick in your body, I encourage you today to stare fear and worry in the face like a warrior and says, “I will not worry about this sickness because His Word says, “By His stripes I am healed.”
➢ If you are here and you have financial need to big for you to handle, I encourage you today to stare worry in the face like a warrior and declare, “My God shall supply ALL my need according to His riches in glory.”
➢ If you are here and you are living in all kinds of commotion and chaos, I encourage you today to stare worry in the face like a warrior and declare, “I shall have the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.”
➢ If you are here and you have sin in your life, I encourage to stare fear and worry in the face like a warrior and declare, “Jesus has made me more than a conqueror through Him, He has helped me to overcome the world.”
We have to remember that God is known for putting people in unequal fights and He is known to do that because that is His specialty. He wants you to come through your fight victorious and giving glory to Him. He likes to put you into fights that are unequal because if they were equal you would share some of the glory. That is not the way that He works, He doesn’t share the glory with anyone.
➢ There is nothing equal about Jehoshaphat and his army marching into the flashing steel of the Syrian army with their praise team on the front line. That doesn’t make any sense. Jehoshaphat obviously never studied war strategy in Canada or the USA. What other military leader would lead an army into a fight with just a harp, violin and a tambourine? Yet, that is exactly what he did and he won. Why? God specializes in unequal fights.
➢ There is nothing equal about the children of Israel marching around the huge walls of Jericho as a war strategy, yet that is exactly what they did.
➢ There is nothing equal about Gideon going into war with just 300 men against thousands, yet that is what he did and won. Why? God specializes in unequal fights. God wants the glory for your every victory.
➢ There is nothing equal about a little boy named David going onto a battlefield with a giant called Goliath and killing him with one stone. Yet that is what he did and won.
➢ How? God specializes in unequal fights. They knew that their nothingness plus God’s almightiness equals giants falling down, walls falling down, armies ambushing themselves, and victory in every battle He wanted them to fight.
So again, I ask you the question, “Are you a worrier or a warrior? Are you allowing God to be the Master of your life?” What are you facing right now that seems impossible to overcome?
Just keep in mind, God wants you to stop making all the commotion about your problems and start trusting Him. A real warrior doesn’t take matters in his own hands, He gives them to Jesus. So stop looking to circumstances and problems and start looking to the author and the finisher of your faith. We also must remember that God specializes in unequal fights. Even when you are facing insurmountable odds, rise up in courage and begin to declare: “I will not worry.” Are you a worrier or a warrior?
