WORRY? THAT’S FOR THE BIRDS!
Matt. 6:25-34
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A guide was conducting a group of tourists around the Empire State building. On the elevator ride to the 102nd floor, a nervous woman asked, "What if these elevator cables should break? Would we go up or down?" "That," the guide said, "depends entirely on the kind of life you've been living."
Church, when you ride an elevator, do you worry that the cables might break? If you don't, it's a matter of faith. It's a matter of faith in something or someone.
2. An airplane flew into a violent storm and was soon swaying and bouncing around. One very nervous lady happened to be sitting next to a preacher. She said, "You're a Man of God. Can't you do something about this?" He replied, "Sorry, ma'am, I'm in sales, not management."
Have you flown anywhere lately? Does it make you nervous? If not, is because you have faith in the plane, the pilot, or the greater Pilot.
B. TEXT
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 (Kjv -lilies) 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.
C. THESIS
1. Do any of you ever worry about anything? I know that sounds like a stupid question but when I asked that, something probably popped into your head.
2. Right now I want you to think of the one thing you worry about most. Picture that thing in your head. It could be money, your job, your car, house, health, grades, anything.
3. I am a person who worries. I’ve worried about everything from toys, to girls, to jobs, to church issues. I’ve always worried about something, but it isn’t really necessary.
4. The Lord Jesus told us to look at birds and flowers as examples of God’s provision and care. Before we leave tonight, I’m going to ask you 3 questions, the answer of
which should end your fears for good.
5. Title of this message: “Worry? That’s for the Birds!”
I. LIFE FOR US HUMANS
A. WORRIES ABOUT OUR LIVES AND BODIES
1. FIRST WORRY: OUR LIVES.
a. The Lord Jesus says “do not worry about your life…” We have a lot of worries about our lives;
b. Am I going to be able to make ends meet? Will I be able to pay my rent/mortgage, find a husband, pay my student debt, have a child, will I remain healthy? The stuff that hits you week in and week out.
2. SOME PEOPLE LIKE TO WORRY!
a. “I always feel bad when I feel good because I know I’ll feel bad after a while.”
b. One lady said she liked worrying, because if she didn’t do that, she’d be bored.
c. One man claimed that since 90% of what you worry about doesn’t happen, that was proof that worrying works!
d. Someone said, “If you have no ulcers, you’re not carrying your share of the load!”
3. SECOND WORRY: OUR BODIES.
a. Men and women worry about their looks: their clothes, their hair, their makeup, their accessories. We all want to give a good appearance. The focus is to look good.
b. The majority of us (56%) take between 11 and 30 minutes getting ready every morning. 21% men take over 30 minutes and 38% women do. If you figure an average of 30 min./day, that’s 1½ years of your (70) life! Add in hair salons and finger/toe nails – prob. 2 years of your life!
c. And when you get older, you have the never ending battle with failing health and the concerns with day to day existence.
B. JESUS POINTS TO ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
1. “Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” Mt. 6:25. The Greek verb for “worry” is “merimnao” which means “to be anxious” or “concerned.”
2. At first, it sounds like Jesus is being a little naïve to tell us not to worry about what we eat or drink. Both are actually very important. But Jesus continues, "Is not life more than food?"
3. Jesus is reminding us that our "life" is eternal. We are eternal spirit beings; for all eternity our life will be sustained by the very life of God. Our life on planet Earth is only one small phase of what life means to believers.
4. In other words, "life" is so much more than just our earthly life. The temporary impact of food or drink will in no way affect the rest of our eternal life.
5. The same is true of the human body. We don’t need to worry to clothe it, for it will be resurrected and clothed with heavenly glory for all eternity!
II. EXAMPLES: “LOOK AT THE BIRDS, LILIES!”
A. THERE’S A LOT OF BIRDS!
1. Unger’s Bible Dictionary lists many(23) birds found in Scripture: Chicken, Crane, Cuckow, Dove, Eagle Falcon, Fowl, Hawk, Heron, Hoopoe, Kite, Osprey, Ostrich, Owl, Partridge, Peacock, Pigeon, Quail, Raven, Sparrow, Stork, Swallow, Swan, and Vulture.
2. FACTS ABOUT BIRDS:
a. Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying animals.
b. There are about 18,000 species of birds. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Some are waterfowl – living in water; some live on high mountains, others (penguins) live on in the Antarctic and swim underwater. They are a very diverse animal.
c. Birds range in size from the 2-inch Bee Hummingbird to the 9 ft. Ostrich. Many species undertake long distance annual migrations.
d. Birds are social; they communicate using visual signals and through calls and songs, and participate in social behaviors, including hunting, flocking, and mobbing of predators.
e. It is estimated that there are up to 400 billion birds at any given time.
B. BIRDS DO NOT WORRY
1. Jesus said, “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 much more valuable than they?”
2. Despite the fact that there are up to 400 billion birds in the world, they live without worrying what they're going to eat. Now that’s saying something since they eat 73 billion tons of food a year! That’s an immense amount of food, yet God provides it for them.
3. God wasn’t taking away from the fact that we should work as diligently as we can, and carefully budget our money to pay our expenses and pray to God to supply our daily bread.
4. But if we have done what we can, God will do His part. After all, aren’t we a little more important than birds to God?
C. CONSIDER THE LILIES
1. Next Jesus says to “Consider the lilies.” Lilies are a flower of unparalleled beauty and design. They are of many different colors all across the globe.
2. They grow, as other bulbous roots. In winter they are lost or buried under ground. But when spring returns, they appear and quickly come to bloom. Out of obscurity, they become such a beautiful, delicate, and exquisite flower.
3. Even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one
of these. If the Creator can do so much for a common flower, what will He not do for you, oh you of little faith?
III. HOW IMPORTANT YOU ARE
A. “ARE YOU NOT MUCH MORE VALUABLE?”
1. On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden and was grabbed and dragged by Harambe, a 17-year-old Western lowland gorilla.
2. Fearing for the boy's life, a zoo worker shot and killed Harambe. Harambe’s death spurred an outcry from animal rights activists. Valuing animal lives over human ones isn’t just a fringe point of view, it seems.
3. A 2013 study conducted by researchers at Regents University and Cape Fear Community College found that, when faced with a hypothetical situation in which they could save only their pet or a human “foreign tourist” from being hit by a bus, 40% of participants chose their pet.
4. But People ARE more valuable than animals. Why?
a. Because God gave us dominion over all the earth. We alone of all God’s creation are made in His likeness, His spiritual image.
b. 2ndly, We alone of all the animals, have not only instinct, but self-consciousness combined with reason.
c. 3rd, we alone have an immortal soul/spirit within us that can live for all eternity with God. We are capable of salvation – the spiritual union with Christ and indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus gives illustrations about the birds to help us to understand just how important we are to God. Jesus said, “Are you not much more valuable, more important than they?”
5. If God cares so much for little birds, how much must He care for the dearest of His creations, made in His image? Have we not been adopted as Heirs of God, Joint-heirs with Christ of all God’s inheritance?
6. Does He not give His angels charge over us to watch over us in all our ways? Didn’t the Father give up His only begotten Son to the most cruel torments so that we might be His treasured possession?
B. DETAIL KNOWLEDGE = DETAIL CARE
1. “1You have searched me, LORD, and You know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue You, LORD, know it completely. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Ps. 139:1-4; 13,16.
2. If God has that level of perception about our condition, doesn’t He know our needs? Further, God is working for our GOOD.
a. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” Jer. 29:11.
b. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” Rom. 8:28.
3. If we settle the three questions of whether God is GOOD, ALL-KNOWING, and ALL-POWERFUL, then we can be confident that we can trust whatever decision He makes concerning us, for it’s for the common good.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTARTION
1. Bulstrode Whitelock, Cromwell's envoy to Sweden in 1653, was much disturbed in mind as he reflected on the troubled state of Great Britain.
2. It happened that a confidential employee slept in the adjacent bed, who, finding that his boss could not sleep, at length said, "Sir, would you mind if I asked you a question?" "Not at all."
3. "Sir, don't you think that God governed the world very well before you came into it?" "Undoubtedly." "And Sir, don't you think He will govern it quite well when you’re gone out of it?" "Certainly." "Then Sir, don't you think you could trust Him to govern it while you’re in it?"
B. THE CALL
1. Jesus' perspective is that God's care of the birds and flowers should help us to understand just how important we are to God.
2. Worrying is a huge part of people’s lives and it shouldn’t be if we have a genuine relationship with Christ.
3. So next time an issue comes up and you start to freak out, you start to worry…look at the birds and remember what Jesus said. Let’s pray.
