Don’t Worry; Get a Hat
Posted on Oct 19, 2015 by Shera Payne No comments
Matthew 6:25-33
Today’s is a harvest service and looking at this reading in the context of harvest, I quickly came to the conclusion that it was all about possessions and how we can do without most of what we have and give it all away to others.
Sure, that’s one of the challenges but the real point here is about WORRY. Jesus is telling us not to worry but to have faith that with God everything is possible. He will give us all we need if we have faith in Him. All He knows we need, mind. That isn’t always the same as what we think we need is it?
And perhaps this is what we worry about way too much- our dissatisfaction about not having enough.
So, I Googled “Famous worriers” to try and find some examples of fine upstanding worriers and perhaps learn how they overcame their worrying habit of worrying.
When I did this I found 22,900,000 recommended sites. Fantastic, I thought. This will provide some bedtime reading. Then I realised that Google had thought I meant WARRIORS not WORRIERS and information about worriers was in fact very scant. Well, less than scant. There were no websites at all dedicated to famous worriers.
Why is this? I can only guess that warriors, often being heroes or rare people that make a big (often bloodthirsty) splash are more newsworthy, whereas worriers are two-a-penny. We are all worriers when it comes down to it – to a greater or lesser degree, but worriers we are never the less.
Now, Jesus recognised this and said NOT to worry. He actually tells us not to worry 4 times in this passage.
4 times.
How many worriers do we have here today?
Hands up!
I don’t believe there is a single one of us that does not worry about things from time to time. Some worry all the time about everything while others worry some of the time about specific things they consider worth worrying about.
At this point it’s probably good to distinguish between WORRY and CONCERN. We might say that CONCERN is when you focus on something, an action or object and realise it needs to be addressed, changed or avoided. The next part of CONCERN is when you think how to act. You might decide to avoid whatever it is entirely and move on or you might decide to resolve whatever issue you were concerned about.
Jesus isn’t asking us not to be concerned. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t feel concern about things – family, friends and the rest of God’s creation. What He is saying is don’t worry
WORRY is when you do all the being concerned business but miss out the resolving bit. In other words you get absorbed with the problem or issue without seeing a solution. Often even when the problem is solved- you can at last pay off the gas bill arrears, you have got that job, new car or had the mortgage approved, the worry habit still lurks and before long you find something new to worry about.
What Jesus is saying here is:
DON’T WORRY
BE HAPPY
Of course these aren’t His exact words, but part of a line of a 1980 song by Bobby McFerrin:
“In every life we have some trouble, but when you worry you make it double. Don’t worry, be happy. Don’t worry, be happy now. Don’t worry, be happy.”
Catchy little number eh? I suspect many of you will curse me when you find yourselves still humming it for the rest of the day
This may be a simple sentiment but it is to the point. Throughout the Bible we are encouraged to put our worries behind us.
- This reading: Can all your worries add a single moment to your life
- Luke 21:34:Don’t let your heart be dulled by carousing, drunkenness and the worries of this life
- 1 Peter 5:7: Give all your worries to God, for he cares about you.
- Proverbs 12:25: Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up (Don’t worry, be happy again!!)
So when we hear Jesus say “don’t worry, be happy”, how do we respond?
We could say “It’s easy for you Jesus with no children or mortgage to worry about, YOU don’t need to get the car fixed before payday or find an affordable package from Sky TV…”
When Jesus says this stuff He is not commanding us to be happy or even suggesting it’s a good idea. No, He is inviting us into a God- centred life where we can shake off our unnecessary worries and anxieties and then be happy by default.
We worry about so many things- our health, climate change, job security, paying the bills and then there’s the smaller things- did I feed the cat, do these shoes go with my bag…..
Worry is like an enormous fog that covers everything for miles around- buildings, trees, roads, cars. Everything. Not only does it block things out of sight but it also deadens sound. When its foggy, nothing matters except the fog. When we worry, nothing matters except the worry. We take our eyes and ears off God. But actually fog is just water and if you condensed it all, it would be reduced to a glass or 2 of water and you can see it for what it is. Water.
As I said earlier it seems to be in our nature to worry, and we can easily get worried about how much worrying we do. I am worried that I might be disobeying Jesus when He says “Don’t worry”. Does this worry of mine mean I lack faith? Will I be judged on my failing to put my trust in God?
This idea of Jesus inviting us to not worry and to put all our trust in God- is this an invitation we readily accept? It’s an attractive proposition- jut stop worrying, things will be so much better. But there’s a catch. The catch is that in order to stop WORRYING, we need a HAT
Hope
Action
Trust
HOPE
We are called to be a race of people who have HOPE- hope that God will triumph over sin and evil and help us overcome the challenges which cause us to worry.
Why worry when you can have HOPE instead?
ACTION
We are called to do God’s will- be kind to each other, and be a God-like presence to those around us to inspire and support them rather than hang around being a bag of nerves, being of little use to anybody while we are absorbed in our own worry
Why worry when we can DO SOMETHING?
TRUST
We are called to put all our trust in God and trust that His plan for us will require us not to worry
Why worry when you can TRUST?
It isn’t easy to replace our worries, fears and anxieties with Hope, Action and Trust but just remember that God never ever forgets us. He is always here filling us with His love whatever the time and whatever our need. In Joel 2:21-27 God says not to be afraid and to rejoice that He has done so much for us. Talking to the Israelites, He promises all the food they need and to be with them forever. Verse 27 says: “…you will know that I am among my people Israel, that I am the Lord your God. There is no other
We deal with worry in different ways:
- You can get some worry beads to help you concentrate or take your mind off things and focus on God, though this doesn’t necessarily mean you do anything to stop worrying
- You can be like Pumba & Timon from the Lion King. Be very cool- HAKUNA MATATA (no worries). This is great but really is an avoidance tactic
You can meet worry head on and end up fighting worry rather than defeating it
- OR You can give it up to God
- This is George Mueller. Cared for orphans, established schools, supported missionaries and printed & distributed bibles
- He received no direct funding from Government and did not fund raise, relying only on unsolicited donations
This is Hope, Action and Trust in God
So, how does this relate to harvest?
We here in Allesley have been blessed with comfortable lives. We all have money to buy all the things we need and have some left over to buy things we don’t.
James 1:17 tells us that every gift comes from God alone and as we receive many extra gifts from God, Harvest Festival gives us the opportunity to pass these gifts on to others. It is almost as if God gives us extra in order for us to give God’s hope to other people who for a number of reasons might be unable to take action to help themselves and may even be losing trust and hope in God.
But let’s not just do this on Harvest Festival! There are 364 other days in the year and an almost infinite number of God’s people (our extended family) who we can share God’s love with. Foodbank, Carriers of Hope, Embrace and all those people we walk past every day.
So, that’s it really.
DON’T WORRY
BE HAPPY
Let us pray
Lord we thank you for the liberating invitation from Jesus who told us Don’t Worry, Be Happy. Help us to be free of worry and the anxiety that holds us back from being the people that you call us to be and remind us always to not worry but rather hope, act and trust.
We ask this in Jesus’ name
Amen