Do you ever read some of Jesus’ teachings and wonder what He was thinking?  No disrespect, but sometimes you read some of the teachings of Jesus and you think, “how impractical, or how naïve.”  At least that is the way I sometimes feel at first glance.  Look at our text for this morning.  Jesus has been talking about money and how we should not store up for ourselves treasures on earth.  For where our treasure is, there our heart is also.  He says, “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve both God and money” (Mt. 6:19, 24).  Well, that’s hard enough to swallow for most of us here who are wealthy compared to the rest of the world.  Our possessions are always seeking to possess us if we are not vigilant.  Our money will quickly own us if we are not careful.  Money is a good servant but a bad master.  That part makes sense—I think many of us agree with that intellectually if not in practice. 

          So Jesus speaks about the dangers of riches and then says, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.”  Well, we might very well read that and think that maybe that was valid advice back then, but not now.  I mean, after all, things are a lot different now.  Jesus, have you seen the price of gasoline lately??  What about the mortgage crisis?  People are losing their homes.  Many of us are in debt.  On this Memorial Day weekend we remember that we are fighting a war or two—although many of us aren’t sure why or when it will end or how it will end.  Our country is spending about $236,000 a minute on the war in Iraq—no matter what your political views, that should worry us, shouldn’t it Jesus?  We worry about those fighting over in Iraq and Afghanistan.  We worry about our jobs, our kids and how they will turn out in today’s world—and if they do turn out all right and make it to college—how the heck do we pay for it? 

          I wonder if Jesus doesn’t know what we are going through.  Something tells me He does.  That something is the Bible.  Think about the audience Matthew writes his gospel to and the audience Jesus spoke to in His own day.  Matthew writes to a community of believers who live in this everyday world, probably in an urban setting.  For the most part, they are probably among the poor.  They look out from their dismal, everyday existence and try to figure out how they can get by for the next day, how they can get ahead in any way, and how they can supply for the future of their children.  The people to whom Jesus is speaking in the Sermon on the Mount may have included some of the wealthy, but the vast majority of them are peasants, who live most of their lives hand to mouth, eking out a living from the Galilean countryside.  Whether they work their own land or are tenant farmers, they are required to pay any surplus as taxation to the dominant group of rulers, who use it to underwrite their own high standard of living.  That may sound slightly familiar.  So the bottom line is that there has always been cause for worry.  An excuse to worry is always easily found in Jesus’ time or ours. 

          And it is no accident that Jesus speaks about issues regarding money just before He tells us not to worry about what we will eat or what we will wear.  The two are obviously connected and Jesus knows that well.  When you think about it, a lot of our worries; many of the ones I have mentioned, have some connection to money.  The issues we worry about may be bigger than money, but we see them as tied to money.  So for example we want security and we worry about security—we want to know we are taken care of, so what brings many people security of life and soul is to have material security.  We are concerned about our personal worth, esteem and value.  Material possessions and wealth often indicate that people are successful in what they have done with their lives, or so the thinking goes.  We feel good about ourselves if we dress, drive, dine, and decorate well.  We want power—and we all know power and money go hand in hand, right?  The first qualification for anyone running for President of the United States is that they have to be wealthy.  They could have started out humbly, but by God you have to be a millionaire now to run.  Any millionaire can be President…it’s the American way.  With wealth and material success we believe that we can have and get and be whatever we want.  Wealth gives us control over our own fate and over other people.  We desire independence and we fear losing our independence—with wealth I can be my own “god” and not rely on anyone else.  We want pleasure—we worry about being happy.  With wealth we have the answer though, right?  We can indulge every fantasy whether it is an exotic vacation, the luxurious wedding, the finest dining, or the most decadent home. 

                And then you pick up the Bible and you read this from Psalm 49:   “Do not be overawed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not descend with him.  Though while he lived he counted himself blessed— and men praise you when you prosper—he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of life.  A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.”  That brings us back to reality.  We will do well to ask ourselves often, “What is the most valuable thing in my life?”  And then we should evaluate where we have spent our time, what we have invested our life pursuing, and where we have spent our money.  Good accounting—whether of time, relationships, or money, is a good gauge of our values. 

          In May of 1995, Randy Reid, a 35 year old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago.  According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding on which he stood.  The scaffolding tipped, and Reid lost his balance.  He fell 110 feet, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris.  A fellow worker called 911.  When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back.  Apparently the fall didn’t cost Reid his sense of humor.  As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: “Don’t drop me.”  (Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised lung). 

          I wonder if sometimes we aren’t like that construction worker.  God protects us from harm in what is in our life a 110 foot fall, but we’re still nervous about those things that are three-foot heights.  The God who saved us from hell and death can protect us from the smaller dangers we face this week.  God has blessed us with so much, and yet we worry about so much.  And a lot of the times, it’s the little things that we worry about—the things that we really can do nothing about—those three-foot falls.  Worry is alike a rocking chair—it will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.  Jesus says, “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Mt. 6:34).  In other words, live in the present moment.  If we have to worry, worry about right now—the task or problem that is immediately before us.  Or better still, don’t worry, just be concerned.  God knows what you need and what is best for you.  Pagans worry about these things—what they will eat, what they will drink, what they will wear.  That one hits close to home—wondering about what they will eat—I think about that three times a day—at least!  Although, I guess I don’t worry about it—I just look forward to it. 

          When you think about it though, worry can even become idolatry.  Worry is idolatry when we allow it to take our eyes off Jesus.  We substitute despair, hopelessness, or fear in the place of God and turn to our own efforts at trying to control our environment.  Anxiety disorder is the most common mental illness in the U.S.  More than ever, people are literally worrying themselves sick.  We are people who are full of worries.  We have almost perfected the art of worrying.  It is often said that we are continually being crucified between two thieves—the regrets of yesterday and the worries about tomorrow.  Jesus makes a good point when He asks, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?”  Worrying is hard not to do, that is for sure.  But one other thing is for sure—worrying isn’t going to accomplish anything—it won’t do any good.  It won’t add hours to your life—in fact, it may take some away.  It makes sense to think and plan and be concerned about your future, but it doesn’t help to worry about it.  There is nothing here in the teaching of Jesus to stop Christians from making plans for the future or taking sensible steps for their own security.  Jesus doesn’t forbid thought or forethought, but rather anxious thought.  “Don’t worry about tomorrow”, Jesus says; “each day has enough trouble of its own.”  The key is this: Meet today’s problems with today’s strength.  Don’t start tackling tomorrow’s problems until tomorrow.  You do not have tomorrow’s strength yet.  You simply have enough for today.[i]       

Mickey Rivers, at the time an outfielder for the Texas Rangers baseball team, stated his philosophy on life: “Ain’t no sense worrying about things you got control over, because if you got control over them, ain’t no sense worrying.  And there ain’t no sense worrying about things you got no control over either, because if you got no control over them, ain’t no sense worrying.”  Most worry is about tomorrow but we experience it today—even though these fears may not ever be fulfilled.  The popular advice, “don’t worry, it may never happen,” may be unsympathetic, but it is true.  Our fears may be liars—they often are.  Many worries, perhaps most, never even materialize.  One of the ways to not worry is to learn to express regularly our gratitude to God for what He is doing, and has done in preparation for relying on Him for tomorrow.  A way of reversing the trend toward anxiety is to look around at what we have and what God has done and then say, “Thank you.”   

So besides being grateful and thankful to God, what else are we to do instead of worrying?  I mean, if we could manage to stop worrying to some great degree, what would we do instead?  What would take the place of all that free time we would then have if we weren’t worrying?  Well, Jesus tells us what we are to do.  He says, “Seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness.”  To seek first God’s kingdom is to desire as of first importance the spread of the reign of Jesus Christ.  Such a desire will start with ourselves until every single department of our life—home, marriage and family, personal morality, professional life and business ethics, bank balance, tax returns, lifestyle—every aspect is joyfully and freely submissive to Christ.  Seeking God’s kingdom, God’s will first, does something great—it takes our mind off of ourselves and turns our focus to God and others.  Suddenly our task involves helping others rather than just helping ourselves.  Instead of worrying all the time, we are making a difference for others and are probably helping ourselves at the same time.  Don’t worry.  Like a lot of Jesus’ teachings, it’s easier said than done, that is for sure.  I was worried as to how I would bring a fitting conclusion to this message—which means I better just shut up and not worry about it.  Amen.