Sermon Downloads
Sermons can be download below and are also available on the Top Menu under Our Parish / Sermons
Sermon – Sunday 19th February 2017
Theme: Do Not Worry
St Peters
Preached by: Folake Makanjuola
Readings: 10:30am: Gen. 1:1-2:3; Rom. 8:18-25; Matt. 6:25-34
‘Jesus said, “do not worry, is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
What do we need to be able to accept these sayings of Jesus? We need faith. It is faith that has brought you and me here this morning. It is faith that brings us close to God when we look around us at all things created. It is faith that enables us have a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. So, if we know and accept this fact, why do we worry? Is it because we do not know what tomorrow will bring? Worry, is ingrained in our nature as human beings. We worry about life and everything it throws at us, inflation, food and clothes are getting more and more expensive to buy in the shops, our finances, paying our bills, our health what the doctor is going to say at our next appointment, our children, job security, our relationships, and families not getting along. But, as soon as the old worries are gone, and there is really nothing to worry about, we make one up. But all of these only make it very easy to become distracted and thinking that this life is all there is. The message Jesus has for us is ‘do not worry’. Jesus knows what it means for humans to worry, we become ill, some of us even suffer high anxiety.
Jesus wants us to know that it is futile to worry over situations we have no power to change. If it is material things we need, Jesus said look, the birds of the air do not toil for their foods, if our heavenly Father can feed the birds of the air, and clothe the flowers of the field, then He is capable of meeting all our needs. We need to be clear about what Jesus is not saying here though, He is not saying future planning is unnecessary. We can be progressive in our thinking, manage our finances and plan for retirement. What Jesus is saying is, after we have done all that we are capable of doing, do not add worry to it. Be still and watch God at work, watch Him do what He does best, taking care of all our needs, Wait patiently on Him.
We can, however, be concerned for each other. If we are not concerned about how we treat our environment, or care for the vulnerable, or bothered to check on our elderly neighbour whom we have not seen step out of his or her house for weeks, what message do we proclaim to the world? There’s a difference, however, between concern and worry. If we are concerned about anything, we try to do something about it, but when we worry, we know intrinsically that we cannot do anything to make a difference, it becomes something beyond our power, and that is when we make God seem incapable, when we go off worrying needlessly.
In Genesis God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” So we can take the fruit eat it and the seed in it, we can replant, and who makes it grow? Who waters it with rain?
The tone changed slightly when Jesus came and said, your Father in heaven has given you all these things for sustenance, Now, choose LIFE, Eternal LIFE, “Is LIFE not more than food, and the body more than clothing?” seek ye therefore God’s Kingdom and everything else will be added to it. God has the power to keep us alive….. let me change that round slightly to fit the metaphor, God has the power to give eternal LIFE, and so, He will see to it that we have all that we need to get there.
Our world as we know it, is not perfect. When God created it, it was perfect, but in our sinfulness we ruined it. But God has given us hope in His Son Jesus. A certain hope that is absolute and worth waiting for. The hope of eternal life. In Romans chapter 8, Paul reminds us, “For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience”
Worry accomplishes nothing, it only eats away at our livelihood, and since we cannot add a single hour to our life, why not leave it to the one who can? Trust in God our creator, who is able to do all things, the one who has promised us eternal life.
All worry does is cause us to lose faith in God. But when we focus our attention on His kingdom and righteousness, then we are able to see worry for what it really is, we realize that it is nothing worth the loss of sleep because whatever the source of worry, it is only a phase that passes so quickly that we wonder if it was ever there in the first place. God is capable of guiding us through all of those things which constitute worry, He alone can overcome them if we let Him.
Jesus said ‘do not worry’. We must learn to live one day at a time. Let tomorrow take care of itself. God only gives us the help we need for today. Don’t worry about what you are going to do tomorrow, because when tomorrow comes, God’s grace will be there to meet us and give us what we need. Each day has enough trouble of its own” Today we have grace and strength.
Paul tries to take our minds off worrying when he said, ‘I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us’. In Jesus Christ, we have the hope of eternal life.
Do not worry, but hold on to the hope which God has given to us. Amen
