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Sermon for Sunday May 25th, 2008

Sermon Theme: Anxiety

Sermon Notes: This sermon is based on Matthew 6:25-34. As always these sermons are works in progress. Please look past any grammatical flaws or loose phrasing. We at Ebenezer hope you enjoy them in the Spirit which they were written. Peace in Christ, Pastor Joshua Haugen. 

Have you ever been anxious? I think unless you are very different from the rest of us the answer usually is yes. In fact most of us are or have been anxious for often very good reasons. We may be anxious about the cost of gas or the rising cost of food. We may be anxious about an upcoming surgery. We may be anxious about traveling or our loved ones traveling this memorial day weekend. We may be anxious about a whole host of things. But today are Lord and Savior tells us:

"Don't be anxious for I am with you."

For some of you who really struggle with anxiety, and the stress it brings with it, just having someone tell you don't be anxious usually makes the situation worse. What the Lord is telling us today is not that he expects us to never have anxiety or simply with a word be able to push it away. No, He tells us this portion of scripture today because He knows very clearly that anxiety is something we all face. He knows that, since anxiety will come, since the difficulties of life do pile up, that we need to hear His loving words of comfort.

But to understand the comfort that Christ gives us we first have to understand the problem with anxiety. The problem with anxiety is that anxiety is usually focused on a particular thing, item, or problem. Here Jesus brings up food, drink and clothing. These items are focused on because they were, at the time of Christ, the normal staples of life. These were often the items that caused the most consternation for people back then. So the list doesn't just include tennis shoes, sweet tea, or bbq, but instead Jesus is talking about whatever we face, whatever causes us difficulties.

When we are anxious about something that we face in our lives then that particular anxiety takes center stage. Whether that anxiety is concerned with money, savings, health concerns, relationship concerns, or whatever else we face, the anxiety can literally seem to make us spend every moment of every day focused on it. When we are so focused on what we are anxious about the problem is that it is easy to forget about God. When we forget about God, we then forget about others, when we forget about others, we then even forget about the other stuff we should be doing. Soon anxiety can become that great monster that overshadows all else. When it becomes this great monster we can feel very alone and very forsaken.

Surely the Children of Israel felt this way in the Old Testament reading. "Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.'" So Christ responded to the children of Israel of old and He responds to us today, when we all are trapped in our own anxieties and worries. The Lord says, "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?" Of course the answer is no. A mother should never be able to forget, but even so that we have no doubt, because we do live in a world where parents sometimes do forget their children, Jesus responds, "A mother may forget yet I will not forget you."

For us who are often anxious about things such as gas, money, time, relationships, health, and politics the Lord raises are eyes up from these stresses and gives us His simple Gospel message that He will never forget us. He says that He is with us. He sees us in all our works. He sees us in all our stresses and He has not forgotten.

But when we are going through the difficulties of life these words can sound like just that - words. So Christ gives us evidence and proof that He is with us.

First, he says, "are we not more than what we eat or drink or wear?" This is another key problem with anxiety. It not only leads us away from our heavenly Father and makes us doubt him. Anxiety also lowers us. If we spend all our time anxious about only food we are saying by our actions that life is only as important as eating. If we spend all our time just worrying about our tennis game then we are saying life is only as important as tennis. If we spend our time worrying about the next hospital visit we are saying life is only as important as good health. But Christ says no you are worth more then just these anxieties. He gives us the clear statement that life, especially Life in him is not just food, clothing, and drink.

Second, Christ says, "Take for instance the Cardinal. They neither go to the Harris Teeter nor do they have checking or savings accounts but yet the Lord still takes care of them." In fact the birds of the air often do so well that if you leave the church door open to long they try to live in the fellowship hall. But what Christ is giving us is an example from nature. The birds don't worry but yet they are still taken care of. The witness is that since God created this world he will also help sustain it. That means you too. Here the environmentalist will say, "How can you say this. After-all the world is such a mess and so many animals are endangered...." Well, people can sure mess this world up, but look how fast nature can come back when people are good stewards of it. If this much love, care, and planning is put into birds, then how much more is put into you.

Third, Christ says, "What good does anxiety do for you, does it make you live a healthier life? Does anxiety add time to your life? Does anxiety give you a better life?" The answer to all of these is no. The fact is when we face the problems of this world no matter how we may want to try to control them or make them turn out the way we want too the hard cold answer is that we have no control. We have no power over even some of the most fundamental things in our lives. Can we pick the day our death? Can we say how long we will live in a certain area? Can we pick our children? No we truly can't. Usually if we try to hard to control these things it doesn't work out that well for us. But Christ gives us such hope for he says that He is in control and we can always trust in Him.

Fourth, Christ says, "Look at the Carolina Lily. Does it go to the friendly center to buy its clothing? No it doesn't but yet not even great king Solomon in all his Glory was dressed as beautifully as a Carolina Lily." Often we hear this and it sounds like Christ is telling us not to do anything. The lily just sits there. Well actually the lily still does what is supposed to do. It still grows and sucks up water and turns sunlight into food. So too in this world we are simply to be faithful to what the Lord has given us to do. Because the Lord is in control and He has given each and every one of us wonderful things to do and not one of the things we are to do is be anxious.

This is where it is so easy to say, "Well pastor this is all true but it is more difficult in practice. After all what about the Christians in Ethiopia or in Sudan? What about the Christian who suffer around the world? Are there not very real things to be anxious about? Has God not failed them? Maybe we should be worried about some of this stuff or it really won't work out."

Here is where we need to understand God very clearly. After all no where does he say don't be anxious because everything will be perfect. No he calls us those of little faith because he knows that there are anxieties that will come along and try to make us doubt our heavenly Father's love. But Christ tells us so clearly that our heavenly Father has known in the past, has always known, and still knows to this very day what we need. Even if we face very difficult times He still has not forsaken us. The Israelites sat in slavery for hundreds of years. They sat in exile for seventy. They waited without word for another 400. We may go with high gas prices or face economic difficulty, but our Lord is still with us. Everyone else may forget but he will never forget.

The reason we are worth more than food, clothing, or drink. The reason we can be so assured that He will never forget us, is because, He says, "I have engraved you on the palms of my hands." We who are seeing tattoos more and more can understand this phrase. Often in the ancient world people would have tattoos on their hands or bodies. These tattoos would usually mean that you were the follower of a various god. This is why the Old Testament said the children of Israel shouldn't have tattoos. God wasn't speaking against a leopard tattoo or flower tattoo.

So God says that he has a tattoo or engraving on his hands. Of course his engraving or tattoo is not some other god but is us. So He can't forget us because He sees us every time He looks down upon His own hands. What does this tattoo look like? Well you already know. It looks like a nail hole. That is the tattoo of us that is so firmly engraved or cut in the palm of his hand. So dear sons and daughters of the heavenly Father do not let the cares of this world make you over anxious. Your Lord and Savior remembers you every time he looks at His nail pierced hands. Indeed how could he ever forget!!! Since Your Lord and Savior remembers you, since he died for you, since he rose for you we truly are more than food, drink, clothing, shoes, health concerns, relationships, or anything else that we face.

And when our anxieties and worries rise up and try to overwhelm us. Where do we turn? Well we turn right back to those nail pierced hands. For what does the Gospel reading say? "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added to you." What is His kingdom and His righteousness? Well those nail pierced hands of course.

So we of little faith have no fear for our Lord and Savior with His pierced hands is always near. Amen.