Ready-Set-Activate! Faith Over Worry in 2023

Ready-Set-Activate!  Faith Over Worry in 2023:  Matthew 6:25-34

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Ready, set, activate!  An F-18 Super Hornet Fighter Jet generates 4 transverse G-forces (enough to loosen the fillings in your teeth) when it launches off a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier.  Its powerful engines combined with a steam powered catapult system plus dedicated and skilled deck and flight personnel hurl the craft into active airborne operation!  Yet all the planning, all the work, all the power, all the training, safety, resources, pilot, crew, and plane potential means nothing till it is activated and airborne- till the aircraft is actively doing what it was designed to do.   Our Faith is much the same way.  Faith that is not ready, that is not set, and that is not activated (working)- is dead       (James 2:26 says- that… faith without deeds is dead).  So, what is the biggest obstacle to us activating our Faith in 2023?  What is keeping us sidelined, dead on the flight deck instead of alive and soaring like an eagle?  Well, it’s the same obstacle that we faced in 2022, 2021, 2020, 1980, 1970, 1950, 1940, 1928…  The obstacle that’s always been there and hindering us and previous Christ Followers since the time of the Sermon on the Mount…  WORRY.

Jesus was very aware of His Disciples and our propensity towards worry and how it can sideline us in fear and keep us from obeying and following Him wholeheartedly.  Worry - is the preoccupation with the negative, the paralysis of today’s faith-filled actions at the expense of undue speculation over the concerns of the future while holding onto yesterday’s regrets.  Worry is the opposite of trust.  It is established in fear and perpetuated in probabilities, discouragement, and powerlessness.  Worry drains us of our energy for today by making us spend it on unhealthy mental and physical  occupation with our unwritten tomorrows. Worry is “worthless” because it convinces us that we are “worth less” than Christ Created and Saved us to be and to do.  So how can we combat worry?  Our passage gives us 3 principles to accomplish activating our Faith over worry. First- instead of worry, worship.  Second- instead of worry, do what’s worthy, and finally, instead of worry, walk with God.  Let’s take a look at our passage- Matthew 6:25-34…

Jesus is right in the middle of His Sermon on the Mount.  He has been teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven and the inbreaking of His Kingdom on earth-  Jesus has come, and He has brought His Kingdom and the way it operates with Him.  All who believe in Him will live differently as a result of the changes He has brought.  Jesus’ Kingdom is superior and unlike any earthly Kingdom.  The Kingdom of Heaven operates from Heaven to earth by the grace of God instead of the efforts of man.  There is no longer any good reason to worry- (there has never been a good reason to worry- but especially now- here in the Sermon- Jesus has come and any reason for worry has been replaced with Jesus and the good news of His Gospel that He has brought); the good news of the great transforming metamorphic love and care of God displayed in Christ Jesus our LORD.  God is Master, God cares for His Creation- it is time to put old masters like money, and the chasing after accumulation of earthly provisions aside- you can’t serve both God and money nor as a Christ Follower do you need to even consider it because God provides for us from Heaven and will meet our needs.  Which bring us to our first Kingdom of Heaven principle- instead of worry, worship.

Instead of activating worry which gets you nowhere activate worship- take a look at verse 32 and 33.  Part of being subject to any Kingdom is chasing after it.  Jesus is drawing a stark contrast between earthly kingdom chasers and Heavenly Kingdom seekers.  When I was in High School (back in ye olde 1980’s)- our Church Youth Group every October did a Friday Night- “Midnight Madness”.  Us boys would pile into my buddy John’s 1972 DeSoto and drive all over Austin, Texas following written clues left for us by our Youth Minister. The clues would lead us to a particular spot where we would find more clues but no answers!  After about 2 hours of this- with PETRA finished in the tape deck, hunger setting in, the directions getting difficult, and the thrill of driving around Austin at night becoming the fear of driving around Austin at night we wondered what on earth we were chasing after anyway and was it worth it?  We didn’t find anything and the clues we did find were not satisfying.  Finally, the last clue led us to the church recreation grounds where a big autumn feast and bonfire was waiting for us. 

What we had been chasing was already provided we just had to trust that it already was while we were looking for it; that we were following a master plan.  The same is true of the Kingdom of Heaven.  We are following the Master’s plan! Jesus has already provided it for us through and by His grace- will we trust Him that He has as we seek to do His will?  It is impossible to worry when we are worshiping God- when we are seeking Him and His Kingdom trusting that He is providing for us with every seeking step we take.  The Bible promises that when we seek God we will find Him- (Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open to you for everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened.) can we trust and worship Him as we go through the difficulties of life knowing that He alone satisfies our souls, our very lives and that He will provide for us?  Worship provides the avenue for seeking, asking, and knocking- worship strengthens faith, worry dwells in doubt, it cannot and it will not help us seek and find God or find faith in Him and His Divine Plan.

Which brings us to our second Heavenly Kingdom principle- instead of worry, do what’s worthy.  Part of seeking the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, is seeking God’s righteousness. The righteousness we have in Christ. Our own worthless righteousness has been replaced with Christ’s worthy righteousness- we didn’t earn it, instead it was given to us, and as believers we need to embrace that righteousness in who we are because of Jesus and live into that righteousness as a result.  You never have to worry when you do the right thing when you put into practice the righteousness of God that you have been covered with.  Worry happens and increases when we do the wrong things. 

Worry and its accompanying doubts and anxieties is prevalent in a community where righteousness is not valued or practiced.  Worry happens when we seek and serve other masters than Christ and His righteousness as people of God.  This is not just a major point in Jesus’ Sermon it is a major cause of worry and anxiety that we can end up planting and perpetuating in others when we do not treat them rightly or love and care for them the way Jesus has loved us.  Compassion and care for others- doing right by them can go a long way in alleviating not just our own worries but the worries of others.  Seeking and activating God’s righteousness in our own lives will go a long way in irradicating the worry and anxiety of the communities we live in and bring glory to God as the Good Shepherd who cares for His sheep through us trusting in Him and as a result living and acting righteously towards one another and our neighbor (see 1st John).

Finally, our third Heavenly Kingdom principle- instead of worry, walk with God.  Matthew, and the other Gospels tell us irrevocably that Jesus came, that Jesus has come, and that Jesus is coming back and that we can confidently walk with Him because God is caring for us.  Jesus has erased our pasts with its old regrets.  Jesus has secured our future by His Life, Cross and Resurrection.  And He has given us TODAY!  That is why we call it “the present” it is ours to unwrap and walk with Him as we serve one another!  Don’t let worry sideline you from this incredible adventure that awaits us in 2023!  Jesus holds our tomorrows so we don’t have to speculate over them but can concentrate on today where we are gifted to live and serve!  The here and now is where our spiritual fruit grows, and where our faith can confidently grow as well.  Verse 34 reminds us that the absence of worry does not mean the absence of today’s troubles but put in the context of this passage that we can confidently walk with God through them because He cares for us…  So, where are you today?  Are you worried because of your troubles, or are you trusting because of God’s presence?  Are you walking in His promises and by His commands or are you paralyzed by worry and the doubt it brings?  My prayer for all of us this 2023 is that instead of worrying we will worship; we will do what’s worthy and confidently walk with our Good Shepherd who is caring for us!  What a year it can be as we activate 2023 and soar on the wings of eagles!  Let’s pray…