Meeting Jesus - You Can Trust God and Others (again)
Worry.
It seems that today we worry about everything.
We worry about our finances:
Do we have enough money to pay the bills?
Do we have enough money to get the car fixed?
Do we have enough money to pay the orthodontist?
Am I ever going to be able to retire?
We worry about our health:
If I get sick, who will take care of my children?
Do I have enough insurance?
I need to exercise, I need to get healthier.
I have been sick so long, am I ever going to get better?
We worry about our children, our grandchildren. We worry about their future, their success, their happiness.
Have we done enough as parents to point them to trust in Jesus and live in faith?
We worry about the future of the country. We worry about political decisions. We worry about who is sitting in the Whitehouse, who is making decisions, and who is voting for them…
WE WORRY!
So, let’s read our passage of scripture to see how Jesus teaches us how to deal with worry.
Let’s read:
Luke 12:22-31 (NLT2)
22 Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. 23 For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. 24 Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! 25 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 26 And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things? 27 “Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 28 And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? 29 “And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. 30 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. 31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
In the preceding passage, Jesus had just finished teaching the parable of the Rich fool. He spoke about how a man had so much stuff that he decided to build a bigger barn to store it all up…and God called him a fool to be rich in the world, but not have a rich relationship with God. And now, Jesus teaches the same crowd how they can develop a rich relationship with God, through living a life that genuinely TRUSTS God.
The first thing we can understand from this passage is that you can…
TRUST GOD BECAUSE HE CARES & PROVIDES FOR YOU.
The crowd that Jesus spoke to were people who were unsure what they would eat every single day. They were farmers, gatherers, and hunters. They could not stop off at the local Publix grocery store for a sushi roll and fried chicken wings. They didn’t drive by Chick-fil-A on the way to work for a coffee and chicken minis.
Because people were dependent on a good harvest, parents were unsure of how they would provide for their children each day. Would their family go to bed hungry this season? They would if the harvest season was slim and they had to stretch the crops out to get through the season. Families often worried about how they would get through the season, the week, and the day.
When Jesus spoke to them, he was looking into the eyes of those who had gone without, those who had eaten less so their kids could have proper nourishment, and those who often went to bed hungry.
The people worried because they knew hunger. The people worried because they knew what it was like to sleep through cold hard nights without enough clothing. The people worried because they had experienced hardship in the past.
That is often why we worry as well.
We worry about our children because we walked through hard and we do not want them to experience what we did.
We worry about our future because we have scraped by in the past, and we do not want to experience it again.
We worry about relationships with other believers, because we have been burned, betrayed, and wounded by people who were followers of Jesus.
We worry about the things in life because we have gone though valleys of brokenness, hurt, betrayal, and pain.
For six years, as a follower of Jesus and as a Pastor, I worried that God wasn’t allowing Kristy and I to have children because we were going to somehow screw them up. I worried that God believed I would be a bad dad and wasn’t going to bless me with kids. Even though I was a follower of Jesus, a youth pastor, and seeking to walk with Jesus, I worried that God saw something wrong with me that I could not see.
Sometimes, we worry about the future because of scars from our past experiences. We fail to truly trust God, because even since you became a follower of Jesus, you have been hurt.
So, pay very close attention to the root cause of our worry. The reason why we worry about the future is found in verse 28.
“Why do you have so little faith?”
See, according to Jesus…
WORRY IS ROOTED IN UNBELIEF; REMEMBER HIS FAITHFULNESS TO YOU!
Worry is rooted in unbelief. We worry today because our memories from our past battles are saturated with unbelief. We remember the wounds and how much something hurt us rather than remembering how God was working the bad stuff out for our good. I want to challenge you to reframe your bad memories so you can trust again and worry less.
For instance, I have shared before about my teenage years. I can either choose to recall my past experiences with unbelief or through the lens of faith and belief.
For the next paragraph, I will recall an event with unbelief:
As a child, I was in a Psychiatric Hospital for three months. I had been sexually abused by my dad. I had mood swings and had bursts of anger and rage when things didn’t go my way. I threatened my mom, I threatened my brothers and sisters. After three months, my mom said she didn’t want me, so I was sent to live with my grandmother through my High School years.
Or I could frame this event in a way that remembers God’s faithfulness can remember it through belief.
Even before I was a follower of Jesus, God was working in my life to help me recover from the impact of growing up with an abusive father. God used a network of people to place me in a Psychiatric Hospital for therapy and help. It was the first time I opened up about the abuse, and the first time I was able to trust people with my secret shame. After three months, God sovereignly allowed me to move in with my grandmother through my high school years where I would meet the girl that invited me to the church where I surrendered my life to Jesus and eventually would meet my future wife.
You can do the same thing!
If you struggle with trusting God because of past experiences that were hard, revisit your memories and look for ways God was faithful to you in the midst of the hard.
Grab a notebook or a journal. Write down the experience through the lens of unbelief and pain…then rewrite the experience through a lens of faith. Look at the way God led you and took care of you and provided for you and moved in your life.
There was an older man in the Old Testament, that had spent time reflecting on painful experiences from his past. His childhood and young adult years was filled with betrayals, and lies that others told about him. His name was Joseph. His brothers (who were going to kill him) sold him off as a slave into Egyptians traders. He grew up as a slave. He was accused of rape and thrown into prison. He grew up without his father. Without his family. Alone.
Yet, God used every situation in his life, including his brother’s evil actions and the false accusation of rape, for good. Toward the end of his life, Joseph was able to say without bitterness to his brothers:
Genesis 50:20-21 (NLT2)
20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.
Joseph was able to trust in the sovereign plan of God. He was able to trust and live believing that God can turn any situation around.
If you believed that God created you to have a relationship with Him, but you sinned and were separated from that relationship with God, and you believe that Jesus paid the price for your sin on the cross, that you have been forgiven and you surrendered your life to Jesus received Jesus as your Savior, and you are now a follower of Jesus, then the promise and the principle that God can work all things out for good, that God can take the bad and redeem it for good, is true for you, too!
Romans 8:28 (NLT2)
28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
So, reflect back on your hurt, your pain, your times of need, and see the thread of God’s Sovereign care weaved through the tapestry of the pain. Look for the way’s he has redeemed the pain and blessed you today.
And remember,
WORRY CAN BE TAMED THROUGH BABY STEPS OF TRUST.
Luke 12:31 (NLT2)
31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
The worry that you have CAN be tamed! If you have been diagnosed with anxiety and are on medication, please continue to take your prescribed meds and course of therapy. Anxiety is persistent. Worry is temporary. So tame worry through baby steps of trust.
Keep attending Worship services. God didn’t speak to you today? Believe He will. Keep on coming back.
Sign Up for Our Next Steps Event on August 27
Volunteer to serve in some capacity in our church.
Begin to give generously to the Lord through the church or to other people.
Sign up to be Baptized. Let your world know that Jesus has forgiven you and changed your life.
Invite a friend to church…God is moving in this place. Invite others to experience the movement of God.
Begin listen to Christian podcasts or Christ centered music.
We can trust God and other’s again because God will use our pain for GOOD. Maybe you have been in so much pain you don’t even want to talk about it. That only means you need to learn to manage your worry. Understand this, your greatest impact on this world could come through reframing your past and seeing God’s faithful guidance.
Your greatest ministry to others could come from your deepest darkest pain.
Mine has. So can yours.
So, live today without worry because you genuinely trust Jesus.
Trust in his guidance.
Trust that God will never leave you or forsake you.
Trust that Jesus prays for you.
Trust that despite the pain, God has been working in your past.
Trust in God’s complete and total forgiveness.
Trust in God’s unending grace.
Trust in his everlasting kindness.
Trust in his overwhelming wisdom.
Trust him as your Prince of Peace.
Trust in his magnificent greatness.