Why Worry? | Summer on the Mount | Trinity Sermons

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of

Trinity Sermons. Are you worried? There is lots

in the world to be worried about right now, from

natural disasters, to wars, to our money, to

our relationships falling apart. We all worry.

But what does Jesus have to say to us in that

worry? How does he offer us comfort and guidance

to make it through? That's what we're going to

be looking at in today's sermon. Today's reading

is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 6, verses

Matthew 6:19–34

19 to 34. Do not store up for yourselves treasures

on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and

where thieves break in and steal. But store up

for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths

and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves

do not break in and steal. For where your treasure

is, there your heart will also be. The eye is

the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,

your whole body will be full of light. But if

your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will

be full of darkness. If then the light within

you is darkness, how great is that darkness?

No one can serve two masters. Either you will

hate the one and love the other, or you will

be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore

I tell you, Do not worry about your life and

what you will eat or drink, or about your body

and what you will wear. Is not life more than

food, and the body more than clothes? Look at

the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap

or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly

Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable

than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single

hour to your life? And why do you worry about

clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow?

They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that

not even Solomon, in all his splendor, was dressed

like one of these. If that is how God clothes

the grass of the field, which is here today and

tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not

much more clothe you, you of little faith? So

do not worry, saying, what shall we eat or what

shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the

pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly

Father knows that you need them. But seek first

his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these

things will be given to you as well. Therefore,

do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will

worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble

of its own. The word of the Lord. There are some

people who do not worry at all. You know, in

fact, we have to take their blood pressure just

to see if they're alive. In fact, the rest of

us, we worry why they're not worried. And on

the other hand, there are others of us who worry

about just about everything. In fact, we have

worries and worries and worries, and we even

have backup worries, just in case we don't need

to worry about these things anymore. And then

there's the rest of us who are somewhere in the

middle of all that, you know, that we kind of

worry and we kind of don't worry. So what I want

to do this morning to get started is I want to

ask you three questions, okay? And you can answer

these questions by a show of hands. Just to let

us know where you're at. So here's the first

question. Who of you, by worrying, can add a

single hour to your life? Show of hands. Okay,

good. Second question is this. Who of you, by

worrying, may have actually subtracted hours

or days from your life? Show of hands. Okay,

okay. And the third question would be this. Who

of you, by worrying, have somehow managed to

improve the quality of your life? No. Okay, it's

kind of what I thought. So let's just recap.

So we know that worrying won't extend our life.

That in fact, worrying probably shrinks the length

of our life. And that worrying doesn't add anything

to the quality of our life. So then the question,

of course, is why on earth would we worry? So

as your priest, as your pastor, let me just say

this to you. Stop it. Okay, Libby, you can come

back up. We're done. That's it for today's sermon.

We're going to move on with the rest of the service.

No. Fortunately, we can't do it just like that

because actually we know that worrying and the

command that Jesus gives us not to worry is one

of the hardest commandments in the entire Bible

to obey. I think that we feel we have this responsibility

to worry. That if we're not worrying, then somehow

we're not... paying attention we're not paying

attention to the 24 7 news cycle out there we're

not paying attention to those social media fear

loops, that we're not paying attention to the

economic uncertainty. And so we are under constant

pressure to plan. We're under constant pressure

to predict our lives. And we want to control

things. And we think that if somehow by stressing

enough and by worrying enough, we might actually

be able to control the future somehow and prevent

bad things from happening. But of course, we

know that's not true. In fact, if you were to

look at the definition of worry, the word worry

comes from an English word which means to choke

or to strangle, which means that worry is like

an assassin who sneaks up behind you and puts

you in a headlock and slowly drains the life

out of you. In Greek, the Greek word for worry

is this word merom nao. And that has a slightly

different meaning. It means to be pulled into

directions. And that makes sense because... People

who worry, on the one hand, our hearts and minds

are pulled toward God, wanting to trust God.

But on the other hand, we're also pulled toward,

what if this happens? What if that happens? What

about next week? What about next year? And that

is why people who worry are often, I think, so

very distracted. It's because part of their mind

is over here, and the other part of their mind...

is a million miles away, thinking about something

that might happen in the future. Divided minds,

fragmented hearts. So, we're in... The middle

of this teaching series called Summer on the

Mount, where we're looking at Jesus' amazing

teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. It's found

in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. And Jesus talks about

and teaches us so much in that really condensed

piece of teaching. He talks about marriage and

forgiveness and prayer and love and money and

all these things. And today, Jesus is going to

talk to us about worry. And so I want to invite

you, if you want to follow along, we're basically

just going to go through that. passage on worry.

It starts in Matthew chapter 6, verse 25. If

Matthew 6:25

you have a Bible, you can open it up. If you

want to use your phone, you can turn it on. Because

we're just going to go through what Jesus says

there. I just got back from a week's vacation

where I didn't have a worry in the world. And

I was thinking about worry. I was thinking about

this message today. And I was doing some reading

of Jesus' words. I was reading everything from

John Stott to Rick Warren to Martin Lloyd Jones.

And I think that after all that, I want to share

with you some of what I've learned. I think five

reasons here why Jesus says we shouldn't worry,

and then three other things that we can do instead.

And I just want to remind you that in order to

help you follow along, we've created some sermon

notes, and whether you're here in person, you've

got these paper sermon notes, but we've actually

now started creating fillable sermon notes through

our church app. So if you're watching online,

you can just go to the church center app. You

can click on the three buttons in the bottom

right corner, and then you can see the sermon

notes are available up there. So anyways, here

is the first reason why Jesus tells us not to

worry. Simply this, it's not worth it. It's not

worth it. Jesus says that most of our worry is

misplaced. and that we are worrying about the

wrong kinds of things. It's just not worth it.

Many of you have heard about that study from

the University of Cincinnati that said something

like 85 % of the things that we worry about never,

ever happen. And the other 15 % of the things

we worry about, even though they may come to

pass, the consequences and the results of those

outcomes are not nearly as bad as we thought

they would be. Worry is literally not worth your

time. It is not worth your energy. And that is

why Jesus says, therefore, I tell you, do not

worry about your life, what you're going to eat

or drink or about your body and what you will

wear. And this is important. Is not life more

important than food? And the body, more important

than clothes. I think you should circle those

words. More important. More important. Jesus

is saying there are so many things that we obsess

about. So many things that we worry about that

simply aren't worth it. They're not that important.

There are more important things in life. And

he goes on and he gives a couple of examples.

He talks about what we eat and what we wear.

And I want you to know that when Jesus taught

his first audience 2 ,000 years ago, many of

them did not know where their next meal was going

to come from. Or certainly next week's meal was

going to come from. And many of them maybe only

owned one garment or two, maybe. And so if Jesus

is going to tell people like that, don't worry

about food. And don't worry about what you're

going to wear. What would he say to people like

us today? We, who open up our fridge and we worry,

oh, should I eat this hummus now? Or should I

eat it tomorrow? Well, if I eat it tomorrow,

I might not. Might go bad by tomorrow. We have

a full fridge. Or we walk into our closets and

we look at all our clothes and we think, oh,

geez, I have nothing to wear. If I wear this,

somebody might remember that I wore this two

weeks ago. And what would they think if that

were to happen? We are not hungry people. We

are not starving people. And we are not naked

people. And yet we... are still very, very anxious

about even little things like these. Now, Jesus

has nothing against food or clothing or your

body. Jesus created our bodies. But what he's

saying is, it is not worth worrying about things

like this. Because in the kingdom of God, you

are not what you eat. In the kingdom of God,

you are not what you wear. You are not even just

a body. In the kingdom of God. In the kingdom

of God, you're not measured by your pantry or

your refrigerator. You're not measured by your

mirror or your wardrobe, right? Is not life more

important than food? Jesus says, is not life

more important than clothes? You're more than

that. How much stuff are you worrying about right

now that just isn't worth it? life is more important

than those things. That is the first reason Jesus

says why we should not worry. The second reason

Jesus tells us not to worry is because it's not

how we're made. You've probably heard someone

tell you, hey, I was just a born worrier. I just

came out of the womb and I was a worrier. And

I don't think that's true. I don't think any

of us are really born worriers. Worry is a learned

behavior. It's something that we learn from our

parents. It's something that we learn from our

friends or our partner or whatever. In fact,

I came across, oh, I did that thing. It did that

thing where it goes through all my slides to

the very end. Anyways, here it is. We're going

to come back. I came across this study. It was

in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

It found that children of anxious parents were

significantly more likely to develop anxious

thinking patterns themselves. Why? Because they're

observing and they're imitating their parents'

responses to stress. is not natural, in other

words. It's not how we're made. It's not what

we were designed for. It's something that we

learn throughout life. Now, Jesus actually gave

an example to prove his point. He does a little

bird watching. Now, I'm no ornithologist, but

I don't think that birds worry that much. I mean,

birds, what do they do? They maybe build a nest

once a year. They sing a few songs. They flutter

around, they eat whatever is within arm's reach

of themselves. I have never seen a bird put together

a five -year strategic plan. I have never seen

a bird anxious or worried. I've never seen a

bird go grocery shopping or have to plan meal

preps or budgets. Birds kind of live in this

all -inclusive resort kind of lifestyle. And

yet... And yet they're always taken care of.

And then Jesus moves from birdwatching to botany,

and he starts talking about the flowers that

are in the field, the grass that is in the field.

This grass is so beautifully clothed with flowers.

These flowers only may last six weeks, and then

they're gone forever. So you see, plants don't

worry. It's not natural. Animals don't worry.

Birds don't worry. Now, some of you will say,

oh, Rob, what about an antelope when it sees

a lion coming? And that is true. When an antelope

sees a lion coming, its stress response goes

through the roof. It moves into fight or flight

mode. But when the lion is gone, The antelope's

stress returns down to normal. The antelope does

not sit around thinking, oh, what if the lion

comes back tomorrow at 3 p .m.? What will I do

then? The antelopes don't do that. Only humans

do that, right? It's not natural for us to do

that. Now, the good news is, therefore, if worry

is something that we learn, then it's something

we can unlearn. And that's what Jesus is teaching

us, that when we enter into the kingdom of God

and follow him, then the more we trust Jesus

and the more we trust God, the more we learn

this kingdom life, the less we will worry. We

will unlearn our worrying tendencies. Okay, so

number one, worrying is not worth it. Number

two, worrying is not how you were made. And number

three, Jesus tells us that worry is actually

just, not helpful. Worry doesn't work. Whatever

you think worrying is going to do, it just doesn't

work. It is completely unproductive. It changes

absolutely nothing. You can't worry yourself.

millimeter taller. You can't through worry get

any shorter. You can't through worry lose any

weight or get any thinner. And Jesus says that

by worrying you can't even add a single day to

your life. Who of you by worrying can add even

a single hour to your life? The answer is nobody.

Nobody. Worrying doesn't add life. It actually

subtracts life. I remember hearing the story

of this guy who was so worried that his house

was going to be broken into by a burglar. You

know, for years and years and years, he lay awake

in bed listening to every sound out there. If

he heard the creak of a door, he would, oh, is

it the burglar? If he heard the wind, he thought

it was a burglar. He heard a cat yowling. outside.

He thought it was a burglar, and for years and

years, he had security systems installed. He

had doorbell cams. He had a sprinkler system

installed with a motion detector, whatever, and

for 20 years, he sat there worrying, and no burglar

ever came, except finally one day, a burglar

did come poking around his house, and he ran

down to confront him, and he said, hey, You're

late. I've been waiting for you for two decades,

right? Now, see, you might say, oh, see, he was

right to worry. He was right to worry. The burglar

did eventually show up, but I will tell you this.

He may have been robbed once by that thief, but

he was robbed thousands of times by his worry.

When you worry about the past, you cannot change

it. When you worry about the future, You can't

control it, right? Worry can't change that. It

can't change that. It only messes up with your

life right here and now today. That's all it

does. It's not helpful. It's not useful. It's

completely unproductive. Now, fourthly, though,

I think this is perhaps the most important point

that Jesus makes, in that Jesus says worry is

just not necessary. Worry is completely unneeded

because God already knows what you need and will

provide for you. I want you just to imagine there's

a little girl sitting here at the breakfast table

and she's sitting there, you know, swinging her

legs. You know, she's not worrying. She's not

worrying, oh, I wonder if there's enough food

in the fridge. She's not sitting there calculating.

the grocery budget. She's not biting her nails

wondering if mom and dad remembered to pay the

hydro bill this week, right, or this month. She

is just sitting there. She's sitting there waiting

for toast. Mom's going to bring her some toast.

Now, why? It's because she trusts her parents

to know what she needs and to provide it. In

fact, it would be very strange to see a five

-year -old pacing back and forth wondering, oh

my gosh, what if the peanut butter is gone? And

oh goodness, what if we can't afford cereal this

week? Or what if mom forgot that I actually like

apple juice or whatever? That is how we treat

God. You have a father who knows what you need

before you even ask for it. So you can stop stressing

and sit down at the table and trust that your

daily bread is coming. Jesus puts it this way,

if God cares so wonderfully for the flowers,

won't he surely care for you, you of little faith?

When I find myself worrying about things, it's

actually a sign, that I am misunderstanding who

God is. And if I don't understand him, then I'm

not going to trust him. And if I don't trust

him, then, of course, I'm going to worry instead.

So the real question I think we have to ask ourselves

is not what am I worried about, but it's what

do I believe God is like? The promise is that

God knows your needs. And that as his children,

you don't need to worry. He's not surprised by

your needs or unprepared for your needs. He's

not stingy when he provides. He's your father.

Paul wrote these words. He says, my God shall

supply all your needs. Now, he doesn't say he'll

supply all your greeds. But I think when we think

of things like, will God provide for rent? Will

he provide for my mortgage? Will he provide for

that health expense, that dental bill I didn't

see coming? For those car repairs? If God cares

so wonderfully for flowers, who are just here

today and then they're gone tomorrow, won't he

surely care for you? Oh, you of little faith.

Fifthly, And finally here, Jesus encourages us

not to worry because when we worry, we are setting

a bad example. What do I mean? I mean, Christians,

on the one hand, go around and they preach about

this Heavenly Father, this Heavenly Father who

loves us and gives us our daily bread. We would

tell people, oh, you should trust in God. I trust

in God, da -da -da -da -da. But then when we

go and live lives of worry, we are actually undermining

our very message. Because we are not trusting

the God that we claim to follow. And so why would

anyone else want to follow God? Why would anyone

else choose to trust God when apparently from

our own behavior we don't? trust God when we

are so, so worried. Jesus says, the pagans run

after all these things. And now pagans are those

who don't believe in God. And so yes, if you're

a pagan, maybe you should be worried, right?

Because if you're out there in that big old world

by yourself, you're on your own, it's a dog -eat

-dog world, and you've got no one to depend on

but yourself, yeah, okay. Maybe worry is an appropriate

response. But Christians, ought to be different.

We have this Heavenly Father who says, I will

supply all your needs. And that's why R .H. Mounts

writes that worry is practical atheism. And I

think he's right, that when we worry, we're actually

acting as if a loving God does not exist. We

say we believe, but then we act otherwise, and

onlookers, can only be left to surmise that we

actually don't really believe in this God that

we proclaim. Take it a step further. Worry isn't

just about not trusting God. It's actually about

playing God. See, when you worry, you're assuming

God's job, his responsibility, thinking that

somehow by worrying, you can control. The uncontrollable.

I thought only God can do that. No, but I'm going

to do that, right? So whether it is that we're

worrying that God won't come through or whether

it is that we're pretending to be God ourselves,

all of it undercuts our message. All of it looks

like unbelief in the eyes of a watching world.

So there you go. I just spent 15, 20 minutes

telling you a whole lot of nots. Worry is not

worth it. It's not how we're made. It's not helpful.

It's not necessary. It is not a good example.

But the Sermon on the Mount is not about the

nots. It's not all about the don'ts. It is about

the do's. It is about the yeses. It is about

how we do live in God's kingdom. So just as we

close, let's move a little further in that passage

from the don'ts to the do's. And from the nots

to the oughts. And let's see how we can resist

the stranglehold of worry. Here Jesus tells us.

According to Jesus, peace comes. From putting

God first. Now remember what the definition of

worry was. It was to have a divided mind. Kind

of over here with God. Kind of over here worrying

about these situations. But Jesus says that therefore

the solution is to undivide your mind. To focus

your mind just on God. And to put God first.

That's how you avoid worry. Right? That's why

he says seek first the kingdom of God. And his

righteousness. And all these. things will be

given to you. Worry is like this warning light

on your dashboard. Warning, warning, warning.

It is telling you something is off. It's telling

you you have prioritized some other thing in

your life ahead of God. Something else has crept

into first place for you. Something other than

God. Could be a relationship. Could be a job.

Could be finances. Could be your health. Could

be parenting. Anything. Whenever and wherever

God is not first, that area will become an area

of worry for you. So the solution is to put God

back in first place. And when you do that, when

you seek the kingdom of God first, life gets

simpler. Life may not get easier, but it gets

simpler because now your trust is anchored in

one person, and that one is someone who will

provide. always for you. That's why at some point

in your life, every person has to decide, what

am I going to live for? What is that one thing

that I'm going to live for? And the way that

you answer that question will determine a whole

lot about how much you worry in life. And I just

want to say, if you've never even done this before,

you could just pray even a simple prayer today

just to say, Jesus, Take it all. Take my past.

Take my present. Take my future. Take my worries

and my problems and my finances and my health

and my relationships. I give it all to you, and

I want you to be first in my life. The second

way Jesus tells us to break free of this thing

called worry. It's just to take life one day

at a time. Look at what he says. He says, therefore,

do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow is

going to worry about itself. Each day has enough

trouble of its own. I was thinking about a way

to explain this. And we like to shop at No Frills

in our house. And No Frills sells these amazing,

very durable big bags that hold so many groceries.

And so often when I go into the store, I'll take

three or four of these with me. But because they

hold so much, when it comes to the checkout,

I usually just fill one so, so, so full. And

then I have all these empty bags. And then I'm

like haul. They call them haulers, by the way.

I'm hauling this thing to the car. I could put

my back out. The bag could rip. The food could

fall and be destroyed. And that is exactly what

we do when we carry the weight of tomorrow before

it comes. When we carry the weight of yesterday

rather than just today, right? Every day has

its own set of challenges. So just put the things

for today in the bag for today. Don't, you know,

stuff all of yesterday's problems into that bag

too. Don't stuff all of tomorrow's problems into

that bag as well. You can't bear that weight.

You can't. The good news is that God gives us

life. in these 24 -hour packages called days.

And of course we've got to plan ahead. Planning

is wise, but don't take yesterday's problems

and put them into here. And don't take tomorrow's

worries and put them into here. The 24 hours

in front of you has enough to worry about today.

And if we spend so much time worrying about yesterday

and tomorrow, then we're actually going to miss

out on whatever God is trying to show us today

anyways. In fact, in a few weeks, Kyla is going

to preach to us about the Lord's Prayer. And

what does Jesus teach us in the Lord's Prayer?

Does he say, give us today our monthly bread?

Does he say, give us today our weekly bread?

No, he says, give us today our daily bread. Because

Jesus wants us to learn to depend on him one

day at a time. Not a year at a time, a day at

a time. Finally, after everything Jesus taught

us about worrying, after saying, hey, live one

day at a time, seek the kingdom, there's still

one more reason that we can stop worrying and

trust him completely. And that's because God

has so shown us that he is trustworthy. Paul

says, he who did not spare his own son, but gave

him up for us all, how will he not also along

with him? graciously give us all things. Paul

says it plainly. God has already given you his

very, very best. He didn't hold back his own

son. He didn't hold back from the suffering and

pain of the cross. So why do you think God would

suddenly get stingy on you now? I mean, Jesus

was the most precious thing to God. So he gave

you Jesus. Do you think he's now going to forget

about rent and groceries? Or your next job? The

cross is the ultimate evidence that God is for

us, not against us, and he will give us what

we need. I mean, imagine someone gives you a

brand new car. They just give you the keys to

a brand new car. And as you're getting in, you

stop and say, wait, wait, am I allowed to use

the air conditioning? Of course you can use the

air conditioning. car is yours, right? If someone

gives you the car, they're obviously giving you

access to everything inside the car. And that's

what Paul is saying. God already gave you the

keys to everything in his son, Jesus. Why would

he suddenly pull back when you ask him for peace

and provision and direction? John Stott puts

it this way. This is the logic of heaven. The

greater gift includes the lesser. If God gave

us Christ, nothing else we could ask for would

be beyond his generosity. So when that voice

of worry starts to rise up in you, here's a question

to ask. Just remember, has God not already proven

himself? Look at the cross. Look at the empty

tomb. Look at Jesus. He's got nothing left to

prove. And we have every reason to trust him.

So in the end, worrying isn't so much really

about what is happening around us. It's actually

who we believe God is. If we see him as small

and distant and unreliable, we're going to live

divided lives full of anxiety. But if we believe

he's our loving father and our daily provider,

the one who already gave his own son, then we

can trust in his care and confidence. Trade your

worries for steady trust. Seek first the kingdom.

Live one day at a time. And remember, the God...

gave his best will never fail to give us what

we need. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thank you for

listening to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons.

This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville

in Mississauga, Ontario on August 10, 2025.