Do Not Worry

Good morning. Good morning. It's great to see you, Twin Lakes. Joy to be with you if we've never met. My name is Jay, and I am a pastor just over the hill at a church called Westgate Church in San Jose, sort of a sister church. For a number of years before that, though, I was here, like in Santa Cruz County at another sister church of Twin Lakes called Vintage Faith, just on Mission Street. Yes, vintage. But it's been a couple of years since I've been here, and I say sort of a similar thing every time I come. But honestly, I mean it more every time I come. And that's certainly true for this weekend.

Every time I'm here with you at Twin Lakes, I hang out with your pastors, and I just hear the stories of what God is doing here in you and through you. And every time I marvel and am just overwhelmed with gratitude, just as a follower of Jesus for a church family like this, where there is such an openness and a hunger and a desire to see more of God's—just as Ben's saying—more of God's kingdom come here and now. And a church like this where you sacrifice and really give of yourself in a meaningful way to help Santa Cruz County look a little bit more like the kingdom of God. And it's really inspiring to me.

So if you're here and maybe you're new to Twin Lakes, I just got to tell you, you landed at a beautiful place with beautiful people. And you are led—I don't know if you know just how good you have it—with Pastor René and Val and Mark and so many others. Just an incredible, incredible place. And I'm honored to be here with you. Also, the song that Ben wrote and just sang right now—holy smokes. Like, I said this at every service. I kind of feel like I want to ask Ben and the team to come back up and let's just sing that song for 20 minutes and call it good. That would be a good Sunday. But you're going to have to bear with me as I talk for the next half hour. So here we go.

I want to show you an image here. This is an illustration of a ship called the Essex. Some of you know the story of the Essex. This is a drawing of a real-life ship, the Essex. Some of you know that name because the story in the book Moby Dick was based on the real-life story of this ship. The Essex was a whaling ship in the early 19th century. And at that time, whaling, like hunting for whales, essentially, was big business. It was really dangerous work, but it was big business.

So in August of 1819, 20 men boarded the Essex off the coast of Massachusetts, and they had a plan. And the plan was to sail from the coast of Massachusetts all the way down the Atlantic to the southern tip of South America and back up around into the Pacific Ocean. And their plan was that this would be a three-year-long journey where they would hunt for whale and come back rich. But things, those of you who know the story of the Essex, you know that things did not go according to plan.

Pretty early on in their journey, the ship was hit by a whale. The ship capsized, and they had to abandon ship and get into these small little lifeboats and row their way to safety. When the ship Essex was capsized, the crew of 20 men looked at their map, and they realized they had two choices, two options before them. First, there was an island about 1,500 nautical miles away. That's a long distance, but it was doable in the lifeboats. It was doable because had they gone to the island 1,500 nautical miles away, they would have been rowing with the wind. So they would have had the wind against their back helping them get to this island.

And then they had another option, another island that was double the distance, 3,000 nautical miles away. To get to this further island, they would have had to have rowed against the wind. Now with those two options before you, the choice is obvious, right? Go to the closer island with the wind. And yet these men, these brave men— to be on a whaling ship for three years, you have to be brave—these 20 brave men choose the 3,000 miles away island against the wind. Why do they make this foolish decision? They make this choice because of some rumors they had heard that there were cannibals on the island that was closer.

And so out of worry and fear and anxiety, they choose the island that is further away. And those of you who know the story of the Essex know the irony of the story. Twelve out of the 20 men die on the journey to this island. And this is the real irony. It's really graphic, but it's a true story. They have to revert to cannibalism to survive. That's the irony. Now why do I gross you out to start this sermon? This is how worry works. A small thing becomes a medium thing, becomes a big thing. And in the midst of uncertainty, all that feels unsure to us, we default to worry and to fear and to anxiety.

Worry works like this. One writer puts it this way, that worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained. You know this, right? From experience, you know what this feels like. I know what it feels like. I've often had the situation where I'm at work one day and I'm leading a meeting. And in that meeting, I make an offhanded comment, but it's fairly benign, not a big deal. I go on about my day. I go home. Eight hours later, I've had dinner and put the kids to bed. And I'm lying there in bed awake. And then this little thing happens in my mind. Man, why did I say that the way I said it?

And then that little thing becomes kind of a medium thing. I wonder what people think of me now that I said that thing the way I said it. And then that medium thing, if I allow it to cut a channel into my mind, becomes a big thing. You know, I don't think I'm going to go back to work tomorrow or ever. I think I'm going to move to Mexico and just hide my face forever. I'm so embarrassed, right? I mean, this happens in small ways, but it happens in really big ways. And it can ruin us. The National Institute of Mental Health said that last year, 20%, one in five American adults experienced some form of anxiety disorder. They say that one in three American adults will experience some form of anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.

Just as an aside, I know that's a reality for many of us in this room. Some of us have actually been diagnosed, maybe even, with something really serious, a really serious condition. If that is you, I just want you to know. Sometimes seeking professional help is a way to partner with what God might want to do in our lives. And if that's you, maybe you need some help, I would encourage you. Talk to a pastor here at Twin Lakes. They can resource you and connect you with the right people and point you in the right direction.

But whether you've been diagnosed with something or not, the reality is all of us in this room, all of us watching online, we live in a culture of worry, worry, and fear, and anxiety in so many ways. They have become the air we breathe. Life circumstances and uncertainties coupled with the voices in our own heads, coupled with the constant barrage of our news feeds and our social media feeds, they have created an untenable, unmanageable, unlivable situation for us. In the midst of all of that, Jesus teaches us the Jesus way.

In Matthew 6:25–30, he says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, 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." And then pay attention to this line. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Man, that is a question to ponder. "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," here's the phrase again, "much more clothe you, you of little faith."

Now twice in this story, in this teaching, Jesus uses the words, "not much more." Are you not much more? Will he, will God not much more clothe you? This isn't random. That phrase, those two words in the English, much more, it's an example of a teaching method that was really common amongst Jewish teachers, Jewish rabbis at the time of Jesus. Really, really common. It was known as kalvahamer, which literally translates from light to heavy. And so Jewish teachers, Jewish rabbis, like Jesus, at the time, over and over again in their teaching, would use this teaching method, kalvahamer, from light to heavy.

Essentially, it was a way of saying, what applies to something less important, light, applies much more to something more important, heavy. Kalvahamer, light to heavy. If it applies here, it applies so much more there. And that's what Jesus is doing. When you and I—I mean, Santa Cruz County, you guys, you live in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. When you go to the beach and you see the ocean and it looks so effortless, like the waves are just rolling in and out, in and out, every single speck of sand that looks like this beautiful mosaic, smooth and still. If God is a good God who made a good world full of beautiful, good things like the ocean and the sand and the trees and the flowers and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea and on and on and on.

If God made all that and He cares enough, pays enough attention to keep the waves beautifully rolling in, to keep the sun, to keep it rising and setting day after day. If God cares enough, is attentive enough to keep the motions of His good world moving, how much more does He care for and pay attention to the details of your life? Because you are His son, you are His daughter. Humans are the pinnacle of His creation. How much more? Kalvahamer.

You know, in my life, I've come to realize, when I wrestle with worry—and I wrestle with worry, just like you—I've come to realize, for me at least, that I most often worry not because I forget that God is powerful, but because I forget that God is personal, that He wants relationship with me. And when I forget that God is personal, I start defaulting to this myth, this lie, that God is just transactional. Here's what I mean. It's very strange. I have this really vivid memory from when I was in middle school. And when I was in middle school, I did what middle school boys normally do. I don't know if they do anymore, but this is what we did when I was in middle school in the '90s.

Me and my friends, after school, we would go to the mall to stare at pretty girls that we would never have the courage to talk to. So we would just go and awkwardly stare. That's what 12-year-old boys did. So one day, I go to the mall with my buddies, and there we are sitting awkwardly gawking at all the pretty girls. And then my gaze is distracted when from the corner of my eye, I see a vending machine. And if there is something that 12-year-old boys like just as much as pretty girls, it's chips, potato chips. And so I'm like, you know, I haven't had a snack in a while, I'm kinda hungry. So I look at the vending machine, and I see within that vending machine a bag of Funyuns. And you guys, I loved Funyuns. I loved Funyuns, which is why I did not have a pretty girlfriend.

But I see the vending machine, I see the bag of Funyuns, I'm like, dude, guys, I'm hungry, let's go get a bag of chips. We're like, okay, so we walk over to the vending machine, I put in my three quarters, and then I press B6 or whatever it was, and then the thing, the nightmare of vending machines. You know exactly, you know where the story's headed. The little metal coil starts turning, and the bag of Funyuns is coming to me. I'm like, come to me, my beloved Funyuns. And the thing is like uncoiling, the bag is about to drop into my loving care, and then the metal coil stops. And the bag of Funyuns is just dangling there, teasing me. I know you want me, you cannot have me. Like all the pretty girls, right? It's just like the theme of my life at age 12. It's like, no!

So I'm shaking the vending machine, I'm like, come on. It's like this grave injustice, which is why I think I still have this memory seared into my mind, you know? And my friends at a certain point, they get really annoyed, they're like, dude, it's just a bag of chips. They leave, and I kid you not, I think the reason I remember this is because I sat there staring at this thing for way too long. It must have been like a solid 20, 30 minutes, I'm just like, come on, come on, right? I'm staring at this thing, and I like never got the bag of Funyuns. Now, why do I share that with you? It's because my anxiety, my anger, my frustration in that moment was primarily born out of the fact that I didn't—that's going to sound so silly—I did not have a loving relationship of trust with that vending machine.

So like, I did not know if it would finally, at some point, give me the thing I deserved. Like I had no relation, it's a vending machine, of course I don't have a relationship. But the point is this, had that been my mother, it would have been a totally different experience. Like had it been my mom, and I went to her, and I was like, mom, can I have a snack, bag of chips? My mom would have said one of two things. Either one, she would have said, no, you've had way too much junk food already today, so let's take it easy. Or she would have said, sure, honey, open the cupboard, there's a bag of chips for you. It would have been one of the two.

Now that's how relationships work, because whichever response my mother would have given me, both would have been born of love, out of care for me. But vending machines don't work that way. Vending machines don't care about my health. The vending machine was not saying, I know you gave me 75 cents, but listen, your cholesterol, Jay, is a little, so let's, I'm going to hold on to this, come back tomorrow. No, it was just like, it wasn't working, it was malfunctioning. I run the risk every time worry takes a hold of me. The temptation for me is to forget that God is a loving Father, and to think of Him as a vending machine.

I go and pray my three prayers, I press B6 and tell Him what I need, and I immediately expect a solution to my problem. But let me ask you a question. How often has your relationship with God worked that way? I mean, if a relationship with God worked that way, none of us would have problems. None of you would probably really be a church, honestly. Just like, why do I need to spend an hour and a half like going and listening to, whatever, I just, I know how it works. I pray these three prayers, I tell God what I need, and He gives me the solution to my problem.

But when we see God primarily as a machine that gives us solutions to our problems, we forget the reality that what God primarily wants with us is a relationship, not a transaction. I would not have gotten my bag of chips and sat there with the vending machine saying, man, you're such a good vending machine, thank you so much. Tell me about your day, how's it going, how's business? I would have just gotten the thing I needed and left, and this is what we want with God. God, give me the thing I need. But that's not what God wants with us. God is a father, not a machine. We are children, not customers.

This is why in Matthew 7:9–11, Jesus says, if you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more, kalvahamer, again, light to heavy, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him? This is why in Romans 8:15, we read that the spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again. Rather, the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship, and by Him we cry, Abba, Father. 1 John 3:1, see what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.

Some of you know the name Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence was a 17th-century Christian monk who did all of his work in a Christian monastery at the time. But the thing about Brother Lawrence is he wasn't some brilliant writer or thinker or preacher. We don't remember the name Brother Lawrence because of all of his incredible work or accomplishments. Brother Lawrence was uneducated, he was handicapped in a war, and he spent all of his adult life serving in this Christian monastery by cooking, cleaning the dishes, and eventually later in life, fixing the sandals of the other Christian monks in the monastery.

But we remember the name Brother Lawrence because he somehow, some way, exuded an almost supernatural awareness of God's presence. And he said this, "I cannot imagine living satisfied without the practice of the presence of God. While I am with Him, with God, I fear nothing." We need only to recognize God intimately present with us to address ourselves to Him every moment. Listen, Christian or not, religious or not, and if you are not a Christian and you're here today, I just want you to know we are thrilled you're here. And even though you and I might believe different things about God and Jesus and the world, here's what I know is true of you and true of me. Every one of us want this, to fear nothing.

You know how you get there? To be with God. It's not a solution to your problem that will lead to a fearless life. It is the presence of God, an awareness of His presence with you as your loving Father that will lead you to a fearless life. Freedom from the anxiety and the fears and the worries. This is why the psalmist writes in Psalm 23:4, "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil." Why? "For you are with me." Not because you solved my problems or did away with my issues or gave me all the answers. I fear no evil because God, you are with me.

This is the point Jesus is making when He continues in Matthew 6:31–34. "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." God knows what you need. "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, for each day has enough trouble of its own."

The way to live life with God, which leads to freedom from our worry and anxiety and a fearlessness, is to seek first God's kingdom. Now, what does that mean? At the very beginning of the passage we read today, that we're in today, the passage begins. Jesus says, "Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life." Now, when I was in Bible college, some of you went to Bible college, I guarantee you had a professor who said this to you. Every Bible college professor says this. I was taught, as you were taught, whenever in the Bible you see a therefore, you should ask what the therefore is therefore, right? It's very cheesy, but super accurate. So, what is the therefore therefore?

Well, you just go back one verse. Matthew 6:24, Jesus says, "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." Now, this comes on the tail end of a teaching Jesus has done on money and finances and on and on. And at the time of Jesus, like today, money was considered one of the primary ways to secure your future. The same holds true today, maybe even more so. Many of us have come to believe that if we just have enough money, then our worries will go away.

Or maybe it's not money. Some of us have come to believe, man, if I can just secure the right relationship, all my worries will go away. If my kids would just begin to make these changes and act these ways, then all my worries will go away. If I could just get this business up off the ground, all my worries will go away. If I could just pad the retirement account, or if I can just secure the right amount of funding, or if I can just get into that school, or get that job, or earn that promotion, or whatever it might be, then all my worries will go away. But here's the thing, whatever you fill in the blank with, that is your master.

That word master that Jesus uses, it's the Greek word kyrios, which is most often translated in the New Testament as the word Lord. So when the early Christians proclaimed that Jesus is Lord, they were saying, Jesus is kyrios. Whatever you fill in the blank with, because you believe having that thing, or achieving that thing, or securing that thing will make your worries, and fears, and anxieties go away, that is your Lord. But seeking first God's kingdom begins by acknowledging that Jesus is Lord. Money is not Lord, that job is not Lord, that relationship is not Lord. Your children are not Lord. Your parents, your family, they, as much as you love them, they are not Lord. Your worry is not Lord, your anxiety is not Lord, your uncertainty, your fear, your concerns, none of it is Lord. Jesus is Lord.

And when you place him at the center on the throne of your heart and mind, he draws near to you in love. And when you are with him, there is no fear. I'm going to ask Ben and the team to come back up. We're going to sing and respond together here in a moment. Jenny and I, my wife and I, we've got two young children. Our daughter Harper is nine, and our son Simon is six. And it's not like this anymore, but Harper, our daughter specifically, when she was really young. So probably between the ages of like two and four, something like that, she had a real, not uncommon, she had a real fear of the dark.

So for a couple of years, it was a nightly—I mean, I mean this when I say nightly—every single night for a couple of years. It was a nightly occurrence. I just had to like mentally, emotionally prepare myself. Every single night for a couple of years, at some point in the middle of the night, I would hear with such fear and trembling from her room, her quivering little voice, "Daddy, Daddy!" And I would have to get up, rub the sleep from my eyes, and make my way to her room. And every night, I would hold her close. I would whisper to her that everything's going to be okay. Some nights, I would sing to her. Some nights, I would ask her to sing with me some song about God's presence, God's love. And eventually, every night, she would calm down.

She would begin to take some deep breaths. She would hug me. She would get tired. And gently, I would lay her back down to sleep. This happened every night for a couple of years. And you know, as I experienced this thing over and over again, every single night, I came to realize that what my daughter was seeking was not primarily a solution to the problem of darkness. What my little girl was wanting was not primarily an answer to the issue of the monsters in her closet. I came to realize that ultimately, what my little girl, whether she knew it or not, what my little girl was really seeking, what she was really wanting was to know, is Daddy still here? Is he still present? Is he still aware? Does he still hear me? Will he still come to my aid?

What comforted my daughter in her worry was not the logical conclusion that darkness isn't something to fear or that there are no monsters in the closet. What comforted her in her worry was the realization that Dad is close. He is attentive. He is listening. And he is near. And he is ready to come to my aid when I need it. And so it is with our worry today. Whether you know it or not, what you need, what you want desperately is not a simple answer to your complex problem. What human beings need is to know that God is close, that he is attentive, that he hears you, that he sees you, and that he is near you, and that he is ready to come to your aid. And the answer is, he is.

This is why we read in 1 John 4:18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. We read elsewhere in 1 John 4:8, that God is love. God drives out fear. So here's what I want to do. I want to invite everybody in the room. I would like for you to close your eyes for these next few moments. Just every eye closed in the room. And I would like to ask you with eyes closed, if you want to, if you are willing, no pressure, you don't have to, but if you want to, I want you to think about a situation or circumstance in your life that is causing you worry right now.

Maybe it's a relationship. Maybe it's your kids. Maybe it's your parents. Maybe it's something else going on in your family. Maybe it's financial uncertainty or a job situation or some other relational tension at work or in a friend group. Maybe it's some deep darkness inside of you that you are too ashamed to share with anybody. An addiction, some secret you've been holding inside. Whatever it is that is causing you the most worry in your life. As you think about that thing, I would like you, again, with eyes closed, if you are willing, to hold your hands out in front of you with your palms up. And I want you to imagine that you are holding in your hand right now the situation or circumstance that is causing you so much worry. Just hold it in your hand.

As you do, I want you to imagine offering that worry to God. I want you to know that God sees you. God hears you. He is attentive to you. He is near you. He is close, closer than you can possibly imagine. He knows the complexities of that which you are offering to Him right now. He knows its complexities in ways that you don't. I want you to imagine offering that worry to Him. And I want you to feel a sort of lightness in your hands as Jesus our King takes that worry and bears that burden upon His own shoulders. And now in its place, I want you to imagine receiving nothing more and nothing less than His loving presence. God sees you. He hears you. He's with you. He's for you.

So Jesus, we surrender to you all that is causing us fear and anxiety and worry. And we thank you that you are big enough and strong enough and gracious enough and loving enough to carry that burden for us. And we receive in its place your loving presence which casts out all fear so that we might live light and free and at peace. Pray these things, Jesus, in your name, amen.