Pay Attention to What God is Doing – Matthew 6:34

by Pastor Sonja Dalglish

for Weslaco First Presbyterian Church

February 27, 2011, Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Isaiah 49:8-16a, Psalm 131, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, Matthew 6: 24-34

focus: God is always with us, no matter where we are in life.

function:  We can turn our worries over to God, so that we can turn our attention to the things we are called to do.

 

Introduction:

Today, we  continue with Jesus’s teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus is again meddling in our lives, trying to reset our priorities.  You might think of him as a great spiritual guru, or in modern terms, or in modern terms, a life coach.  The Messiah has a lot to teach us.  He has told to love God and love our neighbors.  Today, he tells us to pay attention to today.  Because God is doing something now and is calling us to participate.  In this passage, he tells us what not to do, what can get in the way of being good disciples of Christ.

 

God and Wealth

The first thing Jesus tells us is that we cannot serve two masters, God and Mammon.  You may remember Mammon from a recent sermon.  He was the God of Wealth – very popular, because who would not want to be wealthy.  Now, that’s the six million dollar question, isn’t it?  You would think that everyone wants to be rich, not realizing that with wealth comes great responsibility.

 

How to get rich quick is something on many people’s minds.  They can spend their waking and their sleeping time trying to get rich – but Jesus says that loving God and your neighbor should come first.  It is more important that your life and your livelihood, as well as the blessings that come from a successful business be built around what is important to God.  Whether you are rich or poor, it is God and God’s actions in this world that are important.

 

Do not Worry

Then, Jesus tells his disciples, “Do not worry.”  My friend, Peg Graham, told me that she considered worrying one of the greatest sins a Christian could commit.  It shows a lack of trust in God.

 

As I was studying, I decided to look up the official definition of worry out of the dictionary.  Worry is to “give way to anxiety or unease; allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles.”  *  I envision this as being like us walking in circles.   Our mind goes round and round worrying over something big or small.   Worry keeps our eyes on the ground and not on the possibilities ahead of us.  We can get so caught up in remembering a mistake over and over again, that it keeps us from moving ahead.  We can get so involved in worrying over what we are going to eat or wear that we forget to do what we are called to do.

 

Jesus calls us to not worry – instead pay attention to what God is doing.  Pay attention to what you are being called to do and be.  This worry, going round in circles can burn up all your time and energy so that there is very little to give to God.  There is an answer for this — prayer.

 

You see, when Jesus calls and asks you to walk with him and be his disciple, he sends you help.  He sends his Spirit to guide you and give you strength to follow the path of life.  You will still have temptations but you will be given the strength to resist, if you allow God to help you.

 

Once, when I was working for hospice, a new director came in and sat down beside me and asked, “How do you get the energy to do this work?”  I thought about it for a bit and told her, “Prayer.”  That’s where I got the energy.  And prayer is where you will get your energy as well, if you open yourself and allow God to pour God’s Spirit into you.  With that Spirit comes peace and love and wholeness.  It is important that you know how much God wants to help you every day.  There are three ways of praying that can help when you have times of worry and anxiety.  The only way I know out of a circle of anxiety – is up.  Look up.  Be open to God’s Spirit.

 

The first prayer is a breath prayer — is a way of combatting worry and anxieties.  You say one phrase as you breathe in, one phrase as you breathe out.  There are two prayers that are very old.  The first is from a psalm and may have been prayed by believers, Jew and Christian, for three thousand years.  You close your eyes and get comfortable, legs and arms uncrossed.  You slow your breathing and then say to yourself as you breathe in:  “O Lord, come to my assistance.”  Pause.  Then, breathe out and say, “O God, make haste to help me.”  Try this now.  Feel the peace that God is sending you.  Do this again.

 

There are so many things that cause us worry and concern.  It is wonderful that we have such a source of love and peace that we can draw upon.  We can become very fearful about love ones who may be in harm’s way.  We can be overwhelmed with self-doubt and fear when trying to make a change for the better in our lives.  We can get trapped by the commercials and our friends’ insistence that the values of this world are more immediate and important than the eternal values that the Scriptures preach.  We forget to pay attention to what God is doing in our lives and in this world and focus on the ground, on the minutia of life, on the material things, and find ourselves walking in circles, sometimes alone, sometimes with a whole group of other people just as lost as we are.  The way back to the path of life is through prayer, giving these worries to God.

 

A second kind of prayer is called contemplative prayer.  It’s a younger kind of prayer, dating from the 1500’s, taught by Teresa of Avila.  It is very similar to what Buddhists and others call meditation.  It is sitting with God in silence.  There is no need for words.  We can sit, with a straight back, focus on our breathing and on God.  You can contemplate the peace of God or the name of Jesus or another name or character of God.  This can be a source of refreshment and peace in your day.

 

The third way of praying is the Serenity Prayer, written by Reinhold Neibuhr in the 1940’s.  It has been shortened over the years and the grace was removed.  It might even be called the Grace prayer, where Grace is the unmerited favor of God showered upon us.  This prayer has helped many alcoholics and others in various twelve step programs over the past sixty years.  It can help remind you that you do have choices.  It also reminds you that you need God’s help.  This prayer is so helpful that I designed cards that had it on them.

 

The Serenity Prayer

God, give us  grace

to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed,

courage to change the things which should be changed,

and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Reinhold Niebuhr  1943

 

These prayers are powerful, not because I say they are, but because of the power of God.   The Holy Spirit can give you the peace that passes all human understanding.  Give your worries to God so that you may truly live and be present today and notice what God is doing within and around you.

 

I have made a handout of these prayers that you may pick up as you leave.  Practice prayer.  It is a powerful tool in the life of a disciple of Christ.

 

 

What Worry, Anxiety, and Fear Have Done to Us

I have been reading Rabbai Kushner’s new book, Conquering Fear.  He talks about the change in the American people since 9/11.  There are many more people who are anxious and fearful.  The stress related illnesses have increased.  If even just a fraction of the new cases of these illnesses result in heart disease, the mortality from stress will be many times the number of people who died from the planes crashing into the buildings.  And, since that day, many people have worked hard to use that fear to control people.  Worried, anxious, fearful people are easy to control.  They are looking down and walking in circles and cannot see the way forward, the path of Life and love that God is opening.

 

There is a lot of profit, politically and monetarily to make off of fearful people.  But, Jesus says, “Do not worry about tomorrow.”  That does not mean to not plan.  But it does mean you are getting nowhere if you are caught in this cycle of worry.  Look up.  See what God has done and is doing.  Pay attention to your life and see all the blessings.  Stop going in circles, and look up.  That is the only way you will see the beautiful possibilities that God is creating.

 

The sheep this week are talking about the scriptures.  The first sheep says, “His eye is on the sparrow,” isn’t that a song?  The sheep with the coffee mug replies, “Yeah, that line came from a woman who was chronically ill.  It seems that we are most aware of God’s care when we’re most vulnerable.”  The first sheep says,   “I was hoping it wouldn’t COME to that.”

 

Conclusion

At one point in life or another, we find ourselves in that vulnerable place. You don’t have to wait for a life changing illness or accident.  God is waiting for you now.  Come to him in prayer.  God is calling us to be partners in ministry with Jesus.  Pay attention!  No matter how weak and scared we are, God is with us.  Realize the power of the Holy Spirit is as close as our breaths.  As close as a prayer.  With God’s help, that anxiety and panic can disappear.  And, when it is gone, we can function more fully, more clearly.  We lift our eyes and we can see the path that God has placed before us.

 

Do not worry about what you will eat or wear.  Do not worry.  Hand these things over to God so that you may pay attention to what is happening around you today.  Pay attention because God is always doing a new thing and wants you to be part of it.  “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”  [the Message, Matthew 6:34]  Let us Pray.

——-

References:  Definition of worry is from The New Oxford American Dictionary

Kushner, Harold, Conquering Fear,
1 Corinthians 4:1-5 (The Message)

1 Corinthians 4

^1-4Don’t imagine us leaders to be something we aren’t. We are servants of Christ, not his masters. We are guides into God’s most sublime secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge. It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself. Comparisons in these matters are pointless. I’m not aware of anything that would disqualify me from being a good guide for you, but that doesn’t mean much. The Master makes that judgment.

 

⁵So don’t get ahead of the Master and jump to conclusions with your judgments before all the evidence is in. When he comes, he will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of—inner motives and purposes and prayers. Only then will any one of us get to hear the “Well done!” of God.

Matthew 6:24-34 (The Message)

²⁴“You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.

^25-26“If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.

^27-29“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.

^30-33“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

³⁴“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

 

First Reading Isaiah 49:8-16a  [NRSV]

⁸ Thus says the LORD:

In a time of favor I have answered you,

on a day of salvation I have heped you;

I have kept you and given you

as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land,

to apportion the desolate heritages;

⁹ saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”

to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

They shall feed along the ways,

on all the bare heights shall be their pasture;

¹⁰ they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

¹¹ And I will turn all my mountains into a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

¹² Lo, these shall come from far away,

and lo, these from the north and from the west,

and these from the land of Syene.

¹³ Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the LORD has comforted his people,

and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

¹⁴ But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me,

my Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵ Can a woman forget her nursing child,

or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

¹⁶ See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;

Psalm Psalm 131  [NRSV]

¹ O LORD, my heart is not lifted up,

my eyes are not raised too high;

I do not occupy myself with things

too great and too marvelous for me.

² But I have calmed and quieted my soul,

like a weaned child with its mother;

my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.

³ O Israel, hope in the LORD

from this time on and forevermore.

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 4:1-5   [NRSV]

¹Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. ²Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. ⁴I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.

 

Gospel Matthew 6:24-34  [NRSV]

²⁴“No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

²⁵“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you — you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ ³²For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

³⁴”So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”