Don't Worry Be Happy Matt 6:22 - 34 Nov 4, 2018

Sermon on the Mount

“Don’t Worry Be Happy – Meher Baba

Or

Don’t Worry, Tomorrow Will Take of Its self, Jesus Christ”

Matthew 6: 19-21

Introduction

The Indian mystic and sage Meher Baba (1894–1969) often used the expression "Don't worry, be happy" when cabling his followers in the West. In the 1960s, the expression was printed upon inspirational cards and posters of the era. In 1988, Bobby McFerrin noticed a similar poster in the apartment of the jazz duo Tuck & Patti in San Francisco.

Inspired by the expression's charm and simplicity, McFerrin wrote the now famous song, which was included in the soundtrack of the movie Cocktail, and became a hit single the next year. In an interview by Bruce Fessier for USA Weekend magazine in 1988 McFerrin said, "Whenever you see a poster of Meher Baba, it usually says 'Don't worry, be happy,' which is a pretty neat philosophy in four words, I think.

You may recall the lyrics:

Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry, be happy
In every life, we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy
Don't worry, be happy now

Ain't got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don't worry, be happy
The landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don't worry, be happy

Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style
Ain't got no gal to make you smile
Don't worry, be happy 'Cause when you worry your face will frown And that will bring everybody down
So don't worry, be happy

Don't worry, be happy now
Now there, is this song I wrote
I hope you learned note for note
Like good little children, don't worry, be happy
Now listen to what I said, in your life expect some trouble
When you worry you make it double
But don't worry, be happy, be happy now don't worry

Also, there are ways to reduce worry and anxiety, amongst them you can try the following ten: a) Stay active, b) Don’t drink alcohol, c) Stop smoking, d) Do away with caffeine, e) Get some sleep, f) Meditate, g) Eat a healthy diet, h) Practice deep breathing, i) Try aromatherapy, fragrant oils to promote health & well-being, j) Even drink some chamomile tea, a cup helps remedy frayed nerves & promote sleep.

Transition

            I'm not trying to make lite of anxiety or worry, really. If there is anyone amongst those there who have felt anxious over things in your lives I can have empathy.

Jesus had just warned of the problem of materialism. In the verses 22-24 Jesus used two metaphors to expound his point – that of physical sight and slave-master.

He said that the eye is like the window through which light comes into the body. If a window is clean, the glass clear, the light comes in unfiltered & lights every part of the room.

But if the glass is dirty, tainted, the light is distorted & the room won't receive the full benefit of the light.

So it is with the eye. The condition of the eye determines the quality of light that enters the body.

If you're color-blind the different colors of Christmas are lost to you – If you have cataracts you may perceive only shadows. And of course if you are blind, then “how great is the darkness.”

Jesus isn't giving us a class on optics – He is telling us the light that comes into one's soul depends on the spiritual condition of the eye through which it passes because the eye is the window of the body.

Didn't George Bush saying something to that effect when he “looked into Putin's eyes”?

But there's a deeper meaning here on two words; v22, 'clear' (NASB) or 'healthy' (ESV) – and v23, 'bad'. The word translated 'clear', 'healthy', most scholars say means 'generous', as found in Proverbs 11:25, “A generous person will prosper . . .” In the New Testament in James 1:5 God is described as '… who gives generous'.

The same idea holds for the phrase 'bad eye' as being one with an ungenerous spirit, Proverbs 23:6; 28:22. Also, consider Deuteronomy 15:9, “Beware that there is no base thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,’ and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing;

How do we look at things? Our Treasures. If our eye is bad, clouded by materialism and our vision of happiness. It clouds over our vision of others worth. If others don't join into the hustle and bustle scramble for things of the world we call them or classify them as lacking ambition or spiritless.

It is said that missionaries are at times despised by Christians just for their choice to serve Christ in a way that means a lower income -

If our eye is bad it distorts our vision of God's will for our lives. Selfishly we assume God would never lead us onto a path that would diminish our status, our position, our bank account . .

Jesus says the following in John 12:24-25: “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. A grasping, ungenerous spirit darkens our inner lives, our soul, causes to place our material treasures ahead of God. Our entire body is “full of darkness,” full of self-deception which places all earthly treasures ahead of everything, & we see them as the only things worthwhile – Jesus says if the light in you is darkness, how great then is the darkness.

The question can be made; how is your eye? How is my eye? Is it healthy, clear? Do we see God as master and money (materialism) as a slave? Or is our eye “bad”, our vision clouded, distorted? Is our view of who provides for us darkened by 'covetousness, greed which is idolatry? “consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Col. 3:5).

So we lay up treasures on earth selfishly hoarding & loving material things based on a 'bad' view that money, instead of what God ultimately provides.

What Do You Treasure More?

God or money? Who do you worship? Who or what is your idol, what do you idolize? Where do we place our trust?

Jesus says that one cannot serves two masters, Its either God or materialism, the world – our earthly treasures.

When we place our heart on our treasures and they are lost, our being is lost; our hearts suffer the same fate as our treasures.

So Jesus tells us that for this reason “Do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

The counsel He gave to His disciples then was needed then; This same counsel is needed today. Without going into any specifics just look at the political climate today. He says don't worry, three times; V25- don't be anxious about your life; V31- Don't be anxious about what you're going to eat; V34- Don't be anxious about tomorrow.

This doesn't mean to take a who cares attitude to life and just chill out. There are healthy concerns that are inherent in the work of God. We think & plan & anticipate for any pitfalls: Luke 14:28-32 –

Being concerned is good, it's okay, Jesus is counseling against self-centered worry that lacks a trust in God. The key is Trust in God.

Don't be anxious, Don't worry, Why? Because God is the King of life.

Don't let the trinity of the world's care make you distrust the Holy Trinity. The trinity of the world's care are the three don not; V25, Don't be anxious; V31, Don't be anxious; V34, Don't be anxious.

Jesus gives three reasonable reasons why He tells us this-

First – Anxiety is unproductive -

In V27 this reason is in a form of a question. “you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

There are all kinds of remedies and seminars on health, how to take wrinkles off, how to add a few years to your life. All that produces anxiety, I'm surprised that there's no promotion on anxiety.

Jesus, on the other hand, tells us to knock it off, stop worrying, you can't add any time to your life, in fact, you may just shorten it.

Worrying doesn't produce anything; in today's market, it makes you spend money.

Second it's not necessary

Jesus gives the argument of going from the lessor to the greater. His says to look at the creature & creation. Anybody here ever see a bird begging for food?

God provides for them. He will even provide the people to feed them in their backyards and make them spend money to buy bird feed. My mom would even provide a place for them to bathe.

As it was in war-torn Europe, the Pacific, Japan, any country devastated by war; or just in one's everyday life the individual tormenting himself/herself on how to make ends meet; the mother worrying over the welfare of her children; their future; the errors one has committed in their lives that have them now behind the proverbial eight-ball.

We can't just sit here and listen to His words for an hour to forget and remove ourselves from this everyday concerns & indulge in contemplating the sparrows & the lilies and their happy existence.

If we do that we are missing the whole point of this Word of God. His intent was to get down into our cares, our fears.

It is to encourage us, to cheer us by telling us that He Who spoke these Words about the birds & the lilies bore in His own body ALL the pains & ALL the fears, the torments & mortal struggles, ALL because He wanted to be in them as our brother & suffer them with us.

We can't use His word as a mere drug to make us forget, use it as a means of pious ecstasy---

Its Un-Worthy

            Isn’t life more than food & the body more than clothing? Sure that makes sense; life is more than the expensive meal at the restaurant or those $60 jeans I really want, and of course more than the 60-inch high definition tv screen on the wall with surround sound.

            Well if you believe that, do live like you believe that? If you don’t believe it, it may be that you don’t understand what the word ‘more’ is meant by Jesus.

In verse 33 Jesus gives us the answer- when He says, “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you. The more is God’s Kingdom & His righteousness.

            Don’t go after what every distrusting & dis-treasuring un-believer in the world seeks after – money, fame, and the things that money can buy.

            Instead, first seek the kingdom of God & His righteousness. This is the big picture – Can you visualize it? Listen guys & girls, don’t worry about the things that money can buy, but worry about God’s Kingdom first and foremost.

            Listen, why would anyone seek after stuff that no lasting value to it?

            There is nothing wrong with having things, things you know you are going to truly need & want for the now but are going to have to leave behind – But to live with worry & anxiety & ulcers just to obtain and then have to keep things that take up all of your being; those things that will not last & actually shorten your life with all the anxiety you build up having to have is not worth eternal damnation – that god you have created that controlled your life isn’t going with you.

            Why live for the god of money? As Luther said, “What sort of god is it that can’t even defend itself against rust & moths?”

            Don’t seek after what money can buy. Seek instead after what neither money nor power can acquire & what no moths, rust, or thieves can ever take way: The gospel that gives everlasting life to those who believe, whose who treasure & trust God.

Who is Your God, In Whom do you Trust?

            Do you trust money or the Lord? Whom do you treasure; whom do you trust? What do you think about all day? What would upset you most if you lost it?

            How do you measure other people? If you truly treasure God, you will trust Him to provide. The Psalmist signs: “I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” (Psalm 91:2).

Altar Call

            If you’re not sure of your relationship with God; If you’re not sure about trusting in Him for your eternal salvation, for looking after your needs, that He wants to be your refuge, your fortress; He desires that you trust in Him so much so that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.

            Seek first the kingdom of God the Father than all His grace will be given to you and you will inherit the treasures of heaven for eternity.

The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that there are “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.”