Turn your Worry into Worship

Turn Your Worry into Worship

John 14:27: Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

·        Shalom means “peace” in Hebrew, it is a traditional greeting between Jews.

·        Shalom is highly valued amongst the Jews who have known centuries of chaos. The greeting literally means; “nothing broken, nothing missing.”

·        It seems as though fear, worry, and anxiety are running rampant in our society. Some people live in a state of low grade fear all the time and anxiety is very common in our world today.

·        This is not the will of God for us. Our Lord wants His children to live their lives with peace as our normal condition, not fear.

·        Jesus is not only our Lord and Savior but He is our Prince of Peace, and He brought His peace from His kingdom of heaven into this world.

·        He comes to bring us an abundant life, and there is no abundant life without peace.

·        The Bible says, “Cast all your cares upon Him for he cares for you.”

·        Great, how do I do that?

Matthew 6:31-34: “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

·        So many of our anxieties come from trying to control things that are out of our control.

·        Let’s seek the King of kings in His kingdom, and our worries and fears will take care of themselves. The things that have been done have been done. Things that have not been done have not been done. Worrying will not change that.

·        There are things we cannot change. So why not give Him control? What is the point in worrying about them?

·        There is direct relation of giving Him control and receiving His peace

·        Those that do not know His peace are trying to keep control of their lives.

·        Your Heavenly Father knows how many hairs are on your head, He is keeping His perfect attention on you, nothing escapes Him because He perfectly loves you. You can release your cares to Him and receive His peace.

·        Your fears, anxieties, and worries cannot coexist with His peace. We must choose correctly.

·        Isaiah 26:3: You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

·        Jesus is saying we must redirect our focus from the things that cause me stress… to Him.

Matthew 11:28-30: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

·        Rest and worry are two opposite things. Our worries and cares are heavy to carry. You can give Him your burdens. You can give Him your anxieties and cares. He invites us to do so.

·        Perhaps you have come here today heavily burdened. I am here to encourage you to “receive” His peace. It is not just an intellectual peace like the world gives, it is a peace we can experience and feel deep within.

·        A peace that you cannot feel or experience is not the peace our Lord promises us and paid a high price for us to receive.

·        Jesus would not promise us “an idea of peace” or a “peace we will have in eternity,” or even a “temporary peace” that comes with the easing of our situation.

·        No, God’s peace is powerful, it can be experienced in the darkest of places.

·        Our souls can be calm in the middle of the storm as we turn our hearts towards Him and away from the darkness.

Luke 10:38-42: Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

·        Jesus frequently came to visit Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. He brought His disciples with Him, it was a whole entourage.

·        Martha undoubtedly felt overwhelmed when the visitors came. There was a customary obligation to “host” them.

·        She would feed them, give them water, and wash their feet.

·        As they enter Martha’s home, perhaps she looks a little frazzled and anxious in her duties. I’m sure she is glad to see Jesus, maybe she is even pleasantly surprised to see Him… but she carries a burden of providing for them at the same time. Maybe she doesn’t have enough bread.

·        He is not concerned. He did not ask her to provide for everyone. She has put these things on herself, even her demeanor is wrong because of her anxiety.

·        When Mary sees Jesus, her demeanor is completely different.

·        Perhaps when she sees Jesus she “runs and jumps” into His arms, and holds Him tight with reckless love and abandon. No doubt this makes Jesus smile and I’m sure he holds her tightly too. He loves them both.

·        These two sisters are completely different in their approaches to Jesus and therefore, have different results in their interactions with Jesus.

·        One is focused on her circumstances; the other is focused on Jesus.

·        Jesus takes His rightful place in the center of the room, and begins to teach in a way that only He can do.

·        Mary comes closest to Jesus and sits at His feet.

·        She assumes a “lowly” posture and her gaze is fixed on Jesus.

·        She finds extreme joy in His presence and listens to Him intensely.

·        She has put every circumstance in the household second to Jesus, including helping her sister. She simply adores Jesus…she is radiant.

·        Others look to Jesus as Teacher and Master, but she sees Jesus as her “all in all.” How do you look at Jesus?

·        Martha comes into the room from the kitchen saying, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”

·        Jesus looks at Martha with such love and tenderness saying,

·        “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

·        If you are worried and troubled about many things then you are not doing “the one thing.”

·        Mary was choosing to worship Jesus, Martha was choosing to worry and fuss over many things. Martha was earning Jesus love and therefore, Martha experienced no rest and no peace in her worries.

John 12:1-8: Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

·        Mary, this sister of Lazarus and Martha, took her jar of spikenard perfume and poured it on the feet of Jesus.

·        This perfume was likely her dowry, her nest egg, her security. She poured her perfume out in an extravagant show of adoration and affection.

·        She was not worrying about her future with no financial security, she used what she had to worship Jesus.

Psalm 95:6-7: Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand.

·       As we bow down and worship Him our cares begin to dissolve, and all of our deepest needs are met in Him.

·       Unfortunately we chase after lesser worldly things and we inevitably find that they are empty and without meaning. Like Martha, we may prepare a meal that Jesus never ordered, leading to worry and anxiety.

·       Jesus invites us to come before Him every day and give Him our burdens and cares. He is not troubled by our troubles, but our giving them to Him is a sweet fragrance unto Him.

v Key point: It’s another form of worship!!!!!

·       He will take our worries and trade us for rest for our souls. He invites us to trade our worries for His rest. Not just one burden but every burden that is weighing us down.

Psalm 46:1-5: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

·       God is always ready to help and is present in times of trouble. Whatever troubles are in your life right now, our God is ready and present to help.

·       Even great mountains or turbulent seas are not too great for Him.

·       Won’t you lift your hearts up to God as you sit at His feet and pour our love upon Him. If He is Lord of your life, won’t you let Him be Lord?

·       By giving Him control we let go of those things that are causing us worry and fear.

·       Give your burdens to Him so that they become His, and they are no longer yours.

·       We can be like Mary and do the ONE THING--simply sit at His feet and enjoy Him. This is abundant life.

·       This is the way the kingdom works, we do not have to complicate it.

Matthew 18:2-5: Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

·       Children are not weighed down by the cares of this world.

·       They don’t worry about what other people think about them.

·       They don’t lay awake and worry about the mistakes of their past.

·       They are totally carefree.

·       They are free to enjoy abundant life.

·       This is only possible because they know they are not in control.

·       They cannot provide food and shelter for themselves, or pay the bills. They are totally dependent on their parents.

·       Theirs is the level of trust that our heavenly Father wants us to have.

·       Jesus is ready to take everything that is heavy and is burdensome and ready to replace it with light, your worry changing into worship. Your anxiety to adoration and your concerns into calmness.

·       One definition of worship is simply to turn all of your attention and affection towards God.

·       It doesn’t require any singing; it is the posture of our hearts. Man looks outwardly but God looks at the heart.

Psalm 103:1: Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

·       We cannot earn His love, he has already freely given it to us.

·       Come let us bow down and worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. There’s no striving or straining.

·       The cross is our evidence of his love.

·       Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. We adore you Lord, we glorify You, there is no one like You!