Reframe – Surrendering the Future
Rev. Donnell T. Wyche – September 6, 2020
Today, we are launching a new sermon series called, Reframe. As we settle in for the long haul with this COVID pandemic, it’s time for us to reframe our expectations, to reframe our plans.
Our goals.
Our hopes.
Our dreams.
For many of us, this great upheaval is generating a lot of fear, uncertainty, doubt, and anxiety. Our anxiety transitions to worry because we are afraid of our future. This is understandable.
Jesus invites us to live as he did: don’t be ruled by anger, lust, or deception, don’t retaliate or worry, and stop judging others. Open yourself up to trusting yourself to God’s care. Here the words of Jesus from Matthew 6:25:
“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. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one 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. (Matthew 6:25-34)
Empty words?
Impossible words?
Or, words of life?
Does Jesus know just how awful, painful, and overwhelming this life is right? There are citizens being murdered in the street, we are facing a global pandemic-fighting an invisible killer, there are hurricanes, and just a week ago there was an earthquake right here in Southeastern Michigan. If Jesus truly understands how difficult this life is, how on earth can he call us not to worry?
“Okay, Jesus. I won’t worry, if you promise to unleash your Kingdom into this broken, hurting world, despairing world.”
“No Jesus, if you’re not willing to do that then the least you could do for us is allow us to worry.”
What a helpful companion worry can be, especially when nothing else is going right in the world. Worry creates the illusion that you are actually doing something, anything… like planning for every possible eventuality and outcome. Worry allows us to mask our hurt, pain, and disappointment.
But worry, coupled with fear and insecurity threaten our willingness to follow Jesus into life through death into a new reality, a new world order, learning to live with the Kingdom of God.
Where do I put my trust: Do I trust myself or God?
There is a significant difference between concern, caution, care, and worry. We should be concerned about lots of things including the well-being and safety of our family members, like wearing a mask when we go out, and regularly washing our hands. Being cautious, concerned, or providing care isn’t the same as worry.
Worry is the activity we do in spite of have taken care, been cautious, or expressed concern.
Worry is what we do in spite of having planned, prepared, and acted properly.
Worry is based in fear.
Worry is a disproportionate level of concern.
Worry reveals our lack of trust.
This is not how Jesus lived. Jesus lived without worry and anxiety. He did this without activating his God-superpowers. Jesus surrendered himself to the day-to-day care and trust of his heavenly Father. In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus teaches us how to live without worry and anxiety.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:9-13)
Jesus, in his prayer, invites us to acknowledge that the universe at its core is good and that there is an entire realm that is unseen that interacts with and is interwoven within this realm. He invites us to acknowledge that beyond the material reality that we can access with our five senses there is an entire realm that shapes and deeply informs everything we see. This is the world that Jesus lived in and this is the world that Jesus invites us to live within.
When Jesus invites us to ask for forgiveness of sins in the prayer, he is inviting us to lay our past before God.
When Jesus invites us to ask for daily bread in the prayer, he is inviting us to lay our present before God.
When Jesus invites us to ask for deliverance from evil in the prayer, he is inviting us to lay our future before God.
The Lord’s prayer encompasses the past, present, future. It encompasses everything that we worry about. This prayer covers our entire life. It’s an invitation to entrust our whole selves to God.
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? (Matthew 6:26)
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? (Matthew 6:30)
From lesser to greater
By saying life is more than food & clothes, he’s not dismissing either.
“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. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6:25 – 27)
The rabbis often contrasted the carefree life of animals with the constant burden placed on humans to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. Jesus uses the examples of the birds to show that while they neither sow nor reap, they are provided for.
The same is true with the teaching about flowers. In the Hebrew Bible, when flowers or grass is mentioned, it is to show how fleeting and fragile human life is:
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.” Isaiah 40:6-7
So, when Jesus mentions flowers, they would have expected him to say, “Just as the flowers are here today and gone tomorrow, so shall you be. You life is brief. Make the most of it.” Instead, he flips our expectations and says, “If God takes such great pains to make a little, insignificant flower beautiful, then how much more will he take care of the people he made in his own image?”
This is an argument from lesser to greater. If the birds who are not so valuable do not sow or reap, yet they are provided for, how much more will my Father provide for you, his precious, cherished, priceless one? How do we believe in a Sustainer God?
Seek first the Kingdom
Shift your focus, Jesus says, and seek first the enthroned King and his kingdom:
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.
What if, everyday, we got up and asked God to help us with today’s needs. This isn’t about waiting for God to drop what we need into our lives as we wait patiently and quietly for it; it is about our eager expectation that the King of Glory will meet us right where we are with his kingdom and provisions.
Seeking the kingdom first means facing our trials and troubles not with anxiety and worry but with trust that God can and will work in, among, and through them.
We seek the kingdom first because seeking God and his kingdom puts us in the right mindset. The kingdom is never in trouble. The kingdom is never lacking. The kingdom is overflowing. In the kingdom there is peace. In the kingdom there is joy. In the kingdom there is provision.
Worry harms our relationship with God, causes physical discomfort, and destroys our joy. Worry prevents us from seeking the kingdom.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:34)
The kingdom primarily operates within the present; therefore, Jesus says don’t worry about tomorrow. We don’t live in tomorrow, we live in today. Don’t stress about tomorrow. The pace of the kingdom is day by day. God is present, enthroned, and with us today.
Give us your bread today.
Forgive us our debts today.
Lead us not into temptation today.
Deliver us today.
Don’t Be Ruled by Fear
When you find yourself obsessively thinking, spinning out scenarios, calculating over & over — it feels like thinking, but it’s thought stirred by an emotion: fear. If we gave that fear a voice, what would it say? “I am alone in this world. Everything depends on me!”
Ultimately, worry is the result of the false narrative that says, “We are all alone.” In my junior year, faced with my overdue tuition bills, feeling alone and abandoned, I falsely thought I had to figure it out all by myself. I believed that no one cared that I was failing, no one cared that I couldn’t pay my tuition bills, no cared about me.
The Lord’s prayer teaches us that this is not true. We are not alone.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. (Matthew 6:9-13)
Our Father on the throne, the prayer opens, reminding us that God is ruling and reigning. That’s an important reminder in the face of our greatest fears which cause our worry, anxiety, and suffering. We are not alone, we are not facing our concerns on our own.
Here’s something to try this week.
Transformation takes time. It has to start somewhere, and I think it starts with our willingness to believe something about ourselves that Jesus teaches: we aren’t who we think we are.
It’s hard to accept what Jesus is offering as true unless you are willing to take seriously the possibility that what you presently believe is not true.
1.) This week, set aside about 10 minutes everyday and try this:
-
- Start by sitting before God and acknowledge that he is enthroned, ruling and reigning.
- Ask him to give you what you need to get through today.
- Pause.
- Think about all of the things you might be anxious about.
- Write them down on a piece of paper or in your journal.
- Ask what you can do to remedy each of these situations.
- Make a note to yourself to do the things you can do.
- Turn everything else over to God – his provision, care.
- Write your request to God be very specific.