Ep 277: Freedom from Worry (Sunday Sermon)

This Theology Thursday episode of The Protestant Libertarian Podcast features a recording of a sermon I preached on Sunday, June 21, on Jesus' teaching about worry in Matthew 6:25–34. While Jesus famously commands His followers not to worry, this passage raises important questions: Does Scripture prohibit all forms of concern, and how should Christians reconcile Jesus' words with the Bible's many commands to work diligently and provide for ourselves and our families? In this sermon, I argue that Jesus' teaching can only be properly understood within the larger context of the Sermon on the Mount and His announcement that the Kingdom of God has arrived. Rather than condemning responsible planning, Jesus exposes the misplaced priorities and false securities that often lie behind our anxiety, especially our tendency to trust wealth, status, politics, or other good gifts more than God Himself. Looking at passages such as Matthew 6, 1 Timothy 6, Romans 8, and the example of the early church, I argue that the antidote to worry is not wishful thinking but confidence in God's kingdom, which has been inaugurated through the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ and will one day be fully consummated. As citizens of that kingdom, we are called to seek first God's reign, examine the priorities that shape our lives, and live with the hope that God will ultimately vindicate His people and make all things new. The sermon concludes with three practical applications for learning to live free from worry by placing Christ's kingdom above every earthly concern.

Media Referenced:

Patience Sermon: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-174-patience-and-the-fruits-of-the-spirit-sunday-sermon/

Faith Sermon: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-163-faith-and-the-fruits-of-the-spirit-sunday-sermon/

Ephesians Sermon: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-144-ephesians-and-the-church-sunday-sermon/

Revelation Sermon: https://libertarianchristians.com/episode/ep-136-the-book-of-revelation-sunday-sermon/

The Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com.

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Transcript

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This is the Protestant Libertarian Podcast, a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and part of the Christians for Liberty Network. I really hope that you guys enjoy today's show. All right, guys, welcome to another episode of the Protestant Libertarian Podcast. This is another bonus Theology Thursday episode, although this one is a little bit different than normal. I had the opportunity to preach at my church on Sunday, June 21st, so Father's Day. It was a really good time. And in my church, we've been going through a series on the Sermon on the Mount, and I had Matthew chapter 6, which is the section of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus talks about worry and in particular talks about worrying about material possessions. So I break that down, look at how the way that worry works in Matthew chapter 6 and throughout the rest of the New Testament, and draw out some interesting parallels and conclusions, and then just kind of give a reflection on how Christians can learn to manage their worry in healthy and God-honoring sort of ways. So I thought the sermon turned out really good. So if you're watching on YouTube, I am going to display the the or I'm going to show you the video for the actual sermon, and I got to give a shout-out to my friend Jonathan here who helped me get the after uh many technical difficulties on my end, he was able to help me get the video file for this so that you can actually watch me preaching the sermon if you're on YouTube. If you're just listening on your podcast feed, then you will be able to hear it like normal. Also, if you are listening through the podcast feed, there will be a bonus exclusive at the end of the episode. I was actually in the band at my church, or in I was actually in the band at my church that week. So I got to play in the band and preach on the same Sunday. And we always do a little bit of a jam for intro music. So uh if you hang around to the very end of the show, the music that we'll be playing at the end of the show will not be the normal outro music. It will be me playing acoustic guitar uh along with the rest of the band as we jam before the service to get people ready for the service. So you guys not only get to hear me preach this week about worry as our Theology Thursday episode, but you can hear me play guitar if you're listening on the RSS feeds and uh you you get there to the end. So, one one more quick announcement before I get into the sermon today. If you're watching on YouTube, you can see over my right shoulder this is my book, Politics, Economics, and New Testament Interpretation. I'm extremely excited about this book. I cannot wait for you guys to get a hold of this book. The official release date is going to be September 15th. Hopefully, by the time this episode airs, we will have a pre-order link and everything together. We're still working on the back end to get all of that together for you, but I am really excited about this. I take on the idea that the New Testament endorses authoritarian socialism, take it head on, and I I after defining terms and then going through every single work of the New Testament, looking at all of the controversial political and economic passages, I come to the radical conclusion that the New Testament does not, in fact, support authoritarian socialism. So it's a long book, uh, it's a lifetime's worth of research. It's about how to interpret the Bible as well as political economic categories and the conclusions that biblical scholars draw from these ancient texts. The book's awesome. I cannot wait for you guys to read it. So uh stay tuned and I'll be giving you more information about that as time comes out. But I'm not gonna waste any more of your time today. Let's go ahead and get into my sermon on worry. Here we go. And if you're watching on YouTube, sorry for the little delay there. I hit a button too early. How are you guys doing this morning? Uh it's been a long time since I've been up here. Um I think the last time I spoke was in 2024. And one of the great things that has happened at Generation since then is that we have a lot of new people. So I want you guys to know that my name is Alex Bernardo. I'm obviously not Patrick, uh, even though there were some kids at Vacation Bible school that confused the two of us. Um I have a background in youth ministry. Um, youth ministry was awesome when I was young. Uh Gabe's gonna do an incredible job, but one of the best things that ever happened in my youth ministry career was that I retired and I no longer do it. And you couldn't pay me enough money to go back. I was also fortunate enough to be able to study the Bible in college. So I want you to know if you're new to this church, I'm not just some random guy that's up here talking, I have done this before. Uh but what was funny is I was thinking back to the last time that I got up here and spoke, and we were going through a sermon series on the fruits of the spirit in Galatians, and I think that I had to talk about patience. And of course, the irony in that sermon was that I'm really, really bad at being patient. And so God had to challenge me the entire time I was preparing for that sermon and tell me that I needed to check my heart. And I had changed a lot through that. So when Patrick told me last week that I was going to be talking today about worry, I realized that I am now in the exact same position that I was in 2024, where I am called to preach on something that I am very bad at doing. So I want you guys to know ahead of time today that I am not speaking from a position of power or authority up here. I'm just like everyone else, and in fact, maybe even worse. But we are going to be talking about worry today. And I think that if we're honest with ourselves, a lot of us struggle with worry at various points in our lives, whether it's our jobs, whether it's our family, whether it's our friends, whether it's our social standing, our favorite sports team. There are a lot of things that make us worried in this life. Today is Father's Day. I have a daughter. She's sitting right up front there, great kid. Um, one of the things that I did not know about being the father of a girl is how nervous you are for what is going to happen to them as they become a teenager. Look, I don't have sons, but I was a son at one point. I know I was a problem. I get how that works. But girls, that's a whole different level of fear and worry. And so, if we're honest with ourselves today, a lot of us worry about a lot of things. And at many points in our lives, that worry can become crippling. So we've been going through our sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount over the last couple of weeks. And today in Matthew chapter six, Jesus is going to tell us about worry. And you know what Jesus' solution to the problem of worry is? It's really easy. Don't do it. Okay? That's that's his that's his solution. So there's the sermon. We could really all leave right now. Jesus says, don't worry, so if you're worried, just stop. But we all know it's not that simple. And in fact, as we're gonna see today, Jesus' instructions are a lot more complicated than they might appear at first glance. But we are going to be taking a look at the Sermon on the Mount. This is in Matthew chapter six. Now, some of you guys know this about me, some of you don't. I was born and baptized Catholic, and while I love my Catholic brothers and sisters in the faith, one of the greatest things about being Protestant is that you don't have to sit up and stand down and sit up and stand down every time you have a church service. So I know Patrick likes to have people stand out of respect for the word. If you would like to stand, you can, but you don't have to today. So I'm gonna give you a break from that. But we're taking a look if you have your Bibles, and it'll be on the screen behind me, at Matthew 6, verses 25 through 34. And Jesus is talking about worry, and here's what he says. For this reason I say to you, 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? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you, by being worried, can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothe himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you? You of little faith. Wow. Do not worry then, saying, What will we eat, or what will we drink, or what will we wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Don't worry. That's what Jesus says. The Greek verb for worry, merim nao, is used five times in this passage, and in every single instance, it is used in the negative sense. Stop worrying, don't worry, you don't need to worry. God is going to provide for you. And so it looks as if, at first glance, Jesus is simply saying that the antidote to the problem of worry is to just not do it. But every single person sitting in this room that has ever worried about something before knows that that is unrealistic. And it seems like Jesus is asking us to do something that is impossible. Face all of our worry like stoics, not care about it at all, just let that emotion go. The rest of the New Testament problematizes this very easy reading of Jesus' instructions in Matthew chapter six. That same Greek verb, merim nao, is used in several places in the letters of Paul in a positive sense. I'm going to give you two examples this morning, and I never bookmarked my Bible, and I apologize for that. Uh, it's 1 Corinthians 12, and you know, I'll read it if you don't want to look it up. It's 1 Corinthians 12.25 is a place where Paul uses this exact same verb. And Paul is talking about how believers need to care for one another in the church. And Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, 25, that there let there are so that there may be no division in the body, that is the church, but that the members may have the same care for one another. Now, the word in the English word care in 1 Corinthians 12.25 is the exact same Greek verb that Jesus uses in Matthew 6. It's merimnao. It's the verb for worry. And so Paul is saying that if you're worrying about the needs of other believers, that's a good thing. And in fact, he's actually commanding the Corinthians to worry about the needs of other believers, which would seem to contradict what Jesus says in Matthew 6 that we shouldn't worry at all. We also can flip over to Philippians chapter 2, and this is verse 20, where Paul is talking about his associate Timothy and the love that Timothy has for the Christians and Philippi. And here's what Paul says For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned, that's Merimnao, that's worry in Matthew chapter six, who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. So Paul is telling the Philippians that they can trust Timothy because Timothy worries about them. So we can already see that the simplistic reading of Matthew 6 that just says, well, deal with your worries and it's fine and get over it, basically, that's not going to work. The other problem that we face with this passage is that Jesus is clearly talking about being worried about meeting our material needs. In verse 31, don't say, Well, or don't worry about what we will eat, don't worry about what we will drink, don't worry about our clothing. If you seek all these things, God will provide them for you. If you read this passage literally, it almost suggests that you can just walk outside, lay down on the ground, and God is just going to drop all of your material blessings down upon you like manna from heaven. No work involved. But of course, this is not what the other writers of the New Testament say. There are two places in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 2 Thessalonians 3 where Paul commands the Thessalonian church to work. And there are probably some people in the Thessalonian church that knew this tradition and were using it as an excuse to not provide for their needs. And Paul even says in 2 Thessalonians 3 that those who don't work do not eat. And in 1 Corinthians 9, Paul provides himself as an example of somebody who has to work so as not to be a burden for other people. And so the expectation in the early church and the earliest followers of Jesus is that you do actually have to do something to provide for your material needs. So this simplistic reading of Matthew chapter 6 that says, don't worry about those things of the world. You don't need to care about them. This is already a problem when we compare them to other instructions in the New Testament. So in order to understand what Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 6 about our worry, we need to step back and take a look at the big picture. What is it that Jesus is really trying to get at here when he says, do not worry? Now, there are a couple of points I want to make about this today that I think are going to help us better understand how we can think about our worries and what Jesus is trying to tell us today. And the first has to do with the wider context of Matthew's gospel. Now, we have four gospels in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. All of them were written by different individuals, and all of them have different narrative strategies, right? So those of you guys that are familiar with reading novels or something like that, when you pick up a novel from a different author, it looks different than a novel that was written by another author. And our gospels are the exact same way. And one of the things that Matthew really likes to do in his gospel is he likes to group together long collections of Jesus' teaching and then group together long narratives or stories about the life of Jesus. And so all of Matthew's gospel alternates between Jesus going on and on and on for passages and passages and passages, and then Matthew explaining what Jesus actually did. So it's this kind of uh these kind of sequences between Jesus' teaching and the narratives about Jesus. And in Matthew's gospel, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 through 7, is the longest series of Jesus' teaching, and it also occurs at the very beginning of Matthew's gospel. So in order to understand why Matthew would include all of these teachings in one long unit at the very beginning of the Gospel, we have to go back to Matthew chapter 4 and look at the wider context of Jesus' ministry. And in fact, there are two passages in Matthew chapter 4 that explain what Jesus is doing in his life. That is Matthew 4, 17 and Matthew 4.23. And here's what Matthew says about Jesus. Verse 17. From that time Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And then in verse 23, Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. These two passages summarize the entirety of Jesus' mission. If you want to know what Jesus was called to do and what he was doing in his life in the Gospels, these are the two verses in Matthew that we need to go to. Jesus' entire mission was to go around Israel, starting in Galilee, and telling everybody that the kingdom of God was at hand. Therefore, they needed to repent. This is what Jesus is doing. But what does he mean by the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is at hand? We've tended to think in the Western church that the kingdom of heaven is that place that we go to when we die, like we die and then we go up to heaven with God. But that can't be what Jesus means by kingdom of heaven here, because he's saying that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It's something that is happening in and through his life and his ministry. And in fact, what the kingdom of heaven means in Jesus' context is God returning to rule again over all of his creation. If we go back to the earliest chapters of the Bible, Genesis 1 and 2, God is king over the entire created order. And he creates human beings in his image and likeness to rule over this created order on his behalf. But we know what happens after that. Human beings rebel against God. And the entire story of the Old Testament is God's rescue plan to redeem humanity from their sinfulness and more importantly, to re-establish himself as king over all creation. The world abandons God. And because the kingdom is happening in and through Jesus' ministry, the people that listen to Jesus have one option. Well, they guess they have two. The first option is that they can do nothing, and that's a really bad state of affairs. The second option is what Jesus says in verse 17 is that they can repent, they can turn around, they can change their life. If Jesus is bringing the kingdom of God, that changes everything. And so those who follow Jesus have to follow his teachings. Of course, the question is: what does it look like to repent? What does it look like to turn around and follow Jesus? Well, Matthew provides us with Jesus' Sermon on the Mount right after that. The Sermon on the Mount is what it looks like to repent. If you want to follow Jesus, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, this is the place that we can begin. So how does this factor into our conversation about worry this morning? Well, I think the first thing that we have to remember about worry is that when we worry, we're often worrying about the small things. It's not that our worries are illegitimate or that Jesus isn't concerned or that he doesn't care about what we worry about, but we have to remember that Jesus has already brought the kingdom of God. And so, as those who have put our faith in Jesus, our worries, they're important, but they're not nearly as big as the game that we are playing of trying to build God's kingdom. And so when we think about our worry and when we think about the values of our worry, we always need to set that within this larger context that God has already brought his kingdom and that that kingdom is a present reality that God wants us to participate in. And I think that when we realize that our lives are actually a part of something much bigger than our day-to-day cares and concerns, it makes it a lot easier to manage our worries. Now, with that, along with this bigger picture of the kingdom of God, we have to look at what Jesus is actually talking about in Matthew chapter six. Now, he isn't talking about worry in general here. And I think we have to be really honest about that. What Jesus is talking about in particular is not being worried about accumulating material possessions. Now, Patrick spoke last week about wealth and how believers ought to manage their wealth. And I actually want to take a look at verse 24 of Matthew chapter six and then verse 25, which is the first verse of the passage that we're looking at today. And I think it's very important to understand the context of what's going on here to go back and read that last passage from last week. And this is what Jesus says right before he five times tells his audience not to worry. He says, No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth. So Jesus is proclaiming the kingdom of God and then saying that if you want to repent and be a part of God's kingdom, you can no longer serve your material possessions anymore. You have to choose between following God and following wealth. And then immediately in verse 25, we see this conjunctive phrase. They bring together ideas in text. Let me just give you, just as a side note here, a Bible reading strategy for you. If you really want to try to understand the flow of a passage in the Bible, go through your Bible and highlight all the conjunctions. Because a lot of the times we tend to gloss over those and think that the writer is beginning a totally new idea when in reality he's connecting this next idea to the idea that came before. And this is exactly what Jesus is doing here by saying, for this reason, because you can't serve both God and wealth, I say to you, do not be worried about your life. Jesus is not saying don't work. Jesus is not saying don't be concerned about making sure you have food and clothing. What he's saying is that you can't serve your wealth. You can't serve those things. And in fact, the rest of the New Testament attests to that in a very powerful way. Paul writing to his associate Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 6 says this about wealth. And I do think that Paul most likely knew this tradition in Matthew chapter 6. And here's what Paul says. Sounds a lot like what Jesus is saying in context in Matthew 6. This is uh 1 Timothy 6 verses 8 through 10. Paul talking to Timothy. If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some, by longing for it, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. What is Paul saying here? You can't serve God in wealth. And Paul is very honest about the fact that those who are attempting to be rich in the church, those who put the acquisition of material possessions above the kingdom of God and above following Jesus, have wandered away from their faith and have pierced themselves with many griefs. And this is exactly what Jesus is getting at in Matthew chapter 6. If you spend your entire life worried about your material possessions, then you cannot be worried about the kingdom of God. And it gets even worse than that in Paul. There are two passages in Paul in Paul, Ephesians 5 5 and Colossians 3 5, where Paul says something really crazy about wealth. And I think they might be on the screen behind me. But Paul, in both of those passages, twice in his letters, says that greed is a form of idolatry. When you put your hope in what you have, you are, according to Paul, literally worshiping an idol. It's a very powerful statement that he makes there. It's easy for us as modern people to look back at the Old Testament and to look at Israel in the Old Testament. What did Israel do? God rescued them from Egypt. He gave them manna in the wilderness. He gave them a kingdom, offered protection, everything. And what did Israel continue to do over and over and over again? They didn't worship their God. They went and worshipped all the pagan gods of the nations that surrounded them. Now it's easy for us to think, okay, let's take a look at Exodus 32, for instance, where Israel makes the golden calf. They've just seen Moses part the Red Sea and God provide them with an unlimited amount of food in the desert. And as soon as Moses goes up the mountain to get the Ten Commandments, they start worshiping a foreign God. All right, that sounds pretty dumb, right? Like I feel like if I we were my wife and I watched The Prince of Egypt a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if you guys have ever seen that movie, but we were talking about how if we witnessed the Red Sea part, it'd be really hard for us to worship idols. But I actually don't think that it was. And we got to put ourselves in the ancient mind when it comes to idol worship. Idol worship is always a response to fear and insecurity. In the ancient world, they did not understand science. So the in the ancient mind, if you're worried or nervous about whether or not there's going to be enough rain for you to have crops, or you're worried that your marriage isn't going to work out, or you're worried that your army is going to lose in a battle, what's the one thing the ancient mind went to? Well, we got to offer the proper sacrifices to the proper gods because they're going to ensure our survival. And so the way that the ancients dealt with worry was idol worship. That's idolatry right there. And Paul is saying essentially the same thing about our wealth in Ephesians 5 and Colossians 3 that if our concerns, if our worries, if our fears about wealth overtake us, then we're worshiping an idol. And this gets us right back to what Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 6. See, I think Jesus is offering a principle that helps us deal with worry that goes beyond just worry about wealth. We're Wesleys here in the Nazarene church, which means that when it comes to the great reformer John Calvin, we don't always agree with a lot of the things that John Calvin said, okay? But John Calvin in one of his writings said what I think is one of the most brilliant comments on idolatry. And he said in one of his writings during the Reformation that the mind is a perpetual idol factory, that the human beings have a unique capacity to take something good that God has given us and turn it into an idol where we focus on that good thing and not the God that provided it for us. And I think that what Jesus is getting at here when he's talking about not being consumed with worry, not allowing our worry to defeat us, is that the things that we worry about can very easily, like wealth, become an idol. It doesn't matter what those things are. You know, we're not prosperity gospel people here, but we do believe that when we have provisions, that is a blessing from God. People need to be fed, people need to have a home, people need to have clothing. These are blessings that God has provided. Family, kids are an amazing blessing, having friends, having an incredible church, whether it's listening to worship music or whatever it might be for you, the things that you value in your life can become an idol if we forget that it is God who has given those to us. And so I think what Jesus is really challenging us to do here is to take an inventory of what we worry about. Because it's very easy for our worries to overtake us and cause us to forget that God has called us to something bigger than what we worry about. It's not that our worries are not legitimate, it's not that our worries don't have some value in them, but if our worry gets in the way of our faith, then we've made whatever it is that we are worrying about an idol, even if it is a blessing from God. In Matthew 6, 30, Jesus says, But if God so clothes the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? The end of verse 30. Now, the Greek word behind the English translation, I'm using the NASB today, but the Greek word behind the English translation, faith, is a word called peastes. And one of the most common translations of that term in English is trust. And I actually think that that is what Jesus is getting at here. It's not you of little faith in the sense that the people listening to Jesus don't believe that he exists or whatever. I think what Jesus is saying is that if you allow yourself to be consumed by worry, you're not trusting in God. It evidences a lack of trust. And the same way that the ancient Israelites always turned to their idols when they were insecure and unsure and worried about the future, those of us who allow our worry to consume us are not allowing ourselves to trust in God. And this is really what Jesus is getting at in the climax of this passage. He says, Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you. Now, Jesus is not promising here to take care of your worry. And if we know anything from the history of the early church, it's that many of these people, including Jesus himself, are going to die for their faith because they sought the kingdom first and because they pursued God's righteousness, they were killed by the Jewish and Romans authorities, right? So we know that things don't always appear to work out for the best in the short run for those that trust in God. But Jesus is calling us to something bigger. He's saying that our number one priority has to be the kingdom of God and seeking after his righteousness. And then when we've done that, our worries will kind of take care of themselves. And I think that's a huge statement. And my challenge to you today is to go home this week and rethink your priorities. What is it that we are seeking first? The things that we worry about, they might be valid and they might be good. They might be things that you need to be concerned about. But if we don't submit them to God, and if we don't trust him to provide for us and take care of our worries, then we're making an idol out of our worries and we're not really serving him. So this is a reality check. And again, like I said at the very beginning of the sermon, I am not standing up here and preaching at you from a place of strength. No, this is a this is a very big weakness for me. I have my idols too, and we all have to work through them. There's one more point that I want to make uh to kind of wrap this up today. Uh, and this comes from Romans chapter 8. Now, Jesus has already said in Matthew 4 that he is bringing about the kingdom of God, that in and through Jesus' life and ministry, the reign of God, the rule of God over all creation is taking place. And I think that this is something that in Western Christian theology we have often missed. All of the writers of the New Testament, all 27 writers of the New Testament, all attest, testify to the fact that the kingdom of God has already come. It is a present reality. Jesus has already defeated the greatest enemy, sin and death. And so, because of that, we can live a life of freedom. Something new really did happen because of Jesus' death, resurrection, and often ignored too, but very important, Jesus' ascension. And so, Paul, towards the end of the first major section in Romans, in Romans chapter 8, he's reflecting on the identity of the church. And he spent all of the letter of Romans talking about how the entire world was in bondage to sin and death. But because Jesus died, was resurrected from the dead, and came out the other side of death, the last enemy has already been defeated, so that all those who put their faith in Jesus are now a part of Abraham's family and called being a blessing to the nations. And Paul does not think that this is something that is going to happen exclusively in the far-off future. It's something that's already happening in his time. And as a result of that, when we get to the end of Romans chapter 8, Paul talks about the Christian hope. And I want to read this for us today, because I think this really helped us think about how we manage our worry in the present. Here's what Paul says. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. I want to stop there for just a second, all right, because we can very easily get wrapped up in all of our cares and worries in the world. But think about what Paul is saying here. Jesus has already defeated death, the last enemy. He died because of the crucifixion, and then he wasn't, it wasn't like reincarnation or resuscitation. Resurrection is when you go through death and you come out the other side. And Paul takes great pains in Romans to demonstrate that Jesus has already defeated the great enemy, which is death, which was empowered by sin. And because of that, God raised him from the dead. And right now, and this is so incredible, and it took me years and years of being a Christian to figure this out. But he is currently, right now in our time, sitting at the right hand of God, ruling over all creation and interceding for us on our behalf. When we worry about things, are we giving them to the resurrected and ascended Jesus? Or are we going the path of Israel and trying to manage them ourselves? I think this is a pretty incredible hope, right? Paul is saying in no uncertain terms, because ultimately, like all of our worries go back to death, right? We know that our life is finite, and that is the ultimate reason why we worry. And Paul is saying here that God has already defeated the final enemy because of that. Verse 35. Will tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as it is written, for your sake, we are being put to death all day long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But there's another conjunction, and all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. And I love this. And think about this in the context of your worries here. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's powerful. Sometimes we worry about things and our worst fears come true. That's just a part of living in a sinful and broken world. But what Paul is saying here is that in the end, we're going to win because Jesus already has won. And that is the Christian hope. And if there is anything in this world that challenges us to rethink our worries, that helps us to live free from worry, it's the hope of knowing that Christ has already defeated the final enemy. The kingdom of God has come. We are a part of his kingdom, but because we have put our faith in God's king, therefore our worries are relativized. So I'm gonna call the band to come back up here. Um, and I just want to offer three points, I think, of reflection this week, three things that might help us think about how we can better manage our worries. I think the first is to realize that what God has promised has already in part come to pass. In Jesus' ministry, the kingdom of God has already arrived. We are already a part of the kingdom of God right now. And while there's nothing wrong or immoral with respect to worrying about your family, worrying about your job, worrying about the things of the world, we have to realize that there is something much bigger than this. God has not called us to the day-to-day. God does not care in the long run about how high you climb the corporate ladder, about how nice your house is, about how much people love you, how many followers you have on social media. None of that stuff matters. What matters is the kingdom of God, and that is a real present reality, and we are called to live for that. And that places our worry in its proper context. The second point that I want to make about this, and this is what I was saying in regard to Matthew chapter six, is that we have to rethink all of our prior priorities. Our worries often reflect the things that we care about the most. And if we are allowing our worries and our concerns to consume us, then we've made an idol out of those things. Now, here's the hope. Again, we're Wesleys. We believe in this doctrine called sanctification. Sanctification is where God gives you the Holy Spirit when you put faith in Jesus, and then the Holy Spirit spends the rest of your life transforming you. We do not believe that we're ever going to be perfect. We do not believe that you have to be perfect in order to follow God. Instead, as we're thinking about our worries, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to work in our hearts and transform us. And guess what? If in two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, you're still worrying about the same thing, it's okay. God is going to work with you until the day that you die, and then when we're raised from the dead, we'll finally have it all figured out. But God wants to work with you now. But we can only do that by cooperating with the Holy Spirit. So take an inventory of your motives, take an inventory of your priorities, and make sure that your worries are not your idol. Make sure that you are following Jesus and nothing else. And then the third point that I want to make has to do with the Christian hope. We believe that God has already defeated the final death through Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension. It's already been done. We also believe that God is at work in the church, through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and then calling us to go out as a family of believers and build the kingdom of God. That's what we're called to do. And we know that on the final day, no matter how bad things get, no matter whether or not our worst fears are confirmed, no matter how awful things seem to be in our lives, we know that God is going to have the final word. In the end, it's all going to be taken care of. God is going to one day vindicate each and every single person that follows him. And I think that when we place our faith and our hope in what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do, then we can learn to live free from worry. I'm going to pray for us real quick. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Protestant Libertarian Podcast. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me at the Protestant Libertarian at gmail.com. You can also find me on Twitter. You can follow me at the handle at Pro Liberty Pod. Again, that is at Pro Liberty Pod. And you can also visit me at the Protestant Libertarian Podcast.com. At the Protestant Libertarian Podcast.com, you can also support the Christians for Liberty Network and the Libertarian Christian Institute. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode and see you next week.