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Q2. Do Not Be Anxious about Material Things


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  • 2 months later...
Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

The instruction from Sermon on the Mount preached by our Lord Jesus Christ is practical and touches us right where we live. The heart of the matter to which Jesus speaks in ( Matthew 6 : 25-34 )

is the issue of material-- worrying about our finances, worrying about our life, worrying about our earthly existence, and worrying about the necessities of life. Three times the Lord gives the injunction in this passage that we are not to worry. Such anxiety, fear, and worry have absolutely no place in the life of a Christian. Yet the heart of the matter, even in our country, is that most people live for nothing more and nothing less than all the possessions they can possibly grasp. But the whole thing may be crumbling before their very eyes because America cannot sustain this constant economic over- indulgence, over consumption, and over production that it is currently experiencing.

There is an often repeated phrase in the passage that becomes the theme, " Be not anxious", It appears four times in this section. Anxious is a word that simply means "To worry" " Don't worry", is the heart and soul of the passage. The Lord is calling for us to cease worrying. " Worry is the equivalent of saying, " God, I know you mean well by what You say, but I'm not sure You can pull it off". Worry is the sin of distrusting the promise and the providence of God-- yet we do it all the time.

William Ward put it this way, " Worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster and belief in defeat.... worry is wasting today's time to clutter up tomorrow's opportunities with yesterday's troubles.

Worry is simply the expression of human sinfulness. There is no reason for us to worry about things in life because that is the Lord's area.

God does provide the basics of life--- that's the promise. The basis of the promise is that God is our Father. God is a loving father who supplies for His children.

Read ( Psalm 34: 10 ) " but they who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing."

( Philippians 4: 19 ) " But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory by

Christ Jesus."

(1 Peter 5: 7 ) Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you."

Yes, worry and trust is the exact opposite Worry Distrust God

If you worry, you are not trusting your Heavenly Father. If you don't trust your Heavenly Father, the number one cause might be that you don't know Him well enough. If you knew Him, you would trust Him. Studying the Word of God will help you to know who He is and how He has supplied the needs of His people in the past. Even those of us who know God and study the Word worry now and then. This happens when we are not fresh in the word every day so that God is in your mind. Then Satan moves into that vacuum and makes you worry about something. That is sin. God is worthy of a greater faith than we sometimes give Him

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  • 3 weeks later...

I counted five instances of "take no thought" used by Jesus. His point is that excessive worry is a preoccupation of the mind. Worrying about temporal things distracts from meditating on heavenly things, our Father in particular. When we put anything before God we are sinning.

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

I believe that the phrase, "Do not worry" can be interpreted as, "Do not compare". Lets take a look at it this way. Jesus begins with, "Do not worry about your life." I wonder if he means do not compare your lifestyle. Do not compare what you eat or drink(Meat or just beans, wine or just water). Do not compare your body (Big nose, skinny lips, hair or no hair). Do not compare what you wear, (K-mart, Wall-mart, or the latest Hollywood fashion). I believe this because he ends with, "Is Life not more important than theses things?" It makes even more sense when we consider Matt. 16:26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? niv

I cannot say that worry if you haven't eaten in a while is sin, I cannot say that if you are about to lose your house because of the economy and you worry about were your children are going to live is sin. But I can say there is a big difference between envy and concern.

Now let's consider what Paul is saying in Philippians 4 about positive thinking. Is he saying that if we eliminate worry we can get ahead in the world or quite the opposite? Paul tells us in chapter 3 of Philippians where he came from.

Philippians 3:4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.

All this he gave up because 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ

In chapter 4 of Philippians Paul says he knows what hunger is like, he knows what wealth is like, and neither condition is how he measures his position in Christ. What a contrast of the prosperity preaching of today.

Darrell

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

1) Jesus repeated it several times...it has been said that when He repeats something more than once, we are to "Listen UP!"....everything He said is important, but repetition let's us know that He's giving a strong warning or admonition, since He knows our weaknesses......one of which is a tendency to worry & fret.

2) The Holy Spirit showed me that I was in sin when I constantly fretted about how our needs would be met. I heard a Bible teacher say during the time which I wrote about yesterday, in Q.1, that "Fear, is faith in Satan"....that was like a punch in the gut for me, because it was true. I was in unbelief about what God said in His Word, about taking care of me, and I was believing Satan's taunts about God's inability or unwillingness to provide.....The devil IS A LIAR. I eventually overcame the tendency to worry, by quoting God's Word out loud in answer to the devil's taunts.

3)Yes, they are the exact opposites....trust is believing what God says....worry is unbelief in what God says....or believing Satan's lies. Actually,the Holy Spirit showed me that my continual worry was tantamount to calling God a liar. That's where faith comes in....when we're tested and IT LOOKS LIKE GOD ISN'T GOING TO COME THROUGH. He usually waits until the eleventh hour to see if we'll believe.

I was vulnerable to the enemy's lies, because I had a preconceived idea of how I wanted the needs to be met...to earn it in a paycheck. When our ability to earn a living was removed for a season, we had to learn to LET GO & LET GOD provide in any way HE CHOSE....many of which were His way of bringing humility into our lives. He also showed me that I'm not an island....we're all interdependent upon one another, and if tuned into Him, can be used to meet one another's needs as He leads.

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I found 5 direct times.

It borders on sin when we worry because we are saying God is not able to take care of us.

Worry & trust are opposites as is worry & faith. Faith & trust cancels out worry.

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

5,If I counted right, for do not worry. Worry is our failure at having complete trust in God, we always want to be in control instead of giving it up to

God and allowing Him to be in control. I think that they are opposites if you have complete trust in God then you would not worry.

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The phrase appears 4 times. Worry and trust are opposites. If we trust God to supply our needs we will not worry about things

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

Many times...repetition is muscle memory...but when the truth comes to us by way of revelation...we walk in it and overcome the lie. Worry is rooted in unbelief...and is a lie from the enemy. Faith is real...it is a gift from God and we have the ability to "exercise" it ...

I believe excessive worry not only borders on sin; I believe it is sin. It is sin, because Jesus says quite plainly -- Do not worry...and then He goes on to give reason why -- it will not change a thing ... (paraphrase mine) ...

I believe worry and trust are exact opposites. If one trusts God for all ...then worry can't even get any "play" time...

Trust and believe.

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

I counted at least 2 times where the term "Do not worry" was included but he spoke of not worrying a numerous amount of times. If you worry then you are saying that God is not capable of handling the needs of His children and that is not true so you must put your total faith in God that He is capable of handling all your needs. One must not question God's ability for He is God over all and He is capable of handling every situation brought forth to man and mankind. For worry and trust are exact opposites, for one is saying (trust) I am placing all my needs to God through prayer and thanksgiving and I am not going to give it thought after this for I trust and believe in him that he will handle All my needs so I have no need to worry. The other (worry) is saying even though I believe in God he lets me handle my own life because he is not capable of understanding or handling my situations here on earth. Jesus tells us to have faith and trust and believe in God for he is capable of handling our every need.

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

It occur in this passage 3 times, in verse 25,31, and 34. Excessive worry border on sin because it shows a lack of faith in God to provide for you, instead of letting go and letting God work things out in His timing for you. Yes worry and trust are exact oppsites because trust is faith and love and worry is sin and death.

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

At least 3 times, the phrase "do not worry" occurs in this passage. Excessive worrying is sinful because it shows a lack of faith, a lack of belief. Worry and trust could be construed to be exact opposites because if we trust in God to provide, we would not worry about having to provide for ourselves. Worry is different from planning or working to provide because when we work to provide it is not us working but Christ in us working. This is very different from worrying.

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

Do Not Worry is indicated many times in the above passage. Excessive worry does border on sin because it indicates a lack of trust in the Lord taking care of us and our needs. It is a struggle to turn our want of control over to Him but to have true peace we must do that. Worry and trust are opposites as when we have complete trust in God, we can turn our cares over to Him. :rolleyes:

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How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur?

3

In what way does excessive worry border on sin?

Excessive worry takes our focus off God and is a sign of little faith. We become focused on that worry instead of the Lord and slowly slip further from His arms.

Are worry and trust exact opposites?

Yes ~ worry comes from little faith - if we are excessively worrying aobut things we are not trusting in the Lord for direction and guidance.

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Implied or stated, those few verses are covered with " DO NOT WORRY." Worry can cause a person to become sick. Having lack of faith and not trusting God to provide as He has said He would is sin because it is unbelief. Worry and trust are opposites.

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? Enough times that Jesus wanted us to get it, but life is a lesson learned over and over until we finally just break. That

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? 5?

In what way does excessive worry border on sin?

Mat 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

Take no thought, be not anxious, reminds me of Martha and Mary, as seen in Luke 10:41-42 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful - meaning, (anxious, taking thought of )and troubled, meaning (disturbed) about many things: But one thing is needful (required) and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Worry, as God was talking about is, being in tumult, intense fear or dread, defined as Anxiety. This anxiety does take us out of living in "faith" and becomes "sin." There is a worry that I define as concerns of this life, concerns we face almost daily, we have many things to be concerned about, I do not think this kind of worry, or concerns, is defined as "sin" - It becomes "sin" when we let it rule our lives, instead of God. It becomes sin when we do not bring our concerns to God in prayer, faith believing, that whatever tomorrow holds, we know who holds tomorrow.

I see God is teaching me, how not to let the concerns of this world, take control of my life, let not my life become a slave to the concerns I face.

Mary let the concerns of life overcome her, taking first place in her life, that she became disturbed and troubled about many things, and in so doing, she lost sight of the most important part of the day, resting in Him, being with Him, putting her concerns on Him. This is what is REQUIRED of us, to not let the cares of this life take control over us.

We do have many concerns, let them stay as concerns, by not letting our minds think on the troubles that come, but to put our minds on who is in control, God, the God of Abraham is in control of our lives, thanks to Calvary.

Are worry and trust exact opposites?

"Worry" meaning, anxiety, tumult, is not the same as "trust" meaning, confidence, ability, something committed into the care of another. I am thankful that God is teaching me how to walk the walk, and to talk the talk. I am so happy that this is a learning process, and that I have the Holy Spirit to help me along the way. For me to grow in my faith, to grow in my trust, I have to be willing to learn, and that is what I am willing to do. :rolleyes:

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

Where there is worry there is no God.Again worry,anxious are the opposite of faith.the word of God says,without faith you cant please God.both things are a sin. :(

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

Where there is worry there is no God.Again worry,anxious are the opposite of faith.the word of God says,without faith you cant please God.both things are a sin. :(

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

HE SAYS IT ALOT ...WHEN WE WORRY WE DON'T DEPEND ON GOD TO PULL US THROUGH IT ..IT IS DOUBTING GOD AND THAT IS A SIN.. BECAUSE WE LIVE BY FAITH AND NOT BY SIGHT!

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Q2. (Matthew 6:25-34) How many times in this passage does the phrase "do not worry," "do not be anxious," or "take no thought" occur? In what way does excessive worry border on sin? Are worry and trust exact opposites?

At least five times - anything in excess is sin - whether worry or anxiety included !!!!

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