“DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY!”
Text: Luke 12:22-34
Faith United
October 7, 2007


I think this is a pretty familiar passage
It sounds wonderful and soothing and comforting
but Jesus says, “don’t worry?”
Isn’t that like telling us not to BREATHE?
I mean, I’m sure you’ve been in the situation where
something is obviously troubling you
maybe it keeps you up at night
or just keeps you anxious and preoccupied
And some well-meaning person says to you
“Don’t worry about it, everything will be fine.”
Don’t worry !
And you know as well as I do
that it’s just not that easy
you can’t just turn worry off like a faucet
And one might even argue, ok, those are nice words of Jesus
but Jesus didn’t have credit cards,
he didn’t have a mortgage to pay
he didn’t have student loans or medical bills
Easy for HIM to say—‘don’t worry!’

I mean, we will admit, he’s got a point
When we worry, we don’t help the situation
we certainly don’t add one bit to our lives by worrying,
in fact, doctors tell us now more specifically,
worry can actually shorten our lives
it can make us sick, run-down
less effective
I’ve had people tell me, though,
that they’re afraid that if they STOP worrying about something
than it will actually come to pass
as if worrying somehow keeps it from coming true
Or if they DON’T worry about something,
than it will seem like they just don’t care
or that they’re not concerned
Which all, of course, sounds absurd,
but in the middle of the night somehow,
it makes perfect sense – doesn’t it?
Someone said to me recently,
“don’t ever go into your mind all alone,
it’s a dangerous place”
and isn’t it true?
When we have too much time to think
or too much time ALONE, isolated, by ourselves,
our mind can go off in crazy directions

Never go into your mind alone,
it can be a dangerous place

Sometimes it helps simply to tell someone else
what’s going on in your head
preferably someone who won’t say,
“oh, don’t be so stupid, you know
that doesn’t make any sense!”
Preferably talk to someone who may be
a bit more gentle
Never go into your mind alone… it can be dangerous

Jesus is very specific about what NOT to worry about
He’s saying,
“Don’t worry about your life,
what you will eat, or about your body,
what you will wear….
For life is more than food
and the body is more than clothing…”
But what about people who don’t have enough to eat?
What about people who don’t have proper clothing
to keep them warm?
Doesn’t he take that seriously?
The harsh fact is, there are too many people in the world,
in our own country
who don’t have enough to eat,
who literally starve to death
Is Jesus being unrealistic?
Is he somehow blind to very real need?
And like I said, he didn’t live in the 21st century
where we get bombarded by debts
where one-click buttons on websites
make it so easy to pile up expenses
or where we’re bombarded every day
by what we absolutely have to have in order to be happy
especially as we get closer to the Christmas season
we can expect
to be programmed into thinking that the only way
to have a merry Christmas is to spend, spend, spend
whether we have it to spend or not
No offense, Jesus, but we in fact
have a lot to worry about

Our children are brainwashed into thinking
that their lives are not complete without an Ipod
or Playstation or a big screen TV
or their very own laptop and cell phone
Now, don’t start shrinking in your pews with guilt
if your children have those things
those things in and of themselves are not bad
but every day, via radio, internet, TV, movies, etc.
we are being conned into thinking that we simply cannot live
without certain products

Before Jesus started this conversation
a man in the crowd came up to him
and said, “Rabbi, tell my brother to divide
the family inheritance with me.”
It was pretty common for folks to come to the local rabbi
to settle their disputes
and Jesus said, “Are you kidding?
who set ME to be an arbitrator or judge over you?”
Instead of telling this guy,
yeah, dude, you have every right to fight for that money,
you should get a lawyer and take him for all he has…
instead of even addressing whether the man
had a just complaint or not,
Jesus says, “Take care! Be on your guard
against all kinds of greed;
for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of
possessions.”
And he told them a parable
about a rich man whose crops produced abundantly
And he thought, what do I do?
I have no place to store all my crops!
So he said to himself, I know!
I’ll pull down my barns and build larger ones
and there I will store up all my grains and my goods
and possessions,
And I will make a toast and say,
“Self, you have ample goods laid up for many years,
relax, eat, drink and be merry!”
But, Jesus said,
God said to the man, “you fool!
This very night your life is being demanded of you.
And the things that you’ve prepared, whose will they be?”
In other words, you can’t take it with you, buddy

Kasey (my secretary) was looking for a picture to put on the bulletin cover this week
and she came across a picture of this parable
and the picture showed a rich man being approached
by the Grim Reaper
Needless to say, we threw that one out…

Wednesday morning
I looked out my kitchen window
and saw the Grim Reaper in the school parking lot
I didn’t know what was going on,
but I was more concerned about the ambulances
and firetrucks and police cars gathered in front of the school
I was more worried about seeing two people
put on stretchers and put into the ambulances,
too worried to think that it might be odd
that the Grim Reaper was in the parking lot….
Fortunately, I had the presence of mind
to run out my back door and ask one of the officers
what the HECK was going on…
and of course he assured me it was all a mock drill
What I found out later, though,
was in that moment, that crowd of students in the street
didn’t yet know that it was all fake
Of course, the whole point of the project
was to let our kids know that there are consequences
to the choices they make
that choosing to get drunk and get in a car
is not a simple decision
or a decision that is no big deal to anyone else

I think – and I pray—that a lot of those kids got the point

Our media shows us endless pictures
of people having a good time in a bar
of drinking themselves silly
the message out there is that you can just have fun
and that’s the goal
and there’s no problem
They don’t show the consequences
We are conned daily into thinking that we can just do
whatever feels good in the moment
and it won’t matter
Jesus is saying, it matters
The choices we make have an impact on our lives and on others' lives
We can charge all the stuff we want
and max out our credit cards
or MOM”s credit cards…
We can buy stuff that we don’t have to pay for
until 2009
ain’t it great?
But Jesus is saying, You can’t take it with you
it’s not worth it
In other words, what are you living for?
What brings meaning to your life?
Having the most toys?
Getting the job that will pay the most
even if you hate it?
We see time and time again
how money doesn’t solve anything
Having STUFF doesn’t make us happy
in fact, it often makes us more miserable
Because we never have enough
I read recently that there are 51,000 storage facilities
across our country
and that last year as a nation
we paid 22 billion dollars to store our STUFF
22 Billion dollars
to have a place to put STUFF
Jesus told the story to say, hey, this guy had everything
he had more than enough
so much so, that he had to build bigger buildings
to put it in
but then the Grim Reaper showed up
and all of that stuff meant nothing
What would they say about him at his funeral?
That he had a lot of STUFF?
This is called the parable of the Rich Man’s folly
his folly was his self-centeredness, his greed
and his his preoccupation with possessions
at the expense of his life
He didn’t need anyone else,
he died alone
We know how greed divides families
who gets what, and who deserves what
and in the end, families are split and angry
Relationships are broken
over a Persian rug or an antique desk

Jesus isn’t talking to people who don’t have enough to eat
or enough to wear to get them through the winter
He’s talking to people who HAVE what they need to eat
and what they need to wear
and who just want MORE…
Don’t worry, he says,
don’t worry about food and clothing,
you know you have enough, that each day
you have what you need
you have your daily bread
Look at the wildflowers, how beautiful they are
they get their nourishment every day
look at the birds flying freely in the sky
they have enough to eat and drink
they have places to find shelter
if God cares that much about the flowers that fade and die
and the birds of the air
how much more do you think God cares for you?
Don’t use all your energy striving for what you are to eat
and drink and wear,
and do not always be preoccupied with those things
For it is the nations of the world that strive after these things
that kill for these things
that leave countries devastated over such things
and God knows what you need
Instead, reach higher
reach for the things that matter
put your energy into the things that do last forever
the Kingdom of God
Love
love for your soul, for your neighbor,
for your family, your friends, your community
love for your world
the world that Jesus came to save from itself
Strive for relationships that are eternal
that don’t burn up in the furnace
at the end of our physical lives
things that moths and bugs can’t destroy
things you can’t pay to store away
but the things that give you life and sustenance
that fill your soul and your heart
and heal the hearts and souls of others
THAT’s what you are to strive for
the rest is just details
Seek the Kingdom of God first,
seek after all the things that God is passionate about
and all the other stuff will fall into place
It’s all about trust
basic trust in God
beginning each day with the simple prayer,

ok, God, TODAY I trust you to provide what I need
to face this day, this life
and whatever it brings

Just today, one day at a time, we can do that
And no where does Jesus say this life in this crazy world
will be easy if only we believe
life in this world is tough
but how much tougher is it
if we rely on things that don’t last forever?
Love lasts forever
So work for the things that you CAN take with you
when you go
the things that are in fact, ETERNAL
and FOREVER
It is, after all, possible
to keep your head about you
when everyone around you is losing theirs
Just breathe
breathe in the life-giving Holy Spirit
to give you strength, love and a peace that lasts forever
The peace of the Living Christ
be with you now… and forever