Sunday, November 9, 2025

Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34

Sermon Title: “Worry Less, Trust More”

“Don’t worry, be happy.” These song lyrics of Bobby McFerrin are a lot easier said than done. I can be a worrier sometimes. Any other worriers in the congregation? As a mom of young kids, most of my worries involve my kids. Are they doing ok in school? Are they listening and being respectful to their teachers? Are they making friends? Are they kind to others? Are others kind to them? Are they developing properly? Are they healthy? I worry about my own health as well. Will I live to see my children and hopefully my grandchildren grow up? With rising health insurance premiums and high deductibles, I’m not immune to worrying about money as well. As a pastor I worry about the health and finances of our church and how we are reaching those in our community.

I worry about our country and world as well. We are currently in the middle of a Government Shutdown that has been going on for longer than a month. I believe it is now the longest Government Shutdown we have ever had. People are furloughed, and there are many who are still working without pay, such as TSA workers and Air Traffic Controllers. I’m sure there are more that I’m not even aware of. Here in our own congregation, we have those who have been affected by this. Those who are federal workers themselves, or their children are federal workers. For those affected by the shutdown, there are worries of “when will this end, how will I pay my bills?”

Then SNAP, commonly referred to as Food Stamps ran out November 1st. Many in our community are being affected by this. We expect Food Pantry numbers to continue to increase. I know these families are definitely feeling worried.

So we all know what it is to worry.

And yet Jesus, similar to Bob Marley, tells us not to worry. But Jesus doesn’t say, “don’t worry be happy,”  Jesus says, “don’t worry, trust in God.”

Our scripture for today is part of Jesus’s most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus, like any good preacher understands that people respond to stories and images. And so, Jesus gives the people an image of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. Remember, it would have been a very agrarian society, long before technology. People could relate to birds and flowers.

And Jesus says this about us, “Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26) Jesus is reminding us, we are so much more valuable than the birds and flowers, and if the Lord takes care of them, won’t he take care of you as well.

Maybe you need to hear the words that you have value to God. You matter to God. Maybe you grew up in a family where you weren’t treated with value. Or you weren’t treated with value in your marriage. Or you weren’t treated with value in your workplace.

If that’s all you’ve ever known, it can be easy to fall into this trap of thinking, “Do I even matter to God? Does the Lord value me?”

And the answer to that is, “yes, yes you matter to God. Yes, you have value to the Lord.”

Maybe in our worries and stresses of life, we need to be reminded that God values and cares for us, our children, our families, our situations even more than we do. Do you realize that? God loves your children and your family and you even more than you do. If we remember this, we don’t have to worry. We are simply called to trust.

In verse 27, Jesus gives us these words, “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 26:27)

You all are still getting to know me, so you might not know this yet, but my favorite hobby is traveling. I love planning trips and traveling with my husband Jesse and our girls. We have been on long flights overseas and even been crazy enough to take the girls with us. Our girls’ 2 longest flights so far have been to England and Hawaii.

People that know that I like to travel might not know that I’m kind of a nervous flyer. I used to be too afraid to fly and never went on a plane until I was 19 years old. And I was panicking a lot on that first flight.

Now I have grown a lot, that while I’m still a somewhat nervous flyer, I don’t let it stop me from traveling. I have really grown that flying within the United States does not bother me at all anymore. But long overseas flights really stress me out, and especially if there’s turbulence, I’m panicking inside. There’s something about knowing we’re flying over the middle of the ocean that really freaks me out.

This past March when we went to Hawaii, I did good on the flight there, but the flight back had more turbulence, so I was losing it. Not externally, but I was losing it internally. I don’t sleep at all on flights because I’m too nervous and worried. I’m checking the map on the plane the whole time to see where exactly we are andcounting down every minute until we land.

Meanwhile, my girls are just sleeping there peacefully for 7 hours or so.

And as I picture that flight, that’s what Jesus is talking about. By sitting worrying the whole time, watching the map, watching the time tick by, am I adding any time to my life? If there is anything wrong with the plane, I can’t do anything about it anyway, right?  I can’t do anything about it, but I’ve spent 7 hours or so panicking.The stress and anxiety has probably taken minutes off my life. Meanwhile, my girls who aren’t afraid or nervous or worried in the slightest are sleeping peacefully.

Maybe this image of children sleeping peacefully is an image of what life means to trust more in God. When we trust, we can have peace. When we trust, we can rest. And my image of panicking is a life spent worrying. Worrying wasn’t doing anything to make things better, worrying just ruined my flight experience.  

This morning, we are kicking off our stewardship series. I know that stewardship is everyone’s favorite topic to hear about – not. And you might be thinking, well what does worry have to do with money? You thought this was a sermon on worry, and now it feels like a bait and switch. I’m sorry.

If I had to guess, I would say the top 2 worries of most people are financial worries and health worries. And sometimes our worries, worrying about if God will take care of us or not, prevent us from giving to God.

I might get in trouble with the Finance Team for saying this too, but sometimes the church as a whole can be too worried to use what money we have in a way that honors God.

You see, stewardship both as individuals, and as a church, is all about trusting. It’sabout worrying less and trusting more.

When Jesus gets done telling those listening in the crowd and us hearing today as well not to worry, he finishes with these words, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

As I said, “Don’t worry, be happy,” or “Don’t worry, trust God,” is easier said than done. But here, Jesus is giving us the prescription on how to do this. The way we worry less and trust more is by seeking first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness in all that we do. If we seek God first in all that we do, we will continue to grow in trusting God and worrying less and less.

Our stewardship series is called, “First,” inspired by these words of Jesus. And it’salso a reminder to put God first in all things in our lives, even our finances. So often we want to separate our finances from other areas of our life. But the truth is, we can’t.

The way we choose to spend our money reveals to us our priorities. And I would encourage all of us, myself included, to learn either through our check registers or our online bank statements to see, where do I spend most of my money? Is it on the things of God? Or not? 

Now I want to be clear, we all have things we have to spend money on that we don’t have much of a choice about. Mortgages or rent, utility bills, health insurance, car insurance, groceries, daycare, you get the point. But we all have some discretionary spending as well. Some of us more than others. Some of us less than others.

We as followers of Jesus have a choice to make, how do we spend the money that God has given us. Do we spend it on the things of God? Or do we spend it all on ourselves? Do we spend it on the operating budget of Tomoka UMC so that our church can continue to be a place where people gather to have an encounter with Christ? Do we spend it on missional things, either giving our money, or donating food or items to help those in need?

And please hear me out, it’s not wrong to spend money on ourselves. But do we need to spend it all on ourselves? Do we have anything to give to God?

And I want to encourage you; do you give your leftovers to God? Meaning, well I’ll give whatever is left after I spend everything else. Or do you make it a priority to give first to God, and choose to live off of less?

You see, when we give our leftovers to God, its because we’re operating out of a scarcity mindset. It’s because we’re worried, are we going to have enough? But when we give first, we’re saying, “I’ll trust that there’s enough. I’ll trust that the Lord will help me to make good spending decisions so that there is enough.”

Now I want to be clear about something else as well. I know that times are difficult for many right now. As I mentioned earlier, we are in a government shutdown, some of you might be out of work because of this. Some are wondering how you are going to provide for your families because your SNAP Benefits have run out.

If this is you, do not feel pressured to give. Feeding your family comes first.

For some of you, if this is your first visit with us, or maybe even your first visit to a church in a while, I hate that the first message you are hearing is about money. Please know that we are not asking for your money. But this message might apply to wherever you do call home.

But for the rest of us, those who call this our church home, we’re called to step up and be the Body of Christ. We’re called to give. To our operating budget, to ministries and missions of the church and our community. We are called to put God first in our finances, so that the Church can be the Body of Christ in our broken world. A world so desperately in need of hearing the good news of the love of Jesus. A world that’s desperate to hear the words, “you matter to God. You are valuable to God.”

When you seek first the kingdom of God, even in your finances, you are helping others experience the good news of Jesus. Through words of a sermon, through music, through Dinner Church, through visitation, through Bible Study, through Trunk or Treat, through an after-church meal, through giving to Halifax Urban Ministries or Palmetto House, and more, you are helping others to experience the Kingdom of God here on earth.

In a couple of weeks, you will have the opportunity to turn in your Estimate of Giving Cards for 2026. This helps us with our budgeting. If you haven’t received them in the mail yet, you should be receiving them soon.

And I invite you, don’t just quickly fill the card out. Pray over it. Ask God, how are you calling me Lord to put you first in my finances? If currently you don’t give regularly at all, maybe the Lord is calling you to regularly give 1% of your income. If you currently give 5% of your income, maybe the Lord is calling you to give 7% of your income. And if you currently give 10% and are thinking, “Well I tithe, I don’t need to give anymore,” spend some time praying and see if the Lord is calling you to give more.

The thing about our God is, God doesn’t leave us where we are. God calls us to stretch and grow, and that includes even being stretched and growing when it comes to our giving as well.

So, let’s put God first in our finances. Let’s worry less and trust more. And above all, let us “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

Amen