Matthew 6: 25-34 | "Curing Anxiety"

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Glad to have you with us this morning as we continue our walk through Matthew's Gospel.

Some may be more likely to call it a crawl through Matthew's Gospel, but I will set that aside for now.

Please take your Bible and open it to Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

Matthew chapter 6, as we continue to look together at the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaking to his disciples that that day.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

This is the last part of chapter 6 in our Bibles, and it's a familiar passage to you.

If you've been in church for very long, or maybe were raised in Sunday school, you're probably familiar with at least a portion of this passage.

Jesus says, Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will, sorry, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Consider the birds of the air.

They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to the span of his life?

And why are you anxious about clothing?

Learn from the lilies of the field how they how they grow, they neither toil nor spin.

And yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?

For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Amen.

We are in the midst of a continual teaching curve in our home.

We have a four-year-old who doesn't obey right away.

Those of you who are parents or are in the midst of that, you will understand exactly what I'm saying here.

We will tell our son to do something, and he just stands there.

Then we tell him to do something again, and he gets this little grin on his face and stands there.

About the third time I say it, I'm starting to get irritated.

By the sixth time, I'm just flat out mad, right?

So we're in this continual training mode of obeying the first time, listening and hearing and obeying the first time.

Now it makes sense that when when Jesus says something that we ought to listen and obey, right?

I mean he's he's our Lord, after all.

He's the God of all creation.

He sustains us, he came to redeem us.

He's our Lord and our master.

So when he speaks, we we ought to listen and obey.

But what what if Jesus says something twice?

If he says something twice, do you think that we uh we perhaps should maybe take notice a little a little bit more?

Now what if Jesus says something more than once and more than twice?

What if this this Jesus, the one who made us, the one who who came to redeem us, the one who sustains us even now, what if Jesus were to say something three times?

Would you say that it's important to hear what he has to say and obey it?

Can we agree that if Jesus says something three times, that there ought to be no question whatsoever about our listening and responding in obedience?

Can we can we agree on that?

Thank you.

The first service just sat and stared at me.

Thank you for saying yes.

Then why do you worry?

Then why do you worry?

Do not be anxious, do not be anxious.

Do not be anxious.

Three times.

Why why then are we are we so prone to being anxious?

Why do why does worry so easily creep into our thinking, and before we know it, it's ruling in our hearts?

Well, the answer to that question is incredibly simple.

It's incredibly simple, and yet at the same moment it is exasperatingly complex.

Here's the answer.

Why does anxiety rule in your heart?

Why do you worry?

Why are we given to that?

There's one simple answer: your faith is too small.

I'm not insulting your faith.

I'm not meaning to do that.

I'm not questioning your trust in God because those are the Lord's words, not mine.

If you are ever anxious about your life or about the needs of your life, or if you ever worry about the future, then you are sinning against the one who died for you.

You are sinning against the one who sustains you.

And he says your faith is too little.

Now I know if you're normal, that there are some of you that are already beginning to mount objections in your mind.

Some of you are normal, so I can I can think that some of you are mounting objections.

Here's some objections that I've had said to me.

You don't understand, Pastor.

I I struggle to pay the bills.

So sometimes I have to skip a couple of meals a week just to make ends meet.

It's not about my faith, Pastor.

It's a physical thing that I can't control.

It just happens, it just takes over.

I can't I can't control it.

If you have objections rising up against uh against this within you, listen again to Jesus.

Do not be anxious.

Do not be anxious.

Do not be anxious.

You were not made to worry.

Jesus did not die on the cross to redeem you from your sins, to provide you with an opportunity to be anxious.

He did not give his life for you to cause you to live with anxiety.

He, the one who made you and who sustains you, he has identified your greatest need when it comes to worry.

You need greater faith.

Now that I've stirred up a hornet's nest, let's turn to Psalm 1 in your Bible.

And as we go there, I'll tell you that if you desire to get the most out of what God has to say in this part of the Sermon on the Mount, you're going to have to come back next week because we're not going to be able to conclude this passage this morning.

Psalm chapter 1, some of you may have this passage memorized.

Psalms 1 · chapter mention

This is a great beginning to the book of Psalms.

It doesn't have an author attributed to it.

It just begins with these words: blessed is the man, or blessed is the woman, blessed is the person, man, woman, or child, who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, does not stand in the way of sinners, and doesn't sit in the seat of scoffer.

But instead, blessed is the person whose delight is in the law of the Lord.

And on his law he meditates day and night.

That person is planted, literally transplanted, by streams of water, by canals of water that yields its fruit in season and whose leaf doesn't wither.

And all that he does, he prospers.

Now the wicked, they're that same way.

They're not like that.

They're like chaff that the wind blows away.

Therefore, the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous.

But the way of the wicked will perish.

Now, as we have studied in the Sermon on the Mount, we've repeatedly seen Jesus point to this need for a righteousness that exceeds that which was common of the religious leaders of that time.

A standing before God that had to be greater than the Pharisees.

We've seen that again and again and again in the Sermon on the Mount.

Most recently, we've covered spiritual disciplines of giving and praying and fasting that are in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

The Pharisees performed those disciplines for the praise of human beings, for the applause of people.

But Jesus told his disciples to have their hearts set, not on the applause and the praise of people, but to have their hearts set in heaven, not on the treasures that come on earth.

Genuine righteousness, Jesus says, it doesn't pursue an earthly reward, but a heavenly reward.

Because those who belong to God's kingdom don't have divided hearts.

They serve Christ alone.

Now, do you think that the Pharisees would be the blessed ones of Psalm 1?

Blessed are those who don't do this and this and this.

And there's a progression, a downward progression.

There's walking, there's standing, and they're sitting.

You think the Pharisees would belong in that category?

Well, they took pride, didn't they, in not being associated with sinners.

They took pride in staying away from scoffers and scoundrels.

So they wouldn't consider themselves in that category.

They would say, no, we are not those people.

We belong to God and we follow God's rules.

But ironically, what ended up happening is those Pharisees became the sinners.

They became the scoffers.

They became the wicked.

But those with greater righteousness, the blessed ones, what are they like?

Well, in the language of Psalm 1, Jesus makes it very clear.

They're going to be like trees that God carefully digs around the root ball, and he lifts that root ball out and he transplants that person next to a canal of water that is full, that is constantly running.

So there's no lack of nourishment, no lack of water.

And because of that, the leaves are not going to wither ever, and they're always going to be producing their fruit in their due season.

That's the person, God says, who's blessed.

That's the person Jesus says, who is the person found in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

That's the person who has greater righteousness.

They never wither, they never lose their leaves, they're always producing fruit.

Sounds nice, doesn't it?

Sounds worry-free, doesn't it?

I don't have to worry about water.

I don't have to worry about fruitfulness.

I can just be.

How is it possible?

How is it that the blessed one in Psalm 1 can be described in that kind of way?

Well, the answer is in the very last verse of the Psalm.

It's because Yahweh knows their way.

The Lord knows the way of the righteous.

That's a poetic way of saying that God, in his in his omniscience, in his knowing everything, watches over these blessed ones and he provides for them and he cares for them.

They have nothing about which to be worried.

He has taken care of everything for them.

That's what Jesus tells us in Matthew chapter 6.

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

It's why he says in verse 30, Will He, the Father, not much more clothe you?

O you of little faith.

He says in verse 32, the Gentiles, the world seeks after all these things, and your heavenly father knows.

He knows.

Do not be anxious.

Do not be anxious.

Do not be anxious.

Why?

What what could eliminate your worry?

Here's what it is.

Here's what can eliminate it.

Your God, the Almighty, the all-knowing, your Redeemer and Savior knows your way.

He knows your need.

And as your Father, He will lovingly provide.

Don't worry.

If you can rest there, it will eliminate your worry.

Any worry, therefore, is distilled down into a lack of faith in your Father's care.

We trust ourselves and we trust our own control of life more than we trust our Father's love.

Now Jesus doesn't speak of no faith.

And he's not speaking of a faith that leads to salvation.

This is the kind of faith that exists already in those who follow him.

This is spoken to those who are his disciples, who are part of his kingdom, who have been granted by his grace that greater righteousness.

This is the faith of the righteous.

Anytime that Matthew in his gospel refers to you of little faith, it always refers to the disciples.

Disciples have saving faith.

They belong to Christ, but that saving faith is a faith that obeys.

But disciples who worry are deficient in the faith that they do have.

Their faith, Jesus says, is little.

More is expected of those who follow Jesus.

That's why the language Jesus employs here is that of command.

Three times the command is given to those with faith, do not worry.

Do not worry, do not worry.

There are three identical commands.

So let's consider them briefly with three questions.

First, the question is, whom do you trust with your life?

Whom do you trust with your life?

Do not be anxious, Jesus says in verse 25, about your life.

And then a summary of the needs of life follows.

What you will eat, what you will drink, what you will wear, how you'll cover your body.

And those items serve to develop Jesus' argument.

But we're not supposed to limit life to those three items.

Jesus isn't telling us life is all just about food and drink and clothing.

He's telling us to consider everything that you consider necessary for life itself.

These point to basic human needs for all of life.

And Jesus says faith is the ultimate cure for anxiety.

A key to having greater faith is comprehending that life itself is more than food.

Life itself is more than drink.

Life itself is more than clothes.

Life is more than even your own basic needs, whatever you consider those basic needs to be.

Do you comprehend that?

Do you truly, truly grasp that truth?

We were not created for food.

We were not created for drink.

We weren't created for clothes.

We were not created so that we would spend our days pursuing the treasures of this world.

I was not created for smoked brisket.

I was not created for coffee.

If you know me well, you understand how hard it is for me to say that.

Then for what were we created?

Jesus tells us in verse 33.

We were created for the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

We were created to pursue him, to reflect him and to live for him, to bring him glory.

So here's the point.

When our lives are given to fulfilling our purpose in Jesus, when our lives are given to pursuing Christ and everything that he is, then his kingdom and his righteousness becomes all-consuming in our lives so that the perceived needs of our lives are not worthy of our worry.

And Jesus points to creation to illustrate.

He says, look at the birds.

And don't just look.

Watch them.

Think carefully.

Consider how they move, what they're doing, consider their lives.

Jesus says there's theology in creation, there's theology in the world around us.

There is divine truth embedded in the natural world in which we live.

And Romans 1 tells us that if we would dare to look and consider, we will see God's transcendent glory and his divine power on display in birds.

In birds.

Look carefully at the birds.

They don't plant seed.

They don't gather up a harvest into barns for the winter months.

Now it's not that they don't work.

Birds are always working.

I mean, they're constantly flittering around, they're always looking for seed, they're looking for food, they work hard.

So greater faith is not about working harder.

No, greater faith is about actively trusting in the God who made you.

Greater faith is actively trusting God to provide for you.

That doesn't eliminate work, it doesn't eliminate putting in effort to live.

That is God's means of providing.

The issue here is worrying about it.

Work hard.

Leave the worrying to your father.

Birds don't store up warehouses of seed for winter months.

But God still feeds them, doesn't He?

I know, I've seen them outside my house.

And 20 below.

And notice how God how God is characterized here.

In verse 26, your heavenly father feeds them.

Your father.

Your father feeds them.

He's the creator of the birds, but he's your father.

That implies care.

And notice then the theology of God's fatherly provision within the world of birds.

He cares for them.

Your father cares for those birds.

They don't worry.

And think about the wildflowers.

They don't even do what the birds do, they just grow right where they are.

What a life.

They don't work.

They don't work to feed sheep so that they can shear those sheep and then spin the wool so that they can have thread to make clothes, to clothe themselves.

No, God just bestows his own glory on them.

God himself clothes those wildflowers so that even the most majestic of Israel's kings wasn't as gloriously clothed as a simple wildflower.

God clothes wildflowers with immense beauty, and yet they might be gathered up as fuel this afternoon to cook someone's meal or to heat someone's home.

They don't live long.

We might even consider some of them insignificant.

They're just part of the grass.

But look how the Creator clothed those simple wildflowers.

God bestowed some of his own glory on them so that his own beauty would be reflected in those flowers.

And yet they do nothing but grow.

So why would you worry about being clothed?

Now our minds have been directed here toward the theology embedded in creation.

Now Jesus moves that theology, he says, okay, now you've understood what we're looking at, you know what we're seeing in the world that God has given you.

Now let's think about it.

Let's move that to the heart with three convicting questions, and then he adds a fourth.

First, are you of more value than those birds?

He's emphatic here.

You, disciples, followers of Jesus, you who call yourself Christians, are you of more value than those birds?

Are you of more value than those flowers to your God?

And which of you?

Which of you can can find in anxiety the fountain of youth?

How many of you can increase your life by worrying?

And why are why are you anxious about clothing?

And here's a fourth question.

And will he not much more clothe you?

Now we're not actually intended to answer those questions.

Because the answers are obvious.

Of course, we're of more value than the birds.

The creation account alone shows that.

Take a note, Peter.

Thank you.

The human creation is of greater value to God than the animal creation.

Jesus himself says that.

Are you of not much more value than that?

Yes, absolutely.

That's what God said.

That's the way God made it.

Now a single person can ever increase the length of his or her life by worrying.

Our worry is wasted emotional energy.

So, yes, of course, the Creator, God, who is our Father, will take care of our needs.

These are rhetorical questions that have obvious answers.

Answers, then, that are intended to completely strip away any power that anxiety and worry has over us.

Jesus says, if you just look at creation, you will see enough about your God to tell you, I don't need to worry about anything.

By increasing our trust in the Creator God, who is our Father, who has determined to save us, worry begins to be eliminated.

You see, when we study the theology that God is embedded in creation, we see Him.

We see the Creator.

We see His work to provide for the smallest of His creatures.

And Jesus Himself says, God purposely put theology in creation so that we could see it and know He's going to care for us.

His blessing is upon us.

He's going to provide.

There's no reason at all to worry when this God, the God of creation, is your God.

Now let's put that in the negative.

Any worry, any anxiety about the provisions of life, shows a lack of trust on our part in our Father's power.

Shows a lack of trust in our Father's purpose for us.

And then in his provision day by day.

At this point, we have to pause and confess, don't we?

I won't ask for a show of hands, but we worry, don't we?

We live with anxiety, don't we?

We have we have little faith in the God of creation, don't we?

We fail to trust our Father.

Don't we?

Lord Jesus, we confess our sin.

Oh, help our unbelief.

We believe, but help our unbelief.

We confess that we do not see you as we ought, and we do not trust you as we ought, and yet you are so faithful.

Forgive our sin.

Amen.

Now what do we do?

Working harder isn't the answer.

Working harder to provide for your family, putting in extra hours at work isn't necessarily the answer.

We must work to provide, yes, but working harder is not the cure for anxiety.

No, no, we have to answer a few questions with complete truthfulness.

Whom do you trust with your life?

Do you only trust yourself?

Can you say that you you really, truly, to the fullest extent, to the very end, trust the one who came to redeem you?

Or do you say, I'll trust you this far, but you know what?

Beyond that, sorry, God, I'll handle that myself.

If you desire, if you desire to fully trust the God who provides, then you must relinquish your desire for control over your life and trust your father.

That means you have to recognize the limitations of your humanity, that you can't control everything.

You can't even control your own life.

And instead rely on the Father who is the God who provides.

Each day, then, that you say, I'm going to trust you for today, and God provides for that day, each day that you do that, that you trust him, he's going to increase your faith.

It may be incrementally, but day after day that you trust him, your faith will increase.

Now there's enough conviction right there for one sermon, but Jesus isn't done.

Therefore, don't be anxious.

Don't go through this life wondering how your needs will be met.

Why?

Because the Gentiles seek after all these things.

The unbelieving world pursues those things, but your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

So don't worry about your needs.

When you worry about your needs, you act like the world that hates God and doesn't believe in Him.

Worrying is worldly.

Peter wrote, as obedient children, do not become conformed to the passions of your former ignorance.

But as he who called you, be holy.

And all your conduct.

By means of your faith in Christ, by means of Christ's death on the cross and his burial and his resurrection again from the dead, by faith in him, you are a child of God.

You are adopted into his family.

Act like it.

We have some rules for our family.

And unfortunately, because we live in a sinful world, sometimes there are particular words that our son comes home with from church that we would rather he not learn to use.

Don't worry, they're not terrible, terrible ones.

We just want particular language.

So when our son picks up a word and repeats it at home, we tell him, you know what, Joshua, we don't use that word in our family.

Here's another word that you can use instead.

God says, My children don't worry.

And when you do, you're not acting like my children.

You're acting like the world that hates me.

You've probably heard the statement, Father knows best.

I questioned the truthfulness of that for about 30 years.

Didn't really believe that my father knew best.

Eventually I learned, but we're talking here about our Heavenly Father.

This is the Father who brought us into being.

This is the Father who placed you at the place in life where you are this very moment.

This is the Father who created us as the pinnacle of his world.

This is the Father who carried out his plan to rescue and redeem us by sending his own son so that we might not pay the penalty for our sin.

Why would we ever question whether or not he knows what's best?

Why would we ever question his care for us?

When he says, This is how you know love, I sent my son to be the satisfaction for your sin.

How would we ever question his care for us?

I'll tell you why.

I'll tell you why we question.

We question because our faith is too little.

When our faith is too little, we believe that we know better.

When our faith is too little, we convince ourselves that we know more than our Father knows.

When our faith is too little, we convince ourselves that what the Father thinks is best is not really what's best after all.

When our faith is too little, we convince ourselves that we, the created ones, are smarter than the one who created us in the first place.

So before we know it, our worry has walked us right through the doors of idolatry.

Whom will you trust to care for you?

That's the real question here.

First question was whom will you trust with your life?

Here the question is, whom will you trust to care for you, to meet your daily needs, whatever those needs might be.

You know, this world is driven to supply needs.

They don't have a trust for tomorrow.

They don't believe in a father who will care for them tomorrow.

So they have to store things up.

Do you remember the parable Jesus told of the man who said, you know what, I have to tear down my barns to build bigger barns so I'll have more?

That's an illustration of the world.

Disciples trust their father to supply.

Disciples are like birds.

Disciples are like flowers.

Disciples have a father to trust.

They don't need to worry.

And that doesn't mean don't work.

God says if you don't work, you don't eat.

Don't be lazy.

Do your work and do it as unto the Lord, but don't worry about provisions, as someone has said, it's our duty to work, it's the Father's duty to worry.

Trust your Father to know what you need.

Listen, He created this place.

He created this world.

And then He then He made us and placed us in this world.

He knows what you need.

Our job is not to worry about our needs, but to trust the Father's plan.

An old French scholar wrote, Nobody ever saw an earthly father feed his birds and abandon his children.

Should we ever believe that of our heavenly Father?

Trust the Father's plan.

What is that plan?

Verse 33.

Pursue him.

Seek his kingdom, seek his righteousness instead of worrying about our own kingdoms and how we will provide for them.

Now I want you to see something here about verse 33.

This is a familiar verse to many.

You've probably sung it before, you may have it memorized.

Unfortunately, I think we can abuse it by lifting it out of its context and treating it as a promise for anything that we want.

Seek God, and all these things will be added to you.

And we get to lump all kinds of things in all those things, don't we?

Remember, Jesus is talking about daily needs, daily provision.

But I want you to see something here.

This isn't about worrying about how much we can get.

This is about pursuing Jesus.

This is a familiar verse.

But it's not about getting all these things.

It's about pursuing Jesus.

God's provision is a side benefit.

And do you see?

Do you see that you can only do what Jesus says if you trust him?

Let me put it a different way.

You cannot seek his kingdom if you worry.

You will not pursue his righteousness if you are filled with anxiety.

Because those two don't go together.

They're mutually exclusive.

To worry is to pursue your own kingdom.

To trust is to seek his.

So who will you trust to care for all those things?

And this really is an application of Jesus' point in verse 24 about serving two masters.

You cannot serve worry and Christ.

You cannot serve anxiety and pursue Christ.

See, we have to recognize the limitations of our humanity and rely on the one who created us.

We must also trust in our Father's knowledge of our needs and pursue his kingdom while we trust in him to care for us.

Do we do that?

Well, we're out of time for this morning, but let's look quickly at the last verse.

For the third time, he says, do not be anxious.

This time he's specific.

Don't be anxious about tomorrow.

Or if you're not worried about tomorrow, don't be anxious about next week.

Don't be anxious about next month, about next year, about 10 years from now, about when you're going to retire, whatever the case may be, don't worry about the future.

And Jesus is done asking questions.

But let's ask one ourselves anyway, whom will you trust for tomorrow?

By now, I hope it should be clear to us.

Disciples of Jesus have a father who sovereignly cares for them.

Disciples of Jesus have a father who sovereignly provides for them.

Disciples of Jesus have a father who lovingly knows what they need and loves to meet that need.

All of that is true today.

And all of that will be true tomorrow.

And the next day.

Next week, and next month, and next year, and the next decade.

There is not a day when it will not be true.

You don't need to worry about tomorrow when this father is your father.

There is no need to be anxious about treasuring up treasures on earth, for your father cares for you.

Instead, settle yourself in the comfort of the Father's omniscience and submit to his provision for you.

You need to know that his provision for you today does not include grace for tomorrow.

He's not given you the grace for tomorrow today.

Let tomorrow be.

And when it comes, your father will care for that day too.

He made it.

And he made you.

And he's demonstrated his love for you by sending his son to die on a cross to give himself for you so that you might be worry-free for eternity.

Why would you not trust him?

Don't be anxious.

Don't worry.

Trust the one who predestined you to be conformed to the image of his son.

He's called you to himself.

If you have placed your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, he has called you to himself.

He has justified you.

He's declared you right by his grace.

And those whom he's justified, he will also glorify.

The end is already determined.

Why would you worry about it?

Life is more than food.

Life is more than drink.

Life is more than clothing.

So what do you have to worry about?

I think that's what Solomon, the wisest human being who ever walked this earth aside from Christ, meant when he said, Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Don't trust in your own understanding.

Lord Jesus, we come and we bow.

Again, confessing our sin.

Asking that you, by your sovereign grace, would increase our faith.

Give us grace for today.

Give us today's daily bread.

We ask that you would provide for today, meet our needs for today.

Enable us to trust you as our Father for tomorrow.

Open our eyes, Lord, to see the world in which we live with new eyes.

To see the truth that you've revealed in creation, to help us to trust you.

Lord, help us to rely on you and not our own understanding.

Most of all, enable us to see, to believe in, and to rest in the greatest provision you ever gave.

Your own son, whom you delivered up to be crucified.

His blood might be shed, that we might be forgiven, to have eternal life, and to never worry even for eternity.

We ask this all in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, and of his Father and our Father.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.