The Cause of Worry

Matthew 6:25-34

a. Worry serves self (6:25-29)

b. Worry is overcome by God (6:30-34)

1. INTRODUCTION

a. The topic of worry is an important one. In a society where there are more uncertainties in every facet of life, financial, social, political, will there be another world war? Many people worry because we don’t know what will happen. This is not to say that all worry is bad. Sometimes worry can be good. It can motivate people to take action to prevent negative outcomes as well. This has led to some great advances in the world today because it can prepare us for problems in the future and allow for better outcomes.

b. But because we are human, most of the time, we will take certain good things and make them negative. This is the same as worry. Although worry can be good, mostly it’s negative. Excessive worrying leads to negative thinking which causes emotional and physical problems. Excessive worrying leads to stress which can cause complications to our health.

c. So it’s important we understand what the Bible speaks of when we think about anxiety and worrying. We must be mindful that worrying is something that must and can be overcome. Here, Jesus tells us what worry is and how to overcome it.

2. BODY

a. Anxiety serves self (6:25-29)

i. Paul starts in verse 25 connecting what He had stated in verse 24. Jesus said in verse 24, that no one can serve two masters. You will either hate the one and love the other and completes that statement by saying, you cannot serve God and wealth.

ii. Jesus’s point here is that you can’t serve both God and self. It isn’t simply wealth, but it’s trusting wealth. Jesus continues this idea in verse 25 by stating for this reason. Because you can’t trust wealth and God, but rather, you must choose what you will choose, Jesus continues verse 25 by stating do not be worried about your life and talks about the necessity of life. Jesus talks about sustenance, like food and clothing, then asks an interesting question at the end. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

iii. If we think about it, Jesus’s question here gets right down to the issue at hand. The reason why we trust in wealth is because it provides these things. It provides us with nicer clothes, a nicer home, a nicer car, and better food. But Jesus’s question here hits the nail in the head. Is life not more than these things? Is life merely about having these things?

iv. Jesus continues on this idea in verses 26-29 where He talks about the birds of the air and how they don’t gather into their barns and yet He feeds them. Jesus’s masterful teaching on this subject helps us to see the flaws in our thinking. Jesus is simply pointing out the reality that no creation on Earth was meant to rely on themselves. We were not called to worry because there are things outside of our scope. There are things in this world we can’t control. This is why Jesus uses that key word in verse 25, do not be worried about your life.

1. Jesus uses the word worried 6 times from verse 25-34 which really brings to focus what His main point was. We should not worry. So what causes us to worry? It is the reality that we want control over all circumstances in our lives. It is the truth that we love ourselves above all others. This is why Jesus teaches in verse 24, that you can’t serve both God and wealth. Why? Because wealth is our greed, wealth is our security, wealth is our idol. But the undergirding truth about wealth is it gives us a false sense of security. God is stating this reality, that you can’t serve both God and wealth to be your source of security.

v. This is not to say that we shouldn’t plan for the future. This isn’t to say that we should live day to day. No, there is a tension in life and we have to recognize the tension that is the Christian life. We should in a sense live day to day thankful, but also plan for the future. This is why in verse 27, Jesus asks the question everyone needs to ask themselves, “who can add a single hour to his life?” What would be the point of saving all our money for retirement if we pass away? This question gets to the heart of stress because Jesus understood that worry is more likely to shorten a person’s life than to extend it.

vi. What’s crazy about this question is that Jesus knew that this worry will kill us. Yet, through our sinfulness, we choose to worry knowing that stress will kill us. Nobody lives this life without worry even though we know it’s not good for us. Why? Because we want control over every facet of our lives. We want to take pride in our accomplishments. We are willing to die because of our selfishness, our desire to be in control. Isn’t that the complete opposite of what Jesus calls us to do, to pick up our cross and follow Him? That’s what sin does to us. It deceives us and causes us to drift away from God.

vii. Well this was a perfect question especially for me this week. On Wednesday night, I had to work late and I came home late and heard my children all had a virus and on Thursday, I got the virus as well and I couldn’t get up from Thursday to Saturday. But getting sick quickly reminds you what the important things in life are. I think that’s why as people get older, they constantly tell you to focus on your health. We can be greedy when we are healthy, but if we are not healthy, it doesn’t matter what house we live in, what car we drive, what food we eat. But the one thing we will worry about is, if I die, where am I going? Where is your security? You can’t serve both God and wealth.

b. Anxiety is overcome by God (6:30-34)

i. Well verse 30, we see Jesus respond to the problem of worry. Jesus responds by saying, if God clothes the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more cloth you? The point is that such a God, author and sustainer of a lavishly beautiful universe, can be trusted to meet his disciples’ essential needs, and not only His disciples’ needs but also our needs. Jesus is stating don’t you believe that I will provide for you? This is why Jesus states at the end, “You of little faith!” What we see by this statement is that faith is the answer to worry. You see when we worry, we have something that we worry about, and we worry because we want that object. There is an object to our worry. When we have faith, there is an object to our faith. There is something we believe. So what Jesus is calling for us to do is, not to focus our affections to worry, but in faith. Stop focusing our desires and worry, but focus our desires to trust.

ii. When we think about ourselves, it’s amazing how great we think we are. Like when we get employment, what do we say? We say, “I got the job.” And when we lose employment or we are in a bad place, we ask, “Why God?” In one scenario, we place ourselves as the heroes and when bad things happen, we blame God for our hardships.

iii. Well again, through my sickness this week, I learned a valuable lesson and a humbling lesson. God knew that I was tired and needed sleep. So why did God do? He allowed me to get sick which required me to get a lot of sleep. Now when you ask me the question, what lesson did I learn? Well I learned that God knew what was for my best interest. He knew that I needed to rest and sleep, but also knew that I would not take time to sleep because I had things to do. So He allowed me to get sick so I could sleep. This wasn’t what I wanted but what I did was get a lot of sleep. I learned that God does things that are best for us even though we don’t think it’s the best. I would rather get a lot of sleep in the best case scenario, but the reality is, I would not choose this unless I am put in this situation. The reality is, God chooses what is best for us. This is exactly what Jesus is teaching us through Matthew 6:30-34.

iv. That last statement in verse 30 You of little faith, helps setup the groundwork for this passage. It is our trusting or our lack of trusting in God that makes all the difference. This is why Jesus starts by saying “Do not worry” in verse 31. Jesus repeats what he said in verse 25. Don’t worry about what you will eat or drink or wear. Again, starting in this section you have to deal with that phrase at the end of verse 30, You of little faith. This sets the background.

v. Verse 32 now starts with “for the Gentiles seek these things.” They seek the things of what to eat, what to drink what to wear. This sounds a lot like people today. If you look at Instagram or Tik Tok, there are so many photos and videos of food and drinks and clothing and the things of this world. That’s not to say that these are bad things, but these are the things that people in this world worry about. Now why is this phrase important? Because it goes back to the idea of faith. Gentiles in this context is talking about people who don’t believe. So the connection that Jesus is making is that people who don’t believe in God worry about these things. This is not to say that believers can’t worry about these things. That is not the point. The point is do you worry, or do you trust?

vi. This is why Jesus writes for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. You can clearly see from this statement that God knows that you need it and that you worry about these things. It’s not that as a believer I can’t worry because why? Because we are human and we worry about our wellbeing. That is what it means to be human. But what God is telling us and teaching us is that instead of worrying which relies on self, we must trust which relies on God. This is why Jesus says, For your heavenly Father knows that you need these things. You see, God knows what you need and God will give you what you need. God will provide for you. God is faithful in His promises, just as He has outlined in the Old Testament through the Noahic, Abrahamic, David and New covenant. Due to the fact that He has kept continually these covenants, we can see the faithfulness of God.

vii. Read Church History, or read all the great men and women in Church history. The constant repetition we hear from every saint in church history has been a simple phrase, He is faithful. We sing about His faithfulness all the time. But He is faithful because He keeps His promises. How can you say He is faithful if you never trust in Him? The only way you can sing of His faithfulness is when you have tasted of it.

viii. Psalm 34:8, one of my favorite psalms in all the Bible, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” O taste and see that Yahweh, the Lord who keeps His covenant, the Lord who is faithful in His promises, is good. Come and taste in the goodness of God, put your trust in Him and you won’t regret.

ix. This is not to say that this is not easy. Putting your trust in the Lord is hard as written in Psalm 34:17-19. The reality of these verses tell us that those who trust in God will face affliction and trouble. But the constant reminder is, He will deliver them out of their troubles.

x. The question that I must ask you is, is it worth going through trials to experience the love of the Lord? Is it worth facing affliction and knowing and trusting that the Lord will deliver you? Again, do you believe in God for His blessings, or do you believe in God and love Him because of who He is, and not simply for His blessings? Is truly God the treasure of your heart and the joy of your life?

xi. Well that question leads us to verse 33. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. So what are we to seek? Jesus goes back to what He said in 5:20. When Jesus spoke to His disciples telling them that their righteousness must surpass the righteousness of the most righteous people, the pharisees, He was telling them that they needed a righteousness that was perfect which is why He states at the end of Chapter 5, therefore be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. Then He continues in chapter 6 to layout what righteousness is. In 6:1-4 He lays out what it means to give. Then in 6:5-13, He teaches how to pray righteously. Then in 6:16-18, He explains how to righteously fast. Then Jesus summarizes in 6:19-21 to tell them that where our treasure is, our heart is also. Jesus is teaching that our heart indicates where our intentions lie and ultimately, that we must choose which master we will serve, ourselves or God. This is why Jesus calls His disciples to seek first in verse 33. Jesus calls His followers to make it a priority to find God’s kingship and righteousness. Just like the Gentiles who eagerly seek, they eagerly prioritize material provisions, disciples of Jesus Christ are to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness first. Followers of Christ are to seek first His kingdom, to not give for their praise but for God’s praise (6:4), to pray not to be noticed, but to pray that God would notice them (6:6), and fast will not be noticed by other men but by God (6:18). When we look at this collectively, seeking first the kingdom of God is to live for God and His praise.

xii. Seeking God’s kingship or His kingdom means God’s people living under God’s rule. Jesus is telling us to seek to live under the direction and control of God. It is to decide to live in obedience to the things of God. It is to live as God called us to live. So Jesus calls His disciples to first seek, anxiously, eagerly seek God’s rule first. Then what’s the promise? That all these things, all the things that you need, the things that God knows you need, will be given to you.

xiii. Now that doesn’t mean everything you want. There’s a difference between the things we want and need. God will cover your needs. If he knows you don’t need it, it won’t be included. Now we might think that’s unfair. But if we were honest, we would understand. If you have children and you look at them, you know there are things they need and things they want. Just because we give them everything, they want doesn’t mean they need it all. We want to give everything they want, but we don’t give them everything because we know sometimes it’s not the best for them. This is the same with God. Because God knows what’s best for us, He gives us only what we need.

xiv. So verse 34, some people might say what this have to do with what Jesus said in verse 34 and think its disjointed. But it’s perfectly inline with what Jesus has been talking about. If we understand this section is about worrying vs trusting, then Jesus’ statement here is don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry for itself. Instead, trust daily. Trust in the Lord each day and taste of His goodness every day. Just as you seek in God’s kingship and righteousness, do this daily. It’s not a one time thing. It’s an every day thing. You must rely and depend on His grace every day. That’s the reminder. Why? Because every day will have its own issues and you will either worry or you will need to trust. My prayer is that through all of our life’s experiences, we will trust instead of worry in God’s faithfulness.

3. CONCLUSION