The Un-anxious Life: Trusting the Promises of God
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 38:25
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· 8 viewsThe un-anxious Christian life lays down anxieties by trusting in our Good, Sovereign, and Wise Heavenly Father’s promises.
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“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, 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?
Look at 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 his span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
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 all 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.
This section of Scripture is intimately connected to what has come before it.
Our storehouses don’t last long (Matt 6:19-20).
Our storehouses reveal what we love (Matt 6:21).
Our storehouses reveal the way we view the world (Matt 6:22-23).
We cannot serve our storehouses and serve God at the same time (Matt 6:24).
We cannot walk with God and Mammon at the same time.
We cannot serve both God and Mammon.
Our master reveals our ultimate allegiances and this is freeing for the Christian.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
The Christian CANNOT trust Mammon to provide for life’s necessities either.
The Christian is NO LONGER enslaved to the “god” of Mammon.
The Christian is enslaved to our Lord and master.
Which leads Jesus to make this section on applications for us.
Matthew 6:25 (ESV)
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
Anxiety is to be “inappropriately concerned”, or “worried.”
The NT does not make a distinction between anxiety and worry.
Even if they’re translated differently, they are the same word.
The word that Jesus picks up for “anxious” is used in various other places in the NT.
1 Corinthians 7:32–33 (ESV)
I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.
But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,
When Paul describes the life of an unmarried man vs. a married man, he describes it with the language of anxiousness.
The unmarried man is concerned about how to please the Lord.
But the married man has all these other things begin to weigh him down.
It’s not that they’re bad things as much as they are things that draw the attention away.
Paul uses the term again in Philippians 2:19-22 when describing Timothy…
Philippians 2:19–22 (ESV)
I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy’s proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.
The “concern” that Paul describes Timothy of in Philippians 2:20 is the same word for “anxieties.”
Now this does not mean to make light of anxieties but it does seek to give a fuller picture of what Jesus is referring to in Matthew 6.
But Paul will go on to say of anxieties.
Philippians 4:5–7 (ESV)
The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Paul goes on to later say that anxieties should be given over to the Lord.
Anxieties can be about good things.
There can be good things behind the anxieties.
Just because something is understandable, does not make it right.
Matthew 6:25 (ESV)
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.
Most first century Jews didn’t have mass wealth.
Their wealth was wrapped up in their possessions.
For instance, they would have a cloak which is the outer garment.
Their cloak would act as their blanket to keep them warm.
Their rain jacket to protect them from rain.
The same was true of their meals.
They would provide for their food every day enough to survive.
What’s underneath eating?
Or clothing?
Jackets for wearing, and food for eating all have one purpose: to protect and sustain life.
Our life is what is undergirding the “anxieties” that Jesus is addressing here.
A person is concerned about the things of their lives.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety ignores the power of God.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety ignores the power of God.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, 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?
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety ignores the power of God.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety ignores the power of God.
Our “life” or soul or (Gk: ψυχὴ) is MORE than food.
Our “body” or (Gk: σῶμα) is of more value than clothing.
Anxiety ignores God’s power to provide for His people.
Israel and Anxiety in the Wilderness
Three days later and they are already terrified after God displayed His might and power at the Red Sea.
Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
We can learn something from Israel here.
Grumbling and fear of the future come from a heart of arrogance.
Anxiousness itself is arrogance.
Peter in another place will say this of anxieties…
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
The humbling of oneself looks like “casting all your anxieties on Him.”
I don’t know if you think about this often but anxieties at their core are proud.
Their not proud in the “macho-man” type of proud.
But they’re proud in the inverse type of pride.
It’s the kind of pride that says,
“I need to take care of my property or it will all come crashing down.”
“It all depends upon me for food or we will go hungry.”
Anxiety at it’s core listens to the false prophet of fear that says,
“This isn’t going to go well for you!”
But to begin to view oneself as having the ability to control one’s life enough to be worried about it is arrogant.
If we begin to view anxiety as synonomous with arrogance, it changes the way we think about it.
Anxiety says,
“I need to fix this or it won’t fix itself.”
The hope for the anxious heart is that God offers a path of freedom.
But that path of freedom goes through the path of repentance and faith.
What Jesus is presenting to us is not just “a” solution.
It is “the” solution to anxiety.
Application for the Skeptical
“So you’re saying that all my anxiety really just boils back to a sin problem?”
This may seem discouraging to you, but may I ask you something to the anxious hearts out there,
“How have the worldly solutions to anxiety been going?”
A kind of middle of the road solution to anxiety will never fix the problem.
Jesus is presenting us with the path to freedom but that path requires us acknowledging the sinfulness of the problem, confessing the sinfulness of the problem, and ultimately finding forgiveness and freedom in Jesus Christ.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety ignores God’s Fatherly provision.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety ignores God’s Fatherly provision.
Look at 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 why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety ignores God’s Fatherly provision.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety ignores God’s Fatherly provision.
We’re NOT talking about unbelievers here.
We’re TALKING about believers that still ignore the HAND of their Heavenly Father.
The command here is to “look at the bird of the sky” or “consider the bird of the air.”
Jesus’ point here is not that bad things do not happen to the birds.
His point here is also that the birds are “lazy” and don’t have to work.
Actually what we should see from the birds is that they are actually always providing for themselves.
But the big distinction we should see here is that the birds do not worry about tomorrow.
The birds are fed from the hand of our Heavenly Father.
The bird’s DON’T worry about what the future HOLDS.
The bird’s AREN’T concerned about tomorrow.
We would maybe look at this and call it foolish…
But birds aren’t concerned for tomorrow.
Again, Jesus asks His followers why they are anxious about what they will put on.
Remember, a person in this society would have ONE cloak.
When that cloak was gone, then the nights would be cold.
The same way we in our culture almost think of a house, they would think of a cloak.
Much like the Ravens, Jesus tells them to look at the lilies of the field.
Picture with me a field full of lilies that God has made.
Each one different from the next.
And notice how they don’t have to labor for their beauty.
They don’t have to try to be beautiful.
God just makes them that way.
They are so beautiful in fact that even Solomon, who had untold wealth was not clothed like them.
The lilies are more clothed with beauty than the “most beautiful man” that has ever existed.
YET, notice what happens to the lilies.
What about the birds that “don’t make it?”
It does not take a rocket scientist to realize that birds often do not make it.
Bird’s often die gruesome, awful deaths.
Is Jesus just being naive here?
Matthew 6:34 (ESV)
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Jesus knows FULL well that not all birds make it.
But there is something more fundamental to His life and kingdom that He is laying down for us.
Jesus is laying down that there is something more fundamental about God and His creation.
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?
The lilies that are scorched by wildfires.
Lilies that are scorched by the sun.
Lilies that are destroyed by drought.
God delights to clothe them again and again.
We just came through an awful drought.
Worst drought in many years.
Yet, we know that next year, the lilies will grow again.
Why do you know the lilies and wildflowers will grow again?
Because God delights to clothe them.
God delights to clothe little flowers that will not make it till next year.
God delights to clothe them.
Tulips, Daffodils; God delights to clothe them even with their destruction in view.
Even a frost could destroy these flowers, yet God delights to clothe them.
Irises, Roses; God delights to clothe them even with the expectation that drought will kill them off.
Daisies, Sunflowers; God delights to clothe them even with their harvest in full view.
Now Christian, if God delights to clothe all of these various kinds of flowers…
Will He not do the same for you?
Will He not do the same for your family?
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety provides nothing to your life.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety provides nothing to your life.
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety provides nothing to your life.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety provides nothing to your life.
Anxious worry changes NOTHING about our lives.
Anxious worry reveals a lack of trust in the hand of Heavenly Father.
The kind of anxious worry that Jesus is condemning here is a worry that is UNPRODUCTIVE.
It does not lead us to prayer.
It does not lead us to faith and obedience.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety personifies the life of an unbeliever.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety personifies the life of an unbeliever.
Matthew 6:30–31 (ESV)
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?’
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety personifies the life of an unbeliever.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety personifies the life of an unbeliever.
Fair-Weather Fans and the Anxious Heart
The anxious are always asking questions like, “What will we eat?”, “What will we drink?” these questions almost always come back to our life.
The word that the Bible continually uses for the life of a person is their “ψυχή” or their soul.
You don’t have a soul.
You are a soul.
And anxiety always comes back to something we perceive as valuable to your life.
That’s why eating, drinking, and wearing are emphasized here.
But those are not generally where our anxious society dwells.
Our societal anxieties rest on places like,
“How do other like me?”
“What will they think of me?”
But the same realities come back to this question, how will it go with my life?
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
The Gentiles, or the “ἔθνος” seek after the things to eat, drink, and wear.
But those who know the Covenant keeping God of Israel do not seek after them in the same way.
The Gentiles are constantly seeking to provide for themselves out of their own resources and provision.
They are pursuing a vision of the world that depends upon them.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety distracts you from the present.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety distracts you from the present.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety distracts you from the present.
The un-anxious Christian lays down anxieties because your anxiety distracts you from the present.
The anxious heart NEVER allows you to remain in the present.
The anxious heart NEVER allows you to be present in the moment.
The anxious heart NEVER allows you to be with the people you’re with.
The anxious heart always desires you to think about the future.
Always on to the next thing.
Always thinking ahead of what’s to come.
Always planning and strategizing about what will happen.
Always running scenario’s that are completely fictional.
The un-anxious Christian trusts in the promise of the value placed upon His children.
The un-anxious Christian trusts in the promise of the value placed upon His children.
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?
For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
The un-anxious Christian trusts in the promise of the value placed upon His children.
The un-anxious Christian trusts in the promise of the value placed upon His children.
What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent;
or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
The un-anxious Christian trusts in the promise of priority to kingdom seekers.
The un-anxious Christian trusts in the promise of priority to kingdom seekers.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
The un-anxious Christian trusts in the promise of priority to kingdom seekers.
The un-anxious Christian trusts in the promise of priority to kingdom seekers.
Disciples of Jesus Christ seek the kingdom of God.
We pursue the kingdom of God.
“When you seek the King, you are seeking his kingdom. This kingdom includes everything that comes from him. It includes his law, his grace and mercy, his blessings of life, adoption, and holiness, and all his promises throughout Scripture. Those who seek him feed on his Word and seek to imitate him.” —Ed Welch
Instead of pursuing after the things of the world, like the nations do.
We are to seek the kingdom of God.
When we seek the kingdom of God then all the remaining things will be given to us.
“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
The un-anxious Christian life lays down anxieties by trusting in our Good, Sovereign, and Wise Heavenly Father’s promises.
The un-anxious Christian life lays down anxieties by trusting in our Good, Sovereign, and Wise Heavenly Father’s promises.