sermon 7 20 25

Matthew 6:25-34

The one about worry

Matthew 6:25–34 NIV

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Worry is needless and useless

Matthew 6:25 NIV

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 The Folly of Worry (Matthew 6:25–34 Contd)

Worry about the future is wasted effort, and the future of reality is seldom as bad as the future of our fears.

2. Worry is blind.

Matthew 6:26–30 NIV

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

3. Worry is essentially irreligious.

Matthew 6:31–34 NIV

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 1 The Folly of Worry (Matthew 6:25–34 Contd)

Both worry and serenity come not from circumstances but from the heart. Alistair MacLean quotes a story from Johann Tauler, the fourteenth-century German mystic. One day, Tauler met a beggar. ‘God give you a good day, my friend,’ he said. The beggar answered: ‘I thank God I never had a bad one.’ Then Tauler said: ‘God give you a happy life, my friend.’ ‘I thank God’, said the beggar, ‘I am never unhappy.’ Tauler in amazement said: ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Well,’ said the beggar, ‘when it is fine, I thank God, when it rains, I thank God; when I have plenty, I thank God; when I am hungry, I thank God; and since God’s will is my will, and whatever pleases him pleases me, why should I say I am unhappy when I am not?’ Tauler looked at the man in astonishment. ‘Who are you?’ he asked. ‘I am a king,’ said the beggar. ‘Where then is your kingdom?’ asked Tauler. And the beggar answered quietly: ‘In my heart.’