A Greater Righteousness (23)

Greeting

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Announce text: Matthew 6:25-30

Key Text: Matthew 6:25-30

ME — Orientation

◆ YOUR STORY — written in first person from your notes. Change any detail that isn't exactly how it happened.

My heart was racing. My chest was getting tight. My head felt strange, and I started feeling sick. It all came on so suddenly that it shocked me, and the shock only added to the uneasy feeling I was already experiencing.

I was in my shop office on base. Nothing unusual about the day. And out of nowhere I was hit with an overwhelming sense that something terrible was about to happen. It wasn't a thought, exactly. It was a feeling. A knowing that something was right.

It must have been visible, because when I went to shop chief to report it, he took one look at me and told me to go home.

When I did arrive home, I couldn’t relax. I went into the bathroom thinking I might be sick but wasn’t. I tried laying down on the bed and things just kept feeling worse. I remember calling out to Carly and telling her I thought she needed to call 911 because I thought I was having a heart attack. I mean, I had been receiving CPR training for several years now, and I knew all the signs of a heart attack.

At the sound of the urgency in my voice, Carly rushed to the bedroom full of compassion, and she promptly declared, “You’re not having a heart attack!”

I convinced her we needed to go to the hospital to get checked out, at least. They ran a number of tests, and it turns out Carly was right. Every one of the tests came back saying the same thing: your heart is good. It's strong. No health issues. But when your body is screaming that you're dying and every test says you're fine, it doesn't feel like good news. It feels like nobody can find what's wrong.

And the problem didn’t go away. Every day after that, as the afternoon wore on and the daylight began to fade, I'd catch myself looking over my shoulder. The anxiety would build as the sun went down. It wrecked my sleep. And when I did sleep, I'd wake up with that same dread already sitting on my chest before my feet ever hit the floor.

I prayed. Oh, I prayed. But they weren't calm, faith-filled prayers. They were desperate cries: "God, help me! God, what is happening to me?" And honestly, I felt no relief.

What could I do? I had already been to the hospital, and they tried their best to assure me my heart was fine. Well, it turned out there was a military doctor who went to our church. He sat down with me, went over all the findings, and told me what it was. Anxiety. These were panic attacks.

He said they were brought on by stressors: big life events, a lot of them good things, that pile on stress without us even realizing it. And when he listed mine, it made sense. I was still newly married. We had a newborn. And I had orders to Saudi Arabia.

I'll never forget what he said next. He said he was surprised it had taken me so long to come in, like he'd have expected all of that to catch up with me a lot sooner.

He prescribed some medication to "take the edge off." And I walked out of there with a diagnosis, a prescription, and a question I didn't know how to answer: Now what?

◆ Stop the story here. Pick it up next week (Matthew 6:31–34): how the attacks drove you to prayer and Scripture until they stopped.

I'm going to leave my story right there for today. I'll tell you how it turned out next week.

WE — Identification

Maybe you've never had a panic attack. But I'd guess nearly everyone in this room knows what it's like to lie awake at two in the morning with your mind running in circles.

Some of you live with anxiety that's more than a bad night. It's a constant companion.

Some of you are waiting on test results or living with a diagnosis, and every new ache sends your mind straight to the worst case.

Some of you are looking at a bank balance and a stack of bills that don't line up, and you keep doing the math over and over, hoping it comes out different.

Some of you moms and dads are raising kids and teenagers in a world that seems to get scarier every year, and you worry about what they're facing that you can't see.

Some of you have kids and grandkids scattered across the country. You love them, you pray for them, and you can't be there. Distance gives worry a lot of room to grow.

Some of you have walked through addiction, and you know what it's like to reach for something, anything, to quiet the noise inside.

And some of you have carried a spirit of fear for a long time. Paul told Timothy, "God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity" (2 Timothy 1:7, NLT), but some days it sure feels like somebody did. Or maybe it's a religious kind of fear: that nagging worry that you haven't done enough, prayed enough, or been good enough for God to keep loving you.

2 Timothy 1:7 NLT

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Here's what I've learned about worry, anxiety, and fear: they immobilize us. They take a physical toll: the racing heart, the knotted stomach, the sleepless nights. They take an emotional toll: we get irritable, we can't concentrate, we expect the worst. And they take a spiritual toll. Worry makes God seem small and far away and makes our problems seem enormous. Proverbs 12:25 says it plainly: "Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down."

Proverbs 12:25 NLT

Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.

◆ Transition to the Word.

Jesus knew all about worry. He looked out at farmers, fishermen, and day laborers who didn't know where tomorrow's meal was coming from, and He spoke straight to what kept them up at night. So let's hear what God's Word says about our worry. Matthew 6, starting in verse 25. Hear the Word of the Lord:

Announce text again: Matthew 6:25-30

Scripture Reading

Matthew 6:25 NASB95

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Matthew 6:26 NASB95

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

Matthew 6:27 NASB95

“And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

Matthew 6:28 NASB95

“And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,

Matthew 6:29 NASB95

yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

Matthew 6:30 NASB95

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

Prayer for added blessing to the reading of the Word

Let's pray.

Father, You know every worry in this room: the ones we've said out loud and the ones we've never told anyone. Open our eyes to see You as You really are. Take our little faith and grow it into trust in a great God. In Jesus' name, amen.

Message

▶ SLIDE 1 — Title: Little Faith, Great God / Growing Trust in a World of Worry / Matthew 6:25–30  ·  ▶ SLIDE 2 — Big Idea (advance as you begin "We are called to trust…")

The title for today’s message is Little Faith, Great God: Growing Trust in a World of Worry." And here's the big idea: We are called to trust in God's goodness and provision rather than succumb to worry, thereby reflecting our faith in His character and sovereignty over our lives.

Here's the pocket version, the one to carry out the door:

▶ SLIDE 3 — Big Idea (Reimagined): Worry stares at the need. Faith looks at the Father.

Worry stares at the need. Faith looks at the Father.

Say it with me: Worry stares at the need. Faith looks at the Father.

Jesus doesn't just tell us to stop worrying. He tells us where to look. Look at the birds. Observe the lilies. So let's look.

GOD — Illumination

1. "For This Reason" — Matthew 6:25

Matthew 6:25 NASB95

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Verse 25 begins, "For this reason." Whenever you see a "therefore" or a "for this reason," you've got to ask what it's there for. Last week Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters … You cannot serve God and wealth" (Matthew 6:24). And right on the heels of that He says, "For this reason … do not be worried."

That connection matters. Worry is what happens when we try to serve both. We say amen to God on Sunday, and then Monday through Saturday we put our whole weight on our own ability to provide. But if God really is your Father, your provision is His responsibility. A good father takes care of his own.

The word Jesus uses for "worried" is merimnaō: to be anxious, preoccupied, pulled apart by concern.

Then Jesus asks, "Is not life more than food?" The word for life is psychē. It's often translated "soul," but it doesn't mean some invisible part of you that floats off somewhere. It means your whole self. It's the Greek counterpart of the Hebrew word nephesh, the word in the Shema:

Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB95

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

So listen to what Jesus is saying. Your soul, your whole self, was made for more than getting fed. It was made to love God. And you can't love God with all your soul while your soul is consumed with worry about lunch. Loving God and trusting Him to provide go together. When I know God will meet my needs, I'm free to spend my whole self loving Him and loving the people around me.

Jesus lived that. When His disciples brought Him lunch in Samaria, He said, "I have food to eat that you do not know about. … My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me" (John 4:32, 34). There's a bread that feeds the body, and there's a bread that feeds the soul: doing the will of God, partnering with Him, doing right by Him and by others. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6).

2. Look at the Birds — Matthew 6:26

▶ SLIDE 4 — Look at the Birds: Not idle. Not anxious. Worth much more. (Matthew 6:26)

Matthew 6:26 NASB95

“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."

Now, I want to be careful, because this verse gets misread. Jesus isn't saying the birds sit in their nests with their beaks wide open, waiting for God to drop worms out of the sky.

◆ Optional: do the baby-bird face. Let them laugh.

Have you ever watched a bird? They never stop moving. They're hunting, digging, gathering twigs, building nests. God provides the worms, but the robin has to go dig them up. God provides the twigs, but the bird has to find them and carry them home. Their provision includes their action. They partner with God in it.

What birds don't do is worry. They don't fill up barns against every possible tomorrow. They work today and trust God with tomorrow. Psalm 147:9 says God feeds even the young ravens when they cry out.

Jesus isn't telling you to quit your job. He's telling you to work without carrying the weight of the outcome. Work hard. Worry never.

Then comes the punch line: "Are you not worth much more than they?" The rabbis loved to argue this way, from the lesser to the greater. If God takes care of a bird, how much more His children? Jesus says it again later: "Not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. … So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:29, 31).

Matthew 10:29–31 NLT

… not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it ... So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

And notice who feeds the birds. Jesus doesn't say "God" or "the Creator." He says "your heavenly Father." The birds don't call Him Father. You do. Worry forgets that.

Worry stares at the need. Faith looks at the Father.

3. Worry Adds Nothing — Matthew 6:27

▶ SLIDE 5 — Worry Adds Nothing: Not one hour. Not one inch. (Matthew 6:27)

Matthew 6:27 NASB95

“And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

Verse 27: "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?"

Some older translations say "one cubit unto his stature." Either way, worry can't make you one inch taller or give you one more hour. Psalm 39:5 says God has made our days "as handbreadths." Job 14:5 says the number of our months is with Him, and He has set limits we cannot pass.

Here's the irony. Worry can't add an hour to your life, but it can sure take some away. The racing heart, the blood pressure, the sleepless nights all wear on the body. There were times, I felt like I could literally feel years being shaved off my life.

Yet, in some situations, worry feels productive. It feels like we're doing something about the problem: if I think it through one more time, maybe I'll figure it out. But Jesus says it accomplishes nothing. Zero. And that's actually good news. If worry isn't what's holding your life together, you can let go of it. You can stop trying to control what only God controls.

So where do we put it? "Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).

4. Observe the Lilies — Matthew 6:28–30

▶ SLIDE 6 — Observe the Lilies: Some things only God can do. (Matthew 6:28–30)

Matthew 6:28 NASB95

“And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,

"And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin."

"Observe" is a great word. In Greek it's katamanthanō: kata, "down," plus manthanō, "to learn." It comes from the same root as the word "disciple," a learner. Jesus isn't saying, "Glance at the flowers on your way to the car." He's saying, "Study them. Get down and learn from them." Let the lilies disciple you.

Here in Libby it's October, and the lilies are done for the year. But look up at the hillsides. The tamaracks are turning gold. Nobody painted them. Nobody sewed them a new outfit. God dresses these mountains every fall, lets the needles drop, and does it all again next year.

"Toil and spin" is how clothes got made: grow the flax, spin the thread, weave the cloth. Hours of labor. The lilies don't do any of it. Picture a lily at a spinning wheel.

But here's what's interesting. The birds partner with God; they work. The lilies can't. There's nothing a lily can do to clothe itself. It is completely dependent.

I think Jesus gives us both pictures on purpose. Some seasons you're a bird. God is providing, and your part is to get up and go after it: work, plan, act, without the worry. But some seasons you're a lily. You're sick, or grieving, or out of options, and there is nothing you can do to change the outcome. Those are the seasons when only God can do it. And Jesus says that even then, especially then, He clothes you.

And Solomon? The queen of Sheba saw his palace and the way his servants were dressed, and it took her breath away (1 Kings 10:4–5). Jesus says one wildflower out-dresses him.

Then verse 30:

Matthew 6:30 NASB95

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

Dried grass was oven fuel. Here today, kindling tomorrow, and God still makes it beautiful. If He lavishes that kind of care on something that'll be in the stove by Thursday, how much more will He care for you?

5. Little Faith — Matthew 6:30

▶ SLIDE 7 — Little Faith: Not no faith. Faith that forgot its Father. (Matthew 6:30; 14:31)

Matthew 6:30 NASB95

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

And Jesus ends with four words: "You of little faith!"

Ouch, right? But listen closely, because this is good news, not condemnation.

In Greek it's one word: oligopistoi. Oligos means small; pistis means faith. "Little-faith ones." It's one of Matthew's favorite words. Jesus says it to the disciples in the storm (Matthew 8:26), to Peter sinking in the waves (Matthew 14:31), and to the disciples fretting about having no bread (Matthew 16:8). He uses a related word when they can't drive out a demon (Matthew 17:20).

Here's what matters: little faith is not no faith. In Matthew, the people with no faith are the ones who reject Jesus altogether (Matthew 13:58). Little faith is what disciples have. It's the faith of people who've said yes to Jesus and gotten tangled up in their fears along the way.

Think about Peter. He was the only one who got out of the boat. That's faith. Then he saw the wind and began to sink. And what did Jesus do?

Matthew 14:31 NASB95

Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Notice the order. The hand came first. Then the words.

So when Jesus says "little faith," He isn't slamming a door. He's reaching out His hand. Little faith is faith that can grow. And it grows by learning, by observing, how much the Father values you and how faithfully He provides. Most of the time, little faith isn't doubting that God exists. It's forgetting what we're worth to Him.

◆ Pastoral word. Please don't skip this one.

Now I need to say something clearly, because some of you carry anxiety that's more than everyday worry. When I walked out of that doctor's office, I had medication to take the edge off, and that wasn't a failure of faith. God works through doctors, medicine, and counselors. If you're under a doctor's care, this message is not telling you to throw that away. What Jesus offers goes deeper than symptom relief: a Father to trust while you get the help you need. "Little faith" isn't a label to be ashamed of. It's a starting point.

Worry stares at the need. Faith looks at the Father.

So, pj … What’s the point?

Conclusion — How This Points to Jesus

▶ SLIDE 8 — Pointing to JESUS: He gave His own Son. Will He not give the rest? (Romans 8:32; John 19:23–24)

Here's where this passage leads. Jesus keeps arguing "how much more." The birds: how much more you. The grass: how much more you. And the greatest "how much more" in the whole Bible is:

Romans 8:32 NLT

32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?

God has already shown you what you're worth to Him. Not with a bird or a flower. With His Son.

And Jesus lived like the birds and the lilies. He told a man who wanted to follow Him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Matthew 8:20). He trusted His Father for every meal.

Then at the cross, the One who clothes the lilies let the soldiers strip Him. They divided His garments and gambled for His tunic (John 19:23–24). He was stripped bare so that you and I could be clothed. Isaiah 61:10: "He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness."

Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:35). He was stripped so we could be clothed. The Father who gave you Jesus is not going to forget your groceries.

Worry stares at the need. Faith looks at the Father. And when you look at the Father, you'll find Him looking back at you through the cross.

YOU — Application

▶ SLIDE 9 — Application: Look Up for 7 Days. Name one worry. Observe. Release. Pray. (1 Peter 5:7)

So here's my one ask this week. Not a life overhaul. Five minutes a day for seven days. Let's call it Look Up.

Once a day, maybe at the time of day when the worry usually starts creeping in, do three things.

First, name one worry. Write it on a card or in your phone. Just one.

Second, observe. Go look at something God sustains: a chickadee at the feeder, a raven on the power line, the gold on the mountain. Take a full minute and study it the way Jesus said. Then ask, "If He takes care of that, how much more will He take care of me?"

Third, release it. Pray 1 Peter 5:7 over that card: "Father, I'm casting this on You, because You care for me." Then decide: Is this a bird thing, something I need to get up and do while I trust You with the outcome? Or is it a lily thing, something only You can do? Either way, it's in His hands now.

Seven days. One worry a day. Look up.

Kids, you can do this too. Write down or draw the thing you're worried about, then go find a bird and tell God about it.

◆ Optional handle: 3x5 cards at the door printed "Look Up — Matthew 6:26."

WE — Inspiration

▶ SLIDE 10 — Vision: Less worry. More Kingdom. Free to seek Him first.

Now imagine what could happen if we did this together.

Imagine a church in Libby where anxious people find a family that doesn't judge them but sits with them and points them to the Father. Where grandparents with kids scattered across the country hand that distance to God every morning instead of carrying it alone. Where the person fighting fear finds out they're not the only one, and that a little faith is enough to get started.

Imagine a whole church guarded by "the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension" (Philippians 4:7).

So here's a question to carry home this week: If you didn't have to spend all that energy worrying, what would you do with it?

Jesus answers that question in the very next verses: "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). That's where we're headed next week. And I'll tell you the rest of my story: how God took a scared young man with a new wife, a newborn, and orders to Saudi Arabia, and taught him to seek Him first.

So church, one more time:

▶ Optional: jump back to SLIDE 3 (type 3, then Enter) for the big idea repeat.

Worry stares at the need. Faith looks at the Father.

Let's pray. Father, we bring You our worries, every one of them. Thank You that we're worth more to You than the birds and the lilies, and that You proved it with Your Son. Grow our little faith. Teach us to look up. In Jesus' name, amen.

◆ Invitation: anyone carrying an anxiety they've never told anyone is welcome to come and pray. Not to be fixed in a moment, but to hand it to the Father with someone beside them.

Closing prayer & benediction

Numbers 6:24–26 NASB95

The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’

Scripture records the following words in v.27:

Numbers 6:27 GW

“So whenever they use my name to bless the Israelites, I will bless them.” 

So, receive and go with the blessings of YAHWEH!