What Are You Worried About

Matthew 6:24-35

Matthew 6:25-34

Don’t Worry About It

What are you worried about? Don’t tell me you aren’t worried about anything, I know better. We used to have an old dog, her name was biscuits. I could always tell when she was worried. She would go to sleep. When she woke up she was hungry so she would eat and I guess that made her worry because she would go back to sleep. I say that joking but you know some of us live our lives that way, worrying. Not all of us and not any of us all the time, but all of us sometimes and some of us all the time. Now I am not going to tell you that worry is sin. I may have said that in the past but I’ve learned a few things since then. In 1 Corinthians 12:25 where Paul is talking about the church being like a body and each part of the body is important he says this: 25that there should be no schism in the body, but thatthe members should have the same care for one another. The word “care” is the same word translated “worry” or “thought” in other verses. So to some degree worry and concern for others or for events is ok. But this morning we will look at Matthew 6:25-34 and determine what we are not to worry about. Let’s pray.

Before we read this passage I just want to remind you that as we go through what we commonly refer to as the Sermon on the Mount that Jesus is talking to His disciples, the ones He had called out to follow Him. He is not describing what it takes to be His disciple He is describing what those who are His disciples will be like. In His sermons we see what His disciples look like, in His parables we see what the Kingdom of God is like, and in His miracles we see what God is like.

Let’s go ahead and read Matthew 6:25-30 25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?[1]

Anytime you come across a passage that starts with the word “therefore” then you have to go back to what was just before it to determine what the “therefore” is there for since it is a connecting word. Jesus had just finished teaching about laying up our treasures in heaven rather than earthly treasures and making sure that His disciples understood that what you look at and what you dwell on is what you want and what you want and long for is what you love and what you love is what you serve. Where your treasures are there your heart is also. He ends this teaching with; “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Remember He is talking to those who He has called to be His disciples so they have chosen to serve God rather than mammon, therefore. Now I could just about stop here and say the rest of what I just read is self explanatory; Don’t fret the necessities, God takes care of the birds they don’t worry about their food or shelter. They just simply go about doing what God designed them to do, they peck around on the ground eating seeds or they catch worms and grasshoppers but God provides all of the seeds, the worms and the grasshoppers, and by the way He provides food for the worms and the grasshoppers too. If God cares so much for the birds and the worms and the grasshoppers for that matter would He not care even more for you since you are created in His own image? We lived used to live in an old farm house in Itasca, Texas. We were pretty broke and I didn’t have the money to buy a gift on mother’s day so I would get the three kids together and we would walk down the gravel road where there had been an old house that had been abandoned. Someone had gone to a whole lot of trouble on that old home at some time in the past because there were some beautiful rose bushes planted out by the road. No one had lived in the house for a couple of decades and no one had taken care of the rose bushes but these roses were the most beautiful I have ever seen. They were a good 3 to 3 ½ inches across without a blemish. We would pick those roses and make a bouquet for Raechel for mother’s day. If God could make those roses so beautiful or the lily of the fields so beautiful then why should we feel the need to worry about what we will wear, God provides for the flowers doesn’t He. If God takes care of the grass of the field which is good for nothing but burning in the oven for fuel would He not care so much more for you?

I love verse 27. Jesus is basically asking: “How’s the worrying working out for you, has it changed anything?” I was going to be a professional football player and be a millionaire by the time I was 30. I would have done it too, I just didn’t have the genetic makeup. I stopped growing when I was 15 years old. I was a big freshman, an average sophomore, a smallish junior and a short senior. There was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Worrying has never changed anything, ever. It only makes you feel worse about what you are worrying about, especially if what you are worrying about is monetary or provisional in nature, it just draws attention to what you think you do not have.

So what have we seen thus far? Since you have chosen to serve God rather than mammon don’t occupy your life, worry, with making sure you have the food and clothing you want, God will provide your need. This is not to say that you are not to provide for family needs 1 Timothy 5:8 says: 8But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. If we will not worry or be anxious about the simplest of necessities then, let’s face it, we will not be anxious about the non-necessities. All of this really is good advice for our minds and even for our health but what is the importance of not taking thought or being anxious, worrying about our necessities?

Let’s read Matthew 6:31-32 31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. [2]

There’s that “therefore” again. Since you know that God provides food for the birds of the air and clothes the “grass of the field” that is just used for fuel in the oven, you know He will provide for you so do not worry. Don’t be going around proclaiming your need or your want, because that is what those who do not know God or His provision are seeking after; that’s what the Gentiles do. The word “seeking” means to clamor after, to call out for, or to chase down. Since we know that our God shall supply all of our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19) why would we chase after that which will perish. The reason we are not to worry or be consumed with acquiring even our necessities is because we are to be different than the lost. They have no knowledge of God’s provision and as long as those who claim to be His are clamoring for more, if we are like the sea gulls on “Finding Nemo” Mine, Mine, Mine, the lost cannot see His goodness. We must be different. That is what Jesus’ disciples look like. The birds of the air scratch the ground for seeds and worms but they do not fret over it’s existence they just do what they do and it is just added to them.

Since we are not suppose to worry about what we eat or drink or wear, and we are suppose to be different from those who do not know God nor His provision, what are Jesus’ disciples supposed to do?

Read Matthew 6:33-3433 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.[3]

Jesus is making it very clear, instead of clamoring for our needs to be met, instead of seeking and chasing after our fair share we must be craving the Kingdom of God where He is truly the King and the Lord or our lives, so that when the King speaks His subjects simply obey, not concerned with the things of the world because the needs are met. We must be seeking or craving His righteousness. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 6:11 11But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Remember 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that because Jesus took upon Himself our sin we have become the righteousness of God. His rule and reigning and His righteousness should be our pursuit. If we will but do that all our needs will be added to us or set in place for us. God Himself will set our table and clothe our backs if we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness. Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow. Do you believe that God has yesterday? Do you truly believe that God holds tomorrow in His hand? Then believe that He holds today as well.

In conclusion: Don’t worry about your basic needs, your clothes, your food, it won’t change anything anyway and that is what those who do not know God nor His provision does. Instead crave His Kingdom, His rule in your life and His righteousness played out in your life. Then you will really look like His disciple, and that is, after all, what He has called you to as His disciple. Let’s pray.

[1] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 6:25–30). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [2] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 6:31–32). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. [3] The New King James Version. (1982). (Mt 6:33–34). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.