Matthew 6:25-34

LAST TIME

Jesus Began Teaching His Listeners How to Practice Their Righteousness in Regards to Their Money

A Disciple of Jesus and Citizen of the Kingdom is Not to Treasure Earthly Wealth

Instead of Focusing Our Eyes and Hearts On Covetously Accumulating Wealth For Ourselves…

A Christian is to Focus Our Eyes and Hearts On God…

Loving Him and Devoting Ourselves to Him Entirely

When We Do That, We Will Be Generous With Our Wealth and Share What We Have With Others

Matthew 6:25-34

In This Section of the Sermon, Jesus is Going to Be Addressing the Topic of Worry

Matthew 6:25 (NASB)

“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?

Jesus Starts Off By Saying, “For This Reason”

That Tells Us, Jesus is Connecting What He Just Finished Saying With What He is About to Say

Jesus is Remaining in the Realm of a Christian’s Relationship to Their Wealth

Matthew 6:25 (NASB)

“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?

When We Connect What Jesus Has Already Said to What He is Now Saying…

We Understand the Teaching Jesus is About to Share With Us

First He Said We Are Not to Live Our Lives in Pursuit of Earthly Wealth

Now He Adds: Don’t Even Be Worried About Your Daily Necessities

Chasing After and Accumulating Earthly Wealth Does Not Take Away Worry

In Fact, the 2 Seem to Be Inseparably Linked

When Your Treasure is Earthly Wealth, Worrying is All You Will Be Doing

Matthew 6:25 (NASB)

“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?

Life Consists of So Much More Than Stuff

Jesus Was Tempted to Turn Stones into Bread, and He Said:

‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ (Matt. 4:4)

Life is More Than Having Food and the Body is More Than Having Clothing

This Was a Common Style of Argumentation By Jewish Rabbis

The Reasoning is: If God Can Do Something Greater For Us, He Certainly Can Do Something Lesser For Us

If God Can Give You Life…

Then He Certainly Can Provide You With Enough Food and Drink to Sustain Your Life

If He Can Create Your Body…

Then He Certainly Can Provide You With Enough Clothes to Cover Your Body

Jesus Taught Us in the Preceding Verses Not to Serve, Love, Devote Ourselves to, or Treasure Earthly Wealth

The Proper Lifestyle of a Christian is to Serve, Love, Devote Ourselves to, and Treasure God and a Relationship With Him

If We Do That, God Will Provide All That We Need

Seek God Before You Seek Your Daily Necessities, and Your Daily Necessities Will Be Provided By God

Matthew 6:26 (NASB)

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?

Jesus Tells Us to Turn to the Birds For a Lesson in How to Live Properly in the Kingdom

When’s the Last Time You Looked Up into a Tree and Saw a Bird Storing Hay in its Barn and Treasures in its Mansion?

Where Do Birds Keep Their Stockpile of Worms?

Each Day the Birds are Fed By Our Father

But How?

God Provides For the Birds:

Wings to Fly

Knowledge On How to Build Nests

Worms and Insects For Them to Find and Eat

And Mommies to Feed and Keep Warm the Baby Birds

Idly Placing Our Trust in God to Provide For Our Needs Doesn’t Cause Our Refrigerators and Closets to Be Filled

We are Expected to Work For Our Daily Necessities

Paul Told the Thessalonians “if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” (2 Thess. 3:10)

Jesus Isn’t Condoning Laziness…

He’s Teaching Us Not to Worry About Our Needs as We Go About Our Daily Responsibilities

If We Trust in Him as We Go About Our Lives, He Will Provide Ways For Our Needs to Be Met

If Our Father Does This For the Birds, Shouldn’t We Expect Him to Do it For Us Too?

We Are Worth Much More to Him Than They Are

They Are His Creation

But We Are His Children and His Image-Bearers

I Love the Short Poem By Elizabeth Cheney Called “The Robin and the Sparrow”

Said the robin to the sparrow: ‘I should really like to know

Why these anxious human beings Rush about and worry so.’

Said the sparrow to the robin: ‘Friend, I think that it must be

That they have no heavenly Father, Such as cares for you and me.’

Jesus Tells Us to Take a Lesson From the Birds

What is That Lesson?

Trust That Your Father Cares For You

Matthew 6:27 (NASB)

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

This Verse is a Little Difficult to Translate

YLT - “And who of you, being anxious, is able to add to his age one cubit?”

Age and Cubit Don’t Really Make Sense Together

A Cubit is the Length From One’s Elbow to the Tip of the Middle Finger (About 18 Inches)

How Do You Add 18 Inches to Your Age?

I’m 27, But if You Add 18 Inches to That, What Does That Make Me?

Some Translations Say it Differently, But the Teaching From Jesus Remains the Same

Worrying About Things Will Not Add a Single Cubit to Your Height

Or (And More Likely Jesus’ Point), Worrying Won’t Add a Single Minute to Your Lifespan

Worrying Doesn’t Do Any Good at All!

Whenever We Trust in Our Own Ability to Provide For Ourselves…

We Will Begin to Worry About Our Daily Necessities

But if We Trust in God to Provide Our Needs, We Have No Need to Worry

We Know That Somehow Someway, in His Providential Love, He Will Provide

Worrying Doesn’t Do Any Good

Worrying Will Not Bring You More Life

But God is Able to Do That

Instead of Trusting in Yourself, Which Leads to Worry…

Trust in God and He’ll Take Care of You

Matthew 6:28–30 (NASB95)

And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.

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!

Jesus Calls Our Attention From Food and Birds to Clothing and Flowers

Flowers Don’t Toil/Labor/Work Hard

They Don’t Spin/Make Thread/Sow Clothes

They Don’t Work Hard Out in the Field Like the Men

Nor Do They Make Thread and Sow Clothes Like the Women

But Despite Not Working in Those Ways, God Has Still Clothed Them With More Glory, Splendor, and Beauty Than King Solomon

After the Rich Queen Sheba Saw the Wisdom and Wealth of Solomon, She Said:

1 Kings 10:6–7 (NLT)

She exclaimed to the king, “Everything I heard in my country about your achievements and wisdom is true! I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of it! Your wisdom and prosperity are far beyond what I was told.

But Not Even Solomon Compares to a Simple Little Flower

The Point is:

If God Will Clothe With Such Beauty the Grass Outside, Will He Not Clothe Us Even More?

The Grass is Just Going to Be Thrown in the Oven and Burned in the Fire

He Thinks Much More Highly and Has Much Grander Plans For His Image-Bearing Children

Jesus Says That Our Worry About Our Daily Necessities Stems From Not Having Enough Faith (You of little faith!)

Jesus Will Say, “You of Little Faith” 3 More Times in the Gospel of Matthew

Once He Says it to His Disciples When They are On a Boat During a Storm

Once He Says it to Peter After Peter Begins Sinking in the Water He Was Just Walking On

And Once He Says it to His Disciples as They are Discussing How They Have No Bread to Eat

In Each of These Situations, Jesus’ Disciples are Worried That God is Not Going to Take Care of Them

That is the Point of His Saying it in the Sermon on the Mount

We Worry About Our Needs Because We Don’t Truly Trust God to Take Care of Us

Great Faith Says, “I’m Not Worried About My Daily Needs Because I Know My Father Will Provide For Me.”

Matthew 6:31–32 (NASB)

Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

It Was Not and Should Not Be Characteristic of Citizens of Jesus’ Kingdom to Worry About Our Daily Necessities

That’s What People Who Don’t Have a God Who Cares For Them Do

Robert Mounce (1921-2019) - “Worry is practical atheism and an affront to God.”

Worry is Living as if There is No God

As if We Have No God Who Knows Every Need We Have

As if We Have No Heavenly Father Who Loves Us and Cares For Us More Than We Can Imagine

Matthew 6:33 (NASB)

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

This is Exactly What Jesus Taught Us in His Model Prayer

Our First Concern Should Be God’s Agendas

He Taught Us to Pray:

For God to Be Hallowed and Sanctified in the Hearts of Beings On Earth as He is By the Beings in Heaven

For God’s Rule and Reign to Cover the Totality of Earth as it Has Heaven

And For God’s Will to Be Done On Earth to the Fullness That it is Done in Heaven

In Essence, “May the Earth and All Who are On it Worship You, Submit to You, and Serve You as the Angelic Beings Do in Heaven!”

That is What We Are to Pray Before We Pray For Our Daily Bread (Necessities)

In This Text, Jesus Tells Us to Continually (Present Tense) Seek the Spread of Jesus’ Kingdom/Rule/Reign

We are to Dedicate Our Lives to Spreading the Gospel/Good News of King Jesus

To Making Disciples

And We are to Dedicate Our Lives to Faith in Him (Where Righteousness Comes From)…

And Living According to His Standards in the Kingdom (What True Faith Consists of - Obedience - Faith Without Works = Dead)

Don’t Seek Earthly Wealth and Possessions

Seek the Kingdom and His Righteousness

Jesus Promises Us That When We Do That…

All of Our Necessities Will Be Provided For Us

Matthew 6:34 (NASB)

“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Jesus Forbids Us to Worry About What Tomorrow Holds

Today Has Enough Troubles For Us to Deal With…

There’s No Need in Adding Tomorrow’s Troubles to Today

Besides, if God Promises to Help Us Through Our Troubles Today…

He Most Certainly Will Help Us Through Tomorrow

Application

I Initially Found This Lesson Difficult to Put Together

Most of Us Here Probably Don’t Feel the Temptation to Worry About Where Our Next Meal Will Come From or What We Will Wear

(There May Be Some of Us Here That Do)

But Regardless of if Our Worries are For Daily Necessities or Not…

We All Worry About Something

And the Principles Jesus Teaches Remain the Same:

God is Able to Provide For Us

God Cares About Us

Worrying Doesn’t Help Out Our Situation

Worry is Caused By a Lack of Faith in God’s Providential Care

If We Make Spreading the Gospel and Living Righteously Our Focus, God Promises to Provide For Us What We Need

That Should Leave Us Feeling a Great Sense of Relief

We Don’t Have to Worry; Live By Faith and God Will Provide!

But, There Was One Question That Came to My Mind When Studying This:

What About When God Doesn’t Provide For His Children?

If God Promises to Provide For the Daily Necessities of His Children When They Seek His Kingdom and Righteousness First…

Does it Mean He is Breaking His Promise When We See Christians in Need?

There are So Many Christians in the World and in Our Own Community Who are in Need

Has God Broken His Promise?

No, God Has Not Broken His Promise to Us…

We Have Broken Our Promise to Him

“What Are You Talking About, Jon?”

As Citizens of the Kingdom…

We Have Chosen a Life Devoted to Jesus and His Teachings

And One of the Things We Just Learned From Jesus Last Week…

Is That Citizens of His Kingdom Practice Their Righteousness By Being Generous and Sharing With Those in Need

Whenever There Are Christians in Need…

It Isn’t God Who Has Failed On His Promise to Provide For Us

It is We Who Have Failed On Our Promise to God That We Would Devote Ourselves to Jesus’ Teaching

As You Study Your Bible, One Thing You Will Find is that God Has Always Worked in the World Through People

It’s Extremely Rare to See God Do Something Without the Use of a Human

God Also Keeps His Promise to Provide For His Faithful Children By Using People

His Primary Way of Feeding and Clothing His Children is Through the Generosity of His Children

If Faithful Christians are Going Hungry, Thirsty, Naked, Homeless, Uncared For, and Unloved…

It Isn’t God Who Has Failed

It is Us

Let Us Fulfill Our Purpose in Doing God’s Will Here On Earth as it is Done in Heaven

We Do This By Spreading the Kingdom Message and Living in Faithful Obedience to the Teachings of Jesus

Specifically in This Text:

Don’t Worry About Your Life, But Live By Faith in God’s Care For You

And as God’s Children and Servants, Let’s Take Care of Each Other

This Congregation Ought to Be the Most Faithful, Worry-Free, and Generous Church in This Community

Let’s Make That Happen For the Glory of God!