Free From Worry In The Father's Care在天父的照顧下無憂無慮

Matthew 6:25–34 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? “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? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “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! “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. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

INTRO

Commercial of old man running and hiking and traveling with his wife. The message is aren’t you worried that you won’t be able to be like this man? So you better start doing something now so you can have this kind of life. That draws on our fears. Amazon ranks the top highlights for every book. The most highlighted verse on their bible app is ? Philippians 4:6-7 Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States. Nearly 1/3 of all people in Taiwan suffer from general anxiety disorder.

Philippians 4:6–7 NASB95

Be anxious for nothing, 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Sub Intro:

Jesus has been teaching us through the sermon on the mount about how to store up treasures in heaven. Basically how do we live now in light of eternity? He has taught us what true righteousness looks like. Last week Lachlan reminded us that we can not serve both money and God, that we have to choose. As Jesus was teaching His disciples He moves to this point where after last week His disciples were probably asking, “well Jesus if we aren’t supposed to pursue money, than how can I provide for my family?” “How can I be sure that I will have enough to put food on the table for my family?” Disciples then are just like disciples now. We all have worries about our provision don’t we? We want to know will I have enough?The quality of life, but also God will I live long enough? The quantity of our lives. Jesus is going to answer this question and this is His point and the main point of the sermon this afternoon: Jesus commands worry-filled disciples to trust in the sufficient care of our Heavenly Father.

Don’t Worry Because Worry is Futile

Jesus begins and says “For this reason” what reason? It connects back the previous verses, where Jesus says you can not serve both wealth and God. Because you can’t live your life that way, Jesus says “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?”

This is a command. Jesus is commanding us not to worry.

What kind of worry? The context of Jesus’ teaching is worry about provision for our lives. This word means to be overly concerned about. It means to weigh down with trouble.To care for: to be troubled with cares for A disquieting, tormenting thought, which hurries the mind hither and thither, and hangs it in suspense; which disturbs our joy in God, and is a damp upon our hope in him; which breaks the sleep, and hinders our enjoyment of ourselves, of our friends, and of what God has given us. 2. A distrustful, unbelieving thought. God has promised to provide for those that are his all things needful for life as well as godliness, the life that now is, food and a covering: not dainties, but necessaries

That which we care for we seek after. Life is swayed by the cares of our lives.

Anytime we talk about anxiety and worry I want to make a distinction. Jesus here is not referring to what we call an anxiety disorder. An anxiety disorder is when there is a physiological problem in our brains that causes us to have panic attacks or anxiety. While Jesus’ teaching is very helpful and empowering for those of us who are struggling with anxiety disorders, the main point of His teaching here is when it is when we are OVERLY concerned and WEIGHED down by the fear of knowing if we will be taken care of. I want to say that, because Jesus brings a rebuke to us this afternoon, a much needed rebuke. But I personally have dealt with panic attacks and know some of you here are walking through that, and......need to pastorally tease this out

With that being said: Jesus’ focus here is being overly concerned and weighed down by the fear of “will I have enough?” “will I be taken care of.”

Reason 1: Isn’t life MORE than food and the body MORE than clothing?

Context: Herod and Caesar Augustus: not just, tyrannical, required tax upon tax, corrupt, killed mercilessly, and in this context, with this being the everyday life for a disciple, Jesus says “do not be worried”.

This was primarily a person’s worry back then. Basic provision for their lives.

The word for life here means “soul”. What is Jesus telling us?

He is saying listen, you are spending your time worried and anxious over what you will eat and what you will have to wear, but don’t you know that your life is more than what you eat or drink? If God can care for your soul, which is much greater, can He not care for your basic needs?

Reason #2: Consider nature: Jesus is going to do this twice in this passage. And He is making two different points with both of these examples:

Look at the birds. So let’s consider the birds together. Jesus says “They neither reap, nor sew, nor store into barns.” Yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

When we consider anxiety and worry, what is our usual response to fear and worry? Control. When we are anxious about tomorrow, our first response is to not consider the birds but it is to run, to store, to try and control within our means what will happen to us tomorrow.

Jesus’ point here is not against work. It is against worry. If you go outside today and look at the birds, the birds don’t just sit there all day with their beaks open and wait for God to drop food in their mouths do they? No they still need to hunt they need to catch, ect. Yet Jesus’ point is that God provides for the birds through that natural means. Bird aren’t worried about their 401 K or retirement, they are killing themselves making sure that they will have enough money when they are 70, they take what the Father gives them today. This is Jesus’ point.

the lie of control

takes this lie of control to it’s ultimate end: Jesus showing us what worry can really do: NOTHING!

Aren’t you worth much more than they?

The lie of wealth:

Flowers:

Point there is a lie that if we only had more than we would be taken care of(Jeff Bezos example) but when is enough enough? Is there a number or a quality of life that would be enough?

Jesus says even if you were like King Solomon, who had all the money in the world. He had wealth, also wisdom, every resources available to him, but even if you had the wealth of Solomon you would not be able to care for yourselves even close to how the heavenly Father knows how to care for YOU.

REBUKE:

you of little faith: the problem with our worries is not that our lack of money, or lack of possessions, Jesus says the root of our worry is actually our lack of faith.

What our faith says is that God who clothes the flowers will somehow leave His own kids naked and without. It is an offense to nature and the character of the Lord

Taking care of turtles at the expense of my own kids. Good illustration

sometimes what we call wisdom, can really be a mask for unbelief.

Jesus teaches us that our lives are troubled over cares of our lives. However these cares accomplish nothing but give us anxiety. They can’t provide for us, these cares or worries can’t add any value or length to our life. Our anxiety can not increase the quality of life or the length of our life. But how does Jesus respond to those of us who have little faith? Does He cast us away or throw us aside? No He draws our attention elsewhere. So we need different cares. Gospel Concerns. Two cares that Jesus draws our attention to: God’s care for us and our care for Him(concern or desire)

Don’t Worry Because You Have A Heavenly Father

For the Gentiles seek after all these things This thinking is not only an affront to God’s goodness and providence, but it is actually pagan thinking(tease this out)

FOR:

gentiles seek all these things; for your Heavenly Father knows that you need

He is drawing a distinction between how God’s people should live and the rest of the world who don’t know God lives. FOR

Your Heavenly Father KNOWS

All these things(He knows these things are important to your life) Psalm 94:19 1 Peter 5:6-8

We Need A Greater Care

This is another command: seek first or continually seek Instead, they are to replace such pursuits with goals of far greater significance

This is a command about what we DESIRE How do we do this Jesus? What does this look like?

We can pray for His kingdom(sermon on the mount references to the kingdom of God)

List those here and see if we get a picture of what Jesus is talking about BUT: instead of seeking after all these things(food, drink, clothing)

Seek first(or continually seek)

Kingdom and righteousness

KOG:This doctrine describes the rule of God over his creation as king, including how the rule is exerted and structured and what its ultimate purpose is. The church is not the kingdom in its fullness. The church is the missionary vehicle that God uses to bring about His kingdom in the nations. Seek first is to pursue God’s purposes and God’s rule righteousness:Matthew. This is the consistent usage in Matthew. Jesus is baptized so as to do what is right with God (3:15). The hungering and thirsting of 5:6 is for a right state before God. Yet this righteousness is God’s gift (6:33). It is to be sought with his kingdom. It brings persecution (5:10). It includes the practice of piety (6:1). The way in which the Baptist came is that of right conduct (21:32). Matthew 5:6 To seek first the kingdom (“of God” in some MSS) is to desire above all to enter into, submit to, and participate in spreading the news of the saying reign of God, the messianic kingdom already inaugurated by Jesus, and to live so as to store up treasures in heaven in the prospect of the kingdom’s consummation. It is to pursue the things already prayed for in the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer (6:9–10 Seek the kingdom is laying up treasures in heaven:

prayer: Philippians 4 Generosity: Giving away what we store in order to make us feel more secure Life and body?

Having what God cares about most be what we care about most. Him, His people, and the lost. Or is that an afterthought. Do we first go towards how to make our lives better, how to get more money, move forward in business, ect. Are we climbing the career ladder but at the expense of our souls.

Kingdom with life and righteousness with body(clothed in righteousness of Christ?) Result of us continually seeking the kingdom?

Our needs will be met. Will be added or “provided” to you

God who gives us the kingdom of heaven will also give us what we need in this life.

VERSE 34

SO:

Do not worry about “tomorrow” : command again

THIS IS A COMMAND:prohibition

Type of command is psychological state: meaning Jesus is speaking about our psychological state(unpack this maybe unnecessary) “Take no thought therefore for tomorrow” AV translation

FOR tomorrow will worry about itself. Interesting way to end this passage. An allusion to Exodus 16:4: trusting God for each days manna, God did this to test them. Why does Jesus end here? Worry over tomorrow’s misfortunes is nonsensical, because today has enough to occupy our attention and because tomorrow’s feared misfortunes may never happen At the same time, he is implicitly teaching that even for his disciples today’s grace is sufficient only for today and should not be wasted on tomorrow. If tomorrow does bring new trouble, there will be new grace to meet it. Jesus trusted His Heavenly Father even though HE knew His tomorrow was going to bring the cross.

Don’t bring tomorrow’s troubles into today. Instead live by the grace of God that He supplies you for today.

We rehearse in our minds so many negative and worrisome thoughts. We need to rehearse and retell ourselves the Gospel.