Commands of Christ - 22

A Christian’s Ambitions

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

1. What are your top three worries? Why?

What does Jesus think of me? Of my thoughts, priorities, words, behaviors?

Am I doing right by Jesus concerning His church?

Am I doing right by Jesus concerning my wife and family?

2. What is the difference between anxiety and worry?

Concise Oxford English dictionary (11th ed 2004)

Worry

verb (worries, worrying, worried)

1 feel or cause to feel troubled over actual or potential difficulties.

▶ [as adjective worried] expressing anxiety.

2 annoy or disturb.

3 (of a dog or other carnivorous animal) tear at or pull about with the teeth.

▶ (of a dog) chase and attack (livestock, especially sheep).

4 (worry at) pull at or fiddle with repeatedly.

5 (worry something out) discover or devise a solution by persistent thought.

■ noun (plural worries) the state of being worried.

▶ a source of anxiety.

HISTORY

Worry comes from wyrgan, an Old English word of West Germanic origin, meaning ‘strangle’.

In Middle English it took on the meanings ‘choke with a mouthful of food’, ‘seize by the throat and tear’, and ‘swallow greedily’,

and in the 16th century ‘harass with repeated aggression’.

This gave rise to ‘annoy or disturb’ in the late 17th century and ‘cause anxiety to’ in the early 19th century.

The sense ‘feel anxious or troubled’ is not recorded until the end of the 19th century.

anxious

■ adjective

1 experiencing worry, nervousness, or unease.

2 very eager and concerned to do something or for something to happen.

—DERIVATIVES anxiously adverb anxiousness noun

—ORIGIN 17th century: from Latin anxius (from angere ‘to choke’) + -OUS.

Complete Biblical Library: Be anxious, care for, be concerned about.

UBS handbook on the Gospel of Matthew

Anxious about is translated by the equivalent of “worry about” in TEV, NAB, NJB, AT, Brc, Phps.

Either translation is an accurate rendering of the Greek. One commentator expresses the meaning as “You must not be distracted by cares.” The verb occurs four more times in this passage (verses 27, 28, 31, 34) and in 10:19. There are several ways languages express the meaning of anxious about. Some say “Don’t be overly concerned,” “Don’t let the worries distract you,” or “Don’t allow the cares to bother you too much.”

What is the state of anxiety and/or worry in our world today?

Why?

Explore It

Text: Matthew 6:25-34

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? 26 “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? 27 “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? 28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. 30 “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! 31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

1. How will the crucial choices we make in Matthew 6:19-24 affect our ability to live free from worry/anxiety (Matthew 6:25)?

The more we cling to the the things of this earth the more we will worry.

If they are the only things for which we seek we will have worry about them “being taken away” through being consumed, by decay, by being stolen.

CSB Study Bible Notes: Isn’t life more than food is a rabbinic style of argument. It reasons that if God does a greater thing for us, he will also do lesser things. Specifically, if God created you (the greater accomplishment), he is certainly capable of feeding you (a lesser accomplishment).

2. What three worries did Jesus discourage among His followers? Why? (6:25)

Don’t worry about food, drink or clothing.

Because God will provide.

3. According to Jesus, why are we foolish to worry about our physical and material needs (Matthew 6:25-30)?

God knows what we need and He will provide

Are these then trivial matters?

No, but in comparison with hungering and thirsting after God they have lesser importance.

And yet that is not the approach of many evangelistic or missions projects. They believe people will not listen to the Gospel with an empty belly.

4. What creatures did Jesus use to illustrate God’s reliability as a provider? Why? (6:26)

Birds.

They only gather to the food God provides. they don’t plant and store.

Why are God’s creatures consistently "fed and clothed"? (6:26)

Because He created them and He provides for them.

Why should we take great comfort from the way the animal and plant kingdoms operate? (6:26)

There is not worry or anxiety, but there is watchfulness and activity (vs. sloth).

5. What benefits does worry bring? (6:27)

None

6. What fact from nature did Jesus use to illustrate the folly of worrying over clothes? (6:28)

God gives beauty to those things that did not work for it. They have an intrinsic beauty.

How did Solomon’s wardrobe measure up to the beauty of nature? (6:29)

Not as great

What comfort can followers of Christ find in the beauty of nature? (6:30)

God will give us the same beauty to enjoy.

7. Who is consumed by concern over food, water, and clothing? (6:32)

The Gentiles.

How is Jesus comparing Jews and Gentiles.

Gentiles do not know God.

They don’t know to trust Him.

8. What priorities should we have in life? (6:33)

His righteousness and Kingdom should have priority.

What does God do for His children when they keep the right perspective, refuse to worry, and trust Him? (6:33)

He provides for them.

Why is it silly to fret over the future? (6:34)

Every day has sufficient reasons for concern.

9. How does worry/anxiety also reveal a lack of faith (Matthew 6:30)?

They seem tied together.

10. If God promises to feed and clothe his children, then why are many of them ill-clad and undernourished (see Matthew 25:41-45)?

A variety of factors:

Man’s inhumanity to man.

God still expects us to work.

Get It

1. Why do some of us worry about clothes more than others?

2. How do you think God feels about our society’s preoccupation with food?

3. If God is really in control of the universe, why do we worry so much about so many things?

4. How do you think worry is affecting or could affect you…

Emotionally

Physically

Spiritually

5. How would you answer someone who interprets this passage to mean that God promises to give His children everything their hearts desire?

6. In light of this passage, what would be some good principles on food and clothing for us to follow?

7. What is the difference between planning for the future and worrying about the future?

8. What worries do you struggle to keep under control?

9. What can help you entrust your worries to God?

Apply It

1. What worry will you entrust to God today?

2. What steps can you take today to change your priorities from worldly ones to kingdom ones?

3. Give examples of how people today "run after all these things" that Jesus mentions (Matthew 6:31).

4. Why and how are our ambitions to be different from those of non-Christians (Matthew 6:32-34)?

5. How has this passage challenged you to re-examine your goals and ambitions?

LifeGuide Topical Bible Studies - Sermon on the Mount. And Adult Questions for LESSONMaker.