Worry and the King’s Care in the EVERYDAY
Matthew 6:24-34
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount contains the realities of being a citizen of the Kingdom of God. In the week in which we celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus, Matthew 6:24-34 is very appropriate in considering the King’s Care for His Kingdom citizens in the “everyday” of their lives.
Last week we ended with Matthew 6:24: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” We saw that Jesus was saying that it’s impossible for a servant to be devoted 100% to God, and then try to serve another master part-time. If you are devoted to God, you are devoted to no one or nothing else. Your undivided devotion is only to God and to His Kingdom and household, not to another.
Then in verse 25, Jesus says: "For this reason (or, therefore: everything that Jesus said about the two treasures and the two visions in verses 19-24 is connected to the following) 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! (Gr.:“Oligopistos”, trusting little.) 31 (THEREFORE, word left out in the NASB) "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will wear for clothing?'
To be “worried” is to have a divided and separated HEART. The word “WORRY” In Matthew 6 comes from the root word “Merizo”: to divide to separate into parts, cut into pieces. (It is the word used in Matt.12:25 when Jesus said: "Any kingdom DIVIDED against itself is laid waste; and any city or house DIVIDED against itself will not stand.” When we worry, we divide and separate ourselves from the purposes and power of God. When we worry, we are telling God that we trust Him so little, that even though we believe Him to be the Creator of everything, and the Savior of all who believe in Him, that we don’t BELIEVE that God can take care of us: We are “Oligopistos”- Little faiths.
Just as Jesus demonstrated that obeying the Law is far more than an external exercise, WORRY is far more than being overly CONCERNED: Worry is having a DIVIDED HEART toward the Eternal King.
A Divided Heart about FOOD
If you are worried about what you will eat or drink or what you will wear, maybe you are serving and worshiping THE idol of FOOD: This isn’t to say that you always have to eat the best food, nor that you are a practicing glutton. On the other hand, those who show no regard for what they are eating, or eating nothing but rice and water, are not necessarily any “BETTER” because of their extreme piety or poverty, because their hearts may still be in divided toward God.
One of the examples Jesus gives is the feeding habits of birds; The Creator God has established a creation for the birds and beasts in which they will be fed; they just have to go out, find food and eat it. They are not concerned about the process: Birds don’t hoard things as if God will go on vacation and allow them to go hungry. Birds don’t build barns to store huge surpluses. They eat what God provides for them.
If God brought YOU into His Kingdom and under HIS KINGDOM RULE, if He has saved you, don’t you think that He can also FEED you? He is the FATHER of those WHOM HE HAS SAVED but He is not the Father of the birds, YET He takes care of both them. If He cares for the birds, He will certainly care for you.
He is not endorsing laziness or endorsing a mass welfare system because even the birds work hard every day looking for food. Birds don’t trust God, but as children of the King, WE DO. We can go about our work that God provides, we can go to sleep at night, and rest and trust that God will be God tonight and still be God tomorrow, and He will still provide and care for us: As THE Compassionate and Loving Father AND King, He will provide our daily bread, as well as the Living Bread of Life.
A Divided Heart about CLOTHING
The other example Jesus gives that will cause a divided heart is that of serving the IDOL of Clothing. In order to help us understand this, He contrasts the glory of Solomon and the glory of lilies and the flowers of the field. Why would Jesus say “that not even SOLOMON in all his glory clothed himself like one of these” (lilies)?
The “glory” of Solomon in the eyes of the world was that he was the wealthiest man in the world but it was not because of his riches and robes, his women or wealth. The most important thing he had was Godly wisdom: 2 Chronicles 9:22 says: “So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the kings of the earth were seeking the presence of Solomon, to hear his WISDOM WHICH God HAD PUT IN HIS HEART.” His EXTERNAL wealth was not HIS GLORY. It was NOT what He wore outwardly or what he possessed in external wealth, but rather, the Godly wisdom which he internally possessed as a gift from God.
A lily does not worry about what it is going to wrap around itself to be glorious. Lilies do not strive to adorn themselves with beautiful clothes: they EXIST in the world in THE WAY that God created them to be. Solomon’s lasting contribution was not in his earthly riches nor in his robes nor in the earthly temple which he built; It was in the truths displayed in the Book of Proverbs, which displays TRUE WISDOM. It was in his contribution of the book of Ecclesiastes, which talks about the lasting treasure, not found in the earthly, but in the treasures of God’s Kingdom.
That is why Jesus would later say Matthew 12:42: “The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.” The “something greater” is the wisdom of God IN CHRIST. (1 Cor. 1:24 says: “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”)
A Divided Heart about TOMORROW
The third thing Jesus mentions that contributes to a “worried and a divided heart” is serving the IDOL of life-expectancy: Jesus asks the question: "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?” This is really a summary question of the other two idols: Food and clothing are so very basic, so if you are worried about food and clothing, WHAT ELSE are you worried about? Probably everything! What about health, true happiness, marriage and relationships, sin, life and death? If you are worrying about tomorrow, you are DENYING that your tomorrow belongs to God
For Jesus, the idea of “worry” goes beyond that of extraordinary caring. It goes beyond concern and into the area of denying who God is! It is sin. Do you believe that God is Sovereign and Providential in all things? Then don’t worry about your food and clothing. Are you worried about tomorrow? Don’t you believe that God planned the moment of your birth and the moment of your death and has EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN under His control, so you won’t add a second to your earthly existence by worrying about it? If you believe you are in the hands of your Gracious and Benevolent King, don’t worry about the length of your days but make sure that your days are devoted to the King who has accepted you into His Kingdom.
Having an UNDIVIDED Heart
Jesus says, 32 "For the Gentiles (nations) eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 (Here is God’s command, His imperative for you is:) "But (YOU) 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 (worry) for itself. (And you don’t even know if tomorrow will come.) Each day has enough trouble (evil or wickedness) of its own.”
God commands that His Kingdom children be different than the rest of the nations; The eager seeking of God’s Kingdom and the reign of God in your life, the conformity of God’s standard of righteousness your first and only priority are the continual food and life of God’s Children. If you allow anxiety or the things of the world materialism to fill your mind and heart, it quickly pushes out God’s Kingdom and His purposes: You cannot serve two masters: doing so divides and distracts from first seeking God’s Kingdom and His Righteousness
Here are some Biblical reasons for having an UNDIVIDED Heart, a heart devoted to God alone. Don’t worry about food because we are fed by God in Christ. We are fed by the Bread of Life and the Living Water. Our food should be to DO the Will of our Heavenly Father. It is not the food or drink that GOES INTO a man that makes him guilty or corrupts him, but the condition of the inner heart and soul. What am I feeding on, the worries of the world or the will of my Father? Is my heart separated from God or undivided toward Him.
The second is that we are clothed by God in Christ. We are no longer naked in our sin if we believe and follow Christ, but clothed with the righteousness of Christ, that will never go away. We have no need to worry, fret, or look to the world for covering, comfort or contentment because we have the food of Christ and the forgiveness of God in Christ.
The third reality is that a Believer IN Christ has the gift of Christ’s Faith. That being true, why do Christian people battle anxiety and worry? Worry could mean one of several things.
1. Worry could indicate “LITTLE” faith. That is how Jesus defines it: “O you of “little faith.” “Little faith” would not be a SECURE and solid faith; that would sound more like a DOUBTING Faith. (I’m not sure that a doubting faith would be a righteous faith.) A doubting faith would say: “I don’t know (I DOUBT) that God can handle this problem. I doubt that God can provide, protect, save, and sustain. I just don’t know.” Is that why you worry? Worry is to have a divided heart, a doubting heart, not a God anchored foundation. John Piper has a message entitled “Battling the Unbelief of Anxiety.”)
Maybe you are a new believer and you have still to learn more about God’s promises. Even the disciples, after they had witnessed the feeding of the 5,000 and THEN the 4,000, the next day they said to Jesus: “We didn’t bring any bread to eat.” Jesus, aware of this, said, "You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?” The prescription for Little Faith is GROW. Learn more about God and HIS WORD: Relinquish your rule to the King.
2. Worry could indicate that you have NO Faith. Worry is to have a heart that is divided from God. A heart of PEACE (shalom, Solomon) is the benefit of following Christ and being a member of God’s Kingdom. An absence of faith in the King of Glory will certainly bring worry to any heart and life. The command is to: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness: Ask God that you would be born into His Kingdom by the Power of His Saving Spirit and that Jesus would reign as King in your little kingdom.
3. Worry could indicate that you have Great and STRONG faith which is under brutal attack. Make no mistake about it, the enemy strikes the hardest and wages the most horrendous attacks on those who are strong in the Faith. If we are tempted to doubt, worry or fear, we know that our heavenly Father has provided us with the weapons of His Word, the Spirit, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, and the feet of the Gospel of Peace, and the community of believers. We know that each day DOES have plenty of evil, but never more than God’s plenteous grace.
Seek the King of the Kingdom FIRST if you have LITTLE, NO or GREAT FAITH. If you find yourself worrying, confess it for what it is: It is sin of unbelief in the Sovereignty and Providence of God attack rising up in you. If you consider it “something you have to live with”, living with it is what you will have to do! But if you consider it SIN, and that it is destroying the FAITH of God in you and detracting from serving and loving HIM ONLY, then CONFESS it as such, receive forgiveness, and allow God’s Spirit of comfort power to overcome it. Forgiveness is why Christ died and power over sin is why He arose and gave us His Holy Spirit within us.
Paul wrote from prison in Philippians 4:6: “Be anxious for NOTHING, but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication WITH thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Verse 19 of the same chapter says: And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” He is our Lord and King and He will do what He promises!
Some Verses to Conquer Anxiety and Worry
"Fear not for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God; I will help you, I will strengthen you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand" (Isaiah 41:10).
"So shall my word that goes forth from my mouth; it will not come back to me empty but accomplish that which I purpose, and prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11).
"My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9)
"As your days so shall your strength be" (Deuteronomy 33:25).
"And the Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; he will be with you. He will not fail your or forsake you. Do not fear, or be dismayed" (Deuteronomy 31:8).
"I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you" (Psalm 32:8).
"If God is for us who can be against us!" (Romans 8:31).
“Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us”. (Romans 5:3–5).
"Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save" (Isaiah 46:4).
“None of us lives to himself and none of us dies to himself; if we live we live to the Lord and if we die we die to the Lord. So whether we live or die we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and rose again: that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living" (Romans 14:8–9).
“He who began a good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ" (Philippians 1:6).
"He who calls you is faithful. He will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
"He is able for all time to save those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25).
Take God’s Word, Learn from Him, and be ready to battle: "The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord." (Proverbs 21:31)
OUTLINE: The King’s Care in the EVERYDAY
Matthew 6:24-34
Intro: To be “worried” is to have a divided HEART
I. Having a DIVIDED HEART:
A. Serving the IDOL of Food.
B. Serving the IDOL of Clothing.
C. Serving the IDOL of life-expectancy
II. Having an UNDIVIDED Heart:
A. We are fed by God in Christ.
B. We are clothed by God in Christ.
C. A Believer IN Christ has the gift of Christ’s Faith.
1. Worry could indicate “little” faith.
2. Worry could indicate that you have NO Faith.
3. Worry could indicate that you have Great faith under attack.
