Well, hey, good morning. It’s good to be back with you. Thanks to Chase for bringing the word last week. I know he did a good job, but it was good to get away with Jessica and celebrate our 10-year anniversary. So thank you to him for doing that. And if you didn’t hear, Jessica is pregnant. So she’s the one suffering, not me. So she gets exceptionally sick when she’s pregnant. So she’s not doing too and too great. So she’ll be excited about being pregnant soon enough, I think. So no, it’s good. So just to let you know. And last, I just want to say, hey, thanks for faithfulness in giving. Thank you. Giving was really strong this last month. I think it’s one of the highest months we’ve ever had. So you’re not throwing your money in a pit. You’re throwing it into the kingdom of God, and it makes a difference and enables us to do what we need to do to function as a church. So thank you for your faithfulness in giving. If you’ve got your Bible, I hope you do, turn with me to Matthew 6. Matthew 6, verse 25-34.
Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious 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? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not?
And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life?
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, yet they neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you? Oh, you lilies! Little faith.
Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Tuesday night I got a text receipt from a company in Miami, Florida. I haven’t been to Miami in five, six years, but there was a text receipt to let me know I had just made a purchase in Miami, Florida. I did not make that purchase. And so I got in my bank account, and sure enough, some guy was having a big time down in Miami with my visa information. I don’t know how you go about. I don’t know how you go about doing that, but he had done it in just a few hour span of time. He ran up probably a $300 bill. He had an $80 dinner and left a $40 tip. I don’t think it counts as generosity if it’s somebody else’s money, though, you know. So I don’t know how that works. But immediately, you know, I’m freaking out. What are we going to do? Are we going to be spending all of our money? You know, we called them, and we canceled the card, and I have to go in and dispute all these things to get the refund. But it caused me to be in a state. I’m in a state of, like, panic. Like, what if it happens again? What if somebody spends all of our money, and we can’t pay our bills? And what if somebody steals all of our stuff, and we’re left with nothing? And it causes you really to, what, self-preserve, self-protect. We do that naturally as people. No one had to teach you how to freak out. No one had to teach you to worry about food and worry about clothing and worry about housing. It’s something we innately do as fallen human beings. We worry, and we get very, very anxious. And it seems like Jesus would have said, in lieu of what he said last week, it’s fine to get a little worried. Because you remember what he did say, what Chase preached about, was don’t invest in this life. Don’t lay up your treasures here. So if Jesus is going to tell me don’t invest here, it seems like he could say, well, you should be a little worried because I told you not to invest here. No, he says both don’t overinvest here, but at the same time, don’t worry when you have need.
Kingdom-minded people ought to be unique in their ways. That’s the way we react in our time of need. That’s what Jesus says to us this morning. How do we react in our time of need?
It’s about your life, what you eat, what you drink, or about your body. What you’ll put on is not life more than food and your body more than clothing. And it’s a simple question, but it’s a profound question. And I think we all have to individually answer that question for ourselves. Because if the implied answer is yes, life is more than these things, it may turn on its head the way you live your life and for what you are living your life. If the answer is yes, life is more than these things, then should not the Christ follower look so very different from the rest of the world in our pursuits, in what we seek, in what matters most to us? I think if it’s true what we seek, what we go after, then should be a beacon of hope to the world that there is something, there is something better, there is something greater to spend your life on.
So the first thing I want us to see Jesus is saying to us is this. In your time of need, remember, anxiety is a fruitless labor.
Anxiety is a fruitless labor. Verse 26, He says, Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. And you not? Are you not of much more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? So I want to turn to the Garden of Eden, as we do often there, because I think we get there a picture of a perfect world as God intended it to be, and as it will be again someday. In Genesis 1, verse 29, here’s what God says. It says in 29, And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall. He’s making a statement. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food, and it was so. So what do we see? We see in this perfect, Edenic state. We see God saying, Non-image bearers, who don’t even look like me in character, in their conscience, and whether they can process and think and know me, I’m going to sufficiently provide for them. How much more at the same time is God then saying, My image bearers know that I’m going to sufficiently provide for you. The Scripture says it was so. God said this is good. God said, You shall have them for food. So Jesus is using this argument, friends, that we’ll take it as an indisputable fact that as image bearers of God, we should know we’re loved, and we’re cared for, and we’re seen. That is the way God set up the universe. So if I’m thinking outside like that, like this is a world in which I live, and God did not set up the universe where He’s very aware of my needs, that’s a fake world. That’s not the universe in which we live. So Jesus uses this argument to give you and I as His people sureness. We need that a lot, don’t we? I need a sureness that God loves me and that God cares about me. The Ecclesiastes writer, he builds on the Genesis account saying that God, for fact, supplies your needs. He says in Ecclesiastes 3.12, I perceive that there’s nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good, as long as they live, also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all His toil. This is God’s gift to man. So it’s not just a reality to believe in. The wisdom writer says, hey, it’s God’s gift to you to enjoy food and drink. So what you and I don’t need to do is see, okay, provision for what I need in life and toil and hard work. He didn’t separate them. So often, friends, when we obey that garden mandate to work, and to exercise dominion over the earth, that is the means and the way through which God provides and blesses us. That’s just a good way that God set it up. So work’s not bad, but what do we do when I’m working and I’m laboring, but I’m not getting the fruit I need to take care of me and mine? Or what happens when work’s not available at all and I’m doing all I can do and still I’ve got these concerns or worries about these holes in my finances?
Jesus says, still, if you’re a kingdom-minded person, Jesus demands that we not be worried, but we remember from where does our provision actually come from? Are you sure you’re a provider for yourself?
I don’t think Jesus is saying that this morning. He’s saying God is your provision. So He’s not encouraging laziness. Paul said, hey, if you’re a believer and you don’t take care of your family, you’re worse than an unbeliever. Paul says if you don’t want to work, you shouldn’t eat. So labor and working is good, but friends, we know that there are just times in life when still we have need and we have want. Jesus says if you would remember from where your provision comes, it would save you from the back-breaking burden, and it is a back-breaking burden, of worry and anxiety. God never intended for us to do those things. Verse 26, Jesus makes it very clear,
anxiety can do, nothing for you. If we could believe that. He says, hey, it can’t make your life any longer. And you could translate that different. It can’t make you any taller.
Can’t make you taller. Can’t make your life longer. What Jesus is saying to us is this, anxiety can never improve the quality of your life. And in fact, if you’ve ever worried or had anxiety, which we all have to some degree, you know, it doesn’t just give you nothing. It actually takes. It is body exhausting. It’s soul-sucking. It’s mind-numbing, isn’t it? Anxiety takes from you because God never intended, friend, for you to experience it. So I want to say to you this morning, anxiety is a kind of spiritual amnesia brought on by our sin nature. And by it, we fall victim to all sorts of deceits and lies. We think, I’m random and arbitrary. My needs and problems are random and arbitrary. The people I’m responsible for are random and arbitrary. This whole world’s random and arbitrary. No one’s here to help me.
Anxiety drives you into isolation, into delusional fears that you’re all alone. It’s my broke-down car. It’s my leaky roof. It’s my kids. I’ve got to put food on the table for them. It’s my job I’ve lost. It’s mine. It’s mine and mine. And it goes deeper into despair. But friend, that taxing labor, it’s not getting you any closer to the provision you need. It’s certainly not getting you any closer to the peace and rest that you want and need, does it?
It’s hopelessness. It’s loneliness. It’s despair. It feels productive, doesn’t it, to worry?
It feels productive, but it produces nothing. And I think we’d have to agree, anxiety, worry looks nothing like Eden. Looks nothing like Eden.
So here’s what Jesus reminds us of. Here’s what He teaches us. Remembering who God is and what God has done for you is the only anti-toxin for anxiety. That’s it.
Remembering who God is, knowing who God is, will lead you out of the darkness and isolation of anxiety and into the light of His love and care. What does 1 Peter 5, verse 7 say? And this is, I think, on purpose, a very popular, easy-to-remember verse. It says, Cast all your anxieties on Him. Now, why would I do that? This stuff matters to me. I’ve got to fix this stuff. I mean, I’m all alone, right? No. Peter says, Cast all your anxieties on Him. Why would I cast my anxieties on God? Well, because God cares for me. God cares for you. Friends, if we could remember that simple and beautiful truth, you know, it would save us from moments, hours, weeks, whole seasons of life. Wasting our time and energy worrying that does nothing.
If we would remember that simple and beautiful truth, friends, we would know the unchanging nature of a God who always loves and provides for those who are His own. If we could remember that simple and beautiful truth, we would spare our father the grief of watching his children roam around like dejected orphans. Because, you know, the beautiful thing about the Gospel is it’s not that it reminds us, it reminds us that we are creatures and God is Creator, but it’s made us children to our Father. So Christ has come to restore to us what we lost, but also to remind us, friends, of what we so often willfully forget. God is a perfect provider who provides in His perfect way at His perfect timing. Hear me say to you this morning, we need the medicine of remembering.
It’s not like a tetanus shot. You know, you’re like, I got my tetanus shot, I think it was nine years ago. It’s going to be like a year. You know, I can get it every ten years. That’s not it, friends. We need to remember every day. You know why we need to remember it every day? Because that’s how prone we are to forget God is good and God is there. That’s how prone I am to catch, if you will, anxiety. Jesus said in this life, you will have many troubles, great troubles, and they’re too great for you and they’re too great for me. But Jesus also said, right before He ascended to the Father, lo, I am with you always to the end of the age. So we can celebrate what Paul says in Philippians 4, verse 7, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Friends, in Christ we are loved and cared for. Worry is an exhausting labor with a hollow wage. But the Lord loves you. And in Him, we find peace from trouble. From where does my help come from? The psalmist reminds us. My help, it comes from the Lord.
I found a small poem that I thought does a good job of kind of illustrating this. It says, All the water in the world, however hard it tried, could never sink a ship unless it got inside. All the hardships of this world might wear you pretty thin, but they won’t hurt you. They won’t hurt you one least bit unless you let them in. I think we have to agree there’s a difference between weathering storms of life, which is difficult, and being constantly overtaken in the storms of life. And that we need not do if God is our good Father.
So I think as a Christian, here’s what we’ve got to be willing to do, and I don’t think we’re willing to do it a lot because we care too much about what people think. We’ve got to be willing to look naive. You know? It’s okay with somebody saying, hey, I wouldn’t be in that situation if I were you because I’d be freaking out and losing sleep. Hey, if I had those kind of bills, hey, if I had those kind of sicknesses, hey, if I had those kind of troubles, man, I would have some problems. I’d be running to the bank to get some credit cards. I’d be freaking out. I’d be cursing God. I wouldn’t be trusting God. You say, well, that’s okay. You know why? Because you don’t have my daddy. Amen. Amen. And my daddy loves me, and he takes care of me. Friends, it looks naive to the world because it is a spiritual reality, that we firmly believe in. So don’t despair.
Rejoice. It’s an unchanging truth that God is for you. Don’t feel lonely. You’ve got the fellowship of the Trinity around you. A Father who loves you. A Shepherd King Jesus who takes care of you. A Spirit that comforts and guides you. We have, and this is also a community we neglect, the community of the church in which we should not… We’re basically around one another alone. I see that a lot in the church. I’m here alone. Like we’re all in our own world. No one really knows what’s going on, but we’re here together alone. That’s not the church. The church is a place to come and find other believers who, as Paul says, they want to bear burdens with me. So that’s a great beauty of the church is we have a very real family to help carry us through those difficult times of anxiety. It’s fruitless to remain in isolation.
Hopelessness. No. Steadfast hope, the Scripture says.
Remember, let me say this to you as a way of habit. And I’ve said this before and I’m going to say it until it’s burned into our minds and I need to hear it. You’ve got to get good at wasting time with Jesus.
It sounds funny, but you should build wasting time into your schedule with Jesus. Because when spending time with Jesus, oh, here I’ve got five minutes there. Oh, I’ve got five minutes here. Oh, I’ve got five minutes there. You know what you do? You forget who God is. You stop remembering. So when the storm, when the storms of life come and the anxiety piles on, you just have this small flicker when you should have a burning, white-hot flame. You know, Martha said, Jesus, look, look, I’m doing all this work and I’m being productive and I’m doing stuff and I’m fixing stuff. And look at Mary sitting there. And Jesus said, yeah, Mary’s chosen the better portion. She’s just sitting there looking at me, listening to me. So we’ve got to become a people of habit, it’s funny to say, in wasting time with Jesus. We must be a people, the Scriptures teach us that. Remember who our God is. It is your only medicine against anxiety that will crush you. And the anxiety of this life, it is crushing. Don’t be crushed. Remember that Jesus crushed the serpent. Remember that Jesus is good. Jesus and His Father, they’re eternally loving. Therefore, you believe that truth.
Verse 28,
And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
So Jesus draws upon this illustration again from the book of Acts. The created order to prove the provision of God. He’s saying to all these Jews, you know about Solomon. Solomon was the wealthiest, richest king in Israel. He had everything. Surely he was majestic and glorious and beautiful and he was adorned in all of his royal attire. But Jesus says, Solomon can’t even hold a candlestick. It’s just the natural beauty of the lilies of the field and flowers and even grass. And He says, you know, grass and flowers, and lilies, they don’t even do as much work as birds do, but I amply supply and meet their need. And their need, as great as it is, I’m providing for it. But grass, you know, you can cut that up and start a fire with it as fuel. So if I’m willing to take care of these small things and they’re cut down and thrown into a fire, won’t I take care of you? Won’t God take care of you, image bearers? And then Jesus says this, which I guess stings, O you of little faith.
O you of little faith.
Jesus helps us come to this second conclusion this morning. Anxiety is not just a fruitless labor.
Anxiety is a faithless labor.
It’s a faithless labor. I want to read a passage from Hebrews chapter 3 where the Hebrew writer recounts the Israelites in the wilderness. He says, He says, For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned and whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who were disobedient? Now catch it in 19. So we see that they were unable to enter, because God wouldn’t provide. That’s not at all what it says. It says they were unable to enter
because of unbelief. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear, lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them because why? They weren’t united in faith.
So what was their problem? Their problem was not a one-time lapse in faith. If one-time lapses in faith disqualify you, I’m out. It wasn’t a one-time lapse in faith. It wasn’t a falter. It was a pattern. God’s provision for them up to that point of taking the land of Canaan was obvious, yet still they chose to disbelieve God time and time again. So the issue with the Israelites and so often with us is this. The issue wasn’t this temporal surface problem of trusting God for just my needs. The issue ran deeper all the way to the heart of trusting God at all. I’m afraid sometimes we can set these false classifications in our heart. Like, there are my spiritual needs and my physical temporal needs. And yeah, I trust Jesus to be the Lord, you know, my soul and save me. But if I’m worried about day-to-day things in life, like, that’s different. That’s not a big deal. And it’s not so. The physical and the spiritual aren’t these two different individuals. And I’m going to trust God with one when it’s easier. But when it gets hard, I’m going to take it back and freak out about it. And it’s easier to trust God with this. Well, now it’s not. I’m going to take it back. Jesus is either Lord of your whole life or He’s not Lord of you at all. He’s either Lord of your body and soul or none of you. The message of the cross is not this. Hey, when you die, I’ll make sure your soul gets into heaven. It’s not the message of the cross. The message of the cross is even now God is with you. God is with us the very moment the Spirit comes upon us. My body and my soul is something Jesus died to redeem and restore. And whatever suffering I do have in the flesh, Jesus is putting me through that suffering to perfect my body and my soul so when eternity does come, my body and my soul are in a new, glorified, perfect state. So none of it goes to waste. And I’m not getting there if faith is a one-time thing. I’ve got to trust Jesus all the way through with my whole self and all the way through with all of life’s experiences. The Israelites were not willing to do that.
So take what petty anxieties in your life you don’t think are a big deal. Oh, I’m worried about that. I’m worried about that bill. Oh, I’m worried about this thing at work. Oh, I’m worried about that. Take those things that you think are petty anxieties. Take them to be an indicator you do not yet trust Christ as you ought because you’re still holding some things back from Him. He loves you even in the smallest parts friend.
Jesus does not require of us by His grace perfect faith but real faith. You know, a growing faith. It might start you know, like the size of a mustard seed but if it’s real it’ll grow up to heaven. And faith is a hard labor. If faith wasn’t a hard labor everybody would have faith. Everybody would be a Christian. But it’s not so. It is a hard labor. But that hard labor it produces the most the richest of dividends for God never fails to supply our needs when we trust in Him alone. And I think you have to differentiate between your needs and your wants, right? It’s really easy to say hey God, I need this. Like, hey, you don’t need that. You need like clothes on your back and you need like water and food. And here’s the problem. This is why Paul says be content with the bare minimum because when our wants become the thing we take pleasure from it’s hard to be happy with having less. But when Christ is all we want and need I’m happy to have very little. So let Christ be your true joy your true pleasure in life. And when you do without wants it’s not a big deal. God’s taking care of the bare minimum to get me through this life to the thing I actually want to get to in eternity and that’s Him.
Friend, again I will be the first to admit we falter at times but let it not be said of us that anxiety is the normal pattern of our life. If it is the normal pattern of our life it betrays the Christ we claim who is so worthy of all our trust and all of our faith.
Anxiety is just a stimulant to not have faith in God but to have faith in your own labor and circumvent so you think faith in God. The Proverbs writer says this in 1811 a rich man’s wealth is his strong city and like a high man’s wealth he has a high wall in his imagination so it’s really easy and you see people do it all around you accumulate wealth I’m going to accumulate possessions I’m going to accumulate riches and it’s like this high wall and I got a 401k and I got future security and I’m not trying to demonize having things in their proper context but when that is the thing for which I hope the Proverbs writer says it’s like a it’s like this imaginary wall in your mind and the Lord very well may rip down in one moment what we over a lifetime in pride thought was our security to prove that proverb to be true. Friend, believe in God.
Faith in what you see faith in what you feel faith in what you touch that’s not faith that’s cowardice. It’s self-obsessive it’s self-preserving impulse that sees God is so small and what is so small is God-like.
What you can see and what you can feel and what you can touch doesn’t make it any more secure because they’ll never be what God is and what God is alone we should trust. The Israelites you know the whole wilderness experience it wasn’t their first and last time distrusting the Lord they did it so so many times and the prophet Hosea says this in 14.3 in a time of fear of repentance Assyria shall not save us we will not ride on horses and we will say no more our God to the work of our hands and you the orphan
finds mercy.
So again church I say to you let us take up the labor of faith and receive from the Lord’s hand alone because that’s real security that’s real help.
The Christian writer and thinker Oz Guinness says this to believe is to be in one mind about accepting something is true to disbelieve is to be in one mind about rejecting it to doubt is to waver between the two belief and disbelief at one time and so be in two minds or as the apostle James says it you’re double minded you’re unstable you’re like a wave out at sea and the wind is pouring pushing you whichever way it wants you to go but friends there’s no reason for us to be double minded about God because He is a solid rock He is a foundation that cannot be shaken He cannot change He cannot lose He does not forget He knows and sees all things so the application here is straightforward
believe when it seems like you should not believe believe and trust the Lord and His supply what is belief really I think it’s two things it’s trusting and single mindedness I’m not going to put my hope on multiple things even if the one thing seems to fail I’m always going to trust and believe in the Lord so I’m committed to the one thing and secondly I’m committed to the long haul I’m not going to stay in really dark difficult seasons like I can’t go that far with you Jesus if you had taken me to like an eight but you’re wanting me to go to a ten here I don’t think so I’m going to pull back friends be committed in your faith to just Jesus for the long haul no matter what and this does harken back to remembering because when you fail to remember who God is it’s that much harder to put faith in Him and it is in those times of isolation and anxiety you know what we do we create false pictures and false images of Jesus like man this is probably my fault I probably did something wrong and God’s mad at me about something He’s up there with the whip and He’s taking me to task for something and God’s against me here and I’ve committed this thing and we start to freak out and God’s against us so remember so you can trust in that God and when you have faith you’re ready to place faith in the God who is there and the God who is good so remember and believe
verse 31
Jesus says therefore do not be anxious saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all these things and remember and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, don’t be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. You know, Jesus speaks in riddles sometimes and parables, and it’s difficult to understand. He does it on purpose to kind of, you know, clothe things from some people if it’s not Spirit-illuminated. But Jesus is quite plain here, isn’t He? The things of this life, as much as they seem so important, will pass away. Every burden of worry and anxiety you carry, it will get you nowhere in eternity. But eternity is to where Jesus really directs us. He says, here’s what matters most.
Seeking the Father and His kingdom. That’s what matters. That’s what matters most. Jesus says in John 17, here’s eternity, knowing the Father and knowing the Son. That’s what matters most. So Jesus says if you’re going to spend your life on a pursuit, if you’re going to pour out all your energy, let it be to attain what you can never lose and what is so good. God and His kingdom. We’ve been talking about that for months now. If you feel like we’re stuck in this never-ending cycle of Matthew, I hope by the end of it, we have that. That in our minds. God’s spiritual rule and reign in our hearts. That’s what matters most. That’s when He is most glorified. That’s when we are most satisfied in Him alone. Right? And Jesus says, hey, if you’re seeking the Father and you’re seeking the Son by faith, you know what? All that stuff you think you need and you’re worried about, hey, I’ll take care of that. Don’t you worry about that. When you trust in the Father and you’re seeking the Son, I’ll provide the fruit. You need. Your faith will provide that fruit, not your anxiety. And that faith and trust in God, it will bring you home to an eternal kingdom in which we are as the children of God eternally and amply provided for and satisfied.
Paul says in Romans 8, if God didn’t spare His Son from the cross,
do you think that He’s going to spare anything from us at all? He’ll give us all things. Friends, if the Father loved us so much to send His beloved Son to bleed and die on a cross to save us from eternal separation and suffering, let us not have so little faith to think He can’t give us the bread and the water that we need for the day. Let us be a believing people. Have joy.
Have peace. Have security. Have rest for your soul. It’s an option. It’s very much so a command of the Gospel. If you believe, if you’re seeking the kingdom, you will have joy.
Because nobody can change what Jesus has done for you. You will have peace. He has made reconciliation with the Father. You will have security. Your salvation can’t be taken from you. It will carry you on into eternity. And Jesus is rest for our soul and our body. And lastly, if those things are true, we’ll be a beacon of hope to the world. Here’s what matters. In all your work, worry and anxiety, let me tell you about a Father who loved you so much that He sent His Son Jesus to bleed and die. And if you just freely accept that gift, oh how your body and your soul will be satisfied and full. So I say to you this morning, seek the kingdom. And if you seek it, you will find it and you will be full.