Worried?
- Scriptures: Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6-8; I Peter 5:7
- “Bright Expectations.”
Transcript
Kerry Duke: Hi, I’m Kerry Duke, host of My God and My Neighbor podcast from Tennessee Bible College, where we see the Bible as not just another book, but the Book. Join us in a study of the inspired Word to strengthen your faith and to share what you’ve learned with others.
Are you worried about something today? Worry is one of the biggest challenges, it’s one of the hardest problems that we as Christians face. And Jesus talks about this problem of worry in Matthew chapter 6 verses 25 through 34. This is one of the longest sections in the Bible on this subject. Remember what Jesus has just talked about before you start reading verse 25, though.
In verses 19 through 24, Jesus has taught us how to have the right attitude about money. He says don’t lay up treasures on earth, but lay up treasures in heaven. That’s verse 19 and 20. And then, in verse 24, he said you can’t serve God and money at the same time. The first word in verse 25 in this section about worry is the word “therefore.” “Therefore” tells us to look before this and remember what he’s just talked about. So Jesus is saying in light of what I’ve just said to you about having the right kind of attitude toward money, I want to talk to you now about worry.
So I’m going to read verses 25 through 34 to get started today. And I’ll be reading from the New King James Version. You’ll find in the King James Version that the wording is different. There, Jesus says, “Take no thought” for your life or for your body and so forth. And the expression “take no thought” is a little bit unfamiliar for us today. It’s a little bit harder for us to relate to because we think to ourselves when we hear those words, “Well, I HAVE to think about it.” And in that sense, you’d be right.
But when the King James version uses those words “take no thought,” it means not to be preoccupied with this, which would be to worry. The American Standard Version says, “Do not be anxious” for your life and these things for your physical life, which is probably a more understandable translation. But I’m going to go with the New King James version because the word worry is the word that we most oftentimes relate to.
So let’s read Matthew chapter six, verse 25 through 34. “Therefore, I say to you, do not worry 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 in the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or, what shall we wear? For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
So as we start here in verse 25, Jesus tells us not to worry about the things of this life. And He’s talking about the needs of this life. Don’t worry about what you’re going to eat or drink. Don’t worry about your clothes. And this reminds us of what Paul said in first Timothy six, verse seven and eight. He said we brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out, and having food and clothing, let us be with these things content. Let’s be content with what we have.
Let’s be content with the fact that we have a roof over our heads, that we have food on the table to eat today, and that we have enough clothing to wear. These people that Jesus was talking about were worried about things that they needed but didn’t necessarily have. It’s a shame sometimes today that we worry about things we have but we don’t even need.
And it’s interesting that Jesus points us to the creation to teach us about worrying. The first lesson that He gives us is really an object lesson. He says, in order to keep from worrying, you need to look at the simple things of nature itself. And the first illustration that he uses is in verse 26.
He says, look at the birds of the air. The King James says to consider them. You need to think about this. You need to watch them, and you need to give that some thought. You know, one of the problems that we have in our modern society is that people are so busy looking at screens, they’re so busy with their life looking at their house or their place of work that they don’t really think about nature. They don’t really learn from the fact that God made all of this and He sustains all this. So whether you’re talking about the sun, the moon, the stars, or the animals, or the seasons of the year, or our bodies themselves, God made and He sustains all these things. So Jesus is saying in verse 26, you need to look at something as simple as the birds of the air because they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they don’t gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. God takes care of those birds.
Now, later in Matthew chapter 10, when Jesus is sending out the disciples on what we call the limited commission, listen to what he says. After He told them not to fear those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul, he says in Matthew chapter 10 verse 29, “Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore. You are of more value than many sparrows.” Jesus says something similar to that here. He says, Yet your heavenly Father feeds them—Matthew chapter 6, verse 26. Are you not of more value than they?
We’re living in a time where people almost look at animals as being on the same level of importance and value as human beings. As a matter of fact, some do. Some see no difference between animals and humans. Some people place more of a priority on animal life, especially dogs, than they do human life. The Bible says we are above those things. We are above the rest of the creation. The Bible teaches that in Genesis chapter 1 verse 28, where the Bible says that we have dominion over all the earth, including the animals, all of God’s creation in that sense. Psalm 8 and many other passages teach that. And in Matthew, chapter 12, verse 12, Jesus said, you are much better than the sheep.
So the point here is in Matthew, chapter 6, verse 26, that if God feeds the birds, He will certainly feed you. He will certainly provide for you. There’s an Old Testament passage that’s very interesting here found in Psalm 37, verse 24 and 25. David said, “I have been young and now I am old. Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread.” So we ought to learn from nature and we ought to learn from Scripture that God will take care of us. The second example that He gives from nature is in verses 28 through 30. Here Jesus said, “So why do you worry about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.”
The word “spin” there is an interesting word. The Jews in the Old Testament and in the New Testament used what was once used here in this country, a spindle. They weaved the fabric. Now that could have been wool, or linen, or silk, or goat’s hair. Proverbs chapter 31 verse 19 talks about the virtuous woman taking hold of the spindle.
And the comparison here is between the clothes that Solomon wore and the lilies of the field. We need to remember that Solomon in the Old Testament was the richest man in history. And yet, with all of his highly expensive custom-made clothes, with all of his gold, he was never decked out like even one of these flowers of the field.
Jesus said you need to think about that. If you’re worried about having enough money to buy your clothes, if you’re worried about being able to buy clothes for your children, you need to consider that. If God takes care of the small parts of His creation, then He’s certainly going to take care of you.
That’s what He goes on to say in verse 30. “If God so clothes,”—in other words, if he clothes the grass of the field in this elaborate way, which “today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven”—“shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” The oven that’s talked about here is different from the kind of oven that we run off of electricity today. These ovens were usually outside. They were oftentimes made of clay and stones. And those Jews had to heat that oven up. How did they do that? Well, they would have to build a fire in there, which would require wood and also some dead grass as kindling to get that started. So they would heat that oven up, and then when it was hot enough, they’d put their dough in there to make bread and so forth.
So this is what Jesus means about the grass of the field. Today it is, tomorrow it’s thrown into the oven. It doesn’t last very long. And yet look at all the care that God gives to that very temporary part of His creation. It’s small, it’s temporary, but look at the care that God has for that. And Jesus says, if God takes care of the grass of the field to that extent, if He puts that much time and gives that much attention to this small part of His creation, will He not much more clothe you?
That’s Matthew chapter six, verse 30. So if you look at the creation and you really think about what God is doing every day with the small parts of His creation, it will, it should, build your faith.
When you go back to the book of Job, you’ll find that Job and his three friends and the later friend called Elihu were all talking about God’s creation. Now, they reached different conclusions about it. They had different opinions about how it applied, but they were all talking about how that God is over the creation. And then in the last part of the book of Job, God addresses this matter of his creation and how that He is the one who is the designer. He’s the sustainer. He is the creator of all these things that we see. What is the book of Job about? Job is trying to figure out why all these bad things have happened to him. God doesn’t give him some kind of a long explanation. He tells Job to look at that creation again, to look at it in a more deep way, and to think it through, and if he thinks about it long enough and hard enough, then he’ll be able to have the faith that he ought to have to get through any kind of problem, including all the trials that he was facing.
Psalm 8 is another beautiful passage about reflecting on the creation. David said, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that you would visit him?” In other words, in all this vast, immense creation, how can you even think about us, God?
But he does. Then in Psalm 19, verse 1, David said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork.” In the book of Acts, chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas are in the city of Lystra. And they’re talking to people who had served idols and believed in all kinds of gods. But Paul told these people that there was no reason for them being idolaters. Why? Because in Acts 14 verse 17 he said that He, that is, God, “did not leave Himself without witness.” God did not leave himself without testimony “in that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” So in the same way, Jesus is telling us that if we will just look at nature and listen to it, we will learn.
Notice also in Matthew 6, verse 30, that He uses these words, “O you of little faith.” When we worry, we’re showing that we have little faith. We don’t have enough faith. There is a shortage of faith when we worry. We don’t like to admit that. We may say, “Well, I believe in God. I believe that He provides.” But we have to mean it.
And sometimes you have to do some soul searching. Sometimes you really have to look at yourself and be honest about what you’re doing because when you worry about things over and over again, you’re doubting His promises. You’re doubting what He has said He will do. That’s why He says you’re being of little faith when you worry.
Now, that doesn’t mean that you’re automatically lost as a Christian just because you’ve gone a little too far in this direction. As a matter of fact, you find that even the disciples of Jesus sometimes doubted and sometimes had little faith when they should have had more faith. Do you remember the story in Matthew chapter 14 of Jesus walking on the water? Peter came out and walked on the water for a while until he saw the wind, and he began to sink because he was afraid. Then the Lord stretched out His hand and caught him, and this is what Jesus said to him in Matthew chapter 14 verse 31: “O you of little faith! Why did you doubt?” So even the disciples who traveled with Jesus, who heard him teach, who asked him questions many times, and who saw his miracles, and performed miracles themselves by the power of the Holy Spirit, sometimes did not have as much faith as they needed to have.
So one of the things that we as preachers have to be careful about is being so hard on people who worry is that we sometimes cause people to worry about worrying. You see, in Matthew chapter 6 verse 30, Jesus did not say, “Will he not much more clothe you, O you who have no faith?” He said, “Will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
At least they had some faith. And He’s saying that you need to have more. You need to trust in Me more. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean upon your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths.”
I want to go back to verse 27 because here’s a statement that Jesus made in the middle of these two examples that we’ve looked at. In verse 27 He said, “Which of you by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature?” Can you make yourself taller just by worrying? Somebody might say, “Well, that would be ridiculous. Who in the world would think that he can do that just by worrying about it?” Well, that really is the point. This really is silly, and yet we tend to do it anyway.
It’s strange how we imagine things in our minds and we worry about things that are not even going to happen, that are not even possible. Jesus is saying what can you accomplish with worrying? Does it put food on the table? Does it put shoes on a child’s feet? Does it pay the bills? Does it cure a disease? Does worry turn a wayward child back to you and back to God? Does worry resolve a conflict? Does worry cause you to avoid all danger or change the way that people think? Or can you feed the hungry or deliver the oppressed or save the country just by worrying about it?
Now I do want to point out here that even though we’re not to worry about things in life, it is natural and it is good to be alarmed and concerned or even afraid at times. You see, just because you’re concerned about something doesn’t necessarily mean you’re worrying about it. Just because you’re afraid of something doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily worried about it. Paul was fearful at times. The Bible says that in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 3, he said, “I was with you in fear and in much trembling.”
Jesus even dreaded the death that he was going to undergo. That’s why he prayed in Matthew 26, verse 39, “Father, if it’s possible, let this cup pass from me.” So we wouldn’t say that the Apostle Paul didn’t have enough faith just because he felt the normal, natural feeling of fear sometimes. And we certainly would not say that Jesus Christ himself didn’t have enough faith because he dreaded, he had that human feeling of fear about, the death that He was going to die.
But what we do find in the Bible is that we can’t accomplish anything when we, as a habit, as a preoccupation in our life, think over and over and over about some kind of need that we have or some kind of fear that we have to the point that we neglect what we ought to be doing when we are preoccupied with that thing that we’re concerned about.
That’s what he means when He talks about these cares of the world overriding what we’re supposed to be doing. So Jesus said you can’t do any real good with that. Now it could be that because of being alarmed about something that you pray and that is good. That’s not worrying. That’s taking a fear and putting it into something that’s good.
So in Philippians chapter four, beginning in verse six, that’s exactly what Paul is talking about. He says, “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 understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.”
That’s one of the greatest statements about human psychology and human emotions that you will ever find. Look at it again. Philippians 4, verse 6. Don’t worry about anything, Paul says, but in everything, that is, in every situation, no matter how hard it is, no matter how much your heart is breaking, no matter how impossible it is to seem to get through it, Paul says, you keep praying, you make supplication, that is, you ask God, and you also give thanks. You thank Him, it says, to do this with thanksgiving and let your requests be made known to God.
Somebody says, “Well, how in the world can I thank God for something when my heart’s breaking?” Because you can do that. You can look around you and see that others have problems bigger than yours, and you can be thankful for the fact that you don’t have their problems. You can at least be thankful that your problems are not worse than they are. You can at least be thankful that you can go to God. You may not be able to go to anybody else that understands, but you can go to God and you can pray to Him.
There are so many things that you can find to be thankful for if you will look, if you will just pay attention, and if you will try, you can do that. In 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 7, here’s what the Bible says about these cares of the world. 1 Peter 5 verse 7. We are to “cast all your care upon him, for he cares for you.”
What do we do with those worries? Cast them upon God. Why? Because He’s caring for you. So instead of putting all that time and energy into worrying, the Bible says put it into praying, because that’s productive. You’re really doing something then. And Jesus gives us another great reason why we shouldn’t worry in verses 31 and 32, and that is the fact that God already knows what we need.
So, while we’re worrying about things that we think we need or we do need, God already knows that. So do we realize that? Do we admit that? When we worry, are we saying, “God, do you even see me? Do you even know what’s taking place? Are you concerned about me? Do you know what I’m going through here?” Sometimes maybe that’s in our mind, or at least it’s in the back of our mind.
But the Bible says in verse 31 and 32 that God already knows what you need. Now remember, back in Matthew chapter 6, verse 8, that Jesus said, “Your father knows the things that you have need of before you ask Him.” Now He’s saying in Matthew chapter 6, verse 31, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” God knows what you need. He also knows what you want. And He sees the difference. Now, we should see the difference between our needs and our wants, but sometimes we don’t like to admit it. But if God knows what you need, then what you need to do is do your work, do your part, and He’ll take care of the rest.
That’s exactly what he’s saying in verse 33. You seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. What things? The things He’s just talked about the things He’s just told us not to worry about—food and clothing. God says I will provide those things but what you need to focus on are the spiritual things That’s why He said seek that is you’re to strive for. You’re to plan, you’re to work for, you’re to be interested in and excited about spiritual things. You are to seek and you are to seek first the kingdom of God. That’s the church. So you ought to put first going to church, being a member of the church, obviously, but helping the church, being interested in it, praying for it, participating in the congregation, encouraging its works, teaching people to be in it, loving the members of it. “Seek first the kingdom of God,” which is the church, and seek first His righteousness.
Now, he talked about that in Matthew chapter 5, verse 19 through 48. The most important thing, He says, is doing right and being saved. His righteousness means to do right, to do righteousness and justice in God’s sight. These things ought to be, as Jesus said, first in our lives and especially in our hearts.
They ought to come before anything else. They are more important than anything else. God’s part is to give you the necessities of life, and God will do His part. The question is: will you and I do our part to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness? Nothing else is more important. Jesus said in Matthew 16, 26, “What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his own soul?”
Then Jesus said 34. “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Jesus said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow.” Back in the Old Testament in Proverbs 27 verse 1, the Bible says, “Do not boast yourself about tomorrow because you do not know what a day may bring forth.” You don’t even know that you’re going to be alive tomorrow. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. The Bible warns about this in James 4, verse 13. “Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell and make a profit. Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.”
That’s James 4, verse 14. “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” So our Lord said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Yes, the Bible does teach to live one day at a time. He says you’ve got enough today. You have enough responsibilities today. You have enough trouble today. You have enough opportunities today. You have enough trials and temptations today to take care of. Don’t borrow and get over into tomorrow before it gets here.
I’ve got a few things that I want to read to you that I’ve collected over the years, and this first one is called “Today.” It’s from the Gospel Advocate, December the 3, 1931. 1931 was in the middle of the Great Depression, and December the 3rd is just a few weeks before Christmas. This is a very interesting article by Frank Crane, December the 3rd, 1931.
It’s entitled, “Today”:
“The best thing you have in the world is today. Today is your savior. It is often crucified between two thieves, yesterday and tomorrow. Today you can be happy, not yesterday nor tomorrow. There is no happiness except today. Most of our misery is left over from yesterday or borrowed from tomorrow.
Keep today clean. Make up your mind to enjoy your food, your work, your play, today, anyhow. You can do anything if you will only go at it a day at a time. If you’re bereaved, betrayed, heartbroken, why not take a day off? One day will not matter. Today, put away your pestering thoughts. Today, take some simple joys.
Today, be a little happy in the sunshine. You can do it. It’s the burden of the coming days and weeks and years that is crushing us. The present is always tolerable. Whoever planned this life of ours did well in giving it to us one day at a time. We do not have to live it all at once. Thanks, be. We have only got to get through till bedtime.
Every morning, we are born again. Why let life oppress you? You don’t have to live your life, only one day of it. Come, let us finish our small task manfully. It is not long. Do not let life mass against you. Attack it in detail, and you can easily triumph. The past is what we make of it. It is the temper of the present that qualifies it.
It depends on how you now consider it, whether it brings you despair or discouragement. Do not let the past unman you, benumb you with remorse, weaken you with self-contempt. The poet says we rise by stepping on our dead selves. And as for the future, the best preparation for it is an unafraid today. If you are to die tomorrow, the best way is to be ready to discharge faithfully today’s duties and to enjoy heartily today’s simple pleasures. Today is yours. God has given it to you. All your yesterdays He has taken back. All your tomorrows are still in His hands. Today is yours. Take its pleasures and be glad. Take its pains and play the man.
Today is yours. Just a little strip of light between two darknesses. Today is yours. Use it so that at its close you can say, I have lived and loved today.”
Again, that’s Frank Crane, Gospel Advocate, December the 3rd, 1931.
Another piece that I’ve kept over the years and used many times is called, “Not the Work, but the Worry.” And here’s how it goes. “It’s not the work but the worry that makes the world grow old, that shortens the years of many before half their life is told. It’s not the work but the worry that places on life a ban. The cares and fears that crowd the years, these break the heart of man.”
Here’s another short one, and very simple, but it makes a point. “Worry is like an old man with bended head, carrying a load of feathers, which he thinks are lead.” Another one says, “Worry is a Killer.” Henry Ward Beecher declared, “It is not work that kills men. It is worry. Work is healthy. You can hardly put upon a man more than he can bear. Worry is rust upon the blade. It’s not the revolution that destroys the machinery, but the friction. Fear secretes acids, but love and trust are sweet juices.”
Another one is entitled, “You Mustn’t Quit.” “When things go wrong as they sometimes will, When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill, When the funds are low and the debts are high, and you want to smile, but you have to sigh. When care is pressing you down a bit, Rest if you must, but never quit. Life is queer with its twists and turns, as every one of us sometimes learns. And many a failure turns about, when he might have won, if he’d stuck it out. Stick to your task, though the pace seems slow, you may succeed with one more blow. Success is failure turned inside out, the silver tint of the clouds of doubt, and you can never tell how close you are, it may be near when it seems afar. So stick to the fight when your hardest hit. It’s when things seem worst that you mustn’t quit.”
And I want to end today with a reading from Hebrews chapter 13. I’m going to look at verses five and six. “Let your conduct be without covetousness. Be content with such things as you have. For he himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you: so we may boldly say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what can man do to me.”
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