We are studying this morning a new section of the Lord Jesus Christ’s first recorded sermon which is known as the Sermon on the Mount. I prefer to title it, the Manifesto of the Kingdom of Heaven. Because the characteristics of a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven is really what Jesus is speaking of in this sermon. He is delineating the difference that being a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a citizen of the world.
And last time, we looked at the principles which Christ taught in regards to living as a citizen of heaven, versus a citizen of this world. Or the difference between living with a spiritual perspective, and therefore working for the Kingdom of Heaven, laying up treasure in the Kingdom of Heaven, versus that of a worldly perspective, thus laying up treasures on earth, and working for self gratification from the world.
And Jesus caps off that teaching by saying, ““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 the world.” That’s the distinction between a citizen of the Kingdom and the citizen of the world, the saved and the unsaved, the Christian and the pagan. You are either serving God or the world, you are either living for one or the other. Jesus says the Christian will live for the Kingdom of God.
The principle that Jesus is teaching is that we cannot be double minded. To say we are citizen’s of heaven, and yet consumed and living for the things of this world is to be, in the words of James, a double minded man. As Christians, we are to be single minded in our new life with Christ. All things have become new, old things are passed away. So in this new life we have the mind of Christ, the nature of Christ, and we do the works of God. So we serve the Kingdom of God with a singleness of purpose.
And the synopsis of the passage we are studying today is that if we are truly living for the Lord, serving the Lord, then we can be certain that the Lord will provide for our needs. That’s the basis for the statement found in vs 33, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” In other words, there is no need to be consumed with laying up treasures on earth, to be consumed with worldly things, because if we are laying up treasure in heaven, then the Lord will take care of our earthly needs. So if we are living for and serving the kingdom of God, then God will provide for our needs here on earth.
Now that is the principle which the passage before us is based on today. Verse 25 starts with “Therefore…” We have to tie what has been said in vs 24 about either serving God or mammon, to todays passage, which says, “Therefore,” or, "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?”
But I want to make sure that above all else, you understand the context is speaking of those who are serving the Kingdom of Heaven. If you claim to be a Christian, but you are living for the world, and yet you want to claim that God will miraculously provide what you want, when you want it, I say that it’s a misapplication of this passage to claim these promises. That’s the error of the prosperity doctrine that is so prevalent in the church today. And furthermore, if you’re unsaved, it’s not a promise that applies to you. The only way to understand this passage is in the context of someone who is living for the Lord, serving the Kingdom of Heaven, and busy laying up treasure in heaven. Then the following promises are for you.
That doesn’t mean though that you have to be a pastor, or a missionary, or someone who is in “full time Christian service.” We are all supposed to be in full time Christian service in some capacity or another. You may be a carpenter, or a house wife, your means of making a living is not the issue. It’s the way you live your life that is the issue. Are you serving the Lord with your life, or serving yourself and the world? So these promises are for those who are serving the Lord.
And so the Lord 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?” Now that obviously ties into what we talked about last week. It’s the principle that we are spiritual, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and we have a new life in Christ. And so quite clearly Jesus is saying that life is more than this body of flesh. It’s more than just the feeding and clothing of the body. Life from God is spiritual life, it’s eternal, immortal life, it’s the abundant life. Food and clothing are only able to support the body, and are necessary only as long as we are in this body, but Jesus says the life we have in Him is so much more than just the body.
There was a day when the disciples were urging Jesus to eat. He had just spent time with the woman at Samaria, teaching her the truth about the gospel. And Jesus responded to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples were saying to one another, "No one brought Him [anything] to eat, did he?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.” I would suggest this spiritual food is what Jesus is speaking of here, as of greater importance than that simply of the physical.
Now I want you to notice that in this passage, Jesus says three times, “do not worry.” He says it in vs 25, vs 31, and vs34. Our Lord knows that repetition is the key to learning. And the worries and concerns of this life are sometimes overwhelming and keep us from accomplishing what should be of primary importance. It’s natural to worry. As a parent, I think it’s especially natural to worry. But some would say that to worry is a sin. And I suppose that in a certain context it can be. But I will say that there is a difference between being concerned and worry. We should be concerned about certain things. But it’s a sin if our worrying causes us to be distracted from serving the Lord to serving ourselves. It’s a sin because Paul says in Romans 14:23 that whatever is not of faith is sin. And Jesus identifies this worrying about our physical lives is a matter of a lack of faith. In vs. 30 He says, “O you of little faith.” So worrying as it is described here is a matter of a lack of faith, which Paul says is sin.
Over the years I have done quite a bit of research into the subject of anxiety and depression. I have given a sermon a couple of times based on Phil. 4:6 and following which starts with, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” If you are interested in that teaching, you can probably look it up on the church website under “Dealing with anxiety and depression.” And I can tell you, that a lot of mental problems, a lot of psychological problems, even severe depression, can be tied to anxiety. To worry.
But I think the type of worrying that Jesus is really getting at here can be likened to the situation in Luke 10:40 where Jesus visited Mary, Martha and Lazarus. And Mary was sitting at Jesus feet, and Martha was in the kitchen getting dinner ready. And she came and told Jesus to tell Mary to help her. And Jesus responded, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Things that we consider necessary, so important, things concerning the desires of the flesh, the body, the world, Jesus said are often distractions from what is really important.
And if you are trying to serve the Lord, and lay up treasure in heaven, and do the work of the Kingdom here on earth, it is a real temptation to look at your neighbors or friends or even others in the church and see how they are saving for their future, how they are accumulating the world’s goods, how financially sound they seem to be, and feel a certain anxiety about your future. I confess since I have turned 60 years old, I find myself thinking more about my old age. I don’t have any retirement benefits. I don’t own a home. I don’t have any savings to speak of. And I cannot help but wonder sometimes what is it going to be like if I reach the age of 70, or 75? If I cannot physically do the things in ministry that I do now? And so I am tempted to take matters into my own hands and that can be a real distraction for me. And I think that type of things is a common concern for a lot of us, whether we are in full time ministry or not.
So Jesus gives us three reasons for not being anxious about our life. Number one, being anxious is unnecessary because of who your Father is. Number two, it’s uncharacteristic because of your faith. And number three, it’s unwise because of your future.
First He says it is unnecessary to worry about material things, even the necessities of life because of your Father. Have you forgotten who your Father is? And the Lord gives three illustrations: One from food, one from the future, and one from fashion. And these things are related to God as our Father.
Jesus says in vs 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?” Jesus said in Matthew 10:29 that a sparrow doesn’t fall to the ground without God knowing it. God is the Creator and sustainer of all life, but He is our Father. If God so provides for the birds of the air, then certainly we can expect much more because of our relationship with Him as our Father. One of my dad’s favorite songs was “His Eye is on the Sparrow.” If I know that He watches over sparrows, then I know that He cares for me. So we don’t need to worry because God is our Father.
Then He gives a second illustration, which speaks the fact we don’t need to worry about the future, verse 27. “Which of you by worrying can add one hour to his life?” Now there is a bit of confusion about this verse. In the KJV, it says who can add a cubit to his stature? And literally, that is what the original language says. But the word for stature sometimes also means a span of life. And if you think about it, who would want to add a cubit to their stature? A cubit was 18”, the length from your elbow to the tip of your finger. So most translators think the better translation is to say add an hour to your span of life.
The point being, who can by worrying about it, add an hour or any measure of time to his lifespan? In fact, it’s likely that excessive worrying will shorten your life span. So the point is that worrying can’t accomplish anything in regards to our future.
The third point we might say has to do with fashion. Jesus speaks to the issue of raiment, of clothing. Look what He says in verse 28, "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.”
Jesus says, Look, “even Solomon - ” and Solomon was the greatest and the richest and the wisest man in all the world, “ - in all his glory was not arrayed like a flower.” The finest things made by man cannot attain the beauty that God dresses a simple flower with. What He is saying is even if you have the wealth and wisdom of Solomon, you still cannot attain the beauty that God bestows.
And then He makes the point from the lesser to the greater in verse 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!” This idea of the flowers and grass of the field being burned in a furnace, is something that should be explained. In the process of making bread, the women of that day used these clay ovens and they gathered the grass of the fields and bundled it together and let it dry, and then they would use it to rapidly heat the oven, and then once the oven was hot, they would insert the bread to bake. So Jesus is simply referencing the transient, temporary nature of the body, and making the connection that since God adorns the temporary flowers in such a way, how much more will he clothe us?
Jesus concludes that we are going to worry about such things anyway, and so He says, "O you of little faith!”
Now that phrase, “you of little faith,” is used four other times in the gospels and it’s fascinating to note the way it’s used. It is used, in a similar sermon, in Luke 12:28 when people worry about clothing. It is used in Matthew 8:26 when the disciples worried about drowning. They worried about the length of their life. They said to Him, “How can You sleep when the storm is going to drown us?” In Matthew 14, again, it was Peter worrying about drowning, fear of losing his life. And then it is used in Matthew 16:8 when they were worried about their food.
Every time that phrase is used, “you of little faith,” it is used about somebody who worried about food, clothes, or their life span, the very same three things Jesus speaks of in this first point. So it’s fitting that this phrase should sum up that point. And every time it was the disciples.
Each time that phrase was used, He was speaking to the disciples. Men who should have known better. It wouldn’t be surprising to say that of people in the world, but to those who have had saving faith, O, you of little faith. You believe that God can redeem you, that God can save you from sin, break the shackles of Satan, take you from hell to heaven, put you into His kingdom, give you eternal life, but you just don’t think He can provide for your needs. You have to take care of this yourself because God isn’t capable of doing it.
You know, worrying means that you are controlled by your circumstances and not the truth of God. Worry means you don’t understand your position as a child of God. Worry can distract you from doing what you are meant to do. Worry is a killing, debilitating, self indulgent, possessive anxiety, that says, “God can’t care for me and I’ve got to do this thing myself.” That’s sin. That makes God a liar. It ignores His love as your Father. It ignores His power as the Creator God. And it puts your agenda at a priority over serving the Lord.
Paul says in Ephesians 1:18, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” We need to have our spiritual eyes opened, so that we might be confident of the power of God, and the love of God towards us. And when that happens, we can focus our attention on serving the kingdom of God, and not be victims of the double vision we spoke of earlier.
The second reason that we shouldn’t worry is because it is uncharacteristic of our faith. It is unnecessary because of who our Father is. And worry is uncharacteristic because of our faith. Verse 31, He comes right back to the principle again. Here’s the second statement of this command to stop being anxious, or in this case, don’t start being anxious.
Vs 31 "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.” Notice He says “What shall we eat? What shall we drink? With what shall we be clothed?” Same three things He dealt with before. Listen, here’s another statement of the same principle as in verse 25. Don’t worry about the necessities of life. Why? Verse 32, “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things.” He’s saying it is uncharacteristic of our faith to act like unsaved people. That is for the citizens of the world, not for the citizens of heaven.
The world’s perspective is that this life is all there is and so you better grab all the gusto you can get. He who dies with the most toys wins. Eat, drink, be merry for tomorrow we die. Jesus is saying, Christians don’t live like that. We have an eternal perspective. Our faith, the Christian faith, says our life is comprised of more than just supplying for the needs of the body. But God will supply all my needs, and God can be trusted. Paul says, “Be anxious for nothing. But everything by prayer and supplication, let your request be made known unto God.”
And then He goes back to reason number one at the end of verse 32, “For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.” He has already established that the Father loves and cares for us, that’s the first section, and now He says that our Father knows what I need. If God knows what I need, and if God knows my life, and God knows my needs, then all I need to know is that He cares. And if I trust that He knows and cares, then I can serve Him without anxiety for the affairs of this life. That’s the essence of what Jesus is saying.
Now let’s go to the third reason, and we’ll skip to verse 34. The third reason not to worry it is unwise because of your future. It is unwise because of your future. This is an important point. And again Jesus uses the same phrase to introduce this third point, verse 34. "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Now, what the Lord is saying is don’t worry about the future. The future going to have its own trouble. Just wait till you get to it. It’s unwise to worry because of your future. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Do what is required of you today. Walk by faith today. If you are worrying about tomorrow, then you are doubling up on the stress of your life. Deal with tomorrows stress tomorrow. Don’t add it to today. Today, walk by faith. Don’t fret about your circumstances. Remember that the Lord fed the children of Israel manna everyday, and only enough for that day. They weren’t supposed to worry about the future, because God had promised to take care of them.
We can trust God for the future, and have peace for today. Isaiah says in Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” That’s where perfect peace comes from. And by the way, that’s the opposite of worry.
So we are to keep our mind fixed on Jesus and the things of God. And that is the key to peace. Jesus states that principle in vs 33."But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” In other words, you get your mind on the spiritual level and God will take care of the physical.
This is such a great verse, let’s just break it down and look at it carefully for a moment. “But,” that is in contrast to the view of the world, “seek first,” as of our first priority in life, the number one thing, “the kingdom of God,” the rule of God, the reign of God, the dominion of God.” Live as a child of God, a citizen of heaven, serving the Lord.
And then He says we seek not only the kingdom, but His righteousness. Righteousness refers to holiness. The life of righteousness. What He’s talking about here is practical righteousness. He is saying that the life you pursue, pursue godliness; be concerned about holiness. Some of us spend all our time chasing after money, cars, houses, clothes, position, power. All the things of this world which will never satisfy. But instead Jesus tells us to seek as of first importance the kingdom of God and His righteousness and then all the things needed of this world will be added unto you. God will take care of those who seek His kingdom and seek His righteousness.
Put God, His glory and the glory of His kingdom, and your relationship to Him as your Heavenly Father, and your holiness in the primary position in your life, and all those other things that are necessary for your life shall be added unto you. That is His promise, and when we rest on that promise, we can live without anxiety and worry about the concerns of this world. I hope that you will carefully consider the priorities of your life, and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and trust Him to supply your needs.
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