WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:06.339 Well, good morning. It's good to see you all this morning. I'm going to begin by asking for the 00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:10.400 Lord's help as we look in His Word this morning. So, please pray with me. 00:00:14.720 --> 00:00:26.480 Lord, how sweet it is to trust in Jesus. How sweet it is to know, Lord, that in Jesus we have 00:00:26.480 --> 00:00:32.039 ultimately all that we need, the forgiveness of sins, the promise of eternal life, 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:40.200 a renewed relationship with You both now and forever, and Lord, the redemption of our lives 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:49.799 from sin and darkness, from brokenness and death. Oh, Lord, we pray this morning that Your Holy Spirit 00:00:49.799 --> 00:00:56.260 would help us as we look at this passage. Lord, we pray that our hearts would submit 00:00:56.259 --> 00:01:06.780 to Your Word, Lord, that the truth of Your Word would capture our thoughts and move, Lord, us to 00:01:06.780 --> 00:01:15.640 obedience and to joyful devotion to You. Lord, I ask for Your help this morning. Help me to speak as I 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:22.459 ought, speak the words that You desire me to say, and may the truth of Your Word be clear as I speak 00:01:22.459 --> 00:01:29.379 this morning. Oh, Lord, be my strength, I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. 00:01:36.819 --> 00:01:46.280 In May 1st of 2024, the American Psychiatric Association released a report. Among its findings, 00:01:46.280 --> 00:01:57.099 it said that the United States adults are feeling increasingly anxious. In 2024, 43% of adults say 00:01:57.099 --> 00:02:09.240 they feel more anxious than they did in the previous year, up from 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022. Later, 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:18.980 last year, on November 7th, 2024, the U.S. News & World Report released a report that said that more than a 00:02:18.980 --> 00:02:30.460 quarter, that is 26.6% of people ages 18 through 29 said they had struggled with anxiety symptoms over the 00:02:30.460 --> 00:02:43.300 prior two weeks. Anxiety is a reality in our world. When we look around, the way we talk about it and 00:02:43.300 --> 00:02:49.300 the way we think about it, it's complex, right? Because anxiety is both an inner reality of our 00:02:49.300 --> 00:02:56.379 soul and our heart and how we are feeling, but it is also a reaction to things that are external, 00:02:56.379 --> 00:03:04.400 to stressors and challenges, to future desires and fears. It's a mental state, it's an emotional state, 00:03:04.479 --> 00:03:14.859 but it also expresses itself physically as well. Anxiety is in the air of our culture. I don't know if 00:03:14.859 --> 00:03:25.560 it's more now than before, but we certainly talk about it a lot. And I would wager that all of us know 00:03:25.560 --> 00:03:33.840 something of what anxiety feels like. I found this on a Christian counseling website. It uses the word 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:42.340 worry rather than anxiety, but I think it's addressing the same thing. See if this describes 00:03:42.340 --> 00:03:50.039 you at all. Worry can feel out of control. These thoughts do not come and go. They seem to stay and 00:03:50.039 --> 00:03:55.539 run in circles through your mind. It's not as simple as a light switch where we can turn off our 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:03.879 anxiety. Sometimes it can feel like it has a mind of its own. Worrying brings with it stress and a lot 00:04:03.879 --> 00:04:12.699 of unwanted tension into your mind and body. Worry seems to come a lot easier during a time when it feels 00:04:12.699 --> 00:04:22.240 like you cannot escape the negative information being thrown at you. Anyone identify with that besides me? 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:31.040 There are lots of opportunities for anxiety in our world. We live with much uncertainty and insecurity, 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:36.879 whether it relates to our relationships, our finances, our careers, our health, our families. 00:04:38.379 --> 00:04:44.439 Not only are those normal things, we also live in a world where we have increasingly more and more 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:50.800 information about the things that we get to be anxious about. And isn't that a wonderful blessing of being 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:59.120 in an internet-connected worldwide world where we know far more about things that we can be anxious about? 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:11.040 So, what does Jesus have to say to us this morning? We're continuing in our sermon, in our sermon series in Matthew, 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:19.040 chapters 5 through 7, normally called the Sermon on the Mount. And we're looking at Matthew 6, 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:29.520 verses 25 through 34. If you want to turn there in the Pew Bible, I believe it's 762. We're still on 761. Okay, 761. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:35.920 So, if you want to turn with me there. And as you're turning there, just remember what the Sermon on the 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:42.000 Mount is about. This is the first teaching section in Matthew, and Jesus is saying…has come proclaiming 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:48.560 the kingdom of God is at hand. And then He gives this sermon to say, this is what it looks like when 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:55.680 God's kingdom is active, when God's kingdom is operative in the world. These are the kinds of 00:05:55.680 --> 00:06:02.240 things that it looks like. And it's particularly saying, this is how God's people are, how they are 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:09.439 to live distinctly because they know God and live in His kingdom in increasing measures. Last week, 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:15.680 Pastor Nick preached in the passage before, challenging us to think in kingdom ways and to 00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:21.519 live with kingdom perspectives on money and how we deal with that. And today, we're going to deal 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:26.879 with anxiety. So, I'm going to read the passage, and then we'll dive in and see what Jesus has to say 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:33.199 for us today. So, Matthew chapter 6, verse 25, let's look at it together. 00:06:33.199 --> 00:06:41.439 Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, what you will drink, 00:06:42.159 --> 00:06:49.199 nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:57.599 Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into the barns, yet your heavenly Father 00:06:57.600 --> 00:07:05.280 feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single 00:07:05.280 --> 00:07:13.760 hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, 00:07:13.760 --> 00:07:22.000 how they grow. They neither toil nor spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 00:07:22.000 --> 00:07:30.879 like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:41.199 thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, do not be 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:47.120 anxious, saying, what should we eat, or what should we drink, or what should we wear? For the Gentiles seek 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:53.680 after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom 00:07:53.680 --> 00:08:02.240 of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:09.439 about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." 00:08:09.439 --> 00:08:21.439 So, what does Jesus have to say to us about anxiety? He says, don't be anxious. Well, there we go. Have 00:08:21.439 --> 00:08:29.360 a great day. That's… my sermon is done. No, this is what… right? Jesus says, do not be anxious. But then 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:34.960 He goes on to explain how is it that we could do this? How could we imagine this? And so, we're going 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:39.279 to look at this in three steps. If you're an outline taker, here are your three points. We're going to look 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:44.879 at the kingdom understanding of anxiety. We're going to look at a kingdom antidote to anxiety, 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:49.839 and we're going to look at a kingdom alternative to anxiety. So, that's where we're going to go. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:59.839 And if we're… hopefully at the end, you will feel a little more encouraged as you face anxiety. So, 00:08:59.839 --> 00:09:08.879 first thing is, a kingdom understanding of anxiety, right? Jesus begins, right? He says in verse 25, 00:09:08.879 --> 00:09:16.000 he repeats it in verse 31. He repeats it again in verse 34. Therefore, do not be anxious, right? Or do 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:23.200 not worry in many… in some translations, right? And what He's saying is… it's remarkable because He's 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:28.720 telling people… remember, He's in the context. He's out in the fields. He's preaching to a crowd that has 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:37.200 followed Him out, and He's saying to them, don't worry about your life, what you will eat, what you 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:45.200 will drink, what you will wear. He's not talking about your desires or your hopes or your plans. He's 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:53.120 talking about the things you actually need to live. And He's saying, don't worry about even the very 00:09:53.120 --> 00:10:02.560 necessities of life. Don't be anxious about them. Now, what does this word anxious mean? Well, the 00:10:02.560 --> 00:10:09.519 exegetical dictionary of the New Testament says that this word refers to that which is existentially 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:20.560 important and which monopolizes the heart's concerns, right? So, in this context, these are things that we 00:10:20.559 --> 00:10:30.159 existentially need, and they're capturing our hearts and controlling our thoughts and our actions. 00:10:33.599 --> 00:10:44.479 It's often a normal response to uncertainties and insecurity, but Jesus says we're not to be anxious. 00:10:44.479 --> 00:10:48.959 Now, it's interesting too, when you look broadly at this word in the New Testament, 00:10:48.960 --> 00:10:54.320 most of the time it is used negatively. So, in Matthew 13, in the parable of the sower, 00:10:54.320 --> 00:11:01.200 right, the weeds that grow up and choke out some of the seed are the cares of the world, 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:08.560 that is the anxieties of the world, can choke out the seed so that it doesn't bear good fruit. 00:11:08.560 --> 00:11:14.320 Or the well-known story in Luke 10 about Mary and Martha where Jesus comes to visit their home, 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:22.640 and Mary comes and sits at Jesus' feet listening to His teaching. Martha is consumed with the cares of 00:11:22.640 --> 00:11:30.879 hospitality in that moment, and Jesus rebukes her and says, Mary has chosen a better thing because you 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:37.840 are all worried about this in a way that is not good. And we see other places in the New Testament where, 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:43.840 particularly we see in Philippians 4-6, the passage that was read earlier, do not be anxious about 00:11:43.840 --> 00:11:50.080 anything but with prayer and supplication, right? So, we see that this is often used and we see it 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:55.600 in a negative way. Now, there are some places where it seems to be used in a more positive sense. So, 00:11:55.600 --> 00:12:02.720 in 1 Corinthians 12, as it's talking about the body of Christ that is the people of God as they relate 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:09.040 to one another like parts of the body, they are to care for one another. That is, they are to have 00:12:09.040 --> 00:12:17.440 care or have anxiety, if we translate the word the same, have anxiety for one another. And in 2 Corinthians 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:23.759 11, when Paul talks about his trials and his sufferings, he includes them, and above all these, 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:30.639 I have my concern for the church, his anxiety for them. And I think that in these last two examples, 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:37.120 this is a positive thing. And this is where we need to recognize that it is right for us to care, 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:43.279 right? Jesus is not saying by saying, do not be anxious that we are to be Stoics and not care about 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:50.000 anything. No, of course not. We're meant to care. We're meant to have responsibility for and to love 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:57.519 one another and to think about how do we bless and do good to others. But we can have care without 00:12:57.519 --> 00:13:04.799 being anxious. One of the distinctions that I might make is that care is productive and anxiety is not. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:14.319 Care produces things. It produces warm feelings. It produces action to actually serve or to solve or to 00:13:14.319 --> 00:13:24.639 provide. It says that we're… often that this care can drive us to deeper spiritual trust in God and 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:35.120 prayer in seeking someone's good, whereas anxiety is almost always negative. Anxiety is when we are living 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:43.519 in fear that we won't get what we think we need. It often comes from an unbelief, and we'll see that, or that 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:53.919 God is involved in these circumstances. Anxiety often drives us to want to try to control situations so that we can 00:13:53.919 --> 00:14:04.079 resolve the uncertainty through our own power and our own strength. And we all know that, as a description 00:14:04.079 --> 00:14:10.240 we heard, anxiety is something that gets rooted in our brains and then it just… we can't get it out, 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:15.120 and it just eats at us, and it circles around, and we try to push it out, and it comes back, and it comes 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:21.919 back, and it comes back again. So, we need to have a clear picture of what anxiety is. And I want to say 00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:31.679 something briefly too about, you know, the rise of anxiety as a medical diagnosis, because it feels 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:37.839 unfair for Jesus to say, don't be anxious, when it feels like He's saying, don't have a broken arm, 00:14:37.839 --> 00:14:44.079 or don't have high blood pressure, right? It just feels like, wait a minute, what are we talking about 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:52.160 here? So, we need to step back really briefly and think about the psychosocial, somatic world that 00:14:52.160 --> 00:15:01.680 we are as human beings, right? What that means is that we are body, mind, heart, soul, and God meant 00:15:01.680 --> 00:15:08.160 us to work together. And we have… and one of the things that modern medicine has done is identify 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:15.919 how anxiety expresses itself and affects us physiologically, right? And there are times when 00:15:15.919 --> 00:15:25.279 we have real anxiety disorders, because there are times when anxiety can be imprinted into our body, 00:15:25.279 --> 00:15:32.000 our neurology, and how we work through things like trauma, or through stress, or through patterned 00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:40.320 behavior where this becomes an unthinking, unconscious reaction. And when we do that, 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:45.360 medicine is a great thing for us to respond to that. It is a good thing for us to think, 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:54.080 how does medicine help control this unhealthy, broken, physical response, right? 00:15:54.800 --> 00:16:02.800 But we also need to recognize that anxiety often is rooted in more deep emotional and mental patterns 00:16:02.800 --> 00:16:10.160 and thoughts. And so, we want to see that God's view of the fallenness of humanity is that we could 00:16:10.160 --> 00:16:16.240 have anxiety across this whole spectrum, and we need to address it across the whole spectrum. And so, 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:23.120 if you're here and you've been on anxiety medication, then I say, may the Lord bless you and may it help you 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:29.759 to create space in your life for you to do hard work of addressing some of those traumas and some 00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:36.240 of those emotional patterns that you probably also have that may be producing some of these effects. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:45.360 And listen, our redemption, some of it will happen now, and some of it happens in eternity, right? And we know 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:51.360 that one day when Jesus remakes us in our resurrected bodies, you know what we're going to be free of 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:56.800 above everything else? Not above everything else. One of the things we'll be free of? Anxiety. It 00:16:56.800 --> 00:17:01.680 won't be there anymore. We won't be anxious. We won't be afraid. We won't try to control. We won't 00:17:01.680 --> 00:17:07.200 try to do any of these things because our minds will be filled with the glory of God and the blessing 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:14.319 of knowing Him and be free from sin and fallenness. And what a glorious thing it is. And God's work now is 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:20.399 wanting us to experience increasing steps towards that, knowing that we'll never be free fully 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:29.439 between now and eternity. So, we just need to recognize that there's a spectrum of anxiety that 00:17:29.439 --> 00:17:34.480 we might understand. We need to see it through biblical lenses that we're integrated beings, 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:41.119 that God's redemptive help may include medication as well as counseling and other kinds of… and 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:48.959 spiritual help. And this ultimately is what Jesus is saying. I want to get at a core reason why 00:17:48.959 --> 00:17:55.519 we experience and give you something to help you with it. And this is what the rest of the passage 00:17:55.519 --> 00:18:02.239 does. So, let's look together at the rest of the passage to help us understand how it is that Jesus can 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:08.559 say, don't be anxious. Here's some spiritual help for us to address anxiety. So, 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:22.799 in 25 through 32, Jesus gives us the kingdom antidote. And fundamentally, it is this. This is point two 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:29.759 for your outline. The kingdom antidote to anxiety is a renewed view of God. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:40.319 As we work through 25 through 32, one of the things that Jesus is asking us rhetorically, and He uses rhetorical 00:18:40.319 --> 00:18:45.680 questions a ton in this, so I'm going to do it this way too, is, will not God care for you in the things 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:55.119 that you are anxious about? That's what Jesus is asking us to consider. So, let's work through these rhetorical 00:18:55.119 --> 00:19:02.879 questions because it's such a powerful thing. Jesus, in His first question, right, at the end of verse 25, 00:19:02.879 --> 00:19:09.919 He says, is not life more than food and body more than clothing? And you know how rhetorical questions 00:19:09.919 --> 00:19:18.399 work, right? Everybody knows the answer. What's the answer to this one? Yes, life is more than food and 00:19:18.399 --> 00:19:24.479 clothing. Now, if you're not sure where your next meal is going to come from, it doesn't necessarily feel 00:19:24.480 --> 00:19:31.360 like that in the moment. But the reality is, as we look at the biblical picture, your life is more than 00:19:31.360 --> 00:19:41.360 that because God made you for more than just survival. He made you for life with Him, right? 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:49.839 Jesus then goes on and gives an illustration about the birds of the air and how they are fed, right? 00:19:50.399 --> 00:19:57.279 They don't build barns. They don't reap. They don't sow and reap. And yet, God feeds them. And then He 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:07.359 asks this question in verse 26, are you not more value than they? Doesn't God care more for you than He 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:14.639 does for the birds? And what's the answer again? Of course He does. You were made in His image in a unique 00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:21.920 way. And as glorious as God's natural kingdom and world is, the pinnacle of it was the creation of 00:20:21.920 --> 00:20:31.520 human beings. And so, of course He's going to care for you because He made you to know Him. If He feeds 00:20:31.520 --> 00:20:40.800 the birds who He does care for, how much more will He care for you? He will provide for you. You are worth 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:48.960 more than Him. Jesus then follows this up with another rhetorical question about the effectiveness 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:57.039 and fruitfulness of anxiety. Which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to the span of His 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:08.639 life? The answer is no one. We all know this, right? Anxiety does not help us. It does not produce 00:21:08.639 --> 00:21:19.200 good things in us, right? But God has the power to do what you do not actually have to provide for you. 00:21:19.200 --> 00:21:28.400 This is the implication as we go along because the fourth question picks up kind of like the second 00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:34.240 one, an illustration about the flowers of the field and how they are dressed, right? It says 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:40.880 they neither toil nor spin. And I always had this funny vision of this because I was thinking of like 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:47.519 daffodils with the flowers spinning in a circle like this because that's what I thought it meant. And then I 00:21:47.519 --> 00:21:54.559 realized, no, He's talking about spinning cloth in order to make clothing so that you have something 00:21:54.559 --> 00:22:01.759 to wear. So that's what it means when it says toil or spin, in case you misread it like I did. So, 00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:09.519 He's saying, right, and He asked the question, will He not much more clothe you? If He clothes the flowers 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:17.359 with glory greater than the glory of Solomon who was the richest man who ever lived, won't He clothe you? 00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:22.720 Will He? And of course, the answer to this rhetorical question is, of course He will. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:31.440 Of course He will take care of you. And listen, this clothing is not merely physical clothing, 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:39.279 but it's also glory. Just like the flowers have a beauty, He will adorn you with a… and that would be a 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:45.680 whole other sermon to just explore being clothed with glory and what that looks like. But what a beautiful 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:52.000 picture it is. And so, Jesus says through all these rhetorical questions, 00:22:54.240 --> 00:23:03.200 won't God take care of you? Of course He will. And so, He ends it with this little condemnation, 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:09.600 if I might say it so. Oh, you of little faith, have you forgotten that there is a God in heaven 00:23:09.599 --> 00:23:14.959 who loves you and who cares for you and who has promised to provide for you. 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:22.240 This is really clear as we keep going in this section, because when you look at verses 31 and 32, 00:23:22.879 --> 00:23:27.439 Jesus repeats the command and then He gives us a contrast. He says, 00:23:27.440 --> 00:23:35.120 the Gentiles run after these things, but your heavenly Father knows what you need. 00:23:35.120 --> 00:23:40.400 Now, I was a historian, not an economist, so I'm not great at this, but I think that Jesus is pointing 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:45.440 out there are two different economies in our thoughts and our hearts that's at work here, 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:52.000 and Jesus is saying one of them is not good and one of them is good. The Gentile economy, and a Gentile 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:56.960 merely means someone who doesn't know God, someone who doesn't live as if there's a loving heavenly 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:04.559 Father who's sovereignly overseeing the whole universe. They seek after, that is, they run after, 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:12.160 they grasp on, they seek for control in order to provide for themselves. And this is the economy of 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:21.839 the Gentile. It's a cause and effect. What I get, I earn. What I have, I have amassed 00:24:21.839 --> 00:24:30.480 for myself through my own hard work. Right? And He says, this is the way Gentiles think. We have what 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:38.959 we have because of what we have done. Now, this resonates with our New England, pull us up by our 00:24:38.959 --> 00:24:47.679 own bootstraps mentality. It also resonates with our Protestant work ethic mentality. And there's nothing 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:56.400 wrong with hard work, but the economy is, it is up to me. I must do this, and I have to be in control of 00:24:56.400 --> 00:25:05.120 this process and to run after these things and make them my primary and controlling concern in my life. 00:25:07.600 --> 00:25:15.920 And when we think like this, is it any wonder why anxiety is so prevalent in our hearts and in our world? 00:25:15.920 --> 00:25:28.000 When we forget God, of course this would work. Of course this makes sense. But Jesus says, 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:37.920 your heavenly Father knows what you need. There is another economy at work in the world, and it is a 00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:43.759 better one. And He starts by calling Him your heavenly Father. And I don't know if you've picked this up, 00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:51.599 but I want to point it out. In chapter 6 of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is referred to God as a 00:25:51.599 --> 00:26:00.000 heavenly Father over and over and over again. He is a heavenly Father who delights to reward in secret 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:08.079 those who give, those who pray, those who fast. So, in verses 1 and 4 and 6 and 18, He refers to Him in 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:14.000 those ways. He is also a heavenly Father who knows what you need. You see this in verse 8. You see it 00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:19.759 in this verse. You also see it implicitly in the very center of the Lord's Prayer where, 00:26:20.399 --> 00:26:26.399 give us this day our daily bread. We pray to our heavenly Father because we know that He is able to 00:26:26.400 --> 00:26:33.200 provide. And so, in verse 32, He says, your heavenly Father knows you need them all. 00:26:34.560 --> 00:26:44.400 Now, how does a loving parent provide for his children? When that child is newborn, does a parent 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:50.880 say, well, if you work hard enough, I'm going to change your diaper today. If you do the right thing, 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:56.640 then, yeah, I'll feed you today, you know, and I might even walk you and burp you and, you know. 00:26:57.440 --> 00:27:03.920 But if you don't, sorry, you are on your own. Does any parent treat their children that way? 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:10.080 Right? Now, look, there's…when they're 25 and living in your basement, it's okay to have some rules 00:27:10.080 --> 00:27:15.840 about, okay, you got to get a job and figure some of this stuff out. But the fundamental love 00:27:15.839 --> 00:27:25.119 underneath that is still real, right? It is not based on you have to earn it and it is up to you 00:27:25.119 --> 00:27:34.399 to achieve these things, right? The love of a heavenly Father is a gracious love. It is a giving love. 00:27:34.399 --> 00:27:41.279 And this is what we see in God. If you want to hear, I preached a whole sermon on it at the beginning of 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:49.599 January on our loving heavenly Father. But what I want you to see here is that Jesus is referring to 00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:57.200 having a loving heavenly Father means that we don't live in a cause-effect economy where I only get 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:05.200 what I deserve, but we live in a grace economy, which is we get what we don't deserve. We get positive 00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:13.600 supportive support, not because we have earned it, but because the giver is willing to give it to us. 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:23.840 And friends, why do I say this is true? Because this is the gospel. This is the very heart of Christianity. 00:28:25.120 --> 00:28:32.680 John 3.16, for God so loved the world, the world in rebellion against Him, the world that had rejected Him. 00:28:32.680 --> 00:28:40.680 God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish, 00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:50.200 but have eternal life. Friends, humanly in our sin, we deserve alienation from God, rejection, 00:28:50.200 --> 00:28:58.920 even punishment from Him, because in our sin we have rejected Him. But God in His grace has come to us, 00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:07.880 He has given us, and He has given us undeserving people, His very own Son whose life and death and 00:29:07.880 --> 00:29:14.759 resurrection worked for us, salvation, the forgiveness of sins, the renewal of spiritual life, 00:29:14.759 --> 00:29:23.480 a restored relationship with Him, not because we had ever earned it, not because of works so that any of 00:29:23.480 --> 00:29:33.480 us could boast. But by grace alone are we saved. And this grace economy doesn't just enter us into the Christian life, 00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:37.480 but it continues as well. Romans 8.32, 00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:46.039 Romans 8.32, He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him 00:29:46.599 --> 00:29:50.120 graciously give us all things? 00:29:50.119 --> 00:29:51.719 Romans 9.32 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:29:51.719 --> 00:29:51.719 00:30:20.959 --> 00:30:28.179 Now look, we all know, we all know that there are times when God doesn't work on our time frame. 00:30:28.719 --> 00:30:35.259 He doesn't provide in the ways that we like to. There are times when we have to work through 00:30:35.259 --> 00:30:41.039 the disappointment or the patience or the waiting on God for His provision. 00:30:41.959 --> 00:30:48.500 But the testimony of the church is that my God is faithful and true, and He loves us, 00:30:48.500 --> 00:30:53.099 and He will provide for us. And this is what Jesus is saying in this passage. 00:30:54.740 --> 00:30:59.440 This is the antidote. And when we find ourselves fighting with anxiety, 00:31:00.279 --> 00:31:08.539 your heavenly Father knows what you need. He knows before you ask Him. Your heavenly Father 00:31:08.539 --> 00:31:16.460 is able to care for you. He sees you in secret. These truths are able to cut through some of the 00:31:16.460 --> 00:31:21.920 lies and the patterns of worrying that we feel and the anxiety that we fall into, 00:31:22.460 --> 00:31:29.720 and to reframe how we think about this situation where we see God in the center of it. 00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:39.039 And this then leads us to not just the antidote. The antidote is like an anti-venom that we shoot 00:31:39.039 --> 00:31:44.200 into our arm when we need to fight against this poison of anxiety in our hearts, right? 00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:51.140 The alternative is a whole new way to live, right? It's a whole new way to work. 00:31:51.140 --> 00:31:57.420 So, this is our third and final point. It's based in verse 33. And this, again, 00:31:57.500 --> 00:32:00.640 could be a whole other sermon. I promise you I'm not going to keep you that much longer. 00:32:01.480 --> 00:32:04.900 But in verse 33, let's look at it together. 00:32:04.900 --> 00:32:14.840 The Gentiles seek after these things, but your heavenly Father knows what you need. Therefore, 00:32:16.780 --> 00:32:25.900 verse 23, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added 00:32:25.900 --> 00:32:37.820 unto you. One of my favorite stories in reading through the history of missions in America is the 00:32:37.820 --> 00:32:44.800 story of a young man who sat in a lecture hall in Ithaca, New York in the 1880s. He heard a traveling 00:32:44.800 --> 00:32:52.200 preacher speak of the call of God for people to follow Him, and this man, John Mott, remembers 00:32:52.200 --> 00:33:01.440 distinctly the words that burned onto his soul that night by the Holy Spirit, seekest thou great things? 00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:10.180 Seek them not. Seek first my kingdom. He had thought he might go into a career in business, 00:33:10.920 --> 00:33:18.700 but God reoriented his life that night and said, there is an alternative thing that is worth your 00:33:18.700 --> 00:33:30.120 whole life to live for. Serve my kingdom. Serve my righteousness. Serve to see me glorified in the 00:33:30.120 --> 00:33:41.799 world. This is what Jesus gives us as a reorientation. It's easy for us to worry about what we will eat, 00:33:41.880 --> 00:33:47.840 what we will drink, what we will wear, our schedules, our budgets, our plans, all those sorts of things. 00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:56.639 And Jesus says that there is an alternative way to think about our lives, which is we want to care 00:33:56.639 --> 00:34:06.059 about God, to seek Him, to grasp after Him, to run after Him in everything we do. So, we wake up in 00:34:06.059 --> 00:34:11.880 the morning and we ask ourselves the question, what does God value? What does God care about? How do I 00:34:11.880 --> 00:34:18.280 please God today? How do I serve Him today? If you're wondering, what does this look like? Well, 00:34:18.340 --> 00:34:22.440 this is the whole sermon that I can't preach. But the Sermon on the Mount gives us some ideas. 00:34:22.680 --> 00:34:26.800 What do I want to care about today? What has the Sermon on the Mount told us to care about? 00:34:27.119 --> 00:34:33.180 Being poor in spirit, being humble and meek, merciful, pure in heart, seeking God even when 00:34:33.179 --> 00:34:40.000 persecuted with joyful endurance, bringing the light of revelation and truth to the world with love and 00:34:40.000 --> 00:34:51.659 grace, trusting Christ to transform us and free us from anger and lust, to allow God to shape our 00:34:51.659 --> 00:34:59.399 relationships and our words so that they bless others and glorify Him, giving us a love even for 00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:07.840 our enemies, practicing spiritual disciplines of giving and prayer and fasting so that we might make 00:35:07.840 --> 00:35:18.160 God the center of our lives every day. Friends, when we are so consumed with these things, 00:35:21.160 --> 00:35:28.579 anxiety falls away. It doesn't disappear altogether. It's still going to nibble at the edges, 00:35:28.579 --> 00:35:38.819 but suddenly we have something so worth spending our care and our energy and our thought on that 00:35:38.819 --> 00:35:45.599 these things become less, and they don't capture our hearts. Now, I want to be careful here because 00:35:45.599 --> 00:35:51.579 some people…John Mott ended up spending his whole life and career in vocational Christian ministry, 00:35:52.079 --> 00:35:56.719 right? And some people hear this verse, seek first the kingdom of God as righteousness, and think, 00:35:56.719 --> 00:36:04.259 oh, so I need to leave my family, leave my job, and go and do missionary work somewhere far away 00:36:04.259 --> 00:36:09.799 because that's…and look, if God's speaking that to you this morning, hey, talk to me about it. Let's 00:36:09.799 --> 00:36:19.599 see if that's what actually God is saying. But the verse itself is not about replacing everyday life with 00:36:19.599 --> 00:36:24.399 something super spiritual. That's what the monks tried, and it didn't work that great. 00:36:24.400 --> 00:36:33.740 It wasn't the fullness of the kingdom of God, right? Instead, God may be calling us 00:36:33.740 --> 00:36:40.860 to a harder thing, which is to be transformed in the middle of everything we do every day. 00:36:40.860 --> 00:36:53.800 As you balance accounts, wash diapers, walk dogs, read manuscripts, whatever the work of your day is, 00:36:54.400 --> 00:37:03.280 how do you seek God in the middle of it? It's not what we do most often. There are times when it is. 00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:07.940 There are times when seeking first His kingdom will mean laying other things aside, 00:37:07.940 --> 00:37:12.360 laying other priorities or desires that are clearly not God's plan for you. 00:37:13.099 --> 00:37:18.840 But for many of us, it's just about saying, God, how do I do these things 00:37:18.840 --> 00:37:29.420 in a way that please and honor and glorify You? And friends, this is a glorious call. This is not a 00:37:29.420 --> 00:37:36.760 burdensome call. Because when we do this, when we begin to see all of our lives as sacred moments that 00:37:36.760 --> 00:37:44.220 we get to offer up to the Lord, as we see the conflict with our worker and the late night trying 00:37:44.220 --> 00:37:53.159 to get our kid to go to bed and the walking through midterm exams or whatever it is, we see each of these 00:37:53.159 --> 00:38:02.679 circumstances as opportunities to please God, to trust Him and not be consumed by anxiety, but rather 00:38:02.679 --> 00:38:10.139 to say, my heavenly Father knows what I need. How do I do this in a way that brings honor to Him? 00:38:10.859 --> 00:38:16.679 This makes life a great adventure. It gives everything we do, even the most mundane thing, 00:38:16.679 --> 00:38:24.440 purpose and meaning in our kingdom of God. And when we live those lives, I believe it is true 00:38:24.440 --> 00:38:34.619 that the power of anxiety is sapped in our lives by having this glorious purpose that God has called 00:38:34.619 --> 00:38:43.399 us to live for Him and for His kingdom and for His righteousness. And notice that there is a promise 00:38:43.400 --> 00:38:49.680 He's wrapped into this, right? He does care about these things, these things that you feel like, 00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:56.200 okay, but if I don't pay attention to those things, like, what's going to happen? There's a promise, 00:38:56.380 --> 00:39:02.079 God is going to take care of you. I have to close with a story. I had this really annoying friend in 00:39:02.079 --> 00:39:08.119 high school. She was a Christian. I wasn't. She would be like, oh, we have this calc exam tomorrow. 00:39:08.200 --> 00:39:12.099 We got to study really hard. I went home. I studied really hard. She went home, and then she's like, 00:39:12.099 --> 00:39:17.199 yeah, my friend called. She's going through a hard time. I spent like three hours on the phone with 00:39:17.199 --> 00:39:23.279 her last night, and I only studied for like an hour. I was like, oh, well, I hope it goes well. 00:39:23.639 --> 00:39:28.920 And she'd do just as well as I would. It was so annoying. I was so frustrated because I put in all 00:39:28.920 --> 00:39:37.159 this work, and I expected that…and God provided for her, right? Now, sometimes we make that cost, 00:39:37.159 --> 00:39:44.819 and we get a C on the exam, and that's a part of the cost of loving people well. But I have seen over 00:39:44.819 --> 00:39:52.659 and over and over again God provide in ways that don't make sense when we actually set our hearts 00:39:52.659 --> 00:40:00.219 and minds on seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And that annoyance became 00:40:00.219 --> 00:40:07.099 curiosity that became ultimately faith for me as I'm trying to figure out what in the world is going 00:40:07.099 --> 00:40:14.779 on with this person's life. So, God used that in my life in powerful ways. And maybe if we 00:40:14.779 --> 00:40:22.419 could seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, God might use us in that way in the lives of others 00:40:22.420 --> 00:40:30.480 around us as well, that they might see a great God, a loving Heavenly Father who provides, and a people 00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:39.159 who know and worship that loving Heavenly Father and seek Him first. So, friends, let's fight against 00:40:39.159 --> 00:40:47.619 anxiety with the antidote of God's loving Heavenly Father care, seeking His first… His kingdom first. 00:40:47.619 --> 00:40:56.339 Let's pray together. Lord, thank You for this time. Thank You for this Word. Lord, we pray that You 00:40:56.339 --> 00:41:04.819 would encourage us and help us, Lord, this morning. Lord, we confess that we are prone to worry and prone 00:41:04.819 --> 00:41:16.420 to be anxious. Lord, help us. Help us to grow in faith. Lord, help us to see Your character and Your 00:41:16.420 --> 00:41:26.900 loving Heavenly Father provision for us. And Lord, help us to set our hearts on Your kingdom in all that we do. 00:41:27.860 --> 00:41:30.820 We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.