Well, I invite you to turn this morning to Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter 6. If you're visiting, we're working through the Sermon on the Mount, and today we come to verses 25 through 34 of Matthew chapter 6, found on page 965 this morning in the Bibles that are in front of you, and we will look at this section to close out chapter 6 today. Beginning at verse 25, this is the word of the Lord. 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 of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to the span of his life? 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 oh you of 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 and there will end this morning the reading of god's word well they often say the introductions are overrated so i'm going to move right to the main point of the sermon today and the main point of the sermon the main point of this text is that worry and anxiety is absolutely crippling to the life of faith we are called to live as believers in the lord worry and anxiety is crippling to the life of faith we are called to as believers in the lord i have to admit that for years i i approached the sermon on the mount as if jesus were saying things to us that were so incredibly difficult and so hard to live i didn't at times walked away thinking did he mean and did teach us in such a way that no one could do these things was that what we were to walk away saying it's just impossible for us to do i was often confused about what jesus is doing in the sermon on the mount but as we've worked through it and as we've seen the sermon develop here i've been amazed at what the lord is doing really with this theme that i captured in the title of unburdening and liberating us from our own self-inflicted bondage. That is particularly true in this portion of the Sermon on the Mount. If you've ever dealt with anxiety in children, and children can worry about a variety of things, and you know that they're worried about something, and they're distressed about something, and there's no need to be distressed about it, And the best thing that a parent does at that point is try to calm down the child and to sit down the child and reassure the child through comforting words that there is no reason for them to be burdened. They have the care of their parents and they do not have to fear. They do not have to be afraid. And it's amazing how words, it's amazing how the power of parental words can calm a child. That is exactly what Jesus is doing for us right here. He is calming his flock. Sheep are nervous. Sheep are anxious. And that's exactly the approach I believe Jesus is taking here. This is what was promised to us when the Lord would come. This is one of the great evidences of the Lord's arrival. Is that he would calm his flock. He would relieve them of burden. I don't have to go through all the Psalms. I can give you a few. Cast your burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain you. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. When I said, my foot is slipping, your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. Did you hear that? When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy. psalm 94 19 when doubts filled my mind your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer we're not hearing jesus correctly if that is not the outcome to this section on the sermon on the mount he's speaking to the children of the lord he's helping the children of the lord this is the precise purpose of this passage this morning in matthew chapter 6 our lord is dealing with one of the most besetting problems in the life of his children but i want to emphasize this jesus is speaking tenderly to us as his children saying dear children of my heavenly father there is absolutely no reason at all for anxiety and worry in your life. And what he's going to show us is it's entirely unreasonable. I'll qualify some of this. But Jesus is strong in this sense. You're not pagans. You're not Gentiles. You belong to your Father. And I'm unburdening you today from one of your biggest temptations and your biggest assaults in following me that's the heart of it i want to look today at jesus's great caution against worry his arguments against worry and his instruction out of worry as we're looking at this great section the sermon on the mount you remember in chapter six as we've come to this very beautiful chapter after looking at the chapter 5 that dealt with the law and the christian jesus was liberating us at the beginning of this chapter from all the hypocritical approaches of christian devotion or piety to him in the christian life and he he was he was explaining the wonderful benefits that we have to come to our heavenly father and to cast our burdens upon him in prayer he cared so much that he outlined how to do that in prayer for us the benefits and the freedoms that we enjoy in this life is one of having direct access to the father i know we say that but that is that is really a marvelous truth you have direct access to the father and the father loves you jesus said that in john 16 when when my spirit comes what you're going to understand is the father loves you But he wants us to appreciate how the blessing, this blessing, affects... I think this is crucial, so if you're sleeping, wake up, okay? How this affects the whole of the Christian life. The whole of the Christian man or woman. The whole trajectory of life. Not just the beginning. and last week we began by looking at that overarching problem where this is categorized under this great category of worldliness we talked about the three sworn enemies you know the devil and our own sinful nature but jesus is really focusing on the problem of the world and how the world assaults us and what it does and the temptations to pull us away and what that looks like and there are all sorts of temptations to worldliness that we all struggle with and we began to look at the problem last week of storing up treasures on earth remember jesus challenged us about that that thinking that life consists in the abundance of what we have in this life that's a delusion that's not where life is found christ knows powerfully what these temptations can do to people what the pursuit of worldliness can do as a child of the lord where your treasure is there your heart will be so he addresses those things that the human heart can give itself to and really it's an it's an idolatry where the heart is going after all these things in this life that are passing away says jesus that are passing away behind it jesus explained it is a grabbing for earthly things and treasures in that idolatry where we find our hope where we find our aspirations where we find our happiness where we find our drive where we find our purpose where we find our meaning where we find our identity jesus says they'll all fail you the pursuit of money that's all belongs to this passing age all of it it has the great problem of pulling away the human heart where your treasure is there your heart will be jesus is really expressing here if we're putting it in plain terms how powerful sin is then it's very powerful there are any at any given time there are things that we can serve that we can fall into bondage to we can give our devotion to well now he moves to the second major issue that is really an extension of the first under this category of worldliness. And the second major issue that he addresses, and it's a development from the first, is really the issue of worry or anxiety. So he addresses this in verse 25. You'll notice in verse 25, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about the body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing the bondage says jesus in these things is powerful the allure is powerful serving these things is powerful jesus has spoken of the heart but you'll notice he has moved really in a sort of transition here from the heart to the mind to the will he's he's looking at the whole person in how the whole person functions in this world and lives in this or We have to live in this world. And now he moves to this issue of being given to worry and acting upon that in the will to the worries of this life. What Jesus is speaking of here is anxiety, becoming overburdened with worry about things. Now, this has to be qualified. I think it's easy to be simplistic with this. some people have indeed faced real traumas in life that bring on anxiety. There have been very well-known pastors recently who have said there's no such thing as PTSD, and there's no such thing as all, and he listed some of these things. That is the effects of sin, but also the traumas in life, the difficulties in life can bring on very real things. This is not a denial of that. Jesus is specific here. Jesus is specific here. He is speaking of those anxieties that arise in life that amounts to the mind being given and burdened and excessively worried about the holding on to our life in this world. That's sort of the summary of what he's addressing here. Most anxieties and those things that fill our minds with worry, that keep us up, have to do with a kind of worldliness in life as if we are the ones maintaining our own lives. That's what he's going after here. He's direct about it. It's directly tied, of course, to the issue of the treasures that he just raised. In almost all cases, worry and when it comes to this issue, fret and anxieties that we have are precisely because our heart is given to serve the treasures that he mentioned last week. Treasures, he was talking about, were treasures that we store in a casket. That was the interesting use of the word. In other words, any treasure in this life is something that is passing away. And the power of serving these things is that then we begin to live for these things, finding fulfillment in these things. And the very simple thing that Jesus is saying to us in the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 6 in this section is this. Your life, your existence, your ability to live in this world does not consist in any of that. The big point Jesus is making in the big analysis is that none of these things sustain your life themselves. That's so important, I think, to this. All of these things and what life can be lived for in some way, all of them will fail you. Especially because they're put into a casket. There's a reason he said that. Everything's passing away. But see, the truth be told, it's in these things and the degree that we serve them, the heart can become overburdened and given to them so that worry and anxiety becomes the way we are attempting to hold on to life in these things. Jesus begins. Do not be anxious about your life. He is very concerned, remember we're not talking about in Sermon on the Mount, imputed righteousness, when he said your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees. He's talking about the character of the Christian and the new life given by this power of the Spirit and what the Christian life distinctively is and what it is to be. There is absolutely no reason for you to be oppressed. I'll choose that word, it's an important word to accent here. it's an oppression it's a sin it's also an oppression living in burden and in fret all the time leading sleepless lives some of you are thinking how in the world do I get out of that I'll get there burdened and worried about all of it he never calls us to live that way why? Psalm 16, I will praise the Lord who counsels me. Even at night, my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Why would he say this to us so strongly? You have to feel this and you have to answer this in terms of what we'll look at with gospel in a minute. Why would he say this so strongly to us? It's for a very simple reason. None of these things sustain us. There is something powerful Jesus says in verse 27 that I think we should zero in on for a minute. It's kind of the heart of this. Verse 27, And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to the span of his life? The ESV got this translation just right. Cubit to the stature was some of the old translations, but it means this. Which of you can add a single, notice that, hour? Which of you could add, he could have said, a single second to the span of his life? You realize all the anxieties and all the worries and that which burdens you do not add one single second to the duration of your life. Pastor, I found this this week. I thought I made a really wise observation. How useless worrying is. It removes no trouble. It lightens no burdens. It softens no hardness in one's lot. On the other hand, it only makes the trial greater and the heart in its feverishness less strong for endurance. It does nothing for you. In fact, it makes life harder, is what the author was saying. Which of you, by worrying, adds a single hour to his life? my dad was 67. He never drank. He never smoked. And he died one of the hardest deaths of pancreatic cancer. I've said this before. I'm absolutely convinced that when I do services and people are taken suddenly, we have to be reminded of this truth all the time. It's a comforting truth. It's a liberating truth. It's a freeing truth. It is exactly appointed when you're going to die. That's at the heart of this fear. It is exactly appointed. Now usually I have to start going into qualifications. Well, you're not telling me to be irresponsible. Okay, I'm not, okay? Is that over with? Did we get past that? You add nothing to it. all that organic stuff you eat you're liberated from Trader Joe's right now we think we're in control you might as well go to Valley Max sorry, I saw it God appointed the very breath your last breath and the reason is is because your life from the beginning has been constantly upheld and sustained by him every minute every heartbeat we don't think like this none of these external factors through worry create or sustain the duration of your life all that is is an affliction that is a burden that distracts and lays a heavy burden on your own shoulders but here's the saddest thing it distracts you from your heavenly father you don't keep your life that's how sovereign God is now jesus is about to take this and show you just how involved he is just how caring he is just how he knows every intimate detail of the heart and everything you need what are you anxious about what are you worried about jesus provides two arguments to show how entirely unreasonable it is two things here your life and your body two things we worry about the most it's not life more than food and the body more than clothing in other words do you think your sustaining of your life is found and worrying about these things It's as if Jesus says, is God not the author of your life? And that he too has taken it upon himself to keep your life. I mean, Psalm 121. He determines your coming in and your going out forever. He does. First illustration, let's talk about life. 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 of more value than they? Birds are fascinating creatures. They're up early in the morning, by the way. They were singing praise to God before you were. Isn't it amazing? You can just hear in your window all these little creatures flying around in the sky singing. Listen to them. they're active, they fly about, they do their thing. Do you know your heavenly Father, says Jesus, in his providence, is so intimately involved and cares for the very birds that are flying out there, that he's always providing food for them? i'm always amazed by psalm 84 even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young and nest at your altars oh lord i would imagine priests are somewhat like me when those swallows come and they build a big nest on the house and make nothing but a mess and i come in and i tell darcy i'm going to knock it down today you are not they're younger in there you know that's amazing thing that they have little homes that they run around and the Lord provides them little homes and they swoop down and they get a worm I don't know how they saw it but they saw it they're active they're not inactive this doesn't mean we're inactive it's an amazing thing doesn't mean we never plan or think about these things that's the other error Jesus is concerned about this about the worry that fills our hearts as if we're in control of things or we're maintaining life and you do it all the time. So do I. As if there is no God. And not just that. As if you don't have a heavenly Father who doesn't care. How much worry and burden are we caring about? About money? About the future? About the duration of our lives? And Jesus says, it's entirely unreasonable. You believe this or don't you? And then he says, well, let's talk about the body. Because I know you're really worried about that. Why are you anxious about clothing? instead of the lilies of the field how they grow they neither toil nor spin I tell you Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these everyone knew in Israel there was one figure who had the most glory of anyone in Israel and that was Solomon he didn't hold a candle to the lilies Dutch people like tulips I've never figured that out they last one to two weeks and they'll build fields for those things and then they're gone why don't you pick a rose or something maybe it's the thorns I don't know the tulip has its predestined timing did you know that two weeks now the bulb may sit there but two weeks you get to see its glory that's what Psalm 103 was describing God predestined the tulip he predestined the duration of the tulip will he not much more in the duration of time he's given you clothe you care for you oh you of little faith see that's the heart of the section he didn't say no faith did he he's liberating you he's unburdening you and he's calling you to a faith that embraces him all throughout life that life of worry and anxiety your body, your health, your longevity, all these things indicates little faith. And I've got a much better plan than that. He wants to move us beyond a faith that initially embraces Him for salvation, a faith that embraces Him for justification, a faith that embraces Him for all of life. In these things. And here's the heart of it. Do not be anxious. What shall we eat or what shall we drink? Do not be anxious as if don't go through life worried as if you don't have a heavenly father. These things are burdening you. If your eye's healthy, if you're able to look at things correctly, your whole body will be full of light. It extinguishes that. Remember Martha and Mary. Mary was calm, sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to his word. There was Martha, anxious and burdened. She couldn't even sit down for a minute. I know people like that. I'm one. She couldn't even calm her heart. It's totally wrong for you. Because that's what the Gentiles do. That's what the pagans do. Gentiles live that way. Pagans live that way. You see pagans full of fret and worry in this life? Going after this life? Look what COVID did. Worried incessantly about everything. It's because, here's the sad part. Here's the sad part. they have no knowledge they have no relationship they have no understanding that there's a creator and not just that they don't know him as a father they don't know the heavenly father so they live in fret thinking that they're going to keep their lives and hold on to their lives and prolong their lives and they're always worried about the duration of life and what they have in this life because they have no knowledge of God and that responsibility rests on them you see that's why they're behaving that way it's truly sad we had a friend who when our children were in a car accident last year she came bawling on our doorstep she's not a believer and her daughter is about to drive and she said i can barely function seeing this that that might happen to my daughter how many of you worry about the worst things that could possibly happen that in general never do but you spend a lot take a lot of capital a lot of bandwidth a lot of time get devoting your life to that she had no perspective so she left lived in constant worry about it if my children were taken that would be one of the most difficult things i'd ever have to go through but one thing i know and one thing i have that they don't have is a father who has told me he's sovereign over it and that he cares for them you see jesus is saying your heavenly father knows what you need see why i keep saying he's unburdening you your greatest challenge here is to live beyond little faith at this point as a christian it's time to get beyond little faith it's time to grow in the faith your greatest challenge here is beyond little faith faith that knows and believes that you are children of god that he has that much concern for you that he loves you that much that he cares that much if he can do that for the little birds why would he not do it for you you're his children it makes sense pagans live that way he's same. That's what they live for. It's about securing life. It's about securing comforts. All to avoid what? What is this all about? All to avoid the inevitable. What's the inevitable? Death. And your father has taken care of that, hasn't he? He raised his son. Remember Gehazi, Elisha's servant? When he took from Naaman, he went running after Naaman to try to get some loot. And he got it. Two talents of silver in two bags and two sets of clothing. I wonder who wore those. That's just really strange. Elisha, is this the time to take money and accept clothes? Or olive groves or vineyards or flocks or herds or male and female slaves? Is this the time to invest our lives in that? Aren't we about our father's business? You have seen what this grabbing and holding on to this life and the things of life and the storing of treasures is, it's a way of avoiding death. It's a way of avoiding the bigger question of your hope. It makes sense that they're worried incessantly about healthy bodies and clothing. There's no reason he's saying. I know all of us struggle with this. You've got everything. a father who says come to me dear children cast your burdens on me i'll carry them i'm powerful to direct your lives i've already called you to pray to me come to your father i'll sustain your lives i'm the keeper of your life the lord knows you're going out and you're coming in you're if i'm right on that the coming in is right on into jerusalem it's not you're coming in and you're going out it's you're going out and you're coming in have faith you're justified have faith that he's going to keep you until the end until the appointed time don't live like a gentile he loves you that much that's what's secured for you and jesus gives us the better way forward what is it but seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and then what he says i'll add all that other stuff anyway have i not seek my kingdom seek your king you're his subjects a king in a kingdom a king in a kingdom like this doesn't have to worry when you have a king and provider like this store your treasures where it matters it was christ himself who had no place to lay his head and he was perfectly content in his father's will jesus can close closes this today with a conclusion it's interesting after all that he can closes with probably the most powerful conclusion to sort of seal it here because he knows every human heart therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Look at each day. That's enough. It's liberating. That's liberating. I don't want you worrying about tomorrow. You're not in control of that. I am, and I do what's best. I do everything well. You're free from that. I've set you free from that. Why will you raise tomorrow? It's because you cripple yourself for today when you're worried about tomorrow. And that's no help to anyone in the kingdom of God. Live each day serving your God and your King by faith. That's a life of freedom. I suggest if we listen to our Lord here and come to prayer to our Heavenly Father, you'll find anxieties are the most unattractive thing in the world and they'll flee away. Jesus is the same today, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Therefore, do not fear. Come to me, said Jesus, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. That's not just at the beginning of the Christian life. That's for the whole of the Christian life. So receive that rest. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for encouraging us and helping us today. We are so weak. We give our attention as if we're sovereign and we're God. Help us, Lord, to trust you. That is not easy. We need your Spirit to trust you in everything, to believe Your Word to us. You have said wonderful things to us in Your Word. You have declared and released the burdens that we bring on ourselves. That we can cast our burden upon the Lord and You will sustain us. You will never suffer us to be moved. When our anxieties were great within us, as the psalm said, Your consolation has brought us joy. And that's exactly what we have just received from you. Thank you, oh Lord. May we trust you and live by faith. In Jesus' name, amen.