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Sermon Points

1. The reasons we worry
2. The reasons we should not worry
3. The kingdom alternative to worry

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Scripture Reading

Matthew 6:25–34 (ESV)

• (25) “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?
• (26) 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?
• (27) And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
• (28) And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
• (29) yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
• (30) But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
• (31) Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
• (32) For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
• (33) But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
• (34) “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Introduction

Don’t Worry…Be Happy!

Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry be happy

— Written by: Robert Mcferrin Jr. | Album: Simple Pleasures (1988)

A Few Headlines

Here are some recent article headlines and quotes.

Example 1: “American Adults Express Increasing Anxiousness in Annual Poll; Stress and Sleep are Key Factors Impacting Mental Health”

https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/news-releases/annual-poll-adults-express-increasing-anxiousness

• The 2024 results of the American Psychiatric Association’s annual mental health poll show that U.S. adults are feeling increasingly anxious. In 2024, 43% of adults say they feel more anxious than they did the previous year, up from 37% in 2023 and 32% in 2022. Adults are particularly anxious about current events (70%) — especially the economy (77%), the 2024 U.S. election (73%), and gun violence (69%).

Example 2: “America the Anxious”

Psychology Today

• “Every morning brings a new headline, a fresh worry, and a creeping sense that the world is shifting beneath our feet. From rising costs and social tension to 24/7 new cycles that never rest, Americans are feeling it in our cores: Anxiety has become a part of our daily lives. More than half of adults report clinical levels of anxiety, and more than half report feeling more anxious now than they did a year ago. One in five adults is living with a diagnosed anxiety disorder. Across the country, millions struggle with restless nights, racing thoughts, and a deep feeling of unease. We are among the most anxious human beings on the planet, a quiet reflection of the times we are living in.”

Other Examples

Perhaps you’ve heard of the recent (2024) No. 1 New York Times Bestseller-book by Jonathan Haidt.

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

This book is a fascinating look at how the iPhone (and unsupervised screen time) is replacing normal childhood play to our culture’s detriment.

We must not think that the recent increase in anxiety is not affecting the church—that it is not affecting us. I would venture to say that you yourself or someone very close to you struggles with worry or anxiety frequently.

One article in the Journal of Biblical Counseling says it this way:

Perhaps no single problem plagues people more than worry or anxiety. It may arise suddenly. It may accompany you daily. It saps your sleep, drains your joy, exhausts your energy, ruins your relationships, and aggravates your body ailments. For some people, worry is chronic and crippling. For all of us, worry is one of the most typical, everyday sins.

— Robert D. Jones, “Getting to the Heart of Your Worry,” ed. David A. Powlison, The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Number 3, Spring 1999 17 (1999): 21.

“One of the most typical, everyday sins.” Perhaps, you react to such a statement. I did. Doesn’t that seem a bit simplistic?

I recently taught the High School Youth Group on anxiety from Philippians chapter 4. One of the things we discussed is that anxiety often does not feel like a choice I make. It doesn’t feel like it’s under my own control. I don’t wake up some days and say to myself, “I think I’ll choose to feel anxious today!”

Yet, we must wrestle with the fact that both Paul and Jesus command us not to worry—not to be anxious. They both tell us to “stop it!” Thankfully, they both give us good reasons not to worry, and tell us what to do instead. This should give us great hope this morning—hope that we don’t have to make peace with anxiety; hope that we can repent and live a life of deeper faith; hope in the knowledge that God knows what we need and cares even for the details of our lives.

Sermon points

• The reasons we worry
• The reasons we should not worry
• The kingdom alternative to worry

Pastoral Prayer

I. The reasons we worry

Matthew 6:25 (ESV) — “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…

Notice the previous passage — money is a bad master

Jesus isn’t radically changing subjects between vv. 24 and 25 in his sermon. It is no mistake that he goes from speaking of laying up for ourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Is this not the focus of much of our anxieties?

Money is not the exclusive domain of anxiety, but it is a huge one. Regardless of how poor or rich one might be, it takes no effort whatsoever to launch into “what ifs” and anxieties.

the real risks for those in Jesus’ audience

What kind of anxieties would have been present in the lives of Jesus’ original hearers of this message? Many of them would have been living a subsistence lifestyle. They were fisherman and farmers. They were extremely dependent on the weather for their living. If we experience a drought, our grass turns brown. If they experienced a drought, they could starve (remember Jacob and his sons).

Jesus’ hearers were under Roman rule. A new local ruler or Emperor could significantly affect their livelihoods, religious practice, or freedoms.

We hear Jesus speak to food and clothing and perhaps think it’s a little silly to be anxious about those things. In our society, there are huge safety nets for such things (with the SNAP program and government shutdown withstanding).

the real risks we face today

We need not limit the objects of our anxieties to money, food, or clothing. However, if we add jobs, housing, transportation, retirement, stock markets, and tariffs to the mix, we’re not far off. It is really astounding how much our lives revolve around provision, wealth, and the benefits wealth can buy. In reality, our list of anxieties may include anything or everything that we can convince ourselves we need in order to be happy and healthy.

The truth is, since Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden, this world has been full of brokenness, tragedy, and suffering. Sometimes this brokenness comes very near to us, personally affecting us and the ones we love.

We have to wonder if modern technology has really changed the equation for how we understand and experience the brokenness of the world.

We can have nearly instant knowledge of any suffering around the globe. We are more aware of the brokenness and dangers around the world than ever before. We are not only affected by difficulties in our neighborhood or region, but feel the effects of distant wars, hurricanes, earthquakes, or economic downturns. We can be rejected, not merely by our close friends who live in our own community, but cancelled by an entire culture over social media.

Jesus is not trying to tell us that nothing in our lives would go wrong. And, we need not limit to the financial.

What are some of the areas that keep you awake at night?

• fear of loneliness
• wondering if your kids will turn out all right
• wondering if you’ll ever be able to have kids
• wondering if you’ll ever find a spouse
• wondering if your marriage will ever improve
• fearing losing your job
• fearing ridicule from your coworkers or bosses because of your faith
• wondering how you’ll pay for that car repair
• wondering how you’re going to pay those medical bills
• fearing that your persistent cough is really lung cancer
• wondering how you’re going to care for that family member with Alzheimers
• fearing your own future failures
• wondering if you will ever be able to get beyond your past sins

These are real challenges. We are not promised that none of these might happen to us. It is no wonder that we are tempted to worry.

Worry is an attempt to feel in control of our future

Many of these things are actually out of our control. But, anxiety makes us feel like we are taking control in some small way. If we meditate on these issues, perhaps they won’t happen, or if they do happen, somehow we’ll be more ready.

What you see in common with all the things we worry about—every single thing—is that they are uncertain. They’re all iffy. Am I going to get that? Maybe, maybe not. If I have it, could I lose it? Maybe, maybe not. We worry about stuff that is inherently uncertain.

• David A. Powlison, “‘Don’t Worry,’” The Journal of Biblical Counseling, Number 2, Winter 2003 21 (2003): 57.

Worry is a protest of God’s Providence

When our souls are ordered rightly, we trust in God’s Providence—that he is directing and sustaining everything in creation toward his perfect ends.

Hebrews 1:3 (ESV) — He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power…

Ephesians 1:11 (ESV) — In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Worry is essentially saying God is not trustworthy in this endeavor. Either certain things are out of his control, or he cannot be trusted to do what is right, or he is somehow asleep at the wheel and going to miss something important. Therefore, I must focus my attention on this thing.

Questions to ask yourself

• What are the areas in which I’m tempted to think God is not adequately or rightly directing all things?
• What anxieties keep me awake at night, or meet me first thing in the morning, or interrupt my day? Is it money or job, family or relational, health or suffering? Is it a wrong understanding of who God is, or a wrong understanding of who I am?

II. The reasons we should not worry

Though there are plenty of real situations for us to worry about, Jesus still commands us not to be anxious three times in our passage. In vv. 25, 31, and 34 he will tell us “Therefore, do not be anxious.”

In his mercy he actually gives us reasons not to worry. He is not required to do this. Jesus has complete authority to simply tell us what we should or shouldn’t do. But, here in his most famous of sermons, he lays out a handful of arguments and explanations for why we should not worry.

1. Anxiety obsesses over less important things

Matthew 6:25 (ESV) — “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?

This reason hits us doubly. Because of our relative affluence, we can’t really even relate to really being anxious for food and clothing. Jesus is not speaking about the anxiety of which really nice restaurant to eat at tonight, or the dilemma of whether or not we should eat steak or hotdogs at our next cookout. And, this is not the anxiety of trying to remember which outfit you wore last Sunday so that you don’t wear the same thing two weeks in a row.

We take food and clothing for granted. But, Jesus’ original audience lived closer to these daily needs.

Jesus is pushing beyond this, though, to say even clothing and food (“Give us this day our daily bread”) are not the most important things. “Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” In other words, what is really important? What is going to last into eternity? What touches the eternal?

Many of the situations that feel like crises to us are not truly crises in the Kingdom of God. Losing your home to foreclosure—not a crises. Receiving a terminal illness diagnosis—not a crisis. Not getting into the college you wanted—not a crisis. Being betrayed or estranged by a close friend—painful, but not a crisis.

“Life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.” Even in the midst of these difficult and painful circumstances, God is with us. God will also renew all things in the final coming of his kingdom, and for his children, every tear will be wiped away.

2. God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies

Matthew 6:26 (ESV) — 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?

Remember the actual scene of Jesus’ sermon.

Matthew 5:1–2 (ESV) — Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

They were surrounded by nature. God’s fingerprints were all around them. Jesus was not asking them to think philosophically or scientifically about birds, but to notice them. I can imagine some birds swooping down and grabbing a morsel of bread on the ground right in the middle of his sermon. It’s not that birds simply wait for God to drop food on the ground for them, unless it is a flock of seagulls at the beach when my family goes for a picnic. Birds do hunt and gather (what they need) but they are not anxious about tomorrow.

Matthew 6:28–29 (ESV) — 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.

Don’t imagine your favorite florist shop. Imagine the flowery weeks that grow up in the cracks of your driveway or on the side of the road. These flowers are even more passive than the birds of the air. They just grow where God put them, and God makes them beautiful.

Are you not more important than these—you who are made in the image of God; you whom Jesus came to die for; you whom God will keep in eternal relationship with himself.

3. Anxiety doesn’t actually help anything

Matthew 6:27 (ESV) — And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

I don’t know which of Jesus’ reasons will connect most deeply to you. But, this one rebukes me frequently. If I might paraphrase it for other hardheaded people like me.

“Anxiety is stupid! It doesn’t actually help anything!”

Jesus asks a simple question. “Can you add a single cubit to your span?” I don’t think he’s really asking if you can make yourself 18 inches taller (unless you’re really short and aspire to be a professional basketball player).

He’s inviting you to look at the final timeline of your life. Can you extend it by worrying? Absolutely not. If anything, we would expect scientifically that anxiety shortens your life.

I do find it helpful to consider this reason when I’m worrying about something. Anxiety is after all a kind of negative meditation on what might happen. The worry is actually not doing anything to help the situation.

To use a healthcare analogy: consider the practice of “bloodletting.” This medical procedure of intentionally withdrawing blood (sometimes using leeches) was used for over 2,000 years to combat sickness and infection. It was used even up into the late 19th century. Why does your family doctor not use this practice anymore? Because we know that it doesn’t actually help fight disease. It really only causes harm.

Next time you’re embracing anxiety, just think of bloodletting. It’s not helping, but actually hurting. Instead of fixing the problem, it’s actually sapping your strength.

You can’t by worrying add a single hour to your life. If you can’t even do that, how do you think your anxiety can solve the complex problems of our broken world.

4. Anxiety is contrary to faith

Matthew 6:30 (ESV) — But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

Here Jesus brings some spiritual clarity to worry. He connects it directly to unbelief or a lack of faith. It’s important to notice he does not accuse them of “no faith” but only of “little faith.” He is speaking to his disciples and followers.

How does anxiety put our lack of faith on display? First, he connects this to the birds and the lilies. It is obvious that we are of more value to God than these. Would God care for them and not for us?

Second, if God has done what was needed to rescue us from eternal damnation and Hell, why would we doubt his Providential care over our everyday lives?

Romans 8:32 (ESV) — He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

The disciples illustrate this when they are with Jesus in the boat during a storm.

Matthew 8:25–27 (ESV) — And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

They are in the boat with Jesus. He has been healing, doing miracles, and speaking with grace, forgiveness, and authority.

If we are Christians, we are already in the boat with Jesus. Let’s not try to convince ourselves that he is either unaware or unable to calm the storm.

5. Anxiety forgets that God knows what we need

Matthew 6:31–32 (ESV) — 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.

These verses perhaps contain the greatest rebuke and the greatest promise.

Don’t be like the unbelievers

Our lives should look different than the unbelievers around us. The Jews definitely believed they were better than the Gentiles around them. A good Jew would not even eat in the house of a Gentile. We can feel the same way about the unbelievers around us. We should have the high ground morally and spiritually. Yet, Jesus rebukes us for having the same worries and anxieties as the unbelievers around us.

Your Heavenly Father knows

Jesus follows this rebuke with one of the greatest promises. Why should we be different than the Gentile unbelievers? Because we have a heavenly Father who is very actively aware of our real needs.

If you are a Christian, God is your Father. He is not a distant, distracted, or disappointed. He is interested, in tune with your needs, and invested in your redemption and adoption.

Matthew 10:30 (ESV) — But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

1 Peter 5:6–7 (ESV) — Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

6. Anxiety distracts us from dealing with today’s troubles

Matthew 6:34 (ESV) — “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

You may have questions or objections to the comprehensiveness of Jesus’ command. Does he really mean we should not be anxious about anything? Is he not aware of the real danger, of the real suffering? Is he saying that everything will be comfortable and pain-free if you follow him?

We know the answer to this question is a resounding “no!” Jesus is preparing his disciples to suffer. “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” “Blessed are you when men persecute you for my name’s sake.”

I appreciate verse 34 because Jesus brings a healthy dose of reality to our worry. His final reason for us not to worry is that we need all our faculties and all his available grace to deal with the trouble that comes our way today.

When we worry, we are using today’s grace to try to deal with tomorrow’s troubles.

How does God want me to trust and obey him today? What decision or obedience is right in front of me?

Worry distracts me from the joys of trusting God in my present circumstances.

Questions to ask yourself

Which of Jesus’ arguments resonates with you the most?

III. The kingdom alternative to worry

Now let’s turn to the Kingdom alternative to worry.

Jesus not only gives helpful and logical reasons not to be anxious. He also gives us a positive alternative.

Matthew 6:32–33 (ESV) — 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.

Jesus simplifies our options here. He gives us a binary choice, just like he did in verse 24, “no one can serve two masters…you cannot serve God and money.”

Here the choice is either to “seek after” all these things like the unbelievers, or to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.”

The question is which kingdom are we pursuing, searching after, seeking.

The Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of Self

Seeking the Kingdom of God does two things. It focuses our minds on the kingdom values, kingdom goals, and kingdom certainty of an eternal, heavenly kingdom. It also focuses us on who is the King—Jesus, the Son of God.

When seeking the Kingdom of God, I expect suffering, hardship, and earthly loss, but I expect to find eternal life, rewards in heaven, and the glory of God.

When seeking my own kingdom, I strive for my own comfort and success, my own heaven on earth, and am always worried that it might be pulled out from under me.

Worry can only really operate in the kingdom of self. The kingdom of God is not ultimately up to me.

God’s Righteousness vs. Our Righteousness

Because we’ve been in our series, Living in the Kingdom, you may read verse 33 as meaning you need to live a righteous life—and you should, But, notice what Jesus actually says.

Matthew 6:33 (ESV) — But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

We will never be able to live without anxieties if we are attempting to approach God on the basis of our own righteousness.

We can only find this freedom and peace in the righteousness which God gives to us in Christ.

Philippians 3:8–9 (ESV) — Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

All these things added to you

Does this mean I will receive all the things that I was previously anxious about?

Does it mean I get all the things I need (food, drink, clothing)?

Is this a promise that Christians who seek God’s kingdom will not suffer?

Uncertainty vs. Certainty

The distinction between these two kingdoms is the difference between total uncertainty and total certainty.

The kingdom of self is up to us, and we cannot control the future.

The kingdom of God is certain, and King Jesus will bring it to completion.

Conclusion / Application

Remember

Anxiety is a protest against God’s Providence.

Anxiety in our heart is evidence that we’ve lost sight of or disbelieved God’s promises. The more we allow this to remain as a vague feeling of unrest or dissatisfaction, the more difficulty we will find in repenting and finding the peace of God with Jesus as our King.

Steps to take

1. Identify and name the areas of worry in your life. What is it that you are anxious about? What are you desiring, trying to avoid, or attempting to control? It may be helpful to talk through this with a Christian friend, pastor, or counselor, especially if you’re particularly gripped by anxiety.
2. Acknowledge what you are hoping in or looking to. To what are you looking to bring you peace, rest, or satisfaction?
3. Hold on to one of the reasons Jesus gives in Matthew 6 to stop being anxious. Do you need to go bird-watching or flower-picking? Remember that your Father knows what you need. Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you (1 Pet 5:7). Amidst all of our uncertainties, the Kingdom of God is immovable and unshakeable.
4. Confess your specific anxieties before your Father in heaven. Name them. Ask forgiveness for them. Turn from them. God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
5. Reaffirm your allegiance to King Jesus and seek His kingdom first by committing to one specific act of obedience today.
6. Proactively evaluate potential changes in your habits or media consumption that would reduce your temptations to anxiety. Does watching Fox News every evening encourage you to joyfully trust in God’s Providence? Does that Podcast you enjoy stir up your faith or make you feel worse about the world. Does your social media consumption help you develop your real, life-giving relationships, or does it push you into further loneliness? How does your morning routine push you toward or away from the grace of God for that day? (Email, news, finances…)
7. Remember that we are to seek God’s righteousness, not our own. One of the biggest contributors to our peace is peace with God, which is received by faith.

Romans 5:1 (ESV) — Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Final exhortation

Let’s not be part of the statistics of those increasing in anxiety year after year. Can we in the church buck the trend of growing anxiety in the culture? We can and we will as we focus on “Living in the Kingdom” of God.

Let us be those who set our minds on things above?

Colossians 3:1–2 (ESV) — If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.