37 What Jesus Really Meant by 'Don't Worry' (Matthew 6:25-34)

Krisan Marotta: Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. Today is the 37th talk in my series on the Gospel of Matthew, and we will be studying Matthew chapter 6, verses 25 through 34. The lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast, and you can also find them directly by going to Wednesdayintheword.com slash Matthew 37. While you're on the website, you can find all previous episodes in this series on wednesdayintheword.com as well as many other series. Thank you so much for joining us. I'm glad to have you along. We're still in the third major section of the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew, and we always have to put things in context. So let me review where we are in this sermon. As I understand it, the entire Sermon on the Mount is about one topic, and that is who will be accepted by God and find eternal life in his kingdom. And Jesus has been approaching that topic from a variety of angles. In the first section, the Beatitudes, Jesus told us who the blessed or the fortunate ones are who will receive the reward of a place in the kingdom of God. And he described people who have the qualities of saving faith, poor in spirit, those who mourn for their sins, and so forth. They are the ones who are going to inherit a place in the kingdom of God. In the next section, Jesus said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. That was the main topic for that section. In other words, you have to seek God in a very different way than the Pharisees are seeking him if you want to enter the kingdom of God, and he gave several examples to explain what he meant. And then in this third section, which is the largest section of the sermon, Jesus has been challenging those who are worldly. And by worldly, he doesn't mean materialistic, he means being too concerned with the things of this world. So he started out by warning his listeners not to be like the hypocrites because they seem religious on the outside, they claim to be following the law, they claim to be seeking God, but what they're really seeking are the rewards and the pleasures of this world. They are looking for the approval of their peers and so forth and not for eternal life in the next world. And we are still on this issue of worldliness among religious people. We're getting near the end of the section and Jesus is beginning to wrap it up. We're going to look at Matthew six verses twenty five through thirty four. 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, 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 his span of 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, O 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. When you read this passage, it seems very straightforward and simple. Don't be anxious. God knows what you need and He's going to take care of you. The tricky part of the passage is to figure out exactly what we should not do and exactly what we should expect God to do for us. So let's start by talking about this Greek word that's translated anxious or worry. It can have several different nuances. Sometimes this Greek word is translated to be concerned with or to be concerned about or to take care for. We sometimes talk about the concerns of life or the cares of life. There are things that we must attend to. We have to put food on the table, we have to have clothes to cover us, we have to find a place to live, we have to teach our children, we have to find a way to support ourselves and plan for retirement. Such concerns involve the future. I have to do something now or there won't be food in the future. I have to repair the roof now or the rain will come in later. I have cares now because if I don't act now, the future is going to be bad in some way. If by some chance there's no immediate problems in front of me and there's nothing I need to concern myself with, then I might say I haven't to care in the world. There's nothing I need to worry about or think about. Such concerns are not necessarily bad. For example, look at how Paul uses this word in first Corinthians seven thirty-two. I'm going to read the New American Standard Version because it makes the point a little more clear. This is seven thirty two and thirty three, but I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord, but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife. Well that word concerned is the same word we see in our passage. And I would argue that Paul is not saying there's anything wrong with having these concerns. I mean take Paul himself as an example. As an unmarried apostle, Paul is free to be totally concerned with his ministry. He has a lot to do. He has to make travel plans, he has to write letters, he has to teach and speak in churches. If he were a married man, he would have different concerns. He would have to pay attention to his relationship with his wife, he would have to concern himself with his children and their education and so forth. This is all natural and appropriate. We all have concerns based on our situation and our stage in life. Sometimes, however, these concerns and cares cross the line into an unhealthy mental burden. When this Greek word is used in those contexts, we typically translate it anxious or worry. The idea is I have these normal concerns, but now these concerns are preoccupying my mind, they're weighing me down, they become a burden, they overwhelm me and I can't think of anything else. And that distinction is important to keep in mind as we try to understand what Jesus is saying here. I'm going to argue that Jesus is not against us concerning ourselves with how we're going to put food on the table, but he is against us worrying and becoming overly anxious about putting food on the table. Let's try to fill that picture out. To do that, I want to look at a few other places where Jesus uses this word. The first one is in Luke twenty one. Jesus is speaking of the future destruction of the temple and his second coming, and he warns us that we need to keep spiritually alert. And again, this is the New American Standard. And this is Luke twenty one verses thirty four through thirty six. But watch yourself lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, that's our word, cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap, for it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth, but stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all the things that are going to take place and to stand before the Son of Man. So he's talking and he says he's going to return. We need alertness, we need to be awake and persevere. We need strength to stand so that we will be ready on the day that he returns. It doesn't mean we figured out what that day and time is or when that's going to happen. He's saying be alert, be ready. That day is important to you. Remember that it's coming. Don't forget it. Persevere in faith until he returns. However, there are things that can weigh down our hearts so that we become sluggish and forgetful. We could waste our lives on foolish and worthless, temporary things, ignoring the most important things in life. We could numb our hearts by getting drunk all the time. Our hearts could be weighed down with the worries of life. The idea is we can become so worried, so preoccupied and fearful about providing for our future that we lose sight of the promises of God. We forget that our hope is to be found in the return of Jesus, and what we most need to do is to persevere in the faith and be seeking that day. The second one I want to look at is in the parable of the sower and the seed, Jesus says something similar. In this parable, Jesus gives an analogy of seed falling on four different kinds of soils, which metaphorically are like four different ways the human heart can respond to the gospel. Jesus pictures one kind of person who springs up with initial interest, but then the plant is choked out by weeds, or the metaphor is his faith is choked out by the worries of this world. This is Matthew 13, 22. And the one on whom the seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. The picture here is we can lose interest in the gospel because riches deceive us into thinking that the pursuit of wealth is what this life is all about. Or we can lose interest in the gospel because we are more concerned with the worry of the world, and that's our word again. Maybe we're not pursuing massive amounts of wealth, but we're totally focused on the cares and concerns of this life, and we are overwhelmed with fears and anxious and worrying about the problems in front of us. Maybe we have bills to pay or we have to put food on the table, we have to climb the career ladder, we have to get into the right college and make good grades, find the perfect spouse, the best job, and so forth, and we get so preoccupied with all of that stuff that we lose interest in the hope of the gospel because all of our focus is on the cares of this world. Now, in both those examples, Jesus tells us the danger is letting our worries about the cares of this world distract us or blind us to what is truly important. In those situations, our physical needs have gone from being a legitimate concern and a responsibility to being a distracting fear. So it's not that we shouldn't try to put food on the table or save for retirement or plan for the future, but we don't want to let those concerns distract us from the true solution to our most important problem, which is the hope of the gospel solving our sinfulness. Well, that gives us some perspective. This word can mean just being concerned with the needs of this life, but all too easily those concerns grow into worries that dull our minds and consume our entire focus and make us forget God. The appropriate thing in the face of these worries then is to remember the goodness and promises of God. In general, I think that's how Jesus is looking at the challenges we face when it comes to our lives in this world and our concerns about our physical existence. The danger lies in letting those concerns overwhelm us and become our focus. With that in mind now, let's go back to the text. Now remember where we are, Jesus just gave us these three metaphors in the last section, the treasures of earth versus the treasures of heaven, the eye as the lamp of the body and not serving two masters. And we're still on this subject. This is all part of Jesus' warning about the teaching and example of the Pharisees that he started back in 6.1. The Pharisees were very religious people, but they don't really have eyes to see. They are blinded by the riches of this world. They have set their hearts on this world, they have lost sight of the fact that the riches of this world will fail them in the end, and they're ignoring the conflict of interest between seeking God and seeking the riches of this world. So they created this whole way of reading and understanding the law such that they can make a show of obeying the law, but they're really dodging its true requirements. And Jesus has been warning his listeners to avoid following their example. Now he says, Therefore, based on all I just said about storing up treasures in heaven and how the riches of the world are going to fail you, and the kingdom of God is where true treasure is to be found, and how you cannot serve two masters, because of all of that that you just heard, he says, therefore, do not be anxious about your life. Now you can go wrong two ways here. You can choose to serve the treasures of this world because you love them, and that's what he's been focusing on up till now, or you can choose to serve the treasures of this world because you worry yourself into it, and that's the direction he's heading now. It's the flip side of the coin in a sense. So let's go back to 625. 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. In this section, Jesus refers to two major realities of human existence. We need food and drink to keep us alive, and we need clothing to cover us and keep us warm. These two examples emphasize the inner and the outer aspects of our lives. He uses this Greek word for life from which we get our word psyche from. It's really refers to the animating force of our bodies. So the thing that is different between us, a living human being, and a corpse is your psyche, your soul, this word for life, this inner dynamic, active spirit that is inside you. This inner person that acts, speaks, and makes decisions. The body is this outward external shell in which that life is found. In order to keep that inner dynamic soul alive, we have to keep the outer body alive. And to do that, we have to have food. And in order for the outer body to function properly in this world, we have to have clothing. So I suspect these two things represent all the various worries we might have about life, and he's chosen food and clothing because they are so universal. Everyone needs them, everyone is inclined to think about them and therefore worry about them. Now I suppose I ought to point out an obvious social economic reality here. Jesus is talking to people who by and large were a lot poorer than we are in America today. Many of them were day laborers. They would get up early and seek out a landowner or craftsman who would give them a job for the day. At the end of that day, they would receive a day's wages. Those wages were usually just enough to meet the needs for the next day. If they wanted food for the day after, they had to find work again. Now others might be better off, they might be fishermen or they might have some kind of craft or other business where they could save up some money. They might sell crops which they grew or tools they'd made, and they might have a little cushion of savings. But by and large, most of the people Jesus is talking to had very present worries about where their next meal was going to come from and where their next garment would come from when the one they were wearing wore out. Today, compared to that, all of us are in a much better situation. We're much more well off. Now Jesus tells them don't worry about the food they need for life and the clothes they need for their body. And in context, I think he just means don't let the worries of this life consume and distract you. I don't think he means don't concern yourself with making a living. It is good and appropriate to work and take care of yourself and your family. That is the right thing to do. What he's talking about here is not letting your concerns for your physical needs become overwhelming worries that cause you to forget the goodness of God. Those concerns need to be seen in the larger picture of the care and the goodness of God, lest they become something that overwhelms and distracts and blinds you. That's the sort of thing he has in mind. Then he says in 625, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Now there are several theories about what he means here. I'm not going to run through them all. You can find those options in the commentaries. I'm just going to give you the one that I think fits best. I think he's reminding us what he has just said earlier about treasures in heaven. True life is not found in the riches of this world. True life is found in the riches of heaven. God's purpose for us goes far beyond sustaining our physical existence in this world. Our dynamic living bodily existence in this life is our opportunity to learn to trust God and to come to know Him and so find eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. There's more at stake right now than just sustaining our physical bodies. The purpose of this life is to find God. Now yes, we're living bodies that need food, but we are a lot more than that. Our eternal destiny is writing on how we live our lives now and the choices we make now. There's something more important going on than just staying alive. God gave us physical life for more important purposes than merely sustaining our physical existence. He gave us this lifetime so that we would have time to seek him and to find him. I think that's what he's got in mind by is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. There's something more important going on here than staying alive. The purpose of this life is for you to come to know God. That still leaves us with the question, well, how should I think about all those cares and concerns of the world? I still live here, I still have to eat, I still require clothes, I don't want to be consumed by these cares, but how should I think about this stuff? And we can imagine some different answers to that question. First, notice that Jesus did not say this. He could have said this, but he didn't. He did not say, Hey, you really shouldn't bother God with such unimportant stuff like food and clothing. Don't you remember that the riches of this world are nothing and the kingdom of God is everything? God only cares about the spiritual stuff, so don't even bother thinking about such trivial things like food and clothing. Now obviously Jesus did not say that, but I bring that up to contrast it with what he does go on to say. He doesn't say those concerns are not even legitimate. Those concerns are legitimate, but he says here's the right perspective to have on them. Let's look at twenty six and twenty seven. Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor read. not reap nor gather into barns, 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 his span of life? So Jesus says, Okay, let's think about what you know about God. You want to know how to approach the cares of this world? Well let's think about what you know to be true about your heavenly Father. God is our creator, God created the world around us, He created us in His image. We have all the promises that He made throughout the Old Testament. How should we expect God to handle our physical need for food? Well look at His creation. He created the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap. God built into creation ways for them to be fed. God obviously understands their need to be fed. They can't raise crops, they can't plant, they can't store food in a refrigerator, but He built into creation ways for them to be fed. He made them to need nourishment and He Himself supplies what they need. God made food. He knows how much we need it. I don't have to remind Him that I'm hungry or that I need things. He knows. He made me just like He made the birds. We human beings have options that the birds don't have we can sow, we can reap, we can gather food, we can store extra food in barns and store it for the winter, but birds don't have that option and even so God feeds them. Then he adds one more thing to the picture the relative importance of human beings in comparison to birds. Humans alone out of all of God's creatures are made in his image. God's promises of redemption and salvation are aimed at human beings. If God takes great care to make sure the birds get fed, how much more does he know and concern himself with the needs of human beings who are central characters in this story of creation? Now remember Jesus is making a general argument about how God generally deals with his creation. He created the world to sustain his creatures with food. All things being equal that's what he does. But there are times when birds have died of starvation and there are times when God withholds rain and so forth. At times he has other purposes. This is not a promise that no creature on the planet will ever die of starvation. That's not his argument. Rather he's asking us to think in general terms about how creation works. Think about who God is besides the one who promised us eternal life he is the creator who provides food for his creatures in this life and he has a special care and concern for human beings, his children who are made in his image. Yes, it's appropriate to work and to provide for your physical needs and your family but do not forget the goodness of God. Remember who he is remember how he has shown his understanding and his care for his creation especially for human beings. Pursue the kingdom of God and not the riches of this world. Don't be overcome with worry about your need for food. Don't let your physical needs overwhelm your heart and mind such that you forget the goodness of God. Don't forget who He is and how he cares for his creation. Don't let your faith be dulled and stifled by the worry for these things. Now while he's on the subject of God sustaining our lives through food he adds this comment in six twenty seven and which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? I think his point is a simple one he's basically saying what good is worrying going to do you? What's it going to accomplish? Now remember I think the issue is worrying there's nothing wrong with concerning ourselves with taking care of our physical needs that will accomplish something if I work to make sure I have food on the table I am going to live longer than if I sit on the sidewalk and starve to death. I can concern myself with things that will prolong my life in that sense. That's not what Jesus is talking about here. He's talking about crossing over that line to the point where I have become fearful and preoccupied about the possibility that my needs are not going to be met as I would like that kind of worry dulls us and blinds us. It distracts us from the reality of God's promises and his goodness and Jesus is pointing that out he's saying what has worry ever done for you it hasn't accomplished anything now he turns to clothing let's look at six twenty eight through thirty 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 I think it's interesting that his example from nature is not about physical protection. We could talk about clothing as one of our main protections from the elements. Just like food sustains our lives, clothing keeps us warm and dry and prevents sunburn. It protects us but notice that Jesus doesn't remind us that God gave birds feathers to keep out the rain or he gave lions fur to keep them warm. Instead he talks about another aspect of clothing that we humans find very significant and that is how it makes us look wear clothes to make ourselves presentable to the world. We adorn ourselves with clothes. Now if I'm following his argument here he's implying that the desire for adornment is not in and of itself a bad thing. God as creator has shown himself to be concerned with beauty. He didn't have to make flowers look so incredibly beautiful but he did. And flowers are not nearly as important as people yet God created them to have this certain attractive beauty. God does not look down on our very natural desire to clothe ourselves in a way that reflects well on us. We're social creatures. We would like to clothe ourselves in a way that's presentable and acceptable. Even those who use their adornment or their clothing as a kind of social protest are still trying to create a look. They don't just grab a flower sack and cut a hole in it and stick it over their heads they're creating a look even if they're trying to send a particular message with that look. Even though Jesus talks about the finery of Solomon I don't think he means to suggest that we should be coveting luxurious expensive clothing. That's not the point of comparison rather the point of comparison is that the desire for clothing at least in part is a desire to present ourselves well. Jesus is saying we can't think that God is against beauty when we see how God has arrayed the flowers and remember the issue is worry. The issue is letting our concern with clothing ourselves turn into an overwhelming worry that dulls our hearts and blinds our eyes to the promises of God. And then he adds this phrase O you of little faith and I think that clues us into this point. Jesus is the only one who uses this phrase and he seems to use it in situations where his disciples have lost sight of who God is and what God can do. For example in Matthew eight Jesus and his disciples are in a boat when a storm comes up and the boat is being swamped by the waves Jesus is asleep and the disciples wake him up crying Lord save us we're perishing and he responds Why are you afraid O you of little faith and then he calms the storm like an overzealous puppy in a different boat story in Matthew fourteen the disciples are in a boat again and Jesus comes out to them by walking on the water Jesus commands Peter to walk out on the water to him and at first Peter does do that he starts to walk out to Jesus then he seems to suddenly realize that he's standing in the middle of the lake and he starts to sink and Jesus says to him O you of little faith Now in both these examples the disciples reaction seems very natural. If you're in a boat and the storm is pounding on it of course you think you're going to die and if you look down and find that you're standing on lake water of course you think you're going to sink how else are you going to react what Jesus seems to be saying in these situations is look guys it may seem very natural to you but you have lost sight of who God is, who I Jesus am you this situation. And I think he's saying the same kind of thing here in this situation about worrying about our food and clothing it's natural for us to worry it's natural for us to get anxious and to become preoccupied. And these situations where we have become preoccupied with our physical needs and how they might turn out Jesus is saying remember who you're dealing with remember who God is remember who I Jesus am and what we can do. Now again there's nothing wrong with working to provide for your needs He's talking about worrying letting that possibility of failure overwhelm you such that you forget and discount the goodness and the promises of God. It's a failure to remember what we ought to believe about God. The pressure of that worry causes us to forget what we know to be true and our faith metaphorically shrinks because we've lost sight of who God is He then concludes in six thirty one thirty four 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 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. He repeats his main point don't worry about these physical needs and he reminds them that the Gentiles seek these things. Now in this context I think the Gentiles are people who do not know God the way the Jews know God. They don't know the God of the Bible they don't know the history of the people of Israel and they don't know the promises that God has made. Jesus is talking to a largely Jewish audience people who have the scriptures who've read the Old Testament and so they know who God is and they know the stories of the Bible. They have the opportunity to remember the stories of the Old Testament and how God has graciously dealt with them in the past. God already knows what they need and if they think about all that they know about God they would recognize that God knows better than they do what they need in this life. The Gentiles are ignorant about who this God is but the Jews are not they have a history with him. Jesus made the same contrast earlier when he talked about prayer the Gentiles think they can manipulate God into giving them what they want by using lots of words but you, my Jewish listeners know that God already knows what you need. So in both these examples the Gentiles don't understand that God already knows what they need but those who have been taught by Jesus and read the scriptures have the opportunity to remember and understand who this God is and realize he already knows what they need. And that brings us to what I understand to be the main point of this section Matthew six thirty three but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you I think this is his direct answer to the question behind this passage. If we understand that true riches are to be found in the coming kingdom of God, how then should we think about the concerns of this world? How should we relate to our physical needs now? Our priority should be on seeking God's kingdom and his righteousness that's the thing that we want most, the thing we set our hearts on and the thing that matters most to us finding true life in the kingdom of God and we hunger and thirst for holiness more than anything else. Believe his promises live a life of faith live as Jesus has been telling you to live in this Sermon on the Mount seek to be reconciled to God seek to repent of your sins to love your neighbor and to love God and seek to be received by Jesus into his kingdom. That should be the primary focus of our lives. In the midst of that we are people with physical needs and we remember who God is. We remember and count on the fact that God knows we need food and clothing and we don't let worry or fear preoccupy us and overwhelm our faith so we keep an eye on the promises of God as we go about our lives providing for our physical needs. It's okay to make sure that we have food and clothing the point is to have your mind fully fixed on who God is and what he has promised. You can count on him to sustain you until that day that he decides your life on this earth is done. Now it's tempting to read the second half of this verse and all these things will be added to you as a promise that all your physical needs will be met. I don't think that that is what Jesus is saying eventually the sparrow falls to the ground sometimes believers go hungry and sometimes their needs go unmet. I think the these things refers back to the kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things the kingdom of God and his righteousness will be added to you. You will get what you most need and desire you will get a place in the kingdom of God and freedom from sin. You will be granted the thing you seek most eternal life in the kingdom of God and then he concludes therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Now remember the context here I don't think he means you shouldn't have a plan for tomorrow. He's not saying it's wrong to save for retirement. He's not saying you shouldn't store excess grain in your barn or whatever. That does not fit with the rest of the sermon or with the rest of scripture. What he's saying is don't let worry about tomorrow consume you. In fact I think this statement is one of the things that helps make that distinction between planning and worrying he says sufficient for the day is its own trouble. A healthy concern for our physical needs does what it can today. We can hold down a job today. We can bake the bread we need today we can plant the crops we can work the harvest we can save and stay out of debt. Each of these things are part of the troubles of the day. Today we plan for tomorrow and prepare for the needs that will arise in the future. Today has real tasks that I need to do to make life better tomorrow. Today I'm concerned with the tasks that I have in front of me and what I need to accomplish in my specific situation. But there comes a point where there's nothing more that I can do today. At that point our concern for the future crosses over into fruitless worry. We can become overwhelmed with the fear of what tomorrow might bring, what the future might hold and we can start imagining all sorts of disastrous possibilities and how things might go wrong. Jesus gives us some very practical advice here. He says don't worry concentrate on what you can do today. Tomorrow will have its own problems. When tomorrow comes then you'll see the actual real problem in your path you face into it and you do what must be done. I don't know about you but it seems like a whole lot of human anxiety is over imaginary things that never really happen. I don't know what the percentages are but I'm fairly convinced the majority of worry and anxiety in my own life has been over things that might have happened or could happen but never did. And I see that in my friends too we can get really creative in our anxiety I mean why worry about one bad outcome when you can imagine thousands of cascading outcomes that spiral down into sheer terror and then you can worry about them all. I mean I could imagine hundreds of possible outcomes and worry over all of them. And that's the kind of path Jesus is urging us to avoid He's saying stop and think about it. Where is that kind of worry going to get you? You've only got today and whatever you can accomplish today. So today do what you can do. When tomorrow comes you'll know which of those hundred outcomes you have to deal with and then you'll deal with it very practical and solid advice Alright so let's try to put all this together. I think his point is fairly straightforward here he's saying don't let concern over your physical needs cross over into worry and anxiety. Don't let that fear for the future cause you to forget the goodness and the promises of God. And then he supports that statement by making several points there are more important things than our physical needs. The biggest issue we face in this life is not where our food and clothing is going to come from but whether or not we will choose to trust God and so find eternal life. If we think about how God has created the world we can see that God is very concerned with nourishing the life of his creatures. We can also see that he is concerned with the beauty of his creation. Of course we can expect him to know about our needs and to take care of them we who are made in his image this is not a promise that we will never undergo physical deprivation or that every need will be met to our satisfaction we know that God has a plan, that He cares for us and that He knows best. Sometimes His plan includes letting us do without something we want. When our concern crosses over into worry what good does it do? Can we make our lives any longer by worrying about it? No, worry gains us nothing. We are not Gentiles who are ignorant of who God is we know his promises, we know his character we know that He knows what we need before we even ask The bottom line then is we should make the most important things our priority seek to be received into His kingdom. Seek to live a faithful life pursuing His righteousness and remember that He cares for us and He has not forgotten that we have physical needs. Worrying about tomorrow is pointless. It's fine to plan, it's great to prepare for the future but attend to what you have to do today and then deal with tomorrow when it comes Let me make two last comments in 626 Jesus says that we human beings are of more value than the birds of the air his argument is from the lesser to the greater if God cares about the birds who are of less value, how much more will he take care of you who are made in his image and are of more value? Now in American culture today there are many who criticize the Judeo Christian worldview for this belief in the priority of human beings. They argue that this worldview promotes a kind of arrogance and a destruction of the environment and they claim a better philosophy would see no difference in value between human beings and animals and other parts of creation I don't want to get into the weeds of that argument but I want to just make a brief comment that it's probably true that throughout human history human beings have often been irresponsible when it comes to the environment. But I don't think we can get around two facts one, the Bible teaches That humans alone are made in the image of God. And two, the Bible teaches that being made in God's image is tied to being made a steward over creation. And yes, as stewards over creation, we have a prior importance, but we also have a great responsibility. The birds of the air are not going to be held accountable for how they treated this world. But as God's stewards, we human beings can be held accountable. Our important role as bearers of the image of God ought to sober us. We ought to use moral judgment and wisdom when interacting with other creatures in the environment. We are to love and nurture God's creation. We have both value and responsibility. We have been given a place of importance and we will be held accountable by our master one day. So I would say the problem is not that we think we're the most important creatures in creation. I think that statement is true. We're the only ones made in God's image. The problem is we're sinners. We've refused to take on the moral responsibility God has given us, and we handle our responsibility selfishly. Second, I want to try to clarify. I have been making this distinction between concern and worry. So on the one hand, there is an appropriate concern over providing for our physical needs both now and in the future. On the other hand, there is this mind-numbing worry over the future that can blind us to the promises of God. Now, in making that distinction, it might sound like I am suggesting that if you are a person of faith, you will never have an anxious moment in your life. I am not suggesting that. In those fearful moments, we want to avoid worry in the deepest sense of the word. That is, we don't want to let the pressure and the fear of being in a very difficult situation distract us and blind us to the promises of God. I think the Apostle Paul is a really good example of this. He suffered a lot to follow Jesus, but he did not let that suffering blind him to the path he was on. This is Second Corinthians eleven, twenty four through twenty eight, and Paul's describing the kind of life he's had since following Jesus. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I was adrift at sea, on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, and cold and exposure. And apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Now that word pressure in eleven twenty eight is our word concern or worry we've been talking about. Paul must concern himself with the spiritual welfare of the people under his care, and he describes this concern as putting a daily pressure on him. Externally, he suffers a great deal by being beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, going without food and sleep. And internally he suffers under his concern for the people he ministers to. Emotionally he is burdened for them. But he doesn't worry in the sense that he abandons his trust in God. He suffers when he thinks about the possibility that these people he has taught might throw their faith away and lose eternal life. It causes him sorrow. He longs for an outcome that he may not get, but in the midst of all that pain and concern, he doesn't lose his trust in God. So he wasn't chill or placid and never had an emotion in his life. He was emotional. He felt a great burden, but he didn't let that burden consume his faith. And of course, the greatest example of this is Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Here is Jesus facing the cross. He's facing death in a terrible and horrible, painful way. It's not just that he might go without food tomorrow. He knows that the end of his life on this earth is coming and it is not going to be easy. He longs to escape and he prays that he might walk a different path. Yet he never loses sight of the Father in whom he has put his trust. He tells the Father, not my will, but yours be done, which is probably the most magnificent statement of faith ever. But remember, he wasn't calm and unruffled and placid when he said it, he was sweating blood when he said it. So I just want to be clear that I am not urging you to be like a Star Trek Vulcan or and cut off all your emotions or something. Faith is not emotional numbness. There's a difference between feeling and suffering under the emotional pressures of the future and letting those feelings blind us to our hope. Your feelings may be unavoidable, but what you want to do is not cross that line into letting them blind you to the hope of the gospel. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure that out. You can find all previous episodes in this series on my website, wednesdayintheword.com. There is no charge, no spam, and no ads. It's all free to help you improve your study skills and understanding of scripture. If you've been blessed by listening, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a positive rating or review wherever you listen to your podcast, but most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. Our theme song is graciously provided by my friend and favorite musician Reggie Coates. You can find all of Reggie's music and his CDs on heartfeltmusic.org. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Kristan Morata, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.