Walking Wisely - Worry or Trust?

Now let's take our Bibles. Let's turn back to Matthew 6. We are going to be in verses 25 to 34. Just have your Bible open there. We will get to those verses as we get into the message. I am not going to read them all again. We will read them and look at them as we progress through the message. Now I think most of you know that all throughout the month of January I have been giving us a challenge. I have been challenging us to make sure that we are walking or living wisely in the month of January, but not just in the month of January. I want this challenge to carry us all throughout the year.

Of course this charge and this challenge comes from Ephesians 5 verses 15 to 18. Now I want to read those verses in the Amplified. I like it. It ministers to me. Hopefully it ministers to you the Amplified the paraphrase there. Therefore, see that you walk carefully, living life with honor, purpose, and courage, shunning those who tolerate and enable evil, not as the unwise but as wise, sensible, intelligent, discerning people, making the very most of your time on earth recognizing and taking advantage of each opportunity and using it with wisdom and diligence because the days are filled with evil.

Therefore, do not be foolish and thoughtless but understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine for that is wickedness, corruption, stupidity, but be filled with the Holy Spirit and constantly guided by Him. So I am charging us all to make sure that we are living carefully, to make sure that we redeem to time, to make sure that we know and do God's will, and to make sure we are spirit filled. And look folks, I believe that if we grasp this teaching and we really let God do a work in our lives here, this will powerfully impact us in the month and in the year. We will have the best year ever, I believe.

Now as a part of this call to walk wisely in January and also into the new year, I said that we would look at a few areas of our lives that I believe as your pastor need some attention. I believe we all need some encouragement, maybe even some correction in certain areas of our lives. Now two weeks ago we were challenged to walk wisely as we relate to Sunday, which is actually the Lord's Day. I titled that message Walking Wisely, we worship on the Lord's Day.

Ultimately we learned that Sunday is the Lord's Day and we learned that we should see it as the Lord's Day and we learned that we should live accordingly, understanding that it is the Lord's Day, not our day. And I challenge you if you have not gotten that teaching make sure you do because all these messages really go together. Now this morning I want to move into another area of our lives that I believe we all need to examine. This is an area of life where many can struggle and many can even suffer. This is an area of life where even believers can be in sin. This can be a crippling sin for a believer.

This can be a grievous sin and it is a grievous sin for a believer. I'm referring to the sin of worry. I'm referring to the sin of worry. As believers we can be neck deep in worry or we can struggle with the temptation to worry. We can always walk on the edge of the cliff of worry. No matter where you are I want you to see that worry is a sin because at the heart of worry is a refusal to trust God. Let me say that again. At the heart of worry is a refusal to trust God and this is deeply personal. This is deeply relational and that is what Jesus is teaching on here in verses 25 to 34 in Matthew 6.

Worry in the lives of believers that should be replaced by trust in the lives of believers. Now before we get into the message we need to make sure we get the context of the verses here. I've taught you thoroughly. I teach you this often that context is king and it's worth it to get the context because that brightens the picture if I can use that illustration of what the Lord wants to teach us here. Now this teaching here is a part of what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount and that is found in Matthew 5, 6 and 7. This was a preaching or a teaching event that took place at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry.

Now this is what's going on here at the Sermon on the Mount. This event took place at the beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry. I've already said that. He had already called his disciples to him. They were following him and at this time great crowds were already beginning to follow Jesus. We see that stated in chapter 4 verses 23 to 25. So at this event there was a great crowd and Jesus taught them there on the hillside. Most of the crowd there would have been Jews and in my mind and my imagination I envisioned these events like this. Jesus was teaching on the hillside and before him was this great crowd.

His newly minted very eager disciples were there in the front there. They were eager. They were keen and they were listening to everything that their new Lord was teaching. One commentator called this the disciples ordination service. I kind of like that. And in the back I believe you have these Jewish religious leaders. I believe they are there. They are skeptical. They are scoffing and ultimately they would be the scheming murderers that they already were. Now before we get into the message we must understand Jesus' overall purpose in giving the entire Sermon on the Mount.

Simply Jesus was revealing true kingdom living and he was revealing the false external religion of the Jews and especially the religious leaders. Jesus was explaining that the true religion of those in the kingdom was all about the inside of the person. Jesus was teaching that true kingdom living starts with a heart change and then it was all about the Spirit of God and the Word of God working on the inside of that person which then produces external kingdom living. True kingdom living. And he was contrasting true kingdom living up against the false teaching. This external false teaching in religion of the Jews and the religious leaders.

So Jesus was revealing true kingdom living and he was exposing the false external religion of the Jews that had really taken over all of Judaism. Now before we get into the message I'm trying to get there. We need to have the right approach here. The right mindset to this teaching. And I will revisit this all throughout the message. And look this takes a little more time but this is necessary because there are always some and I believe some of you are prone to fall into this trap. We must not see this teaching as some kind of a to do or not to do list.

We must not see this teaching as some kind of a black and white manual for Christian living. This is relational. This is personal. It's relational. It's not mechanical. It's not external. This teaching is based on the relationship true believers have with their God. In this teaching we see the phrase your heavenly father used two times. Verse 26 and 32. And this is critical for us to see as believers. Our heavenly father. Our heavenly father. See how it's relational. See how it's personal. He wants us to know how we should relate to him. He wants us to trust him and to know that we can trust him.

And God wants us to see that worry is a sin against him. Yes it's a sin against his word. Yes it's a sin against his promises. But it is a sin against him personally. Now let me explain with you how we're going to deal with the verses. Here we will see that worry is a sin in five different ways. Yes worry is a sin in five different ways. So number one worry is a sin against our Lord. Worry is a sin against our Lord. Look back at verse 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 in the body more than clothing?

Now if we pause there you might say pastor I don't see anything to do with Lord there. Go back up to verse 24. Jesus says no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one or love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Now we need to see this right away. We need to see that Jesus teaching in verse 25 is connected to verse 24. The ESV says therefore the new American says for this reason simply this phrase points back to verse 24. So this means that what Jesus was saying in verse 25 is connected to what he said in verse 24.

Well in verse 24 Jesus says that no man can serve two masters. Simply Jesus was saying because God is your Lord, God is your master you must not worry. So this command not to worry is connected to God's lordship over the lives of his people. But what is the meaning of worry? The English Standard the new American reads anxious. This is a key word. This is mentioned six times in these verses and it is at the heart of the teaching that's obvious. Simply worry means to go beyond healthy thought and thinking. It speaks of perplexing and distressing thoughts and cares. It speaks of thoughts that lead to despair, worry.

This would be anxious thinking, anxious living. Now the King James says take no thought about your life. Now honestly the King James translation does not communicate to me quite what Jesus is saying here. Because Jesus is not saying don't work or plan in the matters of life. The book of Proverbs is full of teaching. They call God's people to work and to plan matters in life and even to save for the future. Paul even rebuked the Thessalonian Christians for not working and meeting their own physical needs in life. So this is all about worry.

Unhealthy thoughts, unhealthy thinking, unhealthy patterns of thinking and thoughts, perplexing and distressing ways of thinking, thinking or ways of thinking and even patterns of thinking that lead to despair, worry, anxious thinking, even worrisome patterns of thinking that turn into worrisome patterns of life in life. But we need to see the reality of this worry. The construction of the original language here does not speak of the possibility but a reality. The idea here is of stopping worry and anxiety that is already in the heart and already in the life. So Jesus is not dealing with a possibility that these people would worry.

He is aiming at the reality that they did worry. And also we need to see the object of this worry. Jesus first says do not worry about life. And then he goes on to mention food and water and clothing. This term your life is a general all inclusive term that speaks to all of life. Physical matters in life as well as spiritual and emotional all of life. And then he moves on to name some specifics and notice the things Jesus mentions are not luxuries in life but the basic necessities in life. Food, water and clothing. Now we take these things for granted in our culture because we live in an affluent time and culture.

But they were never taken for granted in their day and in this time and with these people. These people that were before Jesus on that day they were one drought away from a famine. Drought or an inadequate amount of rainfall meant no water and no crops and no crops meant no food which meant they didn't have the money for clothing. So Jesus was aiming at their worry and anxieties with all of life and even the very basic necessities of life. Food, water and clothing. So notice the command here but remember the context. Jesus says to this great crowd of Jews and especially those disciples, his followers.

God is to be your Lord and master and you can only have one Lord and master. And Jesus was calling his people to stop worrying, to stop fretting about all of life. Yes, but even about the very basic necessities. So Jesus was aiming at real worries, real anxieties that pertain to life and death and even the necessities in life. And for us, we live in a completely different day. Yes, we don't have to worry about the basic necessities but our great sin is this. We take those things for granted. We don't give thanks to God enough because we have an abundance of food and water and clothing.

We have those things to spare and we are not as thankful as we should be. Maybe you should go home and open your pantry and look at all the food that you have and thank God for that. Maybe you should open your freezer and say, "Lord, I've got an abundance here." And thank God for that. Maybe you should open your closet or open your chest of drawers and say, "Lord, I've got clothes to spare and take inventory there and be thankful there." But Jesus continues here. Next, Jesus gives a great principle in the form of a question. Look at verse 25 again. I want us to see the question.

"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 put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?" Now notice what Jesus is doing here in this question. He was turning their life around right in front of them. He was revealing their perspective on these basic necessities of life. And he was working to change their perspective.

He was saying, "Is it your life more important than the things you think are so important, food, drink, and clothing?" He was saying, "You are worrying about all of life, even the basic necessities, but isn't your life more important than all of that?" See, it's about perspective. Perspective. I'll give you an example on perspective. Often, sometimes, I will speak about my granddad that I spent a lot of time with growing up and lessons, life lessons that I learned there. But I spent a lot of time growing up with my granddad. I would go over in the summer and stay a few weeks and enjoy life. But my granddad lived a lot different than we did.

Let me give you an example. When you were going to take a shower at night, you had to go out and turn on the hot water heater. If you mentioned taking a shower, he'd say, "Well, gee whiz, you better go out there and whack on that hot water heater." So you went out and you flipped the breaker. Now, I didn't grow up like that. The hot water was on all the time. And you know, I didn't understand why he did those kind of things. But as I got older, I realized it was that he was looking at life from a completely different perspective. See, he grew up in a day when you didn't have hot water. You had to heat that hot water up.

He said growing up, you know, for the females to take a bath, you had to heat it up on a wood stove. And it was a big ordeal. He said, "For us boys, we just went out into the pond or into the creek to bathe." So for him, a hot water heater was a tremendous luxury. Perspective. Perspective. Now for us, what must we learn here? How does this apply for us in our day? We need our perspective changed. It needs to be turned around. We need to see that our lives are more important than our bodies and food and clothing. We need a completely different perspective on all of these things.

And look, if some of you had a change in perspective here, you would not worry about your bodies as much. You would not worry about food as much. You would not worry about clothing as much. We need a completely different perspective on these things. And if you were to have a different perspective here, you would be deeply concerned about how you live. You would be concerned about the sin in your life, the lack of godliness in your life, the lack of holiness in your life. And I'm not preaching just to you. I'm preaching to me as well. Now think with me. Everything Jesus' name related to the body. Food, drink, and clothing.

And with his question, Jesus was showing us that the true meaning of life is far more than taking care of our bodies. Think about our lives. We can be engrossed and obsessed with our bodies, even to idolatrous levels. We pamper our bodies. We decorate and adorn our bodies with jewelry and makeup and all sorts of clothing. We protect our bodies. We go to the doctor to take medicines, eat the right foods, and take supplements to keep our bodies healthy from sickness. We exercise our bodies. We work to build our bodies up. We diet to slim our bodies down. We spend a lot of time simply to keep our bodies warm and cool. We train our bodies.

We train our bodies to work. We train our bodies to play sports and to get involved in hobbies. We even work hard to get our bodies to sleep and to rest. And it's the same with food. Our perspective on food is the same as our perspective on our bodies. And I think we need to understand that these things are out of kilter. They need to be turned around. We need a new perspective. So my question for us is this. Can we have the wrong perspective here and do we need our perspective changed? Yes, we all do. So let's be honest because worry is a sin, folks. Worrying concerning the basic necessities in life is a sin against the lordship of Christ.

Why? We can only have one master. Number two, worry is a sin against our Father. Worry is a sin against our Father. Verse 26 to the beginning of verse 30. 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 more valuable 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 flowers of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God who closed the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, then how much more will He clothe you? O you of little faith. Now these verses are tied to verse 25, but there is a shift. Jesus says that His people have no business being tied up with worry and anxiety, not just because God is their Lord Master, but also because He is their Father. Father is used two times in verse 26 and 31. So with this shift in mind, from an emphasis on Master to an emphasis on Father, we will see that Jesus begins to illustrate just how this worry and anxious living is totally unnecessary.

Here Jesus gives three illustrations to flesh out or explain why this worry is totally unnecessary. The first illustration, birds and food, it's in verse 26. Now I am not sure if Jesus used His hands. I can't talk and preach without using my hands, but it's almost like He pointed and said to those listening, "Look, look at the birds of the air. They don't worry about food like you do. Actually that is just what Jesus did say.

I don't know that He used His hands, but that's what He said by pointing out to the birds that they were accustomed to seeing that they clearly knew Jesus was reminding them that every animal created by God is fed by God." And then with this carefully aimed question, Jesus says to His people, "Are you not more valuable than birds?" And I mean He hits them right between the eyes. And listen folks, man is not a mere animal. No. God created man in His own image and in His own likeness and no animal was created in the image of God. Not only that, but true believers are blood-bought by Christ. Christ did not die for birds.

Christ did not die on the cross for cats and dogs. And there is a gigantic difference. I've said this before. It drives me berserk when I turn on the television and they have these long running commercials about the abuse of animals and give money and give food and give money and give food. Yes, we should take care of animals. I'm not for abusing animals, but those same people who would throw you under the jail if you neglected your animals, they will abode a baby in a minute. So Jesus is saying that to His disciples that they were worth much more than mere birds because God is their Father.

And if their Father cares to feed the birds, He most certainly can and will feed them. And then the second illustration, adding time to life. That's in verse 27. Now there is some debate as to the meaning of this verse. Some believe this verse deals with life span. You may see that footnoted in your Bible. But the best translation from the original language renders this about life. We see this in the English Standard Version. Now what is Jesus doing here?

Jesus aims another question straight at His people and says, "With your worry, even about the necessities of life, can you add a single hour to the length of your life?" Well the answer is no. So Jesus is assuring His people that their Father has determined all of the days of their life and all of their worries cannot extend their life before that time, before their appointed death. And then the third illustration, flowers and grass, verse 28 to 30. Now one commentator said that the fact that Jesus refers to flowers and grass in the field suggests that Jesus had flowers in view. Maybe He did.

Maybe there was an abundance of flowers for them to see. Maybe Jesus was pointing at the fields nearby and they could see all of the flowers. Of course we have no way of knowing if He was actually pointing at flowers. But what was Jesus teaching here? He is telling His people that the beautiful flowers of the field don't even look for food like birds and they are more beautiful than Solomon in all of His glory. Of course Solomon was one of the most powerful and wealthy kings to have ever lived and kings like Solomon were dressed in the finest, most expensive clothes of the day. But there is more.

Jesus says these beautiful flowers and grasses of the field are here today and gone tomorrow because they are burned up. Now this burned in the oven speaks of fuel for the common everyday ovens of their day. Simply these beautiful flowers and grasses of the field that God definitely cares for, they were simply fuel for fire as they cooked their food. And here Jesus aims another question at His people. And Jesus says to them, "If God closed the field with flowers and they are more beautiful than even Solomon in His glory, then how much more will your Father clothe you?" Now notice what Jesus is illustrating.

Jesus was saying to these people that God is your Father. Why do you worry about life? Even the necessities of life. Your Father feeds the birds and they are not even made in your image. Your Father has numbered the days of your life and you cannot add what has been determined by your worries. Your Father has closed the fields around you in great glory so He definitely can clothe you. Now for us, what do we need to see here? There is quite a lot. First off, we need to see that we are more important than birds. I have used this illustration before but it fits. Every spring I have some swallows that come and nest on my porch.

They used to come to the side porch and I kept tearing the nest down and finally they moved to the front porch last summer. Well I couldn't bring myself to tear the nest down again. Now my wife didn't like that. It caused a little tip there. Maybe we need to go back through that marriage study. But you know I would watch the birds. I could sit in my chair and drink my coffee and I could see the nest and my wife is over here growling because she wanted the birds to be gone. Well I just protected the birds. Every year they come back. You might think it is strange but for some strange reason those birds will kind of import it to me.

But think about it. God feeds that bird the male and the female. He gives those birds the ability to come back to the same place and nest on my porch every year. But we are far more important to God than a bird that comes and nests under my porch. Are we not? And for some of you you worry and you worry and you worry and you worry. And honestly that bird and the birds that come and nest under my porch trust God better than you do. Some of you even have health problems because of worry.

You spend endless amounts of time and energy worrying all while the birds that are in my yard they are going to come under my porch again this year they trust God. They trust God. They trust God. I just created a discussion for our ride home from church. I will get a lecture about the birds from my wife. Think about how we treat our bodies. Worry and anxiety is a sin and it can even shorten our life. But all that we do to benefit our bodies cannot add a day to our life not even one hour. Now is it a sin to exercise and try to be healthy and go to the doctor and such? No. I probably need to get back to running like I used to.

But the question we must ask is this. When does all of this cross the line into unhealthy thinking and into an unhealthy way of life? Remember the great principle in verse 25. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Yes. And remember folks it's all about a heavenly perspective. Life is more than food and the body and clothing. And look we are far more important than birds. So start living like it. We need to start living like it. And number three worry is a sin against our faith. Worry is a sin against our faith. We see this in verse 31 and 32. Now here in verse 31 we see another shift.

Jesus shows his people that they relate to God in another way. He goes from Lord to Father and now Jesus is showing his people that worry clashes with their professed faith in God. He is showing his people that anxious living is not to be mixed in with their faith because that is a contradiction. Now he does this in two ways. The first is more subtle. The second is a lot more bold. First he gives them a reminder in verse 31. Here Jesus is repeating what he had already taught but really this is stronger. This is also a correction. We saw that he was seeking to correct a pattern of behavior in them so he was reminding them.

He was admonishing them and he is still correcting them. But notice three questions here. What should we eat? What should we drink? What should we wear? He has already covered this in verse 25. Remember that firm forceful argument in the form of the question. Jesus is strongly pushing back against that sin. He is making a strong argument against their sin. So this is a reminder here in verse 31. This is an admonishment. This is a forceful correction. Do not worry about these things. If Jesus repeats something do you think we need to really take notice? In second he gives them a warning in verse 32.

He warns them that anxious living is what the Gentiles do. In this word Gentile would have gotten their attention. You see the Gentiles were all non-Jewish people. And here Jesus is using this term to refer to non-believers pagans. He says that worry about food and drink and clothing is what the pagans do. And on top of that your heavenly father he knows what you need in those things. And it is important for us to understand what Jesus is showing and listening to those who are listening. Maybe Jesus did insult them a little. The cause to compare a Jew to a Gentile in any way was extremely insulting. But Jesus was differentiating.

He was making a distinction. The Gentile or the non-believer they have no hope in God because they don't know God. They have no hope or security that God would provide their needs. Anything they get in life must come from themselves. So their lives are all about self and sin and they have no regard for God. They live for sin and for self. So naturally they worry about food and drink and clothes. They worry about all of these things. And then some, the non-believer lives just like Jesus describes in verse 25. But not so with the true believer. They have hope in God. They know God.

They have security in life because they know God will meet their needs. They know that anything they get in life comes from God. So their lives are all about trust in God. Trust in God. They trust God. And they don't have to worry about food, drink, clothes and even life. And look the true believer who gets this, who gets this, they love what Philippians 4, 6 to 7 says, "Do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." If you don't have the peace of God here folks, it could be that you are anxious and may be anxious about everything. So notice what Jesus is doing here. Again, note the truth. He showed them before that worry is sin against their Lord. Then against their father, now he shows them that worry is a sin against their professed faith. But more. He shows them that it is pure pagan. He says, "Don't worry about food, drink and clothes. That's what the pagans do. Your heavenly father definitely knows that you need all of those things.

Don't be like the pagans." Now many of you have been into my home. We enjoy having people in our home. My wife and I can clean up the front part of the house real quick and you can come over and visit. Just don't go to the back part. But you know if you came into my house and you saw a little shrine over in the corner where I worship my ancestors, you would be offended. Anybody seen anything like that? If you came into my home and you saw a little idol, maybe a Buddha, you would be offended. Anybody seen something like that? Go to a foreign country you will.

If you came into my home and you saw something like that in my life, you would say that idol, that idol and that idol worship is not something that a Christian should do, much less a pastor. You would say that's pagan. Because non-Christian is not a strong enough word. If I'm worshiping my ancestors or I'm worshiping Buddha, you'd say that's pagan. That's pagan. Well that is what Jesus is saying here. Worry is something that pagans do. Worry is truly a sin against their faith, your faith. Jesus is saying that worry and anxious living is contradictory to the faith because at the heart of the Christian faith is trusting in God. It's personal.

It's relational. Now for us, let me show you what we're doing if we commit this sin. We are denying the faith. If we commit this sin, it is an affront to God. One commentator said worry is practical atheism and an affront to God. He's right. Atheism is a lack of belief or a complete disbelief in the existence of God and our worry and anxious living is a practical lack of belief or a complete disbelief in God. How personal is that? For some of you, you worry your anxious living is real and it is a real practical disbelief in God. It is almost a complete disbelief in God and that's personal, and grievous, and a grievous sin against God.

So this worry is a sin against our faith. It's pagan. And then number four, worry is a sin against our call. We see this in verse 33. Now here in verse 33, we see another shift. Jesus goes from the negative to the positive. He's been telling his people what not to do and now he tells them what they should do and what Jesus says here can be seen as the heart of the teaching. Now when I say sit on the edge of your seats, it's kind of a cultural term. We know what that means. If I say sit on the edge of your seat, we know what that means. Some of us like sports. I told Christie Saturday, it's kind of depressing. Football is over.

In a close football game, when it gets to the first quarter and it's a team we really like, you know, we really pay attention. We're on the edge of our seats. Some of you like baseball. I'm not a big baseball fan. It's kind of slow and boring to me, but when the game is all tied up, we really pay attention when it gets to the eighth or ninth inning. We're on the edge of our seats, you see. Well, Jesus is at the heart of the teaching here and we need to be on the edge of our seats because we need this more than you know. Now notice what Jesus is saying here. First he calls his people to seek first the kingdom of God.

Now question, what is this kingdom? We don't have kings and queens and we don't live in a kingdom. So we might not relate to this language. Actually the kingdom of God and kingdom living is the main subject of the entire summit on the Mount, but one is the kingdom. It's really simple. It is the gospel and the administration of the gospel. Now think about that. The kingdom is all about the gospel and the administration of the gospel. It is the gospel and the administration of the gospel that ultimately leads to building Christ's church. Christ came to save sinners. He saved that band of disciples and a few others during his earthly ministry.

Then through the power and the work of the Holy Spirit of God, Christ formed those first believers into the church and the Holy Spirit continued to work through the first church there in Jerusalem to save other sinners in other places and Christ formed them into the church as well. You see the kingdom is the gospel and the administration of the gospel all throughout the world or the building of Christ's church throughout the world. And right here as Jesus was teaching, this was the beginning of kingdom work and that is what Jesus was calling these followers to do and into.

And this seeking is making the kingdom their pursuit and their number one choice. This seeking is pursuing the kingdom before and above all other things. So Jesus is calling his people to seek first his kingdom. And then second he calls his people to seek first his righteousness. But what is righteousness? You can say that righteousness and righteous living was one of the main subjects of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus was exposing the unrighteousness of the Jews and explaining the true righteousness of God and what that looked like but what is this righteousness? Actually it is simple. Christ. Christ in his life. Christ in his work.

Christ in his words. All those things revealed this righteousness. Think about it. The righteousness of God is Christ. It is Christ's life. It is his work. It is his words. All those things reveal the righteousness, righteousness of God. So simply Christ Jesus took the righteousness of God as it was revealed in the old and he explained it further in the new. That is what he is doing in so much of the Sermon on the Mount. Christ further explained the righteousness of God in his gospel and the teaching of the New Testament. Christ even explained the righteousness of God in his work through his people in the New Testament scriptures.

You see this righteousness is Christ. It is his life. It is his works. It is his words. All those things reveal the righteousness of God and what God's people should strive for. And right here as Jesus was teaching he was just beginning to unfold what his righteousness looks like and that is what Jesus was calling his followers into. They were to seek after his righteousness. This seeking is making righteousness their pursuit and their number one choice. This seeking is pursuing his righteousness before and above all other things. So Jesus was calling his people to seek righteousness. And third he calls his people to see his provision.

Now if what we have examined has seemed positive to you then the last part of verse 32 will really be positive. Here Jesus makes his people a promise, a guarantee. He says that if we put kingdom living and righteous living before and above everything in our lives he says I will guarantee your future needs. Isn't that what he says? It is a promise. He plainly says if you do these two things all that you are tempted to worry about it will be added to you. So notice what Jesus is saying. Again a shift from what can be seen as the negative to the positive. But Jesus moves up and into the heart of this message here.

He calls his people to make certain things their supreme choice and pursuit. He calls them these first disciples to seek certain things before and above all other things. Kingdom life, kingdom work, kingdom living and righteousness. His righteousness and righteous living. I like how John MacArthur summarizes it. He says this is the Christians priority of priorities. A divine priority composed of two parts God's kingdom and God's righteousness. Now I think we need to let two words speak to us in application. The word pursuit. The word pursuit. Think about all the things we pursue in life. Think about that. And the word purpose.

Think about our purpose in life. What do we pursue? All that we pursue. Our purpose and our purpose is his life. Well that is what Jesus is talking about here for his people. What they pursue and their purpose. He was calling them and he is calling us to pursue kingdom living and kingdom life. He is calling us to pursue righteousness and righteousness in life. Those things are to be our pursuit and our purpose. And look church, this is our calling from God and worry in life and about the necessities of life. That is against our calling. And then number five. Number five, worry is a sin against our future. Worry is a sin against our future.

We see this in verse 34. Now what Jesus says here is quite simple but I want to address two possible misconceptions that could trip us up here. I want to get these out of the way. First Jesus is not calling his people to be slack or not to make provisions for tomorrow. All through the Proverbs we see that God calls his people to work, to plan for the future and even to sing for the future. Laziness and slothfulness are always condemned in God's word. So Jesus is not teaching some sort of slothful, overly carefree approach to life. Second Jesus is not calling his people to worry about today but not tomorrow.

Jesus is not somehow saying that worry for tomorrow is a sin because we must worry about today. Look, all worry, all anxious living is sinful. Actually he is saying that today has enough troubles. Today has enough temptations. We have enough trials today that must be faced. He is saying let tomorrow's trouble be for tomorrow and just face today's trouble today. So Jesus is saying to take these things one day at a time. Well what is Jesus saying here in the verse? Simply he is calling his people to trust him with tomorrow, their future. He is saying that their future is secure in him.

Their responsibility was to live for his kingdom and his righteousness today and to trust God with great confidence that he would supply all their needs tomorrow and in the future. As one commentator called it, this was God's social security plan. That's good. This was and is God's social security plan. So Jesus was showing his people that to worry about tomorrow is to sin against the future that God has securely stored away for them. Now how does this apply to us right here today? Listen folks, worrying about tomorrow is like all of those government stimulus checks that were passed out like Halloween candy during COVID.

Remember those checks? In our day, stimulus checks may be a sin against the financial security of our future and our children's future and I think they are. But worrying about tomorrow is a sin against the future provision that God has already laid up and is waiting for us. You see? You see? Think about it. Think about it folks. Anxious living about tomorrow is a sin against the future provision that God already has waiting for us. So worry is a sin against our future. Now as I close, how does this relate to the new year? I mean it's January the 21st so we are past, we are well past all of our new year's resolutions. Isn't that right?

Maybe not. But this is my call. This is my challenge. This is my charge to us all. Let's make sure we walk and live wisely. Ephesians 5, 15 to 18. All throughout the new year, let's hang on to those verses. Let's meditate over them. Let's memorize them. Let's know them. Let's know this teaching inside and out and let's pray over these verses and Ephesians so as to make sure we are walking wisely and a part of walking wisely is eradicating the sin of worry from our lives. Anxious thinking, stressful living. Worry, anxiousness and despair must be exterminated from our lives and living.

As God's people we must repent to Him because it is a sin against Him. We must trust in Him. Remember, remember at the heart of worry is a refusal to trust God and this is deeply personal. Deeply personal because it is a sin against God. So walking wisely, worry or trust. And I have that in the form of a question. Worry or trust. So let's pray and we'll commit these things to the Spirit to work them out according to our need.