Latest / Reformed Thinking / Kingdom First, Anxiety Last: Fatherly Providence and the Disciples’ Freedom (Matthew 6:25–34)

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Kingdom First, Anxiety Last: Fatherly Providence and the Disciples’ Freedom (Matthew 6:25–34) · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to reformed thinking. And this is the deep dive where
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  we get into the details of a text and really try to
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  understand it. Today we're looking at a passage
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  that I think everyone knows, or at least thinks they know.
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  It's Jesus's teaching on worry in Matthew chapter 6, verses 25
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  to 34. And our goal here isn't to just
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  offer a few encouraging thoughts.
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  We want to look at this through the lens of Scripture itself,
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  understanding anxiety for what Jesus says it is.
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  Which is what exactly? Well, he treats it as a
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  spiritual issue, not just the psychological quirk, but
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  something that points to a heart with, you could say, disordered
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  worship. And the cure he offers is.
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  It's all about the Father's Providence, his reliable care.
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  OK, so key thing to get right from the start is that this
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  whole discussion hangs on one word in verse 25.
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  Yes, the word. Therefore, it connects
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  everything Jesus is about to say on worry to everything you just
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  said about treasure and masters. You can't serve God and Mammon,
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  God and money or material security.
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  Right. If you try to split your
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  allegiance, if you try to find your security in your own
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  resources, then anxiety isn't just a possibility.
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  It's the inevitable result. It's the logical outcome.
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  You've basically signed up for the job of managing the universe
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  yourself, and that's a crust or a way.
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  So that's our thesis for this deep dive.
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  Anxiety is the symptom. And disordered worship is the
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  disease. The solution Jesus gives isn't a
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  technique, it's a re centering of the entire person on God's
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  Kingdom and his. All right, let's jump into that
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  first command. In verse 25, Jesus says do not
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  be anxious about your life. This isn't gentle advice, is it?
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  It lands with some real force. It's an alarm bell, it's a
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  command, and it helps to know the Greek word here, marimna.
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  It carries this idea of being pulled apart, being distracted
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  or internally divided. Pulled apart, that's a very
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  vivid picture of what anxiety feels like, a fragmentation of
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  your mind, your attention. It is.
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  It describes a state where you're constantly trying to
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  secure the future, but you're doing it as if God isn't there,
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  as if he's absent from his own world.
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  And if that's your starting point, if you believe it's all
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  on you. Then worry becomes a necessity.
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  It feels like the only responsible thing to do.
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  So this is where we see anxiety as the fruit of that divided
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  allegiance you mentioned. If my real master is my bank
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  account or my reputation. And you're going to worry
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  because those masters are fragile.
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  They can vanish overnight. Now this is an area where we
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  need to be careful. Is Jesus condemning, say, having
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  a budget or planning for retirement?
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  Not at all, And that's a critical distinction.
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  The Scriptures are full of praise for diligence, for a wise
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  planning, for honest work. So what's he condemning?
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  He's condemning a specific kind of worry, an unbelieving,
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  consuming worry. It's a posture of the heart that
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  leads to this restless, spiraling and a deep seated
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  distrust of God. It's that clenched fist
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  attitude. Yes, that insistence on control,
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  as if we can take over God's role as the one who governs all
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  things. And it reframes it for me.
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  It's not about working versus not working.
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  It's about theology is asking who am I actually trusting right
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  now? That is the core question.
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  You see, anxiety is a kind of work.
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  It takes a huge amount of energy, but it's counterfeit
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  work. Counterfeit work.
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  Say more about that. It burns up all this internal
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  fuel, but it produces nothing except more bondage.
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  It's the spiritual opposite of the sort of peaceful diligence
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  that comes from genuine trust. And I noticed Jesus is very
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  practical here. He's not talking about abstract
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  fears. He names the basics.
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  What you will eat or what you will drink, What you will put
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  on. He gets right down to our
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  creaturely needs. He's not dismissing them as
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  unreal, but he forbids us from making them the ultimate thing.
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  If the means of life become the meaning of life.
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  You're a slave to them. Then he asked this question.
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  That just cuts through all the noise.
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  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
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  It's an appeal to basic reason, isn't it?
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  It exposes how irrational unbelief really is.
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  Think about it, if God has already given you the greater
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  gift, life itself, the very breath in your lungs.
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  Why would you think he's going to drop the ball and the lesser
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  supports needed to maintain that life?
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  It makes no sense, but anxiety does that.
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  It flips reality on its head. We fixate on the empty pantry or
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  the worn out clothes and let that define everything,
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  forgetting the gigantic gift of being alive in the first place.
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  Jesus is trying to get our gaze to move upward.
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  He is toward the giver and sustainer of life, and in that
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  sense, this command do not be anxious is an act of incredible
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  mercy. He's freeing his people from
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  living in what you might call a closed universe A.
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  Closed universe? What do you mean by that?
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  A world where only the things you can see and measure and
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  control are real. A world without a personal,
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  caring God who acts. In that kind of World, Peace has
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  to be earned. By frantic control, By saving
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  more, By managing every single risk.
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  Right. If you're an orphan in a
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  universe like that, being afraid is the only logical response to
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  anything. Every threat could be the end of
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  you. So when someone today operates
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  from a purely material, realistic worldview, their
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  anxiety is actually rational within that system.
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  It is Anxiety makes perfect sense if God is not in control.
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  But Jesus forbids his followers from living that way.
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  We're called to live as children of a father, not as orphans
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  squandering to survive. OK, so then he gives his first
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  reason. He grounds this command in what
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  we can see every day. Look at the birds of the air.
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  It's a call to re educate ourselves.
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  Anxiety gives you tunnel vision. All you see are your problems,
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  your deficits. Christ says look up, look
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  around. I'm going to teach you about my
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  Father's care using my creation. So we look and we see they
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  neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns.
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  For someone raised with a strong work ethic, that line can be a
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  little. It can, and we have to be so
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  clear here. This is not a command to be
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  lazy. Birds are incredibly busy
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  creatures. They work hard all day long.
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  So what's? The point then?
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  The point is what they don't do. They don't secure their own
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  futures through anxious stockpiling.
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  They aren't trying to control tomorrow by building bigger
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  barns today. So the contrast isn't working
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  versus not working. No, it's trusting your work to
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  God versus worshipping your work as your Savior.
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  The lie of the world is that peace comes from having total
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  control over your resources. The birds tell a different
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  story. They do.
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  They work in dependence, not in pride.
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  And right in the middle of that observation is the comfort.
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  And yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
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  He makes it so personal. It's not nature provides or the
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  ecosystem works, it's your Heavenly Father.
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  And that's our whole understanding of Providence.
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  It's not some cold, impersonal force.
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  As the Westminster Confession explains, Providence is the
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  warm, wise governance of God. He personally upholds and
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  directs all of his creatures. He's not a distant landlord,
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  he's involved in the day-to-day operations.
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  Yes, and that phrase, your Heavenly Father, is just packed
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  with meaning. Heavenly points to His
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  transcendent authority over everything.
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  He's in charge of the whole system, but.
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  Father points to his covenantal love for you.
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  Anxiety tells you God is either too big to care or too distant
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  to notice. Christ says no.
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  The one who runs the cosmos is also your Father, and he is
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  paying attention to the smallest details.
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  Which leads to his knockout argument.
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  The much more argument are you not of more value than they?
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  And this isn't sentimental fluff.
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  It's a statement of theological fact.
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  Human beings are made in God's image.
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  Christians are his adopted children.
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  So the logic flows from lesser to greater.
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  It has to If God's care is so detailed that it provides for
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  creatures of a lesser standing, how could it possibly fail for
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  His own beloved? Children.
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  It's theologically inconsistent to think it would.
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  It's irrational, and so that striving that comes from fear
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  and distrust is shown to be, well, foolish.
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  The question for us is not if we will work, but who we will trust
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  while we work. Then Jesus just gears.
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  He moves from the evidence of God's care to the total
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  uselessness of worry itself. Verse 27.
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  And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single cubit
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  to a span of life? This is like a splash of cold
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  water. Worry tries to sell itself as
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  being useful, as being a responsible mental activity.
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  If I worry about this enough, I can solve it.
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  Right. Jesus just exposes that as a
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  complete lie. Worry is powerless.
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  It's all motion and no progress, all sweat and no harvest.
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  Motion without power. I like that the anxious person
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  feels like if they stop pedaling that worry bike the whole world
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  will fall apart. And Jesus says you weren't
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  holding it together in the 1st place.
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  He's attacking that illusion of self management and the image he
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  uses is brilliant. Adding a qubit to your stature
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  or life. There's some debate about what
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  that means, right? Height or lifespan?
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  There is. If it's height, the point is
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  obvious, you can't worry yourself taller.
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  If it's length of life, which seems to fit the context of your
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  life a bit better, the point is even stronger.
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  You can't worry your way into living one second longer in.
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  Either case, the conclusion is the same.
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  Worry is totally ineffective in the areas that matter most.
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  It has no say over the fundamental limits of your
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  existence. And this gets to a really deep
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  point about what it means to be a creature.
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  It does. Anxiety is a form of pride.
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  It's a protest against our own limits.
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  It's the soul screaming. I refuse to be dependent on God.
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  I should be able to control this.
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  You see that everywhere today. The obsession with optimizing
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  everything, bio hacking your way to a longer life.
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  It's a frantic search for control.
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  It's the same spiritual issue, just in a secular package.
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  The desperate need for self sovereignty.
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  But the minute a real uncertainty hits a bad
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  diagnosis, a market crash, that illusion of control shatters and
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  the anxiety is paralyzing. This also challenges that idea
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  that worrying is a sign that you care.
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  You know, I worry because I'm a responsible parent or a diligent
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  employee. That's a common self
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  justification, but it confuses moral duty with internal
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  torment. Jesus commends diligence.
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  He never commends worry. Worry isn't diligence.
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  It's not you can care deeply, plan wisely, and act responsibly
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  without being eaten alive by anxiety.
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  In fact, you can only do those things well when you're free
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  from it. And I love how this verse, verse
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  27 sets up the big payoff later in the passage.
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  The structure is just perfect here in verse 27.
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  Worry is the false adder. It tries to add to your life,
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  but it can't add a thing. It's useless.
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  Utterly. But then in verse 33, the Father
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  is the true adder. When you seek His Kingdom, He is
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  the one who adds everything you need.
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  That contrast is a call to repent, to stop trying to do
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  God's job. OK, so from birds and the
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  futility of worry, Jesus now moves to another part of
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  creation, the flowers. And why are you anxious about
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  clothing? Consider the lilies of the
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  field. Yes, and this seems to address a
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  slightly different angle of anxiety, maybe the fear of not
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  measuring up, of being exposed, of lacking status.
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  Again, he tells us to consider, to pay close attention.
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  It feels like he's trying to break us out of this mindset
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  that God is, I don't know, as a stingy minimalist.
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  He is. He wants us to see his
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  lavishness, his artistry. Look at these wildflowers.
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  They don't work in a factory, they don't spin or weave, and
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  yet they're clothes in a way that is just extravagant.
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  God cares about beauty. He does.
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  He adorns what he makes, even things that the world would
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  consider temporary and trivial. This shows us that our worth
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  isn't something we have to earn or manufacture.
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  It's a gift. And then comes that stunning
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  comparison. Even Solomon in all his glory
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  was not arrayed like one of these.
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  I mean, think about that. Solomon is the absolute high
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  point of human wealth, security and splendor.
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  He represents everything an anxious heart is chasing.
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  And all that man made glory, all that effort and wealth gets out,
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  shown by a simple flower that just receives it.
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  Completely dismantles the lie that our value is tied to what
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  we can achieve or what we can display.
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  Anxiety about our appearance or our possessions often masks A
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  deeper fear of being seen as insignificant.
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  Christ shows us true glory is bestowed, not built.
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  Then he hits US with the reality of their transients.
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  If God so close the grass of the field, which today is alive and
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  tomorrow is thrown into the oven.
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  They're just being used for fuel in a clay oven, that's how
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  fleeting they are. And the logic is the same.
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  Much more argument if God puts that much care and artistry into
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  something so temporary. Will he not much more clove you
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  his children, who are eternal? Exactly.
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  We are not grass destined to be burned.
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  We're heirs of glory. And this is the great lesson for
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  the anxious heart. What's that?
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  You have to learn to interpret your circumstances through God's
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  character. Not the other way around.
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  Not the other way around. Don't let your present lack or
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  uncertainty redefine God for you as being uncering or absent.
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  Let His proven character redefine your circumstances.
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  Which all leads to that direct, sobering diagnosis.
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  Oh, you have little faith. And he's not saying this to be
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  cruel. He's being a good doctor.
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  He's identifying the root of the problem.
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  So anxiety isn't just a personality flaw, it's a
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  spiritual weakness. It's a failure of functional
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  trust. Little faith isn't no faith.
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  It's a faith that has been made small by forgetting.
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  Forgetting what? Forgetting who the Father is,
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  forgetting what he's promised, forgetting what he's already
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  done. It's when we know things about
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  God in our heads, but we live as if they aren't true.
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  We live like functional atheists in that moment.
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  That's a good way to put it. So the cure isn't just to try
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  harder. The cure is to get a fresh,
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  clear sight of the Father. That's what enlarges our faith
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  so. Jesus then repeats the command.
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  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat?
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  He lists the questions again. The repetition feels
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  intentional. It is.
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  It shows how persistent these anxious thoughts are.
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  The worried mind is constantly catechizing itself, rehearsing
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  these questions of scarcity over and over again.
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  So the life of a believer has to be a persistent, deliberate
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  refusal to live in that story. A daily decision to see reality
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  through God's reign, not our fears.
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  And then he gives the reason. And it draws this sharp contrast
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  between two ways of life. For the Gentiles seek after all
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  these things. And Gentiles here isn't an
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  ethnic category, is it? It's spiritual.
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  It's spiritual. It refers to those who live
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  without a covenant knowledge of the one true God.
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  Their whole world is bounded by what they can see and touch and
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  control. Which means their entire life is
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  shaped by what you called Pagan survivalism.
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  Yes, it's a restless chase for stability because in their world
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  there is no father holding things together.
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  If you believe the universe is random and impersonal, then
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  being afraid is the only sane response.
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  Hoarding makes sense. Anxiety is the default
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  lifestyle. It is.
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  It's the practical outworking of a godless worldview.
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  And that's a hard truth because it means a lot of what passes
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  for normal financial planning or career ambition in our culture.
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  Can actually be a form of idolatry.
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  Yes, we can end up treating Mamet, our money, our career,
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  our influence as the thing that will give us the security only
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  God can provide. And Mammon is a cruel master.
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  It's never. Satisfied.
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  It always demands more. More hours, more saving, more
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  control. It promises peace, but it only
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  delivers exhaustion. So against that frantic Pagan
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  chase, Jesus gives this incredible assurance, and your
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  Heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
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  That one sentence changes everything.
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  His knowledge isn't cold data collection, it's personal,
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  loving, purposeful awareness. It's the difference between
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  being monitored by a security camera and being cared for by
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  your dad. A perfect analogy.
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  Peace is not found in our ability to control our
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  circumstances. It's found in the character of
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  the Father who knows our knees before we even feel the panic.
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  He knows. He knows we need to eat.
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  He knows we need clothes. Before we start to spiral, he
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  already knows and he cares. This is why worry is a
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  contradiction of what it means to be a child of God.
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  It is. We aren't orphans fighting for
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  scraps. We are children of the King.
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  And that truth frees us to work hard and plan well, but without
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  our work becoming our worship. Which brings us to verse 33.
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  This is the pivot point of the whole passage.
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  Isn't it the great positive command that replaces the -1?
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  This is the remedy. But seek first the Kingdom of
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  God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added
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  to you. You don't beat anxiety by just
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  fighting it, you just place it with a greater love, a greater
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  pursuit. The heart has to cling to
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  something. Jesus tells us what to cling to,
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  and that word seek means a continual, prioritized pursuit.
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  It's the settled direction of your life.
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  And first means first in rank, the organizing principle for
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  everything else. Yes, if food and clothes are
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  your first priority, you will worry because they're fragile.
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  But if the Kingdom is your first priority, then all those other
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  things get put in their proper place as concerns that the king
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  himself will manage. It changes the question from how
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  do I secure my own life to how do I best honor my king right
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  now? And that is the pursuit.
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  The Kingdom of God is his saving rule that has broken into the
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  world through Jesus. To seek it means to live under
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  His authority with glad submission.
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  So it means caring about the things he cares about, the glory
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  of God, the spread of the gospel, justice, mercy.
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  Exactly. Anxiety shrinks your world down
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  to just you and your survival. Seeking the Kingdom expands your
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  world to God's global, eternal purposes.
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  And what about seeking His righteousness?
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  What does that add? That's the practical lived
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  outside of it. It's about our sanctification.
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  It's about our lives beginning to conform to God's character.
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  And it's so important to see that this flows from our
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  justification. We seek to live righteously
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  because in Christ we've already been made righteous.
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  We have. So we're not trying to earn our
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  security by being good enough. We're living like the secure
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  children of a good father. We're freed from that
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  performance anxiety. And when our lives are ordered
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  this way, seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness.
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  Then the promise kicks in. All these things will be added
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  to you. This is the father as the true
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  adder. He steps in and provides what we
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  actually need. He provides what is sufficient
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  for a life of faithful obedience.
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  This isn't a promise of a luxury lifestyle or a trouble free
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  existence, but it is a promise that you will not be abandoned.
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  You will have what you need to do His will.
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  So the whole remedy is a reordering of your worship.
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  When God's Kingdom is on the throne of your heart, anxiety is
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  dethroned. The anxious life is spent
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  securing the Kingdom. Life is spent obeying and
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  receiving. And then verse 34 brings it all
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  home to a daily practical level. This is how you live it out,
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  moment by moment. Therefore do not be anxious
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  about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
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  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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  This goes right to the heart of so much modern anxiety.
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  It's almost always about tomorrow or next week or next
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  year. It's what we could call tomorrow
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  borrowing. Time theft.
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  It's a kind of spiritual time theft.
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  You're stealing today's mental and emotional energy to pay for
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  tomorrow's imagined disasters. And it's a debt that will crush
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  you and. Notice how realistic Jesus is.
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  He doesn't say today will be trouble free.
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  He says sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
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  He's not a Pollyanna. He knows life is hard.
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  There will be temptations, disappointments, conflicts
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  today. His point is don't multiply
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  today's trouble by pulling tomorrow's trouble into the
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  present. It reminds me of the manna in
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  the wilderness. The connection is very strong.
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  God gave them bread for one day at a time.
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  If they tried to hoard it, it rotted.
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  God gives us grace and daily portions.
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  Worry is trying to stockpile grace and it just turns toxic.
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  That phrase tomorrow will be anxious for itself is
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  interesting, as if tomorrow is a thing with its own concerns.
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  It's a call to humility to accept that we are creatures
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  with limits. Tomorrow does not belong to us,
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  it belongs to the Lord. To be anxious about it is to try
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  and seize control of something that is God's alone.
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  So let's draw a clear line for people listening How do we
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  distinguish between wise godly planning and the sinful worry?
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  That's the key practical question.
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  I think it comes down to this. Wise planning is stewardship, it
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  says. Lord willing, here's the path
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  I'll take with the resources you've given me.
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  It trusts God with the outcome. Worry demands guarantees.
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  It says I cannot rest unless I know for certain how this will
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  turn out. Planning is a finite task that
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  leads to action. Worry is an infinite torment
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  that leads to paralysis. So Christ is calling us to be
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  diligent in the present and dependent for the future.
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  Purposeful diligence and peaceful dependence today has
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  its own duties that require our full attention.
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  Loving our family, doing our work well, praying when we let
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  worries about the future invade today, they rob us of our
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  ability to be faithful right here, right now.
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  So the practice is to stop asking what if.
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  And start living in the truth of even if, even if the worst
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  happens, my father knows even if trouble comes, His grace will be
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  there for that moment, not a day before.
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  He frees us to live one day at a time.
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  This has been an incredibly helpful look at this passage.
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  To sum up, we've seen Jesus show that worry is both futile, it
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  achieves nothing, and it's faithless.
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  It's a practical denial of our Father's wise and good care.
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  And the solution isn't just to try harder, but to completely
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  reorder our loves and our loyalties, to seek the King's
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  reign above all else. Freedom from anxiety is a gift
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  that flows from knowing we are children of a good and capable
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  father. If God gave us the greatest
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  gift, His Son, He won't fail to give us the lesser gifts we need
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  for the road. Anxiety says I am on my own.
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  The Gospel says you are not an orphan, you are a child.
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  And that changes everything. So here's a thought to take with
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  you, building on this deep dive. Jesus taught us to pray for Our
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  Daily Bread, not our weekly or monthly supply.
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  So how does the simple, practical discipline of praying
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  only for today's bread fundamentally challenge that
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  deep seated pride in us that wants to be in control of our
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  own future? How does that simple prayer
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  retrain your heart to live one day at a time?
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  Some of the think about we'll talk to you next time on the
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  Deep dive.