Latest / HBCWestminster / Matthew 6:25-34 Burdened
Transcript
- 0:00Well, I titled this morning's message Burdened, and we're right in the middle of a series that we've called The Hard Sayings of Jesus. And some of the things that Jesus said were indeed hard, but they were hard in different ways. Some of them are hard because they're hard to understand. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven. If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you will never be forgiven. That's hard to understand, and that's what made them hard sayings. But some things that Jesus said were easy to understand.
- 0:31And we just don't want to do them. And that's what made them hard. We began our series a couple of Sundays ago with the Beatitudes, what I titled Blessed. I described it as Jesus' composite sketch of the happy man. Jesus' description of supreme happiness was certainly different than the world's. Then again, his offer of happiness was different as well. The supremely happy man, according to Jesus, is poor, mourning.
- 1:01meek, hungry and thirsty, merciful, pure, at peace, and persecuted. But the happiness that he offers is also abundant and will never fade. Last Sunday, we studied the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, and although that particular unforgivable sin, in my opinion, can no longer be committed, there is one that can, and that is ultimate rejection of Jesus Christ as Savior. The Scriptures say that if you die,
- 1:31in hard-hearted, unrepentant belief, you can never be forgiven. Because by rejecting the Savior, you reject the very means by which you can be saved. This morning in Matthew chapter 6, in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, we tackle worry. If you look at our passage this morning in verses 25 to 34, I'll read them. We'll pray and begin. And he just starts right off the bat. Verse 25, Therefore I tell you, do not...
- 2:01Be 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 important than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
- 2:32They 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.
- 2:59But 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. Lord, I pray again that you would bless the preaching and hearing of your word. Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would teach us according to it. God, may we celebrate your great faithfulness this morning.
- 3:27We serve a Father in heaven in whom we can trust. You have given us great promises, Lord, and you have never let us down. And so I pray that we would remember the great things you have given us. Salvation and forgiveness in Jesus' name, eternal life, and Lord, that we would be confident that if you've given us great things, you will also give us small things like food and water and clothing.
- 3:57May we trust wholly in you today. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Anxiety. Have you ever tried to carry more than you were designed to carry? A fold-up, sleep-away couch, up a spiral staircase. If you own a truck and you're a member of a church, then you have undoubtedly been asked the question, is that your truck? And if you're like me, then you have the double blessing of hearing, and are those your sons?
- 4:35Right, what they mean by that is always one thing. Can you help me move on Saturday? Can you help me move? And don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It's a joy. It's a joy to own a truck, and it's a joy to have sons, and it's a joy to help people move. Certainly, we have been helped in moving, and we've been blessed by that, and so I'm not complaining. But it is a funny question. Is that your truck? The people who ask you to help them move oftentimes own king-size beds and live on the third-story apartment complex with no elevator, right, are asking you,
- 5:05to help them to move that stuff up those stairs. In our old house, we used to own a pellet stove.
- 5:12Pellet stoves are kind of cool. You know, they crank out a ton of heat. They're easy to maintain. Don't make a ton of mess. But you buy these pellets and the place that we would buy the pellets from sold them a lot cheaper if you bought them by the pallet and they would deliver them. The problem was where we lived and where we stored them in the backyard, their forklift couldn't get. And so they would drop them off pallets at a time. We would order three pallets of these things per season on our front driveway. And then we would have to haul them by hand into the back.
- 5:42And so I would pick these things up, and they were about 60-pound bags, and pick up two at a time on your shoulders and trying to haul these things back, three pallets per season. And at the beginning, Hallie would always ask me, you know, Danny, are you okay? Can you do this? Yeah, you know, it's totally fine. But by the end, three hours later, you're all twisted around. You know what I mean? Nothing works. You're walking crooked for days. It's more than I was designed to carry. Unfortunately, by the time we got rid of our pellet stove,
- 6:10and moved, that's suddenly when my sons became strong enough to help. And are we, by our worry, carrying a burden that we weren't designed to carry? Do you ever feel the weight of anxiety carrying something that's unnecessary? Our text this morning, specifically about anxiety and worry, says that several things are true about worrying. And the first we see in verse 25, that worrying is just plain unfaithful.
- 6:47Verse 25, therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. Now the therefore refers back to his previous statement from the Sermon on the Mount. If you look up at the next section above verse 19, there's a caption that says, lay up treasures in heaven. Now that's a famous piece of this sermon from Jesus where he says, don't lay up treasure for yourselves on earth.
- 7:12where rust destroys it, where moths eat it, and where thieves will break in and steal, but rather lay up treasure for yourselves in heaven where there are no moths and there is no rust and there are no thieves. Lay up treasure for yourselves there rather than here where you can't keep it anyway. And he ends that statement in verse 24 by saying no one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. And then how does he end?
- 7:41You cannot, what does it say? You cannot serve God and money. It's not saying money is evil. It's not saying we shouldn't have a savings plan and plan for the future. It doesn't say anything like that. It just better not master you. If it's mastered you, he says you can only have one master. You can't serve both God and money. And the next statement out of his mouth, therefore I tell you, don't be anxious about your life. Now that's a seeming contradiction.
- 8:11If I'm not worried about money, then how will my physical needs be met? How can I devote? How will I be provided for if the only thing I ever worry about is my soul? The answer is because God is our master. And it would be an inaccurate reflection on God's character for his people to worry about something he's already promised them. John MacArthur has said it this way, and I think he said it well. Worry is not a trivial sin.
- 8:48Worry is not a trivial sin. You know there are some sins in the church which we just kind of gloss over. There are some big ones, right? But there are some sins that are just kind of accepted. And maybe anxiety is one of those. Like we don't confront people when they're worried. We don't blame people when they're anxious. They have got something big going on in their life. And it's not something we really think too much about. We don't oftentimes confront it in our own hearts.
- 9:16Oftentimes we're nervous, anxious about something that we never even speak, but we don't confront that in our own hearts. And John MacArthur says, worry is not a trivial sin because it strikes a blow both at God's love and God's integrity. What he's saying is this, if God promised that he would care for your daily needs, then worry strikes a blow at his integrity. When we worry about our daily needs,
- 9:43We worry about something he's already promised. What we're saying is you're not faithful. You can't be trusted. You won't follow through. J.C. Ryle said this, when tried by anxieties about this life, we are not to be over careful as if we had no God and no Christ. In other words, anxiety is godlessness. It's godlessness. We're pretending like we do not have a heavenly father who cares for our every need.
- 10:15I'm convicted by that thought because I feel like in my own worry and anxiety, I often live as if I had no God. He continues in verse 25, Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. Now, the word anxious is used five times in this short passage. Literally translated, it would mean to cast a distracting glance or to have a distracting care.
- 10:42To be anxious means that we've taken our focus off of Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and to refocus, to put our focus on to something that is not worthy of our attention. The old King James translates this, take no thought. Take no thought. Don't even think about your daily needs, he says. God has promised to provide them. When it says don't be anxious about your life, the word life is where we get the word psyche from.
- 11:13It encompasses all of one's being, the physical, mental, emotional, spiritual life. And Jesus states that because of the faithfulness of the master we serve, it is sinful to worry about any other aspect of our lives. He's got us. You know, it's said that a dense fog, extensive enough and thick enough to cover seven city blocks a hundred feet deep, is composed of less than one glass of water.
- 11:46Can you imagine that? Seven city blocks, 100 feet deep. One glass of water divided into 60 billion droplets. In the right form, a couple gallons of water can shut down an entire city. And in the same way, the objects of our worry, though crippling, are often insignificant issues. Right? The things that we often worry about are not often worthy of our worry.
- 12:17especially compared to the damage they cause on our lives and on our minds. We can often be crippled by little things. The question I would have this morning is, how big are they when you compare them to eternity? The things that I find I am most anxious and worried about are the things of today or tomorrow or next week. How big are those things compared to eternal life in Christ? They pale in comparison when we have proper perspective.
- 12:50A friend from our church here came to me this last Wednesday. He said, Danny, I've got a story for you. All right. He said, a kid went to his dad and asked, how big is God? And the dad replied, well, I guess that depends on how close you're standing to him.
- 13:09When we stand up close to something, it grows in our perspective. And the same thing is true of our relationship with Christ. The closer we are to him, the bigger he seems. The farther we are away, even to the eternal heavenly father. We can be dwarfed if we're distant from him. The day-to-day struggles, our day-to-day lives can look huge. The problems that we have can look huge if we're far away from Christ. Draw near to Christ and those will begin to shrink. What is your proximity?
- 13:41to the Lord. That's first. Worrying is unfaithful. Notice second, worrying is unnecessary. Jesus continues, don't be anxious about your life, what you'll eat, what you'll drink, or about your body, what you'll put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
- 14:09Which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to a span of life? 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, tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Wearing is just plain unnecessary. The gist of this...
- 14:36Exhortation is that a believer need not be anxious simply because God is their heavenly father. Now, it may be true that the people of the gods of the nations should worry. If you serve any other God, then by all means be anxious because those gods don't follow through. Those gods don't make promises and keep them, right? But for us who are in Christ,
- 15:06whose Heavenly Father actually pays attention and provides when we ask. For us, worrying is completely unnecessary because we serve the same God as the birds. You know, birds don't worship false gods. They know who created them. They know who sustains them. And so they're not worried about their 401k. Right? I've never seen a bird worried about it. My youngest son, Chase, has a turtle.
- 15:38Turtle's name is Nacho. Nacho is not worried about his day-to-day provision. Why? Because he knows every night at 8 o'clock, after Chase brushes his teeth, we throw a bunch of lettuce and water in there. Every night? He's a pretty laid-back turtle. He knows who it is who sustains him. Birds don't gather into barns. Birds aren't worried about where their next meal will come from.
- 16:09They absolutely trust God for their provision of food every day. And yet, no bird is made in God's image the way that you are. No bird has been given a new nature in Christ the way that you have. And we who have such privilege should know to an even greater degree that if God has provided...
- 16:31huge things like salvation, forgiveness, the promise of eternal life, a heart of flesh rather than a heart of stone, if he has promised us huge things and provided them, certainly he will not fail to provide us with small things like food, water. A few of the boys on the baseball team that I coach are struggling with their grades.
- 17:00They're struggling with ineligibility. Their grades aren't high enough that they can even play. They have to sit the bench because some of their grades are so bad. And I don't understand. These are eighth grade boys. They only have four classes. Like, how can you have four classes and three of them are Fs? I don't get that at all. So I've been having these conversations with these boys, you know. And it's honestly, I don't know what they expect of me in terms of grades. I teach them how to pick up a ground ball, you know.
- 17:28Grades are between teachers and parents, but nevertheless, I encourage them to do well in classes. I even give them practices off on occasion to work specifically on homework. This last Wednesday afternoon, one dad approached me to discuss his solution. His son has been ineligible, and he came to me and he said, Coach, I'd like to talk to you about my son's grades. Okay. It's simple, he said. I'm letting him keep his PlayStation.
- 17:56And his PlayStation is his video game console. And immediately I thought, well, this is not what I would recommend. I mean, I don't know. I'm a passer. I have some different views on things, but I'll keep my mouth shut for now. He said, I'm letting him keep his PlayStation. I'm letting him keep all of the controllers. I'm letting him keep the big screen TV. I'm letting him keep all of the video games. And then he said, but the power cord now belongs to me.
- 18:26I thought, that is brilliant. He said he was explaining it to his son exactly like that, and the kid was just getting this big smile, and I get to keep my PlayStation? Yes, son, you can keep it. And the TV? Yes, son. And all the controllers? Yeah, the power cord is mine. And he said, Coach, I've got it coiled up. It's in my briefcase. I take it with me to work. He carries it around.
- 18:54Romans chapter eight, verse 32 says this, and listen to this promise from scripture. He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Can you imagine our heavenly father in heaven saying, listen, I gave you my son. I gave you my son. I killed him for you. Free forgiveness, abounding grace.
- 19:19In his name, you have been redeemed and sanctified by the blood of Jesus. I've given you the big stuff, but I'm keeping the power cord. Food? You don't get food. Wait, what are you talking about? You give me your son, but you won't give me a sandwich? Can you imagine how ridiculous that would look from heaven's perspective? If I'm willing to give you my son, of course I'll give you what you need today. Of course I will.
- 19:52worrying is unnecessary. God provides for birds. He makes grass look beautiful. Certainly you are worth more than those. Third, if you continue, worrying is unworthy. Worrying is unworthy. Look at verse 31. Therefore, do not be anxious.
- 20:17saying, 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. One great feature of heathenism is living for the present. They live for the here and the now. They live for today.
- 20:47Eat, drink, and be merry, right? This is the only day we get. Tomorrow we die. And so live for today. And in fact, that worldview is the dominant worldview on most college campuses. Acting as if we were designed for food and drink and laughter and acting as if those are the only things to life. No.
- 21:15concept of consequences, no concept of the long term and how this will affect me 10 years. There's no 10-year plan. It's just what can I do right now to make me happy? And this thinking and living is not worthy of the child of God. We weren't designed for food and drink and laughter. Rather, those things were designed for us. They're great. Food and drink and laughter are great.
- 21:49But they're designed to serve you and not the other way around. You don't live for them. They exist for you. And so let us not live like the heathen, like the Gentile who does not know God. But let a nobler and more essential and more satisfactory object occupy our affections and desires. Let us pour our attention and energies into something greater. If God were to occupy the principal place in your heart,
- 22:22you would not be the loser for it. If God were to occupy a greater place in your thinking, a greater place in your heart, a greater place in your will and your life, and even your plans for the future, if God occupied a greater place in your future plans, you would not be the loser for it. I have still yet to meet a faithful 80-year-old man or woman, a faithful one who loves the Lord. I have still yet to meet one who regrets.
- 22:54their decisions to follow Christ. Who looks back and says, I wish I had believed later in life. I wish rather than coming to Christ in my teens, I wish it had been in my 40s so that I could have lived it up when I was young. You're never going to hear that. You never will. Greater devotion to Christ is always a win. Always. And he describes it this way in verse 33.
- 23:21But he begins with a but. That's that conjunction of contrast. It's like saying instead, right? The Gentiles seek after all these things, but instead, how should we live? What should we pursue? But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. There is more to life than food and clothes. How do we seek his kingdom? Well, God's kingdom comes to every man and woman when the Lord reigns in his heart.
- 23:55You are the kingdom of God. You are. If God is the king of your life, then we are the kingdom. Seek first his kingdom, that Christ would reign in a greater way in all of our lives and all of our hearts. Now, God's righteousness is the natural outflow of a man's faith and regeneration, pursuing a life that looks like Christ. That's his righteousness. And these are the things which Christ calls us.
- 24:23And not only does it say seek in verse 33, but look at the next word. But seek first, principally, above all else, with all of our might, with all of our minds, putting all of our effort into this pursuit. Heathens seek after worldly things with passion and zeal.
- 24:50Not sporadically or spasmodically, but with fervor and constancy and determination. And if I'm honest and I say this to my shame, I do not pursue the Lord the way they pursue worldly things. They're more passionate about their pursuits than I am about mine. That's a convicting thought. We should be the most passionate people on earth. We figured out what life is about. We have purpose and drive the way that they do not.
- 25:27then why are they more purposeful and driven than we are? Oftentimes I find that the heathen pursues the road that leads to death more passionately than I pursue the road that leads to life. It reminds me of a Keith Green song. You have to be really careful quoting Keith Green. If you begin to do that, your life might change. Keith Green has a song called A Sleep in the Light where it's a call to the church to stop napping.
- 26:00It's probably a 40-year-old song. It's been around a long time, but he says this. He says, Jesus rose from the grave, and I can't even get out of bed. He rose from the grave, and I have trouble waking up? What sense does that make? Zeal and fervor should penetrate our hearts so that we pursue, and look at that again, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
- 26:33And if we do all these things, now the, these things he's referring to, there are food and clothing and water. Okay. Those things, but notice it says will be added to you. They'll be added to you. It doesn't say given to you. It says added. And the implication is that you've already got some stuff. You've already got some things and food and drink and clothing will go on top. And you say, okay, then what do we already have?
- 27:04I don't often give homework on Sunday mornings, but I'm going to give you guys some homework. Take your spouses, take your kids this week, find your friends, your roommates, wherever you live, and get together and study two passages this week and ask yourself, what has been given to me in Christ? According to these two passages, what do I have? One is Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 to 14. Ephesians 1, verses 3 to 14.
- 27:34And you're going to see that there are six things that you've been given in Christ. You've been chosen and predestined. You've been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. You've been given six things already. Another passage, Romans chapter 5, verses 1 to 11, also describes six additional things. Because you've been justified. Romans 5, 1 to 11, you have peace with God. And you have access to him.
- 28:07And hope has been given to you. And that hope doesn't disappoint. And the love of God has been poured into your hearts. And you've been saved from his wrath. And you've been reconciled to him forever. Now imagine this. You've already been given salvation, justification. You've been given access to God. You have peace with God. You have friendship with him. Where there was war, now there's peace and friendship. You've been reconciled, covered by his blood. And on top of that, Matthew 6 says,
- 28:38God will throw on food, drink, and clothing. Don't worry. It'll be added to you. Notice last, worrying. According to verse 34, worrying is unwise. It says, therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow. Tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Worrying about the future is unwise, I think, for three reasons. Number one, it's just a waste of time.
- 29:15You know, we've been given a limited number of seconds to walk this earth. God has predetermined. They're already set the number of seconds we have. He knows the second in which we will draw our last breath. He knows. It's a limited number. Let us not waste them with worry.
- 29:37Each of those seconds determined for us as a precious opportunity for God to glorify himself through our lives and to bring others into loving knowledge of him. Colossians chapter 4 and verse 5, walk in wisdom toward outsiders. Walk in wisdom toward those who don't believe, making the best use of the time.
- 30:00Take advantage of every opportunity is what he's saying. Walk in wisdom toward them. Make the best use of the time. And I wonder how many gospel opportunities I have missed because I've been consumed with worry about tomorrow. If I've just dropped the ball, I didn't even notice. I'm sure there have been opportunities that God has brought that I didn't take because of my own anxiety. I was too self-focused, worried about my own stuff. My youngest son, Chase, nine years old.
- 30:33I was all excited this week because we got new neighbors. Some new neighbors moved in behind us. Our backyards touch. We share a fence. And he was excited. Not only did we got new neighbors, but the new neighbors have kids, three kids whose ages align pretty well with my boys. They have two sons.
- 30:49And a daughter. And yesterday, I was out on our back deck. I was grilling dinner. And I noticed he was over in the corner. And he had gotten their attention, the three kids. And the three kids had come over to the corner. And so Chase was kind of leaning on the fence. And they were talking to each other through the fence and getting to know one another. He was over there for about 20 minutes. 20 minutes, he's talking to these kids. And I couldn't hear most of it. You know, I figured there's a fence in between.
- 31:15nothing can really go that wrong, right? And so I was like, just talking to him through the fence and getting to know him. We come back in, it's dinner time. I said, all right, Chase, come on inside. He comes in and he said, well, they're Christians. I said, okay. He said, but they don't go to church and they don't read their Bibles. And I said, Chase.
- 31:39How do you know? You were only over there for 20 minutes. You just know their names? He's like, yeah, I got their names. They're Christians. They don't go to church. They don't read their Bibles. Chase, how do you know? I asked him. Okay. You know, I have neighbors that I've had for years that I don't know that much about. Honestly, kind of remember their names. We live within 100 feet of each other. I think I know their names. Can't really remember their kids' names. I don't know. Do they go to church? Maybe.
- 32:15It took Chase 20 minutes. You know why? It doesn't waste time. It just didn't waste time, right? Dad, you've been telling me this whole time we're here for one reason. Why are you surprised? I don't know if it got as philosophical as this. I'm filling in the blanks. Why are you surprised that I would go and ask? Michael Ramsden, an apologist that I appreciate and listen to, said this, after years of research, I have discovered a new and novel way of evangelizing. It's called talking to other people.
- 32:49You know, honestly, anxiety, being anxious about it, it's just a waste of time. It's not what we were designed to do. Second reason that anxiety, being worried, is unwise is that many of the future things that we worry about will never come to pass. Isn't that true? All the time, we worry about stuff that never actually happens. J.C. Ryle has said, half of our miseries are caused by fancying things that we think are coming upon us, and half of those things we think are coming never come at all. They just never even come.
- 33:21We waste our lives worrying about things that never actually happen. And third, the third reason it's unwise is that worrying about the future has no hope of actually changing it. You know, probably the biggest reason worrying is unwise is that it doesn't work. It'd be one thing if it actually worked. At least we could be pragmatic about it and say, you know, it may be bad for me, but at least by worrying, I have accomplished these things.
- 33:50I worked these things out because I worried. It just, it doesn't even work. Why do we do it? It doesn't work anyway. Worrying about tomorrow does not empty tomorrow of its trials. Isn't that true? If they're gonna come, they're gonna come whether you're worried or not. All worrying about tomorrow will do is empty today of its joy. Arthur Pink says it this way, cross not your bridges before you come to them.
- 34:22but cheerfully shoulder the burden of today and trustfully leave the future to God. Tomorrow, after all, we'll bring with it tomorrow's God. Let him handle it. Psalm 37 and verse 25, King David, as an old man, says this, I've been young and now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He says, you know, I'm an old man now. I've seen a lot of things. You know what I've never seen?
- 34:55A godly man or woman starving. Their kids not taken care of. God not providing for his people. I've never seen it. God provides for his people. Are you, by your worry, carrying a burden you weren't designed for? Can I ask you, is it working? By your worry, are tomorrow's trials being emptied? Or instead, is it only emptying today of its joy? Scripture says that we serve a loving Father in heaven who has promised not only the big stuff.
- 35:30like forgiveness and a new heart and a new spirit and eternal life, but also the small stuff, the power cord, food, water, breath, time, sleep, rest, when we need it. He's provided the small stuff as well. We need only to trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus. Amen? God, thank you for these words. Lord, I pray that we would apply them quickly.
- 36:03May we not be consumed by tomorrow. We know that tomorrow will bring tomorrow's God. Lord, may we be wholly focused on the God of today, the author and finisher of our faith. Lord, allow us the grace and confidence to trust that you will follow through on your promises. Certainly, if you've given us your son, there is nothing good for us that you will hold back. And so we can rejoice as the people of God who live for eternity instead of this world.
- 36:35Thank you, Lord. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.