Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Do Not Be Anxious

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

28 And why are you anxious about clothing?

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

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

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.

Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

During our last time together we considered Jesus’ teaching to store up treasures in heaven, as opposed to storing up treasures here on earth.

Jesus told his disciples, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

And today Jesus continues along this same line of thinking concerning our attitude toward material needs and possessions, and ultimately to the subject of priorities.

Therefore I tell you...

We can see the intended connection with today’s text simply by Jesus’ use of the word ‘therefore’ in verse 25, he says, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

So as we approach this text today I want us to consider again for a moment verse 24 of , Jesus concludes his initial teaching by saying,

24 “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.

You cannot serve God and money.

The rich young ruler

This statement is reminiscent of Jesus’ later interaction with the rich young man in .

If you would turn together with me, we’ll read starting in verse 16,

The Rich Young Man

16 And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good?

There is only one who is good.

If you would enter life, keep the commandments.”

18 He said to him, “Which ones?”

And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, 19 Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

20 The young man said to him, “All these I have kept.

What do I still lack?”

21 Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”

22 When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

The first & greatest commandment

Scripture teaches us that the first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind strength and soul, and what Jesus does here in is reveal to this rich young man that while he thinks he’s done all that he needs to do to be saved, that in fact, he’s missed the whole point.

You see, the joy of salvation is not escaping judgement, it’s getting God.

He’s the pearl of great price.

He the one worth giving away all that we have, to possess.

We were not created so that we might go our own way and build our own kingdoms, we were created for God, and for his glory.

And this man’s heart does not love God, this man does not treasure God, instead his treasure is his earthly possessions, his earthly kingdom.

The young man doesn’t leave everything behind to follow Jesus, instead it says that “when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

He could not serve both God and money, therefore he served money.

The danger of putting our hope in earthly treasures

And as I said before this is the reason Jesus often gave his followers the admonition to go and “sell all that you have,” () because he knew how dangerous money was to the human heart.

In essence he was saying, “for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” () So he tells them to make heaven their treasure, to lay up treasures there, that their hearts might be there.

If our hope is in God then we have no need to worry

And if there treasure is found in heaven, and their hope is found in God, then there’s no reason to be anxious about their lives here on earth.

That’s why Jesus says there in verse 25,

Now, back in verse 25 of , we Jesus continuing his emphasis

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.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Now, going back to verse 25 of , given the fact that Jesus has just told his disciples to serve God and not money, one might wonder then how their material needs should be met if they’re to be willing to forgo their all of their possessions for the sake of serving God.

Which is what I think Jesus addresses here in verses 25-34, by essentially saying, “do not be anxious about your life”, remember that “your heavenly Father knows that you need” all of these things.

He goes on to tell his disciples to trust God for their provision.

And he goes on,

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

What he’s saying is that these things are not ends unto themselves.

They’re not what life is about, they are needed yes, but they are not the point.

He’s directing their gaze heavenward.

And he continues in verse 26 by saying,

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

Are you not of more value than they?

He comforts them by reminding them that they are more valuable to their Father in heaven than the birds of the air, and that God does not neglect to take care of them.

Therefore it follows that God will not neglect to take care of his children.

His care will not be without hardship

It would also be worth mentioning a this point that while God does take care of us, this does not mean that his care will be without hardship.

In fact, it’s because we know that he cares and that he’s in control over the circumstances of our lives, that we can endure those hardships, that we do not have to worry, but that we can trust in the good providence of God.

The assumption here in this text is that God’s care will follow the good purposes of his will.

We should always recall to mind the great promise of that “God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.”

God works even through the evil intentions of men and the devil for our good.

It doesn’t mean that we will always escape the consequences of their evil actions but that God will cause those evil actions to ultimately work for our good as his people.

Worry is futile

Jesus continues in verse 27,

27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

The necessity of earthy things

What Jesus is pointing out here is that worry is rooted in trusting our inability to control our circumstances.

This is why Jesus reminds us that by being anxious we cannot add even a single hour to our lives, that’s how disabled we are in terms of controlling our circumstances.

He’s pointing out that worrying is utterly futile.

Living unconscious 1/3 of the time

Have you every considered that most of you will spend at least 1/3 of your entire lives unconscious?

If you live 75 years on this earth you’ll spend 25 of those years asleep.

I’m convinced, as one writer put it, that “one of the reasons God made us to sleep is to remind us every day that he can manage just fine without us."

Demolishing self-reliance

In the Gospel according to Luke he records this very same teaching of Jesus but adds this,

26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

The point here is to demolish our reliance upon the self, and to replace it with a reliance upon God.

This is the essence of the gospel and this is the essence of the entire Christian walk, to trust God.

The gospel demands a complete reliance upon Christ for our righteousness, for our right standing with God.