Anxious People, Amazing God: How the King Cares for Restless Hearts
Hopson Boutot
Matthew: The King and His Kingdom • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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God Is For Us
Welcome (Jason Wells)
Scripture Reading (Matthew 6:25-34)
Prayer of Praise (God is merciful), Susan Thomas
Defender (Call Upon the Name)
Afflicted Saint, to Christ Draw Near
Prayer of Confession (Gossip), Jake Rogier
Come As You Are
PBC Catechism #22
Who can be saved by the work of Jesus?
We believe salvation is available to all who repent and believe in Christ. Although sin condemns a person to eternal punishment, the power of the Gospel is sufficient to save even the greatest sinner.
Pastoral Prayer (Mike Lindell)
SERMON
Anxiety-filled week (SBC report, Uvalde)
Turn to Matthew 6:25
Teaching His disciples about how to live in the kingdom
Learning how to cope with anxiety
Jesus cares about His anxious people
Two steps to receiving His care:
1) ADMIT Your Struggle With Sinful ANXIETY
1) ADMIT Your Struggle With Sinful ANXIETY
The doctor’s comments about my throat when I was 18. It wasn’t until I admitted the problem that I was able to get the help I’m getting now.
There’s two groups of Christians in this room that won’t receive the Great Physician’s help in their anxiety until they admit their struggle with sinful anxiety...
A) Some of you don’t think you struggle with anxiety at all.
You say, “I’m not worried, I’m just concerned.” I’m not anxious, I’m just bothered.”
The longer it takes you to admit your struggle with sinful anxiety, the longer it will take you to get help from the Great Physician.
I am convinced that sinful anxiety is not something some sinners struggle with, it’s something all sinners struggle with. Some of us struggle more than others, but every sinner living in a fallen world in sometimes sinfully anxious.
I believe that’s implied in Jesus’ teaching here...
v. 25—“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life...”
Word “therefore” invites us to look back to what’s come before
Last week Eli taught us about the two ways to live. You can live for kingdom treasure that lasts, or earthly treasure that doesn’t. You can look to Jesus and see the light, or you can look to your earthly treasures and be filled with darkness. You can serve your pile of stuff, or you can use your pile of stuff to serve Jesus.
“Are you on top of [your pile], handing it out for the kingdom, or are you underneath it frantically trying to serve it to make it bigger?”
If you’re a follower of Jesus, you are striving to live for the King and His Kingdom.
You would think that people living that way don’t need to be anxious. You’re living for heaven, your eyes are on Jesus, you’re using your stuff to advance the Kingdom!!!
But the next words out of Jesus’ mouth are astonishing.
He doesn’t say, “if you do this, you won’t be anxious.”
He says,“because you’re doing this, don’t be anxious.”
Do you see the significance of this? Anxiety isn’t only a problem for unbelievers. It’s a problem for followers of Jesus too!
If you think that following Jesus means the elimination of anxiety, you’re completely wrong!
If anything, the Christian has more of a temptation towards anxiety because we are trusting our pile in the hands of someone we cannot see.
Now before we go any further, let’s agree on what we mean by anxiety. I don’t want you to think this text isn’t relevant to you because you don’t struggle with anxiety like somebody else in your life. Anxiety is a universal human condition.
What is anxiety?
There are likely countless definitions, but let me offer one that I think captures what the Bible says about anxiety...
Anxiety is an emotional preoccupation with an uncertain situation.
v. 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...”
Jesus’ followers will often be confronted with uncertain situations, like “what are we going to eat or drink or wear?”
Jesus says, don’t be emotionally preoccupied with that.
Don’t ask yourself: am I anxious? Ask yourself what makes me anxious?, when am I anxious?, and how do I handle my anxiety?
Anxious about your health
Will the cancer return? Will I have a heart attack? What if the doctor can’t treat me?
Anxious about your safety
What if I die in car crash? What if Christians are physically persecuted in America?
Anxious about your relationships
Will I ever find my soulmate? Will she still love me if I tell her the truth? Will God give me children? What if I lose someone I love? Can I trust this person enough to keep me accountable? Will he stop being my friend if I tell him about Jesus?
Anxious about your finances
What if inflation gets worse? What if my retirement isn’t enough? What if my husband dies and I can’t provide for my kids? What if the insurance company doesn’t cover the procedure?
Anxious about your career
What if I don’t get that promotion? What if I don’t get along with my new supervisor?
Anxious about your comfort
Who is going to be in my fellowship group? What if I don’t connect with anybody? What if following Jesus means doing something hard?
Anxious about what people think about you
What am I going to say when I feel awkward in this conversation? Will the elders believe me if I open up about the abuse I’ve encountered?
Anxious about a place
What if we don’t like the place where the Air Force is sending us? What if we have to leave our church?
Maybe you’re even anxious about going to heaven. What if it’s boring? Or scary?
Ed Welch—“Rather than minimize your fears, find more of them. Expose them to the light of day because the more you find, the more blessed you will be when you hear words of peace and comfort.” [1]
Christian, what makes you anxious?
“This sermon!” . . . Don’t worry, only 40 more minutes.
Some of you may be more anxious than others. Some may go through seasons of intense anxiety. But all of us are anxious about something. Part of examining our hearts means learning to understand what that something is.
If you came into this room thinking, “anxiety isn’t a struggle for me,” I hope you’ll confess that to the Lord and admit your struggle. But there’s another group of Christians in this room that need to admit their struggle...
B) Some of you know you struggle with anxiety, but you don’t think it’s ever sinful.
Today we often talk about anxiety as a mental illness...
The ADAA says that “Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.” [2]
One problem with this can be that we begin to think, “my anxiety is an illness that I cannot help. It’s not a sin.”
It is true that the Bible doesn’t always present anxiety as sinful
Anxiety is always the result of sin.
Whether you believe your anxiety is rooted in a failure to trust God or in a chemical imbalance, its still the result of sin.
Unbelief is sin, chemical imbalances are a form of suffering. Both sin and suffering came into the world when our first parents sinned against God.
Anxiety often leads to sin.
Anxiety over finances can lead to hoarding and greed. Anxiety over health can lead to an aversion to Christ-honoring risk. Anxiety over self-image can lead to lying and deceit.
But anxiety is not by itself a sin.
Consider a few examples in Scripture where anxiety isn’t treated as a sin...
1 Corinthians 7:32-33—“I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife,”
1 Corinthians 12:24b-25—“. . . God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”
Philippians 2:20—“For I have no one like [Timothy], who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare.”
2 Corinthians 11:28—“And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.”
In each of these examples, the anxious person is emotionally preoccupied with an uncertain situation, but there is no indication that the individual has sinned.
Yes, anxious Christian, it is possible to be anxious and sin not. But you’re fooling yourself if you think your anxiety is never sinful.
There is such a thing as sinful anxiety.
The type of anxiety that Jesus is addressing in our text is a sinful anxiety.
Three times (vv. 25, 31, 34) He says “do not be anxious”
Philippians 4:6—do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
So how do I know if my anxiety is sinful?
Luke 10:38-42—Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to Him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Martha was emotionally preoccupied with her hospitality. Jesus looks at her and calls her anxious, using the same word that He repeats five times in our text.
The problem was not that Martha was anxious about being a good host. That’s not a bad thing. The problem is, she became so consumed with being a good host that she forgot about Jesus. Her anxiety pulled her away from Jesus, not towards Him.
Even when she approaches Jesus in her anxious state, she isn’t bringing her heart to Him asking for help with her anxiety. She brings her checklist to Jesus, asking Him to fix her problems.
Anxious Christian, in what ways are you sinful in your anxiety?
Jesus cares for anxious people. And the first step to receiving His care is to admit you struggle with sinful anxiety.
But admitting a problem isn’t enough. Most of us, if we’re honest, can do that. But we can’t stop there. We must...
2) BELIEVE the Truth About Our Amazing GOD
2) BELIEVE the Truth About Our Amazing GOD
The internet is overflowing with advice on what to do when you feel anxious. Go for a walk. Stop and breathe. Listen to calm music. Meditate. Work on a puzzle. Hug a furry friend. Snuggle underneath a weighted blanket. Use essential oils. Take a shower. Drink some tea. Paint a picture. Read a book. Exercise. Clean. Phone a friend.
I’d keep going, but that would probably just make us more anxious.
There might be some practical benefits to all those things, but Jesus takes a different approach.
Jesus encourages us to fight sinful anxiety by believing the glorious truth about God!!!
WORD TO UNBELIEVER: None of these promises are true for you. . . YET. ALL of them CAN be gloriously and forever true for you. Not when you clean yourself up. Not when you get rid of your anxiety. When you turn from your sin and trust in Jesus. And that instant you may be the worst Christian in the room, but EVERY SINGLE PROMISE for God’s children are now completely and forever true for you.
WHITE FLAG
WORD TO ANXIOUS: Believe these things are true about God for you today!!!
Six anxiety-destroying truths about God:
A. Believe God Cares About the Big Picture
A. Believe God Cares About the Big Picture
v. 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?
Argument from greater to lesser
Who is keeping you alive this moment? Who “works all things according to His will”? Who “holds all things together”?
God does! And if God is keeping your heart beating and your lungs working and the universe from imploding, than can’t you trust Him to take care of the smaller stuff like food, and drink, and clothing, and whatever else you’re anxious about?
When we worry we are underestimating the power of God! If He can take care of the bigger things like keeping you alive, than He can take care of the smaller stuff too!
B. Believe God Cares About the Tiny Details
B. Believe God Cares About the Tiny Details
v. 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?
Argument from lesser to greater. If God is actively involved in the affairs of birds, isn’t He also involved in the affairs of men and women?
Martin Luther— “Whenever you listen to a nightingale, . . . you are listening to an excellent preacher.” [3]
No problem is too big for Him to handle! No problem is too small for Him to care!
C. Believe God Can Do What You Can’t
C. Believe God Can Do What You Can’t
v. 27—And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
How often have you added time to your life by worrying about something? We usually have the opposite effect, don’t we?
John MacArthur says, “You can worry yourself to death, but not to life.” Then he quotes Dr. Charles Mayo, one of the founders of the Mayo Clinic who once wrote, “Worry affects the circulation, the heart, the glands, and the whole nervous system. I have never met a man or known a man to die of overwork, but I have known a lot who died of worry.” [4]
Your worry cannot actually accomplish anything!!!
Better yet, as one writer says, worry “accomplishes nothing except to put God out of the picture.” [3]
But look at what God can do...
vv. 31-33—Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Same word for “adding” used in verse 27. Your worry doesn’t add anything to your life! But trusting in God adds everything!!!
C.S. Lewis—“He who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.” [5]
D. Believe God Does Things Better than You Can
D. Believe God Does Things Better than You Can
vv. 28-30—And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Remember King Solomon? He was, perhaps, the wealthiest man in history! Certainly among sinners he was the wisest. And yet, on his best day he wasn’t dressed with the glory of a single lily. And God clothes billions of flowers every spring all over the world and none of them lift a finger to clothe themselves. They don’t even have fingers!
When you cast your anxieties to the Lord, you’re trusting that He can take care of it better than you can!
E. Believe God Knows What You Need Better than You Do
E. Believe God Knows What You Need Better than You Do
vv. 31-32—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.
Jesus literally says, “the nations” seek after these things. His point is not about ethnicity or national origin, but belief. The Gentiles were pagan. They didn’t believe in God! Jesus says, don’t be like them! Remember who you are! Remember who your heavenly Father is!
Encouragement: even when you forget your Father, He won’t forget you!!! He KNOWS what you need!
It’s not encouraging if God merely knows what you need, unless He also does something about it!
Matthew 7:9-11—Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
When it feels like the Father has given you a serpent or a stone, just remember that He knows what you need better than you do!
Also remember...
God meets our needs through means (work, savings, gifts of others, etc.)
God doesn’t promise a life without trouble
F. Believe God Gives You What You Need When You Need It, Not Before
F. Believe God Gives You What You Need When You Need It, Not Before
Charlie Brown once said, “I have a new philosophy. I only dread one day at a time. [6]
v. 34—“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
The 19th century English Baptist pastor Alexander McLaren once asked, “What does your anxiety do? It does not empty tomorrow, brother, of its sorrows; but, ah! it empties today of its strength. It does not make you escape the evil, it makes you unfit to cope with it when it comes. It does not bless tomorrow, and it robs today. For every day has its own burden. We have always strength to bear the evil when it comes. We have not strength to bear the foreboding of it.” [7]
There’s no better example of Jesus’ care for His anxious people than the cross.
At the cross we see how much God cares about the big picture.
At the cross we see how much God cares about the tiny details.
At the cross we see how God can do what we cannot do.
At the cross we see how God does things better than we ever could.
At the cross we see that God knows what we need better than we do.
At the cross we see how God gives us what we need when we need it, not before.
One day, Jesus will come again and we’ll never be anxious again.
In the final pages of C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series in a book called The Last Battle we watch the main characters in the series enter into a new world where they will live with Aslan forever. "Isn't it wonderful?" said Lucy. "Have you noticed one can't feel afraid, even if one wants to? Try it." [8]
That’s what awaits you when you see Jesus. Even if you wanted to feel afraid, you can’t. So until that day comes, fight to keep casting all your cares on Jesus because He cares for you.
Hallelujah for the Cross
Benediction (Philippians 4:6-7), Mike Lindell