Go Rest High on that Mountain - Pt 3

“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? 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? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the 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? 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. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:25-34 ESV).

This passage we are focusing our attention on is very clear: Jesus does not want me to be anxious. Now, that’s the negative way of stating the main point of this passage. There is a positive way. Jesus says, “Seek first God’s kingdom” (v. 33). In other words, when you think about your life or your food or your clothes or your spouse, don’t fret about them. Instead make God the king in that affair and in that moment, and hand over the situation to his kingly power and do his righteous will with the confidence that he will work for you and meet all your needs. To seek the kingship of God first in every affair and every moment of life is a thrilling way to live. It’s full of freedom and peace and joy and adventure. It’s also full of hardship, but it’s worth it all. If you believe in the kingship of your heavenly Father, you do not need to be anxious about anything. So, now let’s begin with the specifics; let’s look at some of the reasons why. I see at least eight reasons Jesus gives in this passage why we should not be anxious. The first is “Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on” (v. 25). Food and clothing are essentials, aren’t they? We certainly believe they are. Indeed, to lose either would mean we would lose some pleasures. Food tastes good. It is pleasurable to eat; and, we would lose some human praise and admiring glances if we didn’t have nice clothes. Of course we know that we would lose long life if we had no food at all or weren’t protected from the cold with warm clothes. So we get anxious about food and clothing because we don’t want to lose physical pleasures or human praise or length of life. And to this Jesus responds: if you are gripped by anxiety over these things, you have lost sight of the greatness of life. Life was not given primarily for physical pleasures, but for something greater. Life was given primarily for us to spend an eternity with God in the age to come. We ought not to be anxious about food and clothing because food and clothing cannot provide the great things of life, the pursuit of his gracious favor, or the hope of eternity in his presence. Shift your focus to those things. It lifts the burden of anxiety.