Introduction
Let me begin with a discipleship question: will we trust and obey Jesus in the real decisions of everyday life? Christ forms us through truth received, repentance practiced, and obedience lived out.
Main Points
Grace and Justification
i'll tell everybody a little bit about what we've been up to this summer as far as studying the word we're in matthew chapter five six and seven for the entirety of the summer studying what's called the sermon on the mount we put in a little series that we're calling the summer on the mount because we're taking the entire summer to take one sermon of jesus and turn them into countless sermons of man uh there's this and i say that because this particular sermon many people say is it's the longest recorded sermon that we have of jesus it's probably the most profound and powerful sermon that you'll ever hear just by reading it and considering the words of christ and we could mine its depths for as long as we wanted to uh whenever you look at the sermon on the mount it's just impossible to say it all um so i'm gonna give my best attempt to uh with that uh warning or with that precursor to take a passage of scripture that might be the absolute pinnacle of what it means to follow jesus remember the setting jesus has just finished teaching the masses and healing and the crowds have gathered and there are so many people that are interested and he sees all the masses and he goes to this little hilltop outside the sea of galilee for a special uh sermon just for his disciples and really the thesis of the sermon are these are the ways of my kingdom the kingdom of god is on its way it's represented wherever christ is and wherever those who follow him are and he says this is how you live in my kingdom and we do a little bit of uh recap by way of because this morning we come to this portion of scripture where jesus says if you are worried this morning if you come with just the weight of the world that so many of us feel for the day and age that we live in you've read the news you've scrolled the feed you see all that's happening and you just wonder how it's all going to work out and for most of us if not all of us sometimes the circumstances of our life instead of something that just gives us more opportunity to trust god and look for god's provision and his handiwork sometimes circumstances when the world gets crazy and the list of to do gets long and the questions are many sometimes rather than worship we worry and this morning we look at a passage of scripture where jesus says if you're worrying don't in the kingdom of god as he brings us in matthew chapter 6 we started this expose of this chapter the middle of the sermon with an amazing warning that jesus gives says don't do this in my kingdom beware of this the chapter 5 is all the blessings of following jesus how we can be righteous by following him and then chapter 6 starts with a warning that all of us loved hearing i think he says beware of hypocrisy and we listen to that and we're like preach pastor we all disdain hypocrisy we all dislike it when the preaching doesn't meet the practice of a church or a so-called believer or even in our own lives when we feel like we're not genuine in our hearts but this morning jesus comes with another beware don't do this and this one we give ourselves all sorts of wiggle room on today we're going to listen to another commandment of jesus the ways of his kingdom he says do not worry and yet there's so much to worry about in fact as i was processing this it's almost as though in the days that we live in when you have so much to be thinking about the state of the world wars and rumors of wars uh the state of what it means to be healthy and how we can navigate all of the uncertainty in the in the medical advice that we're all trying to figure out and then in your own life with the financial questions and things that are happening in just your day-to-day family life sometimes when you when you represent the heart of the lord to say i'm not going to worry it's almost like you feel bad for it like you should be when you try to say to someone hey in the lord's kingdom by what it means to follow christ we're called to not worry and man do you ever feel like people think you're being insensitive when you say that it's like you should be worrying more people well today we're going to look at the words of jesus as to why we shouldn't worry and why there is something about his kingdom that not only prohibits worry but it also completely destroys it the ways of christ following him it's not just that he outlaws worry it's that when you really follow him there's nothing to worry about and so that's a an to the scripture reading this morning starting in math chapter 20 or matthew chapter 6 starting in verse 25. read along with me the whole thing because i want to share with you an outline of how we're going to go through this morning that covers all the verses from 25 to 34. so let's just read it jesus says therefore i say to you do not worry 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 for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not more valuable than they are so which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature so why do you worry about clothing considering the lilies of the field how they grow they are neither toiling or spinning and yet i say to you that even solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these now if god so clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven will he not much more clothe you o you of little faith therefore do not worry saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for after all of these things the gentiles seek for your heavenly father knows that you need all of these things but seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow we'll worry about its own things sufficient for the day is its own trouble don't worry about tomorrow's got all the trouble that it needs today people of god you have come to worship him you've come i hope with ears to hear what his word says about the blessing of following him you've come to know him more that in his light you would see light and yet sometimes we leave not as people that are assured full of peace and trusting in god but we leave the sanctuary we enter into all of the worry of this world and so today jesus says in my kingdom people actually don't have to worry so here's the outline that i want to break down as we process what this is saying first jesus gives some really logical and reasonable explanation as to why worry is not a good idea and so we're going to look at that in three examples that he gives to say there are three worrisome problems to worry three problems that come just when worry enters into your heart and mind as a way to navigate what tomorrow holds or what baggage you have carried with you from yesterday there are three worrisome problems that will then point us into two empowering pursuits for your life which means that jesus is not asking us to leave worry and enter into a place of neutral where we are neither worrying or worshiping but he pulls us into a relationship with him that says worry is so far gone when you do these two pursuits and then it ends with one of the reasons that i believe this sermon means so much to so many people because it ends with a life-changing promise a promise in scripture that you apply to your life and you test it and you come away with the lord and you reason with him and you allow him to show himself faithful to answer the promise that he has provided this morning and it will absolutely change the paradigm of your life it has for many people this verse as we read it this morning so many people as they preach this verse will say this is why i'm a pastor after service and first service even people came up to me and said you shared this morning the reason why i followed jesus there is a there is a power to the promise that we're going to look at this morning that should completely destroy worry but before we do that jesus is first going to give us the practical reasons the words worrisome problems that will follow your life when you are not someone who is obeying the command of the lord to not mess with it and it starts when he says in verse 25 one simple word he says therefore i say to you which means transitionally jesus is building everything that he's going to say about worry on top of everything that we considered last week there is a pursuit to your life all of us there is on the end of that pursuit a reward that gets you out of bed that gets your wallet out of your pocket that gets the calendar of your life and last week we looked at this simple statement that jesus says that when you find your treasure the heart will follow this is all built on the reward of your life it says choose your treasures wisely because treasures the rewards that you live for that are religious rewards or earthly rewards or materialistic rewards or rewards that have to do more with your glory than gods have some problems to them namely they don't last there is a lot to be worried about when the reward of your life has anything to do with the temporal nature of the earthly side of eternity he says the treasures on this side of eternity will be stolen and they'll rot away due to decay of rust and they'll be eaten by moths so when you choose a reward for the passion of your life and you dedicate your heart to something that is not part of god's eternal will for your life there's a lot to be worried about it goes very quickly and it's not something you can actually grab onto but jesus says when you store up yourself treasure or when you live for the reward of god's glory and his eternal treasure now you have something you will never perish now you have something that can never be taken from you god himself is your reward in this instance and if god is for you who can be against you and the god that was there in the beginning and will be there at the end who is the author and the finisher of your faith when he is your reward what jesus will say is therefore stop worrying you've now transferred your passion and your heart to the pursuit of god and that pursuit ends differently than any experience you have on the pursuit of earth so it is the therefore that sets the foundation for why jesus can say when that's your treasure you need not worry and then he gives us reason a logical view with god as the sovereign creator of the universe three practical ways to say if worry is part of the way that you process changing circumstances if worry is something that you're doing to try to medicate or to try to calm the nerves of uncertainty you should be warned because there's problems with worry the first one he'll point out is found in verses 25 and 26 he says therefore you don't worry 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 first of all he gives the boundaries by which this message should be applied to your life because all of us in our own attempts to navigate what we should be thinking about and worrying about and some of those like hey i don't want to worry but you have no idea what i'm dealing with moments he says don't worry about your life that's very broad anything that has to do with your life your well-being your soul your body your mind the food that you consume the provisions for your clothing and all that you have that makes you jesus says if it's your life don't worry in other words there are no circumstances by which this is not applied to your life paul will say to the church in philippi be anxious or worrisome about nothing but in all things through prayer and supplication make you request with thanksgiving known to god paul will enhance the teachings of jesus by saying worry goes with nothing so all of us come now to the lord and say okay unreserved lord tell me why worry is bad verse 26 look at the birds of the air they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not of more value than they are one ways that jesus wants to give us assurance for this lesson is to remove circumstance to remove culture to remove all of time and to appeal to nature when the bible appeals to appeal appeals to nature what it's saying is this works for all of time across the board to this day any of us can consider the birds and we can look out and you realize that in all of the ways our city is filled with birds and all type of variety we don't have to step over them because they're starving to death all of them are cared for and the birds of all animals got a really good deal they do some gathering but for the most part they just get taken care of that's part of the nation the creation that the lord is gonna say god made his creation with built-in needs that he desires to fill birds are hungry he gives them food you have needs that are built into the way that god made you and you're more valuable than animals so jesus is saying so now here's a very important question when it comes to why you should hear the words of jesus and not mess with worry he's now going to ask you something so which of you by worrying can add one cubit to your stature here's the first identified problem with the temptation that we have to think if it's gonna be it's up to me and if i can't figure it out then i better be worried because nobody can the first answer is in all of your worrying in all of your thinking about the problems of the world that you don't see a solution for what are you actually changing in all of your worrying about the stature of your physical body for the young people among us who are thinking about how tall you're going to be someday staring at the mirror and wondering and worrying that you're going to be the shortest kid in the class forever has nothing to do with how tall you're going to end up so be free of that feeling and if some of you feel tall the reverse is true too it's like nothing you can do to make yourself shorter you have the body that god gave you he provides food for you to eat to grow but none of the actual production of your worry is the result that turns into anything that changes in your life so problem number one worry is unproductive it doesn't work it gives us a lot to think about and a lot to process but one of the ways that you can filter this through your life into have i gone down the road of ungodly concern that has turned into worry what's the fruit has it done anything to help your life because it is good to make a distinction here what jesus is saying is to never be concerned about anything he's not saying that there are some really cool godly offices that come with responsibilities that bend your knee to prayer and search the scripture to get wisdom for it's good to have concern as a mother for your children as a father as a provider for your family it's good to have concern as to how all of these things work but when the concern turns into paralyzing worry that produces no fruit in your life it's gone too far i heard one commentator say you don't have to worry about being concerned but you should be concerned about being worried so try to remember that there's actually a way that jesus teaches this through story form and as you know i always find it helpful for my own life to see this in a story and in matthew chapter 25 jesus gives some insight into the mechanics of his kingdom which he often does through story the kingdom of god or the kingdom of heaven is like this and in matthew chapter 25 he says in verse 14 the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far off country and he calls his servants and delivered his goods to them so imagine the picture there's someone who is the ruler of an estate or is his own little kingdom and he's got servants and he's being called off to another country for other business and he says before i leave here's all the stuff that i need you to make sure does not get wasted and there's an interesting reaction to the servants and what they do with the things they've been given you may have heard of this as the parable of the talents but it's helpful for us to see the simple point about worry here it says this and to one he gave five talents to another two and to another one each according to his ability and immediately went on his journey this is just for the disciples those following jesus this is part of being in the kingdom is that the master in this scenario is the lord in our full read of it and he has gone to prepare a place for us in eternity that will not rot away it's the treasure that is reserved by his hand and as he prepares he leaves us his spirit and says now i need you to care for my business i need you to be my ambassadors for my kingdom and here are some gifts and talents and opportunity according to your ability or what you're good at this is the gift of the spirit in each one of your life so if it asks for the lord for the new born again life he says great here's what i need you to do to some he gave five to somebody gave two to some he gave one and look the reaction at the person who gets one talent it says but he had received one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his lord's money so there's going to be in this story two examples of people who receive from the master and they do well by the gifts and the talents they were given and then there's going to be an example of someone who doesn't do well this person takes the little that he had and he buries it he does nothing with the opportunity that god gave him and there is a teaching moment that jesus is going to describe as to the motivation in the man's heart who did nothing what does he say he goes on to say this then he who had received the one talent came and said to the lord upon his return i knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed and i was afraid i was worried i thought man you gave me this stuff but i'm just gonna let you down it better be do nothing with my life and nothing with my opportunity nothing my talent because i'm afraid it's not gonna work out i'm gonna disappoint i'm gonna let you down i'll disappoint others everyone's gonna laugh at me everyone's gonna call me a joker you ever felt that way in the call of god on your life the opportunity to live for him and serve him and you're like yeah but in real life it's kind of a harsh world out there i was afraid so i buried the talent and did nothing one of the serious problems and why this is a command in the same breath as a warning against hypocrisy there's a command against worry because when you become someone who takes on what belongs to god which is to see how things are supposed to be wisely worked out beyond your understanding and you turn it into worry it is so paralyzing that you do nothing how many of us have been called by god and yet we bury the talent because we're afraid it's not going to work out so the first problem is worry doesn't work literally does not work the kingdom call in your life and it leads to believers or people who become paralyzed by fear and unproductive in their life and jesus is clear when your life doesn't bear fruit that's when the pruning comes it's like what do you do with a life that doesn't bear fruit well in the example of this servant the lord answered him said you're a wicked servant and he casts them away when we meet the lord face to face one of the things that we will not be able to say as the defense of all of the ways that we did not answer the call is that worry got the best of us because if we really knew who the lord the father of creation and each one of us if we really knew his faithfulness and his care jesus says there is nothing to worry about here's the second problem with worry he says in verse 28 why do you worry about clothing consider the lilies of the field how they grow they neither toil nor spin and yet i say to you that even solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these now if god so closed the grasp of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown into the oven short little lifespan and yet god cares how much more will he clothe you oh you of little faith there's been times you may have read this passage of scripture and your brain interprets this which there is an interpretation for this as if i follow jesus one of the encouragements that i get is that i won't live in rags and be a beggar on the street for food because it's like don't worry what you're going to eat don't worry we're going to wear i'll take care of your basic needs but this reading of it also goes into another fear and worry you sometimes have that jesus will address which is will my life be at all something that has any kind of beauty or enhancement to it in this instance he says that clothes could be compared to solomon's glory solomon think about that the best reference point for these listeners to know anything about wealth and riches and royalty and feasting and when you mention solomon you're not just talking about you know a shirt on your back and a nice warm meal you're talking about feasting you're talking about the glory of the greatest king that these people had ever heard of and it says even in all the glory that you can find in the build-up of the royalty on earth god's creation is still more beautiful the lilies are better than what you can come up with in your in your linens and your robes but do you believe that do you actually believe that following god is not simply okay lord i'm going to grip my teeth and trust that i won't starve and have to beg but the glory of solomon doesn't compare to the god that provides for his creation the lilies are beautiful and they come and they go and you're worth more this next statement of jesus is going to bring to the next problem into light because he says this now if god closed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is thrown out it's nothing how much more will he clothe you listen to it oh ye of little faith not only is worry unproductive but worry is unfaithful you have been called as we spent an entire sunday considering to know god not as a distant clockmaker that sets it into motion and waits for you to approach him to so that he can show that he's alive but he is a god who wants you to know him as father your heavenly father will provide for you but do you believe it so what worry does is it says i'm not so sure that god is actually going to provide i have reason to be worried because i have lost my reason to be hopeful is god faithful or is he not and i love that he uses the example of fathering because i will always be able to relate to the ways that i learn this lesson i hope i do not exhaust all of the ways that on a 6 000 mile road trip i had so many lessons about god with four kids strapped to a car seat for hours on end i have a lot to draw from i try not to exhaust it but there's another moment i'm like this reminds me of something you may hear clothes and food and think first century problems were beyond that as a culture i must fill in my worries to something much bigger because i'm a western successful person it's like really because at the end of the day when you really think about it so much of our worry and thought process has everything to do with what we eat and what we wear it's like you know you think you're over it but then you turn on any kind of uh television and you see the advertisements you look at the billboards you see all the magazine adverts and you realize you are a product waiting to buy something if you can be motivated by worry that you're missing out on something you give you this thi
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.
Conclusion
We return to the opening teaching: discipleship is not just information, it is transformation through faith and obedience to Jesus. If we receive His Word and walk it out, He will shape us into people who endure and bear fruit.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me hear Your Word, obey it with faith, and grow as Your disciple. Amen.