Morning, everyone. As you can see, we're gonna be in Matthew 6 again this morning as we continue our journey through the Sermon on the Mount. In the preceding portion of the Sermon on the Mount, we've seen that Jesus warns against seeking earthly riches beyond our central needs. But in this portion of the sermon, we're gonna see how he teaches us not to worry even about the basic necessities of life. which for many of us is a pretty tall order. I'm gonna begin reading at verse 19 to get the context fresh in our minds, and I'm gonna read through verse 34. And as you can see, the focus today will be on verses 25 through 24, which is a big chunk for a guy like me to try to tackle in one Sunday. But they really do, these verses really do need to be taken together. So again, I'll start reading at verse 19. where our Lord Jesus says, do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon, meaning money, sort of personified as an idol here. So these are the warnings that we've seen against setting our hearts on earthly riches beyond, in this context, beyond what we need. In fact, way beyond. And then he says this, 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 of not more value than they? Which of you, by worrying, can add one cubit to his stature? So 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 clothes 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 these things, the Gentiles seek. And in this context, the Gentiles are being regarded as heathen, unbelievers, right? For after all these things, the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. That's like the third time he said, don't worry. Kind of important to him, isn't it? Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Let's take a moment to pray. Holy Father, I do thank you for your great love for us, and I thank you for your word. I thank you that you've saved us through your son, Jesus Christ. I thank you that he became man, took on human flesh through the virgin birth all those centuries ago, that he lived a perfectly sinless life on our behalf, that he died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, that he rose from the dead on the third day conquering death on our behalf, and that he is ascended to your right hand where he ever lives to intercede for all of those who call upon him as their Lord and Savior, who trust in his grace to save them, who trust in what he has done to save them and not in their own efforts. Those of us who know you are so grateful to be among that number and to get to hear his words to us this morning. I pray, Lord, that you will open our hearts to what he has to say to us through the word. I pray, Lord, that you will help me to proclaim it faithfully. I want to thank you, Lord, for the ways in which you have shown me through my own battle with cancer, as I go through radiation and hormone therapy, just how strong you are in my weaknesses. Thank you for always being with me, for keeping your promise in such a gracious way, such a clear way to me, that you will never leave me nor forsake me, that you'll be with me to the end of the age. Lord, I thank you that's true of all of us who trust in you. Be strong in all of our weaknesses this morning, I pray, for we are all struggling with weaknesses, weaknesses that prevent us sometimes from listening and be as good a hearer of the word as we should. Be strong in us, I pray, through the power of your spirit. We ask this in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. cartoonist called Walter Kelly. He was the creator of, some of you will remember if you're old like me, old enough. I'm not that old, but I'm old enough to remember this. He wrote a comic strip called Pogo about a bunch of swamp animals. And he once said, when I don't have anything to worry about, I begin to worry about that. Now, I think Mr. Kelly illustrates well the problem that so many of us have. Right? We just have a built-in tendency to worry. But in the passage before us today, we're gonna see that our Lord Jesus doesn't want us to worry. He wants us to combat that sort of built-in tendency that we have. He doesn't want us to give in to it. And we'll see that in order to help us in this regard, he admonishes us, first of all, against worrying. And then he asks a series of probing questions, arguing against worrying, to make his point. And then he asserts our true priority that will alleviate our worrying. So what we're going to find here is Jesus is going to challenge the worrying mindset we tend to have. He's going to argue against it. He's going to stop with some rhetorical questions to make us stop and think about how silly it is that we worry like we do. give us something else to be concerned about to replace our worry. How gracious is he? So, but first of all, he admonishes us against worry. And he actually, we've seen the command not to worry at least three times in the text already, but we're going to focus here in the first part of verse 25, where he says, therefore this for this reason," that's what the therefore means, 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. Now, when Jesus begins by saying therefore, or for this reason, he is indicating that the problem he has just warned about in the preceding context, the problem of desiring earthly riches, often begins with worry about our earthly needs. And so he's gonna get at the root of the problem, you might say. So he doesn't just warn us about the danger of seeking earthly riches, but also about the root problem of excessive worry about our needs. Because it's this worrying that so easily leads to a desire to hoard riches in the first place. Because we're always so worried about tomorrow, right? And as we'll see, this desire for earthly things is itself a lack of faith in God. Such a lack of faith then in turn fosters the kind of self-reliance and materialistic idolatry that Jesus wants us to avoid and about which he's just been warning us in the preceding context once again. This is a vicious cycle that Jesus wants to end in all of us. Notice also that Jesus addresses the most basic needs that all people have, food, water, and clothing. And he commands us not to worry about these things, these basic things. Some of us might be thinking that, well, if I have a right to worry about anything, surely it's about my most basic needs. Right? After all, when we wake up in the morning, what's one of the first thoughts we have usually? It's, I want a drink of water, or for some of us, a drink of coffee, or breakfast. or what am I gonna put on today? Surely Jesus doesn't mind if we think about such things, right? Well, the answer is that, of course, he's not saying that we shouldn't take any thought at all about such things. We have to eat, we have to put on clothes, we have to drink water, we're gonna die, right? We certainly should have some level of concern about these things. He just doesn't want us to worry about them. After all, earlier in the sermon, Jesus has already told us to pray about such things each day when he said in Matthew 6, 11, he taught us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. Why do we pray for our daily bread if we're not concerned that we have food to eat? Well, but notice, we're taking that concern to God and asking him to meet the need. And that's different from worrying about how I'm gonna meet the need myself and whether I can or not. I think this is one reason that the King James Version needed to be corrected in its translation of this verse, which reads this way. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put on. Take no thought. Well, surely Jesus wants us to take some thought for it. He doesn't mind if we think about breakfast and ask God to give us the food we need on a daily basis and to meet all of our needs. And as we looked at, when we went through the Lord's Prayer, we saw that that's just a way of talking about meeting our physical needs in general, right? But I think the New King James Version gets it right when it translates the command, do not worry. That's the real focus. But Jesus doesn't just give us this bare command. In order to reinforce the command and to help us to see why it is so important, he offers us reasons not to worry, which leads to our next point, our next main point. Our Lord Jesus argues against worrying. We'll see that in the beginning of the last part of verse 25, Jesus begins to ask a series of rhetorical questions that are designed to reveal the real source of our worrying, namely a lack of faith. And with these questions, Jesus also appeals to logic, making arguments from both the greater to the lesser and from the lesser to the greater. First, we'll see that Jesus offers an argument from the greater to the lesser. And this is in the last part of verse 25, when he asked this question, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? In other words, if, as Jesus assumes here, God has given us life itself, and the bodies that we possess, is He not able also to provide food and clothing that we need to sustain our lives and to provide for our bodies? If He can do these greater things, if He can create me and give me life, can't He do these lesser things of providing the clothes that I need and the food that I need and the water that I need? Notice the focus of that question, the argument from the greater to the lesser. If he can do the greater thing, why don't we trust him to do the lesser thing? Unless maybe we don't really believe he did the greater thing, like we think we do. These kind of questions really probe, don't they, when you stop and think about them. They get to the heart of the issue, and that's our hearts. Observe also that Jesus is stressing that true life is something more than merely this earthly life and meeting our bodily needs. When he asked this question, he's reminding us of what he's already taught in the preceding context, that there are rewards in heaven where we should be laying up treasures for ourself. There's life beyond just this life. The life that God has given us extends beyond this life. As believers, we get to go to heaven and expect heavenly rewards, as he said in the context, in fact, that we just read before. But secondly, we see that Jesus offers a series of arguments from the lesser to the greater. And this is also through a series of questions. And these arguments focus upon the way God providentially cares for his creation, doing such things as feeding the birds, and adorning the flowers of the field. We see in verse 26 where Jesus says, 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 of more value than they? In other words, if God takes care of the birds, which are of comparatively lesser value, they're not created in the image of God like we are. will he not also take care of us who are of greater value? A poet once wrote this, said the robin to the sparrow, I should really like to know why these anxious human beings rush about and hurry so, said the sparrow to the robin, friend, I think that it must be that they have no heavenly father such as cares for you and me. I've seen this poem in several commentaries or Bible study resources, I think it does reflect well the central point Jesus is making here, which is that we can easily worry when we shouldn't. When we're consumed with worry, we really do act as though we have no Heavenly Father to care for us, don't we? We could learn a lesson from the birds, he might say. However, although birds are God's creatures and he does care for them, Jesus doesn't call God their heavenly father in this passage. This is a special relationship that we have with God, which makes Jesus' point all the more clear, doesn't it? If he takes care of them, surely he will take care of us, who are his children, created in his image and redeemed by Jesus Christ. Notice also that Jesus describes the birds as neither sowing nor reaping. Does this mean that he doesn't want us to sow or reap? Is he indicating that we shouldn't be concerned about working to meet our needs? Some have been tempted to think so, but there's no reason to think that Jesus doesn't want us to be hard workers. Paul certainly didn't understand Jesus' admonition this way when he wrote this to the Thessalonian Christians in 2 Thessalonians 3, 10 through 12. He wrote, for even when we were with you, we command you to do this, if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you, that's they live among them, in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such, we command and exhort through Jesus Christ, or through our Lord Jesus Christ, he says, that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. because they weren't working, they were depending on other people eating their bread. And he said, well, no, if they refuse to work, just don't let them eat. As Thomas Constable observes concerning Jesus' teaching here, this does not mean we can disregard work. It does mean that we should disregard worry. Jesus also seeks to highlight the ineffectiveness of worrying. as we see in his next rhetorical question, in verse 27. Which of you by worrying could add one cubit to his stature? Now some of you may have something like add one hour to one's life, which is another possible way that this can be taken. The point that he's emphasizing is that worry is useless anyway because it simply doesn't accomplish anything. It can't make you grow more mature. It can't lengthen your life, can it? And the point is essentially the same whether one prefers the New King James that I'm using or other modern translations that say that you can't add a single hour to your span of life or to your life by worrying. The point's the same. I prefer actually the other translations that say Which of you, by being anxious or worrying, can add a single hour to his life? I prefer that because I think it better fits the context, which is about our lives, right? Rather than about how tall we are. But as I said, the essential point's the same, isn't it? Worry doesn't accomplish anything. I guess you could say it accomplishes something. It makes me sicker and more stressed out. If you want negative consequences, you can find some. But it certainly can't add any more time to our lives, whether to live or to grow taller, however you take it. In fact, a good case, as I say, can be made that worry will shorten our lives. And worry can also take over our lives and rob them of joy as well. People that worry constantly, not very joyful people. Have you ever been around someone that worries all the time and is constantly expressing worry? And you find yourself saying, I just don't want to be around that person because it just saps you of your joy? It's better not to be one of those kind of persons ourselves, isn't it? Playwright Arthur Summers Roche poignantly observed once, worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained. That sounds like a guy who's worried a lot, doesn't it, and has learned the hard way. So no wonder our Lord Jesus wants us not to worry, and no wonder he offers us so many arguments against it as he continues to do with his next rhetorical questions in verses 28 through 30, where he says this, So 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 clothes the grass of the field, which today is and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? In other words, if God shows such concern for the flowers, of the field which are here for a short time and used for fuel when they're dead and dried out, will he not also be concerned for us? And the answer is that of course he'll be concerned that we have clothes to wear. The answer's obvious. And if we think otherwise, which is what we demonstrate when we worry, then the real problem we have is a lack of faith, which is why Jesus tacked that on at the end. And he says, oh you of little faith. He's saying to all you of my disciples who worry, and you're constantly worrying, your problem is that you have little faith. And he's not saying you don't have any faith. Even little faith, even weak faith is still real faith. He's not saying they're not believers. He's just saying maybe they're immature or weak ones. that their faith isn't as strong as it ought to be? Notice again the progression of the argument that I noted before. First, Jesus warns us against seeking earthly riches rather than treasure in heaven in verses 19 through 24. Then he zeroes in on what so easily leads us to such a desire for earthly riches, which is worry about the future. Verses 25 to 27. And now he pinpoints the source of such worrying, which is a lack of faith. George Mueller once correctly asserted that the beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of anxiety. So let us not deceive ourselves about that. To the degree that we worry, we're caught up in worry. We might all have passing worries, right? We worry for a few minutes and then we pass on, right? We're tempted to get caught up in worry and we resist. I'm talking about prisoners of worry all the time. It's a more consistent problem. To the degree that that is your problem, that's the degree that you're not really trusting in God according to Jesus' teaching in this passage. You may say, oh, I trust the Lord, but your worry proves that the lie. I'm not saying you don't trust Him at all, you just don't trust Him enough. You have little faith, not that you have no faith. You need stronger faith. And of course, you have to go to Jesus to get it. You have to trust Him for that. So, we're back to, though, what some of us may think, but shouldn't we be concerned again about meeting our basic needs? And isn't this why Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread as we've already been reminded earlier? Isn't this why Paul said that we should work for our bread? Shouldn't we be concerned also because in meeting our own needs, we may also meet the needs of others? It's not just about me. I can't help meet other people's needs if mine aren't met, right? And doesn't Jesus also command us to meet the needs of others and even tell us that in the future judgment, this will be taken into account? Remember what He said in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, beginning in verse 31. He said, when the Son of Man comes in His glory, we're celebrating the first coming of Christ this season, but here He's talking about His second coming to which we're all looking forward. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, He says, then He will sit on the throne of His glory, and all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on the right hand, and they represent believers in this passage, but the goats on the left, representing unbelievers. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And in the context of that teaching of Jesus, he's got in mind how we treat other believers when they're being persecuted, whether or not we identify with them, help them in their needs or not. Such concern for others can also be for their spiritual welfare. As Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 11, 28, 29, when he says, besides other things, what comes upon me daily, he's describing the struggles and tribulations he has. And then he says, my deep concern for all the churches. Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble and I do not burn with indignation? He gets a righteous anger when people cause other believers to stumble. This is one of the things that plagues him all the time. So how do we understand such passages in a unified way? On the one hand, don't worry about these things. On the other hand, work for these things, make sure you help other people by having these things. How do we do that? Pray daily for these things? How do we put those passages together with Jesus' command not to worry about these things? How do we balance them out? Well, there are a couple of points that need to be remembered. First, we must distinguish between concern about our daily needs, concern that we take to God in prayer, as Jesus taught, and worry about such things. The difference between concern and worry can be a subtle one, which makes it all the more easy to deceive ourselves about it, right? It's very subtle. And you might say, I'm slicing the ham pretty thin here in making this distinction, but I think it's a real distinction. But perhaps we can safely discriminate between the two by recognizing that concern can leave these things with God after praying for them, and worry can't let go of them. Maybe that's a good place to start, because Jesus taught us to pray about them. And then he said, don't worry about them. And the implication is we don't have to worry about them if we pray about them. If we have a legitimate concern about them and give that to God in prayer, we don't have to worry. And so maybe there's the difference between concern, a genuine, legitimate concern, and worry right there. Maybe that'll help us to see when we cross the line into worry. After I pray about it, you might still consume with anxiety about it. I got a worry problem then, don't I? Here we must remember the words of Peter in 1 Peter 5, 6, and 7, when he said, therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Just as Jesus taught, so also Peter connects our casting our cares upon the Lord with trust, that he really does care for us. Some people pray about these things and can't let go of the anxiety or worry about them because deep down they don't think God really cares. Perhaps he's really hearing them. But that's back to a faith problem, isn't it? When we continue to worry, we only show that we doubt that God really cares. Remember also the words of Paul to the Philippian Christians in Philippians 4, 6, and 7, when he said this, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication. With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Well, one of the things that will guard your hearts and minds from is worry. As Pastor Ben likes to put it, we're anxious for nothing when we pray about everything, right? That's a good way of summarizing one of the points that Paul is making here. I never forgotten when Pastor Ben said that. It sticks with me. I think about it frequently when I struggle. So one way we can say is that We can distinguish between concern and worry, and a genuine concern can leave things in prayer with God and not constantly take them back up and let them consume us. But secondly, we can also distinguish between selfless concern for others and selfish worrying about our own needs. And I think that that shows when I'm thinking about meeting my needs and the needs of my family, and maybe wanting a little more than just my needs, if I'm thinking of that because I wanna be able to help my brothers and sisters in Christ, or the poor, needy, or what have you, the widows, if that's my goal, well, that's not the same thing as selfish worrying. Being concerned to have enough to help other people is a good concern to have. And that's not the same as worry, sinful worry. This concern for others, should be a kingdom concern, which leads to our third and final point, main point anyway. And that is that our Lord Jesus asserts our true priority that alleviates worrying. Beginning in verse 31, he says this, therefore, do not worry saying, what should we eat? Or what should we drink? Or what should we wear? Now before Jesus asserts what should be our ultimate priority, notice he restates his command not to worry. He does this with the apparent desire to highlight that the real cure for worry is to be found not only in trusting God more fully and in praying, as he's taught us to pray earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, but also in getting our priorities right, as he's going to make clear in what he goes on to say next. In verse 32, he says, for after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. Now, I think Jesus is making at least two points here. in that statement. First, when we worry more about our temporal, earthly needs than we do about eternal, heavenly things, we are behaving as the heathen do. He wants us to come to that realization. If we're claiming to trust our Heavenly Father, if we're claiming to be true believers, if we're claiming that we're members of the Kingdom of Heaven, but we worry constantly about earthly, temporal things without much thought for heavenly things at all. We're no better than pagans. Because in reality, we're seeking the same things in life that they're seeking. We're putting our priorities on the same things that they put their priorities on. We're not then the salt that we should be. Remember he spoke in chapter 5 verse 13 of salt that can lose its saltiness. We're supposed to be the salt of the earth. One of the ways we can lose our saltiness is through worry. Then we're failing to let our light shine before other men as we ought. He said in verse 16, if our concerns are the same as theirs and we're as caught up with worry as they are about earthly things, our light is dimmed. If we're worrying all the time, like the pagans, the heathen do, are we not like those who receive the word among the thorns, that Jesus will go on to talk about in Matthew 13, 22, when He said, Now he who received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. We need to first of all recognize, I think that's the implication of what Jesus is saying here, that if we want to be different from the heathen, we can't have the same concerns that they have. People should be able to tell the difference between us. When I go in for my cancer treatment, there should be a difference between me and the guy who doesn't know the Lord. Thank God there is. Thank God there is. In fact, one of the things that this trial has shown me is that God has worked a deeper faith in me than I thought I could have. I'm a bit surprised by it, to be honest with you. So, because I know it's not coming from me at all. I'm not that guy. So Jesus really is, as Paul said, completing the work he began in me. He's given me a stronger faith than I thought I could ever have. That's what people should be seeing in me though, not worry. And thank God, I'm not worried. The second thing we can take from this verse is that when we worry as the heathens do, we're acting as though our Heavenly Father doesn't really know or understand our needs. Notice Jesus said, for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. If you're worrying, you're acting like he doesn't really know. Maybe care. So we're back to lack of faith as the primary issue, aren't we? And that's what a lot of things really boil down to. I found this in counseling over the years as a pastor. Almost all counseling boils down to this. Do you trust God or not? It's that simple. Simple, but not easy, right? You make it sound so simple, Pastor, when you say with Jesus, don't worry, have greater faith. That sounds so simple. Well, the answer is simple, but that doesn't make it easy. In fact, it's impossible in our own strength. God has to give us faith. He's the one who gives us and grows our faith. And so when we're struggling with faith, what do we do? We do like the man who said to Jesus, Lord, I believe. help thou mine unbelief. We go to him for the faith we need, is what we do. Again, I said it's simple, that doesn't make it easy. One example I've used in the past, most of you know what an anvil is, a big heavy iron or steel thing that you pound things on and so forth. They're really heavy. Now, if an anvil falls over and lands on my foot, the answer to my problem is simple, I just gotta move the anvil. But here's the thing, anvils are heavy and hard to move. So it's a simple answer, but it's not an easy one. And that's the way faith can be against worry, isn't it? It's simple, just trust God. That can be hard to do though, right? So what do we do when we're struggling? Well, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. Just help me with that then, Lord. Help me to believe more. Help me to trust you more. And as we do that, we gotta change our priorities. As he says in verse 33, but seek first. In the context, first before what? our daily needs even, water, food, clothing. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Now, I've got news for the prosperity gospel preachers. Riches aren't what he's talking about here. He's not contrasting them with riches, he's warned about those. Look out Benny Hinn when you stand before Jesus and other people like him. He's talking about even our basic needs. He's saying that if we seek God's kingdom and righteousness first, then we can be confident that our needs will be met. But what is the kingdom and the righteousness that we're to seek first? That's a good question. Well, we're to seek the advancement of the kingdom now through the advancement of the gospel, as Jesus did. Earlier in Matthew, in chapter four, verse 23, here's how Jesus' ministry is described. baptized, he's been tempted by the devil, and he's beginning his ministry. And it says this, Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. The good news. And this means that we must make the proclamation of the gospel a first priority in our lives, doesn't it? If that's the way Jesus went about seeking first the kingdom of heaven, one of the ways he did it was preaching the good news, proclaiming the good news about the kingdom, then surely that's what we must do. No wonder some of his last words to us are the Great Commission, to take the gospel to the world. It also means that we must pray for the kingdom to come more fully now and then ultimately in its fullness in the future. As Jesus taught us to pray earlier in the Sermon on the Mount when he said, in this manner therefore pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What's the first thing he wants us to pray when we pray every day? For God's kingdom to come. How do you make How do you seek first the kingdom of heaven and his righteousness? You pray about it every day. You seek opportunities to share about it every day. You make that your priority. And then God will worry about your life. That's what Jesus is saying. Where Jesus refers to seeking his righteousness in connection with seeking his kingdom, He's talking about living a more righteous life that would elicit a reaction from others as an integral part of our witness that we have as we advance the kingdom of heaven. As we live such righteous lives, we will elicit both a negative and a positive response. As Jesus taught earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, again in verse 10 in the Beatitudes, he said, blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. Because remember, in the context of this sermon, we're to have a righteousness that's greater, that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. They were hypocrites. They had fake righteousness. Jesus says you have to have genuine righteousness. You have to be genuinely transformed people. And as you live out that genuine righteousness, you're going to be persecuted for, but he also said in chapter five, verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see you good works, and that's talking about righteous works, and glorify your father in heaven. So if we are thus seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness first, then we will find that his concerns become our concerns. What he cares about becomes what we care about. And if we're so concerned about what I'm gonna eat or drink today or wear today that we can't be concerned about what he cares about, we've got a priority problem, not just a faith problem. We don't understand our purpose at all then, why we're here. But if we find that his concerns are beginning to outweigh our concerns as we make his concerns our priority, then we'll begin to find that our faith becomes stronger as we prayerfully depend upon him to work in and through us. And we'll begin to find that we have less and less reason to worry about the future as well. Something which Jesus addresses yet again in the final verse that we're looking at in verse 34, where Jesus says this, therefore do not worry about tomorrow. Now the things he said about before were the worries I had for today, right? But if I'm worried about food and drink and clothes today, the chances are I'm worried about them tomorrow too, right? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things, sufficient for the day is its own trouble. We do not need to worry about tomorrow when we trust God with each and every day. Tomorrow's just another one of them to us. But Jesus ends this part of his teaching with an added reminder that each day will bring trouble of its own. Why then would we want to bring tomorrow's trouble into today and deal with it twice? Why would we want to do that? Well, if we stop and think about it, we don't want to do that, do we? The problem is we don't stop and think about it like that very often. And we bring lots of tomorrows into today and worry about them. George MacDonald once pointed out, no man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of today that the weight is more than he can bear. That's so often true, isn't it? So we've come to the end of our teaching about Jesus' admonitions here not to worry. And I hope that those of us who trust in him as Lord and Savior will leave here today encouraged to trust him more and more each day. That's my hope. Making his priorities our priorities. And in the process, learning not to worry because we know our lives are in his loving hands. And that's true about everything in our lives. Not just our daily needs, but the trials and tribulations that we have as well. As I believe Charles Spurgeon once said, if I didn't know that the sufferings in my life, that cup of suffering, was being poured out by the hand of my loving Heavenly Father, I would despair. But everything is happening according to His loving plan, and I need not worry about things. And I get it, we all do it. I think I haven't had moments where I've tempted to worry, What's gonna happen to my wife if I die of cancer? My kids, my grandchildren? I'm less worried about this church, because you've got George and Brent and Ben around. I'm expendable. The only one who's not expendable in this church is the Lord Jesus. But I had to remember that about my family, too. And I don't need to worry, because He loves them and you more than I ever could. And He loves me. You can believe that. And I don't need to worry. Neither do you. Let's go to Him in prayer. Holy Father, I hope I've done a good job bringing out what our Lord Jesus meant when He said these things by paying close attention to the words that He used, the context in which He said these things, so that we could get, I hope, a fuller understanding of what He was driving at. what our deepest issues here really are. It all boils down to do we trust you as we should? And Lord, I just would like on behalf of my brothers and sisters in Christ this morning to say, there are ways in which we haven't trusted you as we should. We've worried too much, and please forgive us when we do that. Help us to love you more and trust you more. Help us to make your priorities our priorities. Help us to embrace your cure for worry by calling out to you for a stronger faith, by calling out to you as the one who really does care for us. And Lord, if there's anyone here this morning who hasn't trusted you as his or her savior, we pray that you would please do for him or her what you've done for those of us who know you. Open their eyes that they may see Jesus for who he really is. enable them to see and to enter the kingdom by trusting in your grace, leaving off any trust in their own efforts or their own works, but trusting wholly in your grace, trusting what Christ did as their savior when he died for them on the cross and rose from the dead, calling out to him in repentance and faith. And we'll give you all the glory for what you do in answer to these prayers, for you alone deserve the glory. Pray these things in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you once again for your kind attention.