Why Do We Worry Mt 6:25-34
Overview
Why Do We Worry?
Worry is a familiar visitor: the couple lying awake over a corporate reorganization, the mother waiting on test results, the man punching the same numbers into a calculator hoping for a different answer, the child anxious about a new bully on the block. Worry robs joy, strangles hope, and hunts us down when we try to flee. Three times in a single passage, Jesus directly confronts it: "Do not worry" (Matthew 6:25, 31, 34).
The "therefore" in verse 25 ties this command to the warning in Matthew 6:24: "You cannot serve God and wealth." Worry often grows out of treating possessions as an idol—fearing we won't have enough food, drink, or clothing. But the principle reaches further than material things; it applies to every form of worry. This is not a call to passivity. Scripture also warns against laziness Proverbs 6:6-9. There is a clear distinction between labor that glorifies God and fretfulness about the future. Jesus points us to the birds, who neither sow nor reap, and to the lilies, clothed more beautifully than Solomon Matthew 6:26-30. If God provides for raccoons rummaging at night, squirrels raiding a feeder, and hummingbirds sipping nectar, will He not much more provide for you?
At the heart of every form of worry is a doubt in the sovereign control of God and His perfect provision. Jesus says those who worry act like the pagans Matthew 6:32—as if there were no Father who knows what we need. Contrast this with David, fleeing Absalom and writing from a cave: "In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety" Psalm 4:8. The deepest answer to our doubt is the cross. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32. God has already provided for our greatest need—our redemption. Will He not also provide for everything else?
So God gives us a substitute for worry: "Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" Matthew 6:33. In baptism, God has already brought us into His kingdom and clothed us in the righteousness of Christ. Each day, by His grace, we relinquish the illusion of control and seek His reign and rule, treasuring the righteous garment that is already ours. And we live one day at a time: "Do not worry about tomorrow… today's trouble is enough for today" Matthew 6:34. Tomorrow does not yet exist; God holds our days. So when worry begins to creep in, answer the question with a question: If the Father feeds the birds and clothes the lilies—if He gave His own Son for you—can He not take care of you today?
Transcript
Would you open your Bible please with me to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew for our study today? 0s
The couple is up late at night and they're thinking about the reorganization of the company. 9s
They wonder what the impact of that reorganization is going to be for them personally. 17s
And they worry. 27s
They worry. 30s
The young mother stays close to the phone all day long. 33s
She's waiting a call with test results from the doctor. 38s
She wonders about her young children. 43s
She works. 48s
The man is sitting at the kitchen table and he's going over the numbers and he's putting in the same numbers over and over and over again into the calculator. 51s
Hoping that the calculator will spew out a different result. 62s
No matter how he puts the numbers in, no matter what it is that he does. 68s
It's the same result. 74s
As he stares at the same number over and over and over again, he worries. 77s
He worries. 86s
The child has heard about the new kid that's moved into the block. 90s
He's also heard from reliable sources that the new kid can be a bit of a bully. 97s
So he worries about when the new kid is going to introduce himself to him. 104s
Worry. 116s
Worry. 120s
Honest assessment now, please. 123s
How much of your day do you spend? 127s
Worry. 133s
How much of your day do you spend? 135s
Worrying. 138s
Worrying can rob us of our joy. 139s
It can strangle the hope for a day. 144s
It can hunt you down as you try and run from it. 149s
The question this morning. 156s
Why do we worry? 160s
Jesus addresses that in the great sermon on the mount, which recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, 170s
spans three chapters. 177s
And Jesus is quite clear with regard to the assessment of Worry. 180s
Look at me, please. 186s
At verse 25 of chapter 6 of Matthew. 187s
Jesus says, therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life. 192s
Jump over to verse 31, please, of chapter 6. 200s
Therefore, do not worry. 205s
Jump down to verse 34. 210s
So do not worry. 212s
It can't get clear of the man, can't it? 218s
Why in this compacted section of verses that we study today, three times, Jesus says, 222s
knock it off. 230s
Don't do this. 232s
Don't worry. 236s
Let's dig deeper here. 241s
Look at verse 25. 244s
Jesus says, therefore, therefore, I tell you, do not worry. 247s
When you come to the word, therefore, it communicates to us. 254s
This is now the conclusion of an argument, right? 258s
So what's the context in which Jesus says, don't worry. 262s
The context that he's talking about is how one is to regard their possessions. 267s
It summarized in verse 24. 273s
Jesus says, no one can serve two masters. 276s
For a slave will either hate the one and love the other, 280s
or be devoted to the one and despise the other, you cannot serve God and wealth. 284s
There's a concluding verse there with regard the argument, 291s
and now comes the summation to the point. 294s
Therefore, here comes the application. 297s
Therefore, I tell you, do not worry. 300s
Look at the next part about your life. 308s
What you will eat or what you will drink or about your body, what you will wear. 314s
So the context here is how possessions can become an idol. 319s
How possessions then can cause one to worry, 324s
am I going to have enough of the stuff that I need, 327s
or will I run out of the stuff? 331s
There's the context. 333s
The principle with regard to worry applies not only to worry about what you eat and what you drink and what you wear, 335s
but the principle with regard to not worrying applies to all forms of worry. 344s
Here Jesus is saying, here's the basics of life, right? 352s
What it is that we eat, what we drink and what we wear. 355s
The nose, what he just says next, in verse 25, 363s
is not life more than food and the body more than clothing. 366s
Isn't there more life? 375s
Isn't there more to life than worrying that you're going to have enough stuff? 378s
Isn't there more to life than that? 385s
Jesus says, don't worry. 390s
Well, what's then the opposite? 394s
The opposite then retort simply comes back and says, 396s
so are we just sit back and just let everything just come to us then? 399s
That's the contrary argument. 406s
You let Scripture interpret. 408s
Scripture, Proverbs 6, says this, 410s
go to the aunt, you lazy bonds, consider its ways and be wise. 413s
Without having any chief or officer or ruler, it prepares its food in summer and gathers its sustenance in harvest. 420s
How long will you lie there, old lazy bones, when will you rise from your sleep? 428s
So are we simply to sleep our days away under the confidence that all will simply fall into our lap, obviously not? 436s
God says there is a difference though between labor that glorifies God and fretfulness with regard to the future. 446s
There's a fundamental distinction there. 455s
Jesus says, don't worry. 459s
Don't worry. 465s
Well, what's at the heart of worry? 469s
When you peel away all of the different manifestations of worry, 476s
when you peel all of that away, what's at the heart of worry? 482s
You spent a few days recently in a cabin in the Ozarks. 495s
Absolutely lovely. 500s
Second evening we were there. 503s
It was about two or three in the morning and we heard the sound and it sounded as if something was moving the furniture on the deck. 506s
Well, just kind of listened to that for a while and then after procrastinating enough, I finally got up, walked over to the blinds to peek what this sound was on the deck. 518s
As I peek through the blinds, there at my eye level, just separated by the glass pain. 535s
Was a raccoon staring at me as he or she was shimming its way up the side of the house. 547s
You talk about all of a sudden being fully awake. 561s
That was one of those moments. 567s
What was the raccoon up to? 571s
Why was the raccoon shimming its way up the side of the house? 574s
Well, right up from where the raccoon shimming was a bird feeder. 578s
And the caretakers of the place had filled the bird feeder to the full of the sunflower seeds. 584s
The raccoon was doing what raccoons do at two or three in the morning. 593s
In the morning, having breakfast, all of a sudden these two squirrels come scampering the long on the deck. 599s
One of them shoots right up to the bird feeder. 609s
Starts to pull on the bird feeder, just yanking on the thing. 613s
Well, all of the sunflower seeds are falling to the ground for his body who starts to eat. 618s
Then being the good team that they were, they trade places. 623s
So the other squirrel then hops up the other squirrel drops down. 628s
Now the fresh squirrel starts to yank on the bird feeder and more and more of the sunflower seeds fall down for his hungry friend to eat. 631s
And when they would get tired doing this as they would keep trading places, they would just turn upside down and hang there. 642s
I'm sitting at the table, same pain of glass. 650s
I'm looking at the bird feeder there as the squirrel hangs upside down and gives me the same look as the raccoon did. 654s
Of what is the problem here? 667s
This is what we do. 670s
As I watch the squirrels, this hummingbird comes. 677s
The hummingbird lands right on the hummingbird feeder. 684s
It's the same pain of glass, but the bird is right there. 689s
And that bird just drinks out of that feeder. 696s
Darts away for a little bit. 700s
Then, starts on back. 704s
Takes a little bit more. 707s
And off it goes. 710s
Racoon squirrels hummingbird. 715s
All experiencing provision. 719s
Provision. 725s
Look at what Jesus says. 728s
Verse 26. 731s
Look at the birds of the air. 734s
They neither so nor reap or nor gather into barns and yet you're heavenly father feeds them. 737s
Are you not of more value than they? 743s
Loose translation. 748s
Look at the raccoons and the squirrels and the hummingbirds. 751s
They neither so nor reap nor gather into barns and yet you're heavenly father feeds them. 755s
Are you not of more value than they? 761s
And can any of you by worrying at a single hour to your span of life? 764s
The futility of worry. 771s
God is the one who holds the days. 773s
And then Jesus hones in to the point. 777s
And why do you worry about clothing? 783s
Consider the lilies of the field. 785s
How they grow. 787s
They neither toil nor spin. 790s
Yet I tell you even so I'm in and all of his glory was not clothed like one of these. 792s
But if God so close the grass of the field which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven. 800s
Will he not much more cloth you? 807s
You? 813s
Little? 817s
Faith in the provision of God? 826s
Verse 31, therefore do not worry, saying, well, we eat. 833s
What will we drink? 837s
What will we wear? 838s
For it is the gentiles who strive for all these things. 839s
And indeed your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. 844s
For it's the gentiles. 850s
Gentiles is a non-Jew. 852s
Here, gentile is also meaning the non-believer, the pagan. 854s
So Jesus is saying, when you worry, you act like a pagan. 860s
You act like a non-believer. 865s
Because what is at the heart of worry? 868s
Pull back every manifestation of worry. 872s
What's at the heart of it? 877s
At the heart of it is a doubt in the sovereign control of God and his perfect 880s
provision. 889s
That is at the heart of every single expression of worry. 891s
There's millions of things that we can worry about. 898s
And at the heart of each one of them is doubt in God's sovereign control over all things 903s
and his perfect provision. 912s
Bible tells us he has a son, Absalom. 924s
Absalom, you serve his father. 927s
He wants to overthrow the rule of his father. 930s
He gets a group of people against his father. 935s
Now, in a monarchy, of course, if you're going to supplant the person who is the king, you have to kill the king. 938s
It's the only way that, indeed, there's a supplanting of it. 946s
You have to get rid of the one who isn't power. 949s
So Absalom wants the eradification of his father. 952s
So he now can assume the throne. 956s
He winds up in a cave. 961s
Psalm 3 and 4 are writings as David writes from the cave. 965s
His own son is trying to use serpent. 971s
There are people now against him that want his overthrow. 975s
David is running and fleeing from the threats that are before him. 981s
And he writes from the cave. 987s
And he writes this, Psalm 4. 990s
I will both lie down and sleep in peace. 994s
For you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety. 1002s
I will both lie down and notice he doesn't say I'm going to lie down with one I hope in here. 1007s
Then say that. 1013s
I will both lie down and sleep in peace. 1014s
For you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety. 1019s
That is trust in the sovereign control of all my he God and his perfect provision. 1026s
Romans 8 records this. 1039s
He, the father who did not withhold his own son, 1042s
but gave him up for all of us. 1046s
Will he not with him also give us everything else? 1050s
See, that's sovereignty of God. 1058s
That's the provision of God. 1060s
That indeed the Son comes and bears our sin, 1062s
including our sin of worry, our sin that should separate us from God for all of eternity. 1067s
Jesus is blood reconciles us and we are washed clean. 1073s
We are made as white as the driven snow. 1080s
Our sin is cast as far as the east is from the west. 1084s
God has provided for us to our greatest need. 1089s
How we will stand before him on judgment day. 1093s
Now we can stand cloaked in the righteous garment that baptismal garment that is given to us. 1097s
We can stand in confidence before God on judgment day. 1106s
God who has provided for our greatest need, our redemption. 1111s
Will he not take care and provide? 1118s
For everything else. 1127s
He provides every spiritual and temporal blessing that is needed. 1131s
There is no situation, there is no occurrence, there is no problem. 1141s
That is out of the purview of his sovereignty. 1146s
God is not limited in any way. 1150s
He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. 1154s
And God has called you his own in the waters of baptism. 1158s
And nothing is out of his control and his perfect provision. 1165s
God in his grace provides a substitute for worry. 1180s
He freezes us. 1187s
He freezes from the chains and the strangle hold of worry by his sovereignty and his perfect provision. 1189s
And then he provides the substitute. 1198s
Look at the very next verse, verse 33. 1202s
Here is the substitute. 1206s
But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. 1208s
strive first for the kingdom of God. 1217s
And we are already in the kingdom of God, aren't we? 1219s
God incorporated us into the kingdom in our baptism. 1223s
We are children of the king. 1228s
We have been made his children. 1231s
We have been adopted. 1232s
We are part of the kingdom of God. 1234s
And each and every day then by his grace we say, 1238s
Indeed, God, I want your kingdom. 1242s
I want your reign and your rule in my life. 1245s
I don't want the rule of worry in my life. 1249s
I want your reign and your rule in my life. 1253s
And God says, you've got it. 1257s
You've got it. You understand that, right? 1260s
Because I've made you as part of my kingdom. 1262s
Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 1267s
And all these things will be given to you as well. 1270s
What we've been made righteous in Christ, haven't we? 1275s
We've been clothed in the righteous garment of Jesus Christ. 1279s
Each and every day then we are called by his grace to delight 1282s
in the treasure of the righteous garment that is ours. 1289s
That is worries replacement. 1294s
Instead of turning into our uncontrolled by his grace, 1300s
we relinquish to the control of God after all he's sovereign 1306s
in much more powerful than we are. 1309s
We submit to his sovereign control and his perfect provision 1313s
and in the replacement of worry, we seek that which he's given. 1317s
His kingdom and his righteousness. 1323s
Scripture says, strive first. 1329s
You can translate that in fact I like it better. 1331s
strive only for the kingdom of God and his righteousness. 1334s
And these things will be given to you as well. 1337s
First, communicate kind of a first in the list. 1342s
So in other words, we'll first do this, but then we've got all this other stuff here 1346s
that we're going to do. 1350s
No, only communicates. 1351s
Here's what we're about. 1353s
We want his reign and his rule in our life and we want to treasure the righteous garment 1355s
that God has given us. 1360s
That's it. 1362s
That's the only thing that we are to be about. 1364s
And that is worries replacement. 1369s
Verse 34. 1378s
So do not worry about tomorrow. 1383s
Tomorrow bring worries of its own. 1386s
Today's trouble is enough for today. 1389s
That's one day. 1395s
At a time. 1397s
Trusting in the sovereign control and perfect provision of God. 1400s
Not we're gaming in what tomorrow will bring. 1406s
Because tomorrow doesn't exist. 1412s
All that we have is today, right? 1414s
So what we have? 1416s
We have this moment. 1418s
Right now. 1420s
God holds our days. 1422s
We have this moment. 1425s
So the war game of what might be. 1428s
There might not be another moment in this. 1432s
God calls us into the moment and says to us. 1436s
If I can provide for a raccoon. 1446s
If I can provide for squirrels. 1452s
And if I can delight a hummingbird. 1456s
Can't I take care of you? 1465s
Why do we worry? 1473s
Now answer the question with a question. 1478s
Why do we worry? 1485s
Answer it with a question. 1488s
Right. 1491s
Why do we worry? 1494s
Why do we worry? 1498s