Sermon on the Mount - Don't Worry
(Part 2)
(Matthew 6:31-34)
By Mary Jane Chaignot
Categories: Sermon on the Mount, Sermon on the Mount (Bible Study)
- After using birds and lilies as examples of trusting in God, Jesus restates the principle of God’s abiding power.
- He basically states that God is simply not to be left out of anything.
- He says, “So do not become anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’”
- “Don’t become anxious.” Stop it before it takes hold.
- Two reasons are given for avoiding anxiousness.
- “For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”
- The pagans are anyone outside the community of Israel.
- They have not received God’s promises. They know nothing of God’s kingdom.
- Their religion is to acquire things—Money with a capital “M,” mammon.
- Moreover, pagans worship gods that are capricious and unreliable.
- They do not experience a God who loves and cares for them.
- Jesus wants his disciples to be different from all this, not just in appearance, but in motive and deeds.
- Jesus tells his followers that God already knows about their needs.
- God knows before they even ask Him.
- Worrying is, essentially, the result of not trusting God.
- Then Jesus says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
- We are to turn our backs on the world and seek first His kingdom and righteousness.
- The word for “seek” is written in the present.
- This seeking is something that we are to keep on doing. This is not a one-time thing.
- It doesn’t mean looking for something that’s not here yet; it means working to keep the kingdom as the center of one’s life.
- And we are to do this “first,” establishing our priorities.
- Being in the kingdom means we’re where God’s will is being done.
- “Righteousness” in this context means doing the will of God.
- Then, these things “will be given to us.” These words are in the passive.
- God is doing the giving.
- And He doesn’t just give a meager amount. It says “all these things” will be given.
- But these are God’s things, not ours. It is His righteousness, not ours. His kingdom means His rule on earth, not ours. And then, it says all these things will be added.
- They will be given as gifts; we don’t have to go out trying to acquire them.
- The text doesn’t say we don’t need these things.
- It says the Father knows, and we are to trust Him to provide them for us.
- This section ends with a warning.
- “Do not therefore become anxious for tomorrow for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.”
- Tomorrow is only a promise; stay in the present.
- Planning for tomorrow is not excluded; worrying about it is.
- “Tomorrow will be anxious for itself” allows us to put off tomorrow’s worries until tomorrow.
- Just as tomorrow is always in the future, so will the worries stay in the future. In that way, disciples can be worry free.
- Worrying is a waste of time.
- “Each day has enough trouble all by itself.” A literal translation is: “Sufficient to the day is its evil.”
- Proverbial in nature, this saying maintains that God’s blessings are consistent and sufficient for each day.
- Today is the moment that is present and the subject of our focus. It fits well with the idea of “stop worrying.” Deal with today.
- Anxiety is futuristic.
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