Jesus addresses our worry today:
25“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life,
And Jesus gives us 2 pictures to consider:
The first is that of value,
26Look 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 you are of greater value. Jesus has purchased you with His own blood – that shows your value.
The old saying, “Something is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.” And you were worthy of being purchased by the innocent suffering and death of the Son of God.
So, how much more will your Heavenly Father feed you.
And the second picture is that of your permanence. That is, you last forever.
30But 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?
You, however, who are alive today, Jesus has won the gift for you to also live forever. You live forever. So if He clothes the grass which doesn’t live forever, how much more will He cloth you.
So, as Jesus continues
33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
And as we gather around this theme of God providing for us, therefore we do not need to worry, I want to consider two passages from Hebrews
Hebrews 4: 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
And another, that speaks about God’s control over all things
Hebrews 2: 8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
If you became really, really sick, you likely don’t want someone to tell you not to worry.
It seems quite insensitive to what you’re going through.
If you became really, really poor, and someone told you, “Don’t worry,”
Then they seem quite unsympathetic.
It is easy to tell someone not to worry, especially if things are going just fine for you.
If you’re not the one who’s sick, or depressed, or sad, or lonely,
If you’re not the one who’s struggling with an addiction or family trouble or financial issues,
It’s very easy to just tell someone, “Don’t worry.”
And we may be tempted to do this if we’re not really interested in hearing about their problems.
Have you ever gotten that feeling when you’re talking to someone, that they’re not really interested in hearing about your problems?
And have you ever been on the other end, listening to someone complain for awhile, and you’re not really listening or sympathetic?
Back to that first question:
If you became really, really sick, and the person who told you not to worry was the best doctor in the nation, and he was assuring you that things would soon return to normal for you, you would hear this as incredibly comforting.
If you became really, really poor, and your rich and generous aunt and uncle who’ve had a history of helping you out when you needed told you not to worry, they’ve got things covered, you would hear them with joy.
That’s how we are first to hear Jesus’ call for us not to worry.
It is coming from the Greatest of Physicians and the Richest of Kings and of the Light no darkness can overcome
It is not coming from a position of helplessness or ignorance.
But of authority and power and ability to help and wisdom and…
Do you remember all the omni’s?
Omniscient – all knowing.
Omnipotent – all powerful.
Omnipresent – present everywhere.
And this One knows best:
So, when Jesus says, “and your heavenly Father knows that you need things.”
Jesus says, Seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.
He’ll do it, He’s faithful. And He can. So, when He says “Don’t worry,” it comes from the position of the position that Hebrews Readings said, that
everything in subjection to him, nothing is left outside his control.
We don’t always see it, but we must hear and believe to strengthen us not to worry.
Don’t worry, your Jesus loves you.
Don’t worry, your Jesus cares for you and provides for you and your Heavenly Fathers knows what you need.
That is freedom. That is relief. That is comfort. That is peace.
His opinion matters and has power behind it. Whether we always see it or not
To know that this command comes from a position of power is the first thing we take comfort in.
And a second thing we take comfort in is that this command comes from a position of sympathy.
That is, He understands.
Our God is not one who is distant from the things that cause us worry.
Our God became flesh and can sympathize with our weakness.
Jesus knows hunger, He fasted 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness.
He knows thirst, as was clear from cry on the cross.
He know rejection and ridicule.
He knows what it means for a crowd to like Him for all the wrong reasons, because they only want what He can give them.
He knows what it means to be betrayed by a friend, and forsake by those who were closester to Him.
He mournsed and wept as His friend Lazarus died, even though He knew He was going to call Him from His tomb by His own voice.
He says His soul is greatly troubled as He sweats drops of blood in Gethsemane.
Hebrews 4: 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
He can deal gently with you because He Himself suffered.
He can be kind to those full of doubts and anxieties, for those are the One He came to love and forgive and strengthen.
He can be merciful since He was like us in every way, except without sin.
He’s interested in what causes you to worry. He wants to you to tell Him.
He understands our little faith and our misplaced fears, for that is what He came to save us from.
His name is Jesus, His name means Savior.
If we are faithless, He remains faithful (2 Timothy 2:13)
So when this sympathizing Savior tells us not to worry, we receive it in comfort.
And the final thing I want us to consider today is that amazing truth, that “we” receive it in comfort.
We, every single individual here, the Holy Spirit is working on our hearts to receive God’s Word in comfort.
That is an amazing work of God – because we have many different fears and anxieties and worries.
The heart that I know my best, my own heart, alone has dozens of different fears and anxieties.
So, can you imagine the 1,000’s of different situations and internal feelings that are in this church along today.
But the Holy Spirit is a master craftsman and takes this Word of God for us today and applies it in the exact way that we need it.
He’s an artist. He knows what you need to hear and He applies to you for your repentance and comfort.
These Words of Jesus in which He is addressing His love and our worry, of our value, of our permanence, of our status of children of God are a one size fits all command and promise for the many different shapes and sizes our own individual lives of suffering and trouble in this world.
You have pressures and so does your neighbor next to you in the pew, even if they aren’t the same.
But the devil and our sinful flesh are always tempting us to worry no matter the troubles, be they a stubbed toe or an aggressive form of cancer,
be they a child who’s got a refrigerator full of food but think’s there’s nothing to eat or a person in true poverty worried if there will be a dinner tonight,
Be it an American Christian worried if they will be made fun for confessing marriage between one man and one woman by their culture and peers and co-workers, or an Afghan Christian worried if they will be killed for confessing Jesus as Lord.
This is a one size fits all command, to seek first the kingdom of God and not worry, and then with it, a promise, that your Heavenly Father knows what you need and all things that are needed He will add to you, after giving you His whole kingdom for free, purchased by the blood of His Son.
Through personal sicknesses and deaths in the family, through job uncertainty and piles of bills, through the giving and the taking of people, and stuff, and personal abilities, the person and power of the Holy Spirit is constantly creating in you the character and temperament of not being anxious, of not being worried.
God uses prayer and His Word and His body and blood to drown your sinful nature so that it died to contrition and repentance and a new man arises to live in righteousness and innocence through faith in Jesus Christ.
So today we die again to our sinful nature, we bring not what has worried us in the past, but we’re over that, we bring what we’re worried about now, we bring the uncertainty of our future, and we place it again in the certainty of God’s hands. It’s what we need to do today and what you will need to do tomorrow – whether they are the same worries, or new ones. It is a lifelong process.
Today, again, He is transforming you, renewing your mind. Giving you His Word and body and blood. In His Christian Church, God richly and daily forgives you all your sins and all the sins of all believers in Jesus Christ.
In part, we learn by doing. He tells us not to worry, and then again and again, we experience His providence and His grace. That “that” was the day the Lord had made, and “then,” He provided me my daily bread, this is His day, too, and today He will give me what I need, too.
So Jesus tells it to the old and the young, to the rich and the poor, to the sick and the healthy, “Do not worry,” cultivating in us all the character of trust in Him, no matter the troubles.
For matter what you are going through, your Jesus has given you the kingdom, and a loving Heavenly Father, a comforting Holy Spirit.
So, if He says something, He believe that He is faithful – He will surely do it!