I. THEREFORE TAKE NO ANXIOUS THOUGHT. DON'T WORRY.
A. Therefore always refers back to the previous facts.
1. Because your Father takes care of His creatures, the birds, and His creation the flowers, He will surely take care of you His child.
2. In
Matthew 10:31 Jesus told the disciples that they were of more value than many sparrows.
3. The key is relationship.
a. He is your Father.
b. Our Father which art in heaven.
c. The birds, your heavenly Father feeds them, surely your Father will see that you His child is fed.
d. The fields, your heavenly Father clothes them more beautifully than Solomon was clothed with all of his riches, surely your Father will clothe you.
B. Because of this, we are not to worry asking,
1. What are we going to eat?
2. What are we going to drink?
3. What will we wear?
C. I dare say that these are questions that are often asked by the children of God.
1. These are some of our chief concerns.
2. We spend an inordinate amount of time in worrying over these things.
D. The interesting facet about today however, the worry is not over the lack of these things, but the right choice of these things.
1. There is such a wide variety of choices as far as menu's are concerned.
2. The wife is concerned about some new recipe, maintaining a variety in the diet.
3. When you go out to eat, what are the two questions that are asked by the servers?
a. What would you like to eat?
b. What do you want to drink?
4. As you considered going out to the restaurant, to eat, what some of your main concerns?
a. What shall I wear to go out?
b. What shoes will go best with my outfit.
5. Ours today is not so much a matter of survival, but the worry that I make the right choice from the many options.
6. I look over a menu and make my choice, then when the food comes, I look over the table at what the others have ordered, and many times as I look at the food, I wished I had ordered what they had ordered, it looks better than what I got.
II. JESUS TELLS US THAT THESE ARE THE ISSUES AND QUESTIONS THAT OCCUPY THE MINDS OF PAGANS. "AFTER ALL OF THESE THINGS DO THE GENTILES SEEK." THE GREEK WORD TRANSLATED GENTILE IS ETHNOS, WHICH WAS ANYONE WHO WAS NOT A JEW, THUS, TO THE JEW, A HEATHEN OR PAGAN.
A. These are the chief worries of the world.
B. Your Father, knows that you need these things.
1. Over and over Jesus sought to make them aware, that their heavenly Father was aware.
a. Verse 8, "Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him."
b. God not only knows what I need today, he knows what I will need a month from now, a year from now, five years from now.
c. Your Father is far more aware of you, than you realize.
1. He knows your name,
2. He knows your every thought,
3. He sees each tear that falls.
4. He knows the number of the hairs on your head.
5. David said, "You have searched me and known me, you know when I sit down and when I rise up, you know my thoughts before I even think them. Such knowledge is too great for me, I cannot attain it."
2. David asked, "Why are you cast down oh my soul? Why are you disquieted with me? Hope thou in God." Further down in the same psalm he said,
PSA 42:9 I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me?
a. Isn't it interesting how that in times of testing we often think that God has forgotten us?
b. God asked:
ISA 49:15 Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
III. IN CONTRAST TO THE HEATHEN WHOSE PARAMOUNT ISSUES ARE THESE THINGS OF WHAT TO EAT, DRINK OR WEAR, "YOU SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL OF THESE THINGS WILL BE ADDED UNTO YOU."
A. Jesus is teaching the necessity of having the right priorities in our lives.
B. If He is first, everything else will fall into order.
C. Note in the Law, the first table of the law dealt with a person's relationship with God. That is first, until that is in order, everything else will be out of kilter.
D. The first priority of our life should be the kingdom of God.
1. The first petition in the model prayer He just gave His disciples was, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, that came before give us this day our daily bread."
2. When I first went to Bible College I thought that this might be a good place to meet my future life mate. If they are going to Bible College it would seem that they had the same interests of serving the Lord.
a. I looked over the student body, and did not see anyone that I thought I would be interested in spending the rest of my life with.
b. At the beginning of each semester, they would introduce the incoming freshmen who would give a short word of testimony, I would be sitting on the front row, but never saw anyone that I could get excited over.
c. My Bible School years had passed and it was time to go out into the ministry, but going out to pastor as a single man didn't seem wise to me. So I went out as an evangelist.
d. As I was praying about my desire and need for a wife to join me in the ministry, the Lord gave to me the scripture "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
e. I thought, my desire to find a wife has been one of my chief concerns, I will just seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and let Him take care of the one I am to marry.
f. It was shortly after that that Kay came into my life.
3. So often it comes down to getting the right priorities. First things first, and what is the first thing? Your relationship with God.
4. The interesting story of Elijah in
1 Kings 17. It is the time when God sent the draught in the land. For a time the Lord sustained Elijah at the brook Cherith until the brook dried up. The Lord then sent Elijah into the land of the Gentiles in the area of Sidon, where the Lord said that He had commanded a widow to sustain him there. We read,
1KI 17:10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman [was] there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
1KI 17:11 And as she was going to fetch [it], he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
1KI 17:12 And she said, [As] the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
1KI 17:13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go [and] do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring [it] unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
1KI 17:14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day [that] the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
1KI 17:15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat [many] days.
1KI 17:16 [And] the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.
5. Note that he said, "Make it for me first." As a prophet of God.
6. In the days of Haggai the prophet the Lord told the people to consider their ways.
HAG 1:5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
HAG 1:6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages [to put it] into a bag with holes.
HAG 1:7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
HAG 1:8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.
HAG 1:9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, [it came] to little; and when ye brought [it] home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that [is] waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
IV. TAKE THEREFORE NO THOUGHT FOR TOMORROW OR DON'T BE WORRIED ABOUT TOMORROW. TOMORROW WILL HAVE IT'S OWN WORRIES. EACH DAY WILL HAVE IT'S SHARE OF PROBLEMS.
A. As I said a couple of lessons ago, most of our worry is about the future.
1. The day is about over, and we are not too worried about today for the Lord has brought us this far.
2. We need to have a bunch of Ebenezer stones. The Lord has helped us up to this point.
3. Mark off the date on the calendar. God has brought me this far.
B. Paul wrote:
2CO 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver [us];
1. The past provisions should assure us of the future provisions.
2. The past care, should assure us of the future care.
Phl 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
3. Let me paraphrase that scripture. Let nothing worry you, but bring all your cares to God in prayer with thanksgiving.
V. A SUMMARY OF WHAT JESUS HAD TO SAY ABOUT WORRY.
A. It is worthless. All of the worry in the world cannot alter how tall you are.
B. Worry is blind. It refuses to learn the lessons of nature taught by the birds and flowers.
C. Worry demonstrates a lack of faith. It shows you are not trusting your heavenly Father to take care of the problems. Isaiah said: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee."
D. To worry is sin, for it is disobeying the commandment of Jesus who commanded us not to take anxious thought.
E. It may not be the worse sin, but it is surely the most disabling sin.
Verse-Reference
Square — [Jhn 1:1 KJV]
Abbreviate Books
Use SBL Abbrev.
