Dr. R.C. Sproul (0:00)

There's no one that I would rather have own this world, and there's no one I'd rather have governing this world. There's no one I'd rather have sovereign over this world and there's no one I'd rather have Whose providence determines future events than Almighty God himself who does all things well.

Nathan W. Bingham (0:32)

Worry. It can afflict us all, can't it? Worry about the future, worry about our children, our jobs, that exam. But as Christians, we need not worry about tomorrow. In fact, we're commanded not to this is the Sunday edition of Renewing youg Mind, where each week we feature the preaching ministry of RC Sproule. We come today to the conclusion of a short series in Matthew on Jesus view of Murder, adultery and Today Worry, as this is the last sermon you'll hear in Matthew. It's also the last day to request Dr. Sproul's hardcover commentary on all of Matthew. If you'd like to add this volume to your collection, request it when you give a donation before midnight tonight@renewingyourmind.org so how did Jesus think about worry and anxiety? And why shouldn't Christians be worried about tomorrow? Here's Dr. Sproul.

Dr. R.C. Sproul (1:34)

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, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? For 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 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, for tomorrow will worry about its own things sufficient for the day is its own trouble. When I was a young man, I watched my father die an inch at a time, having had four serious strokes and was made completely incapacitated and sat in a chair for the last three years of his life, not able to work, not able to have any income whatsoever. And he was a Christian man. He was not the type of Christian that was constantly quoting Bible verses. And as a young man, I had never read the Bible. But the one portion of Scripture I knew was in there was the text that I just read to you because it was my father's favorite text. Of course, he quoted it from the older version. I can hear him really, in thick voice, because of the paralysis from the strokes, say to me, take no thought for tomorrow what you should eat, what you should drink, what you should put on. He lived by that text and he died by that text. And it was, as I said, his favorite text. And I hated it with every fiber in my body. And since I've become a Christian, I would like to tell you that it's become a favorite text of mine. But on the contrary, I still have trouble with this text because it is. If Jesus is speaking direct to me, saying, you say that you believe in the providence of God, and if you believe that, why are you such a worry wart? I had somebody say that to me once, or see, if you believe in the sovereignty of God the way you teach, why do you worry? And I said, because I believe in the sovereignty of God. If God were not sovereign, maybe I could be engaged in certain machinations to help ensure the outcome of things that I desire. But you can't beat the sovereignty of God. And so it gives me some comfort, but apparently not enough. Obviously, Jesus here is teaching his people his doctrine of Providence. When we speak theologically of the providence of God, we speak of that means by which God governs the entire universe, by which in his sovereignty, he leaves no maverick molecule running loose out of his purview or outside of his sovereign authority. But the idea of Providence, which is based upon the root words that mean originally to see in advance, pro wo Deo, to see beforehand that Providence refers much more to God's knowledge of the future, but rather it refers to God's provision for the future, God's plan for the future, which plan is perfect and which plan cannot fail, and which plan includes every one of us, even the hairs on our head. And we sing, this is our Father's world and there's no one that I would rather have own this world and there's no one I'd rather have governing this world. There's no one I'd rather have sovereign over this world and there's no one I'd rather have, whose providence determines future events than Almighty God himself, who does all things well. Now, Jesus knew that, and he knew it far more profoundly than I do and than you do. And he understood the practical implications of the sovereignty of God and of God's divine providence. He had just warned us that we can't serve two masters, that we ought not to be heaping up treasures on earth, but rather looking to heaven and to the kingdom of God. And so he begins this section with a conclusion note. The word therefore. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life. Now, one of the things that Jesus stresses in this admonition about worry or about anxiety is its futility. Why worry? Because all the worry in the world cannot possibly change anything. And all we do when we worry is get ourselves upset. And the only change that is wrought by our worry are negative changes to our own health, certainly to our blood pressure and all the rest. And so Jesus says it's silly to worry because worry is futile. Then he goes on to also tell us that worrying about things is also a matter of lacking in faith. And it's not only futile, but in a certain sense, it's foolish. And that's why I don't like this text, because I still worry about things knowing that it's futile. You know that. But sometimes it just seems like you can't help it. Do you have that problem, or am I alone in this? I'm all alone. I also know that worry is one of the greatest incentives to prayer that we have. And prayer, as far as I'm concerned, is the greatest antidote to worry. And so when I worry and can't sleep, that's when I immediately am driven to my knees. Vesta said to me this week, shouldn't we go to our knees before we worry, rather than have to have worry as the catalyst to drive us to more earnest prayer? But see, this is the difference between Jesus and me is that Jesus never had the worry. But he says, don't worry about your life. What you're going to eat, what you will drink, about your body, what you will put on. And now he makes some value judgments. Isn't life more than food? These questions are rhetorical questions. They. They're simple questions. Obviously, life is more than food. When I'm on a diet, I'm not sure that I always believe that, because the first thing that happens to anybody that goes on a diet is that they become obsessed with food. All they think about is how many hours until their next meal. There are Certain penalties you have to pay along the way. But obviously, life is much more than food, and the body is much more than clothing. When you have a biopsy done and you're concerned about the outcome, it's not the same as worrying about what the sale price will be of your next article of clothes. Because we all realize that our human bodies are more important than the things we use to cover them. And then Jesus tells us to look at nature first to the birds of the year. Look at the birds of the year, for they neither sow nor, nor reap nor gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not we of more value than they are? Now, there's several things in this simple analogy that Jesus makes that we ought not miss. First thing he says, okay, look at the birds. Have you ever seen a bird with a plow pushing the plow through a field and then following the plow with seeds that are planted in the furrows? And then watch the bird come down and fertilize that field and weed it during the growing process? And then when the food emerges out of the earth, watch the bird come and take that food and then take it to a barn that he's constructed for a rainy day. Now, what you have seen is that you plow the ground, you sow the seed, and you watch the birds come down and eat the seeds that you've provided for them. That's another story. But birds aren't like we are. They don't have to pay attention to growing seasons, but as a rule, God just takes care of their needs without their sowing and reaping and storing. And Jesus said, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Two things about that. The critics come to this text and they say, well, apparently Jesus really wasn't knowledgeable of all of the natural disasters that afflict this earth and kill birds by the hundreds or the thousands in times of famine. Or you see what happens to seagulls when there's an oil leak on the seas and the oil comes and destroys the feathers of the birds and sea. There's all these natural disasters by which birds perish. And it seems like Jesus didn't consider them when he gives us this advice just to pay attention to the birds. And some have actually said that advice is for the birds because birds don't always fare so well. Jesus is using a common everyday day phenomenon to illustrate a point. He's not giving us his doctrine of the providential concern of wildlife. Brother Luther says that Jesus is directing us to nature to allow the birds to Be our teachers, our professors. John Stott, who was an avid bird watcher in England, said, this is not Jesus doctrine of ornithology. Rather, it's his doctrine of ornitheology that we have a lesson to learn from the normal operations of nature. Again, again, Jesus isn't commenting on natural disasters. He's just simply saying, every day you look out your window and you see these birds and they're pulling the worms out of the ground or the seeds from your garden. They're not starving to death. Now, the other point I want us to notice here that Jesus doesn't say yet their heavenly Father feeds them. What does he say? He doesn't say that the bird's heavenly Father feeds the birds. He says, your Heavenly Father feeds the birds. We used to have a bird feeder in our back driveway. And it was my job every day to go down with that bag of bird seed and pile it on top of that bird feeder and then try to keep the squirrels away from it. Then we could look out the window and watch all the different species of birds that would come to that feeder and how it would change during the seasons of the year. I was feeding the birds. They weren't my birds and I wasn't their father, but my Heavenly Father was feeding those birds through my hand in that particular instance. But I was able to participate in the providence of God to take care of these creatures. But it's important that we understand that it's our Father who is taking care of the animals, the birds and the fish. I remember once so offending a member of my family, I thought I would never have a restored relation for them. We were arguing about money and I was making a decision that he thought was fiscally irresponsible by selling everything that I had and going to school. He says, you're nuts. He says, you're going to starve. And I said, I believe that I'm called to do this. And he says, well, what are you going to do? How are you going to provide for your family? And I looked at him and I said, you know what David said? And he said, what? I said. He said, no, but I'm sure you're going to tell me. And I said, yes. I once was young and now I'm old. But I have never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread again. That's a truism. It's not a universal absolute. Righteous people do starve from time to time. But the principle that David was explaining there is the principle that Jesus is saying here. If you seek first the kingdom of God, all the rest of this stuff will be added to you. You don't need to worry about it. Again, the force of that mandate is found in the word first comes from the word protos, which is not first in a series chronologically. He's not saying Jesus says, well, seek first the kingdom, and second, closed third, your house fourth, and so on in that order of action, but rather it's in order of priority. Again, if Jesus walked in the room and you asked him the question, lord, what's the most important thing I should be focusing my attention on in my life? You don't have to ask what his answer would be because he's already given it. He's saying, the most important thing you can ever do is seek my Father's kingdom and his righteousness. Set your heart on that and everything else will take care of itself. But the number one priority of the Christian is the seeking after the kingdom of God. I am so irritated with the language of the church in our day that uses the term seeker to describe unbelievers. There is not an unbeliever on this planet who is seeking after God. There are millions of unbelievers on this planet who are seeking the benefits that only God can give them, but all the while they are fleeing from God. And that's why Edwards made the comment that the seeking of the kingdom of God is the main business of the Christian. It's not that we stop seeking the kingdom the day we're converted. We start seeking the kingdom the day we're converted. From the day of our conversion onward, our whole life is to be defined as a quest for the kingdom of God and for his righteousness. That's the priority. Finally he says, don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own thing. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. I do worry about tomorrow. I repent of that. But I have to tell you, I'll tell you something I never worry about, ever, ever, ever, ever is yesterday, because it's gone. It's over now. I worry plenty about the consequences for tomorrow of what happened yesterday. But I don't worry about yesterday because that's past. I played golf this week. I hate to tell you that. It's a terrible thing to watch. I was playing with a young man who was having the best day of his life out there, shooting eagles and birdies, you know, having no concern for the creatures of the air. He had a bad lie and a difficult shot. Then he hit it and grumbled a little bit. And I said, just think, you never have to hit that shot again. It's over. It's just not right. And so Jesus says, we got enough on our plate today without worrying about tomorrow. Now Jesus is not saying don't study for the exam, don't prepare your sermon. Don't worry about buying groceries for Wednesday dinner. He's not saying that we should be completely reckless in our lack of provision for the normal things of life. He's saying that we do those things, we make those preparations. But not with hearts filled with anxiety.