Do Not Worry
TRANSLATION
(24) “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and material gain.
(25) “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life what you will eat or what your will drink, nor about your body what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? (26) Consider the birds of the air. They do not sow, neither do they reap, nor do they gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they? (27) And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to your lifespan? (28) And why would you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow. They do not labor nor do they spin, (29) yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (30) If God in this way clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow thrown into an oven, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith? (31) Therefore, do not be worried saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “How shall we be clothed?” (32) These are the things pagans worry about, and your heavenly Father knows well what you need. (33) But rather seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (34) Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. Let tomorrow worry for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
OBSERVATIONS
In his opening statement of this segment, Jesus used “serve” twice (vs. 24) in offering us a choice. We can decide either to serve God or to serve our own desire for material gain. We cannot commit to both at the same time. Which option we have chosen becomes clear when we examine what it is that causes us to worry. We may claim that we have chosen to serve God, but if we “worry,” repeated seven times (vss. 25, 27, 28, 31, 32, & 34), about our “life,” used three times (vss. 25 & 27) or “body,” used twice (vs. 25), or about food (related terms “eat” and “drink”) or about what we wear (“clothing/clothes/clothe” found three times in vss. 28 & 30), we betray a deeply ingrained orientation to material things. Jesus also used three memorable images, “the birds of the air,” “the lilies of the field,” and the “grass of the field,” to drive home his teaching.
OUTLINE
I. Theme statement: we must choose which master we will serve, God or material gain. (25)
II. Discussion: what preoccupies our thoughts, causing us to worry, will reveal our choice. (26-32)
III. Closing exhortation: seek first God’s kingdom and everything else will be ours. (33 & 34)
IDEA STATEMENT
If we seek first the Kingdom of God, we can live without worry, trusting that God will provide for us all that we need.
APPLICATION
Simply telling someone not to worry will never accomplish anything unless we also provide a compelling reason why worry is unnecessary. For those who believe the promises of God’s Word, there are clear reasons why we need not worry, all because of God’s sustaining grace. In this passage, Jesus based his exhortation on what philosophers call an “a fortiori” argument, that is, if something less likely turns out to be true, then we can count on something more likely to be true as well. In other words, if God cares for the birds of the air, the lilies in the field, and beautifies the grass that grows everywhere, all of which possess far less worth than human beings, we can assume that he will provide what is needed for those who bear his image and likeness. With this compelling logic, Jesus challenged his disciples to stop worrying.
In Genesis 22, where Abraham submitted himself to obey God’s command to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, he used a special name for God: “Yahweh Jireh” or, in English, “God will provide.” He did this because God at the very last moment had prevented him from sacrificing his son and had instead provided a substitute, a ram caught in a thicket nearby. Abraham had learned a powerful lesson that we all need to master, namely, that we do not need to worry because we can trust God to provide just what we need at just the very moment we need it.