Introduction: The Tyranny of "What If?"
Good morning, beloved.
There is a quiet tyranny that seeks to rule our hearts. It is not an invading army or a foreign power. It is a voice in our own minds, and its weapon is two simple words: "What if?"
It is the tyrant that wakes you at three in the morning with a cold sweat, whispering, "What if I can't pay the electric bill this month?" It's the voice that screams over the noise of traffic: "What if my job is not secure? What if this is the month they announce layoffs?" It is the fear that follows you into the doctor's office: "What if the diagnosis is bad?" This tyranny of "what if" holds us captive. It drains our joy, steals our peace, and quietly strangles our faith until it is gasping for air.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, in His great Sermon on the Mount, speaks directly to us in our anxious state. And He begins this famous teaching with the word "Therefore," connecting it to His previous statement: "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." Jesus reveals a profound diagnostic truth: worry is the smoke detector for the soul. It is the screaming alarm that tells us our heart's allegiance is on fire, torn between trusting God and trusting money. It is the symptom of a divided heart. And so, He lovingly gives us a divine diagnosis of why we worry and the one, true prescription for our freedom.
I. The Folly of Worry (v. 25-30)
Before Jesus gives us the cure, He first holds a mirror to our anxiety and shows us why it is so utterly illogical, futile, and faithless for a child of God.
A. Worry is Illogical: It Forgets Our Value
Jesus, the master teacher, turns all of creation into His classroom. He says in verse 26, "Behold the fowls of the air... Are ye not much better than they?" Look out your window this afternoon. See the little birds flitting between the telephone wires. They do not have bank accounts. They do not plant seeds or store food. They live with an absolute, moment-by-moment dependence on their Creator. And does your Heavenly Father forget them? Never. The logic of Jesus is devastatingly simple: if God lavishes His attention and provision on a common bird, how much more will He care for you—you, who are fearfully and wonderfully made in His own image? To worry is illogical, for it forgets our infinite and personal value to God.
He continues, "Consider the lilies of the field... even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Consider the stubborn beauty of a bougainvillea flower, exploding with color from a pot on a dusty roadside. King Solomon was the wealthiest, most powerful king in Israel's history, dressed in the finest imported fabrics. Yet Jesus says that all his man-made glory could not compare to the divine artistry woven into a single, temporary flower. If God clothes the grass—which is here today and burned tomorrow—with such breathtaking beauty, will He not clothe you, His eternal child?
B. Worry is Futile: It Accomplishes Nothing
Jesus then appeals to our reason in verse 27: "Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?" Has your anxiety ever added a single peso to your bank account? Has your worry ever shortened your commute by even a minute? Has it ever healed a sick child? Worry is utterly futile. It is the rocking chair of the mind: it gives you something to do, but it gets you absolutely nowhere. It is a whirlwind of mental and emotional energy that solves nothing and, worse, it drains you of the strength you need to face the very challenges you are worrying about.
C. Worry is Faithless: It Forgets Our Father
Finally, Jesus places His finger on the heart of the issue at the end of verse 30: "O ye of little faith." Worry is not just a psychological habit; it is a spiritual sickness. And the name of the sickness is "little faith." Notice, it is not "no faith." It is the faith that trusts God for the salvation of our eternal souls, but cannot trust Him for the payment of our monthly rent. It is a faith that believes in the miracle of the resurrection but doubts the miracle of His daily provision. To live in worry is to live as a practical atheist, professing belief in a loving Father but acting as if we are cosmic orphans, left to fend for ourselves. It is an unintentional insult to the character of our all-sufficient God.
2. The Focus of the Worrier (v. 31-32)
Jesus then draws a clear line in the sand, separating the mindset of the world from the confidence of a child of God.
The world—what He calls the "Gentiles"—is defined by its frantic pursuit of material things: what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, what to own, what to drive. The horizon of a life without God is purely horizontal. But for us, the reality is completely different. And the reason is found in one of the most comforting phrases in all of Scripture: "...for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."
He is not a distant, uncaring landlord. He is your Heavenly Father. And He knows. This is not a detached, intellectual knowledge. It is a deep, personal, intimate awareness of every detail of your life. He knows about the leaky roof. He knows about the empty pantry. He knows. The foundation of a worry-free life is not the absence of needs, but the ever-present reality of a caring, omniscient Father.
3. The Freedom of First Things (v. 33-34)
Having diagnosed the folly of worry, Jesus gives us the powerful, life-altering prescription.
A. The Great Command: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God..."
Here is the great exchange. Jesus says, in essence, "Stop making the gifts your primary pursuit, and start making the Giver your primary pursuit." Worry is a symptom of disordered loves. We are anxious about secondary things because we have made them primary in our hearts.
To "seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness" is to make the agenda of God the driving passion of your life. It is to make His rule, His will, and His character the organizing principle around which everything else revolves. It is to wake up and decide that your greatest ambition for the day is not to get richer, or more famous, or even more comfortable, but to know God more, to love Him better, and to reflect His righteousness to the world around you.
B. The Great Promise: "...and all these things shall be added unto you."
Here is the glorious promise for those who get their priorities right. When you take care of God's primary business, He promises to take care of your secondary business. He will "add" these necessities unto you. Imagine you are invited to a great feast to honor a king. Your focus is on giving honor to the king, not on wondering if there will be food to eat. Of course there will be food! The king will naturally provide for the guests who have come to honor him. In the same way, when we make honoring our King our life's pursuit, He promises to provide for our journey.
C. The Great Principle: Live One Day at a Time
Jesus concludes with this liberating command: "Take therefore no thought for the morrow... Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Worry is the foolish act of dragging all the potential burdens of tomorrow into today, crushing our souls under a weight we were never meant to carry. Jesus gives us the gift of the present. He says, "Live fully in today. Trust Me for today's needs with today's grace." When tomorrow arrives, He will be there waiting for you with a fresh supply of grace for that day.
Conclusion: The Great Exchange
The message of our Lord is a profound invitation to freedom. Worry is the foolish and faithless response of a spiritual orphan. The solution is not to grit our teeth and try harder not to worry. The solution is the great exchange. We must trade our frantic, anxious seeking of things for a passionate, worshipful seeking of the King.
What kingdom are you building today? The kingdom of self-comfort, security, and success? Or the Kingdom of God and His righteousness?
I invite you this morning to make that great exchange. Identify the central worry that is holding you captive. And in a moment of prayer, consciously hand it over to your Heavenly Father who already knows all about it. And in its place, ask Him to fill your heart with a singular passion for His Kingdom. Trade your worry for worship, and discover the profound peace of a life focused on first things.
