Piper's Notes

September 2, 1984

Bethlehem Baptist Church

John Piper, Pastor

Do Not Be Anxious about Your Life

(Matthew 6:24-34)

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the

other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve

God and mammon. 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life,

what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall

put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look 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? 27 And which

of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life? 28 And why are

you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they

neither toil nor spin; 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not

arrayed like one of these. 30 But 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 men of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall

we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32 For the Gentiles

seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall

be yours as well.

34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious

for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.

There are some kings who find it very effective to keep their subjects in

constant anxiety.

If the people are anxious about their life, and worry about where their next meal is

coming from, then perhaps they will be more willing to do the king's bidding in order

to get the food they need from the king's storehouse. Anxiety keeps them in their

place. Fear makes the monarchy firm.

But one of the greatest things about Jesus is that he does not want his people to be

anxious. The main point of today's text is that God does not secure his kingship by

cultivating anxiety. On the contrary, the aim of God's kingship is to free us from

anxiety. God doesn't need to keep us anxious in order to establish his power and

superiority. Instead he exalts his power and superiority by working to take away our

anxiety.

If you are born again; if you have turned away from sin and are following Jesus as

Lord in the obedience of faith, his will for you this morning is that you not be anxious

about anything, but that you enjoy deep serenity and peace and security. Jesus

spoke these words in Mt. 6:24-34 precisely for you -- to help you overcome whatever

is making you anxious this morning.

I suppose I chose this text today for myself as much as for anybody. I feel anxious

every time I come back from vacation. It feels like it used to when I went back to

school after a long summer. I wasn't sure I would still be able to write. Or maybe

this new teacher would require a lot of oral book reviews in front of the class.

But my struggle with anxiety is not just at the end of vacations. I wake up anxious

virtually every morning. It's probably some weird quirk in my personality or maybe

some remnant of imbalanced parental upbringing, or more likely because there is

sin in my mind and heart every day. Whatever the reason, it is a very real

experience that I hate and have to deal with every day. So this sermon is for me. I

will probably check this tape out of the library in a few weeks and listen to it early

some morning when I am bouncing on my jogger before breakfast.

But I know it's not just my problem. I got a letter from a young woman in another

state last week, who had just broken off a relationship with a man because he

simply did not take any spiritual leadership in their relationship. She closed her

letter like this, "I want so to live a life that honors God, and it was easy to go off for

awhile in a dream, thinking of being a wife and mother. But without a man who truly

relies on God it is nothing, only heartache. Sometimes I lose hope that there are

men who really do live like that -- but I know there are. So I will continue to trust in

God's best for me." There are a lot of young people who are anxious about whether

they will ever get married.

I got another letter last week from David ....... one of our missionaries who serves in

Liberia. David was very honest about some of the struggles of living in the village

with the Gola people. He said, "As I look to the future of our work here in Liberia I

feel very anxious. I wonder if the Muslims will listen to our explanations with an open

heart. Will they believe? I worry about the handful of believers here. Will they change

some of their ways and walk in obedience? Language study is a continual source of

anxiety, as is preparation for Bible studies and sermons … etc." Missionaries get

anxious, young people get anxious, pastors get anxious, everybody gets anxious.

We need a word from the Lord Jesus this morning to remind us that his

kingship is not built on the anxiety of his people.

He has made himself king over us for the very opposite purpose, namely, to take

away our anxiety. In my own life the sheer statement from the Lord that he does not

want me to be anxious has a great tendency to give me peace. But when you add to

it the reasons he gives why we don't need to be anxious, his word becomes

tremendously powerful. So let's spend the rest of our time looking at some of these

reasons in Mt. 6:24-34.

Everybody can see plainly that the main point of this text is that disciples of Jesus

should not be anxious. Verse 25: "Do not be anxious about your life." Verse 31: "Do

not be anxious, saying , 'What shall we eat?'." Verse 34: "Do not be anxious about

tomorrow." So one thing should ring in your ears when you leave this morning,

namely, "Jesus does not want me to be anxious."

But that is just the negative way of stating the main point of this passage. There is a

positive way found in verse 33, namely, Instead of being anxious "Seek first God's

kingdom." In other words when you think about your life or your food or your clothes

or your spouse or your job or your mission, don't fret about them. Instead make God

the King in that affair and in that moment and hand over the situation to his kingly

power and do his righteous will with the confidence that he will work for you and

meet all your needs. To seek the kingship of God first in every affair and every

moment of life is a thrilling way to live. It's full of freedom and peace and joy and

adventure -- and hardship; and it's worth it all. If you believe in the kingship of your

heavenly Father, you do not need to be anxious about anything. Let's look at some

of the reasons why.

I see at least eight reasons Jesus gives why his disciples should not be

anxious.

Time is short, but I will try to mention them all. Who knows which one might be

perfectly crafted to meet your special need?

The first is given in verse 25. "Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall

eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on." Why?

"Because life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing." What does

this mean?

Why do we tend to get anxious about food and clothing? Because there are three

things that we would lose if we did not have food and clothing. First, we would lose

some pleasures. Food tastes good. It is pleasurable to eat. Second, we would lose

some human praise and admiring glances if we didn't have nice clothes. Third we

would lose long life if we had no food at all or weren't protected from the cold with

warm clothes. So we get anxious about food and clothing because we don't want to

lose physical pleasures or human praise or length of life.

And to this Jesus responds: If you are gripped by anxiety over these things, you

have lost sight of the greatness of life. Life was not given primarily for physical

pleasures, but for something greater -- the enjoyment of God. Life was not given

primarily for the approval of man, but for something greater -- the approval of God.

Life was not even given primarily for extension on this earth, but for something

greater -- eternity with God in the age to come.

We ought not to be anxious about food and clothing because food and clothing can

not provide the great things of life -- the enjoyment of God, the pursuit of his

gracious favor, the hope of eternity in his presence. We get anxious about food and

clothing to the same degree that we lose sight of the great purposes of a God-

centered life.

The second reason Jesus gives for not being anxious is in verse 26: "Look 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?" What we see

when we look at the birds is not a lesson in laziness. They dig their worms and

snatch their bugs and pad their nests with strings and leaves. But Jesus says it is

God that feeds them. What we see when we look at the birds is a creature who

does not act as though God is only a merciful provider for today but won't be

tomorrow. Birds don't anxiously horde things for the day of God's demise. They go

about their work as though when the sun comes up tomorrow God will still be God.

How much more then should we reckon with the reality and mercy of God tomorrow,

since we are not brute birds, but children of our heavenly Father. The biggest

difference between a disciple of Jesus and a bird is that we have the capacity of

honoring God by our faith. And God values the exercise of our faith more than he

values birds. So we ought not to be anxious, because the birds have taught us that

God can be counted on to work for us tomorrow just as much as today.

The third reason not to be anxious is in verse 27: "And which of you by being

anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?" The argument is very pragmatic:

anxiety doesn't get you anywhere. It doesn't do you any good. Whatever problem is

causing you to feel anxious, you can be sure your anxiety will not lessen the

problem. It will only make you miserable while you try to deal with it. So don't be

anxious. It's useless.

The fourth reason Jesus gives for not being anxious is in verses 28-30 -- this

time from the lilies. "And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of

the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all

his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But 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?"

When you look at a lily, which has no will of its own to labor and spin, yet adorned

with beautiful form and color, if you believe in God, you must draw at least this one

conclusion: God delights to adorn things. But if his delight finds expression in

adorning grass, that's here today and gone tomorrow, then surely his delight in

adornment will express itself in how he clothes his children!

But someone may protest: God has not adorned me! He has not adorned the poor

Christians of our land or overseas. Are you sure? Very few of us are dressed like

Solomon. True. But we couldn't do our work if we were. I would only ask this

question: Where have you ever seen a disciple of Jesus who did not have the

adornment he needed to do what God had called him to do? Be careful. Do not

measure the perfection of God's provision by some standard below his calling. And

do not forget that when we have finished carrying our crosses on torn shoulders in

this life like Jesus, there will be kingly robes for us all.

The fifth and sixth reasons why a follower of Jesus shouldn't be anxious are

given in verse 32: We shouldn't be anxious about what we eat or drink or wear

because "the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that

you need them all." Anxiety about the things of this world puts us on the same level

with the world of unbelievers. It shows that we are really very much like the world in

what makes us happy. And that ought not to be. It also shows that we don't think

our Father in heaven knows our needs. Or perhaps we don't think he has the heart of

a loving Father. Anxiety shows that we are too close to the world and too far from

God. So don't be anxious -- the world has nothing eternal to offer, and your loving

heavenly Father knows your needs now and forever.

The seventh reason not to be anxious, in verse 33, is that when you seek the

kingdom of God first, he works for you and provides all your needs. The best reason

to stop being anxious is that when you do, God starts being anxious for you. It's

such a foolish thing to insist on carrying anxious burdens which God has promised

to carry for us when we put his kingly honor first in everything we do.

The last argument in verse 34 says, "Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for

tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the

day." In other words God has appointed to each day its portion of pleasure and

trouble. And as your days so shall your strength be. So don't misappropriate God's

allotted troubles for tomorrow. Don't bring them forward into today in the form of

anxiety. Believe that God will be God tomorrow.

The main point of all this is clear and unmistakable: Jesus does not want his

followers to be anxious. He does not secure his kingdom by keeping his subjects in

a state of worry. On the contrary, according to verse 33, the more primary, the more

central his kingship becomes in our lives, the less anxiety we will have. Jesus

came, lived, died, rose from the dead, in order that he might reign as King over an

anxiety-free people.

So come to Jesus. Forsake all other allegiances. Take your vow of loyalty to the

King of kings. And seek first in all you do to make known his kingship over your life.

This and this alone is the way to freedom from anxiety.

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