Study inMatthew’s

Gospel

Presentation 29

Sermon On The Mount

AnxietyChap 6v25-34

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IntroductionBecause anxiety clings like a limpet to the society in which we live many Christians believe that is something they must learn to live with. But Jesus makes it clear that the one thing that should not mark the lives of his followers is bondage to anxiety. He does not even suggest that there are extenuating circumstances which allow Christians to operate in an anxiety mode. Instead, he presents anxiety as a snare to Christian living and a danger to be recognised and dealt with.

You may think, ‘That is a tall order. That is unreasonable’. Well lets try to understand the reasonableness of Jesus’ expectation.

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Approach To AnxietyJesus’ teaching on anxiety is built on the foundation of his teaching on materialism in v19-24. If we do not recognise the connection then we will fail to grasp the significance of Jesus’ argument.

The introductory ‘therefore’ in v25 is important. Jesus is assumingthat that the Christian has made the right choice regarding the two treasures, two perceptions, and two masters. For only when we have chosen heavenly treasure, adopted an unclouded vision and submitted ourselves to God as master that we can expect to become increasingly free from anxiety.

We are orientated in one of two directions. Either we are preoccupied with our security [food, drink, clothing which is the obsession of the godless], or we are preoccupied with God’s rule and righteousness.

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Approach To AnxietyIt would be quite wrong to suggest that Jesus was unreservedly condemning any concern that we might have for our material welfare or that of our families. The full force of his meaning is brought out on the translation of the word ‘anxious’ which carries the idea of being ‘distracted by total absorption’.

Exactly the same word is used in Lk. 10v41 when Jesus reproaches Martha because she is ‘anxious and troubled by many things’. Martha had spent all her time in the kitchen possibly distracted by the consistency of her scone mix, the temperature of her oven and the tenderness of her lamb kebabs. She denied herself the very thing that was of supreme importance, spending time with Jesus.

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Approach To AnxietyNow it is precisely that sort of distraction by material things that Jesus has in mind here. For our concerns with this life, our food, our clothing, our family etc. can so fill the horizon of our thinking that we are totally absorbed and distracted by them.

Jesus indicates this danger in the parable of the sower when he makes reference to the seed that fell on thorny ground- you will remember that it was the cares of this world that choked the influence of the living Word of God. And the word translated ‘cares’ is precisely the same word that is translated as ‘anxious’ here. Against this background Jesus says don’t be taken prisoner by anxiety.

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Approach To AnxietyJesus is not encouraging laziness or a heart-attitude which says, ‘If God is my heavenly Father I can sit back and expect him to provide. Why work when you are this well connected?’ Paul addressed this spirit Thessalonica and said, ‘If a man will not work, he shall not eat’ 2Thes. 3v10. Jesus uses birds and flowers to illustrate God’s provision for his creation but how is that provision is made? Do the birds waken in the morning to find that a celestial delivery service has dumped a worms in their nest? Of course not! God’s provision involves a degree of effort on the part of the bird to forage for the provision that God has placed within the framework of his creation. Similarly, the flowers are nourished by a complex process as they draw their nourishment form the soil. Provision does not cancel effort.

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Approach To AnxietyNor does this teaching of Jesus allow us to close our eyes to the material needs of others around us. We cannot say to Christians living in areas of drought or famine, ‘We wont help but your Heavenly Father will provide’.

The most basic cause of hunger is not an inadequate divine provision but an inequitable distribution of resources. People hoard, spoil and waste the resources that God had provided. They refuse to share! It is significant that in the same gospel where Jesus says his Father clothes and feeds his children, he also says that those who have must feed and clothe those in need for they will be judged accordingly. Matt. 25v31-46.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyJesus response to anxiety is not simply to say, ‘Do not worry’. If you are seriously ill and your doctor says, ‘stop worrying’ you might understandably reply, ‘I will stop worrying when you tell me there is a cure for my illness.’

The causes of anxiety have been diagnosed and laid out by Jesus in v19-24 but diagnosis is insufficient if it does not lead to treatment. Jesus’ antidote to worry is unfolded in v25-34. Jesus’ cure involves changing the way in which we think. The healing of the diseased spirit begins in the mind. God’s solution is to renew our mind, to alter our thinking and you will notice that there are four major areas that need to be addressed.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyFirst, we are to recognise the importance of our lives. cf. v25... Anxiety grows in an environment where we have a poor self image. When anxiety dominates our thinking, we see everything in the light of that anxiety. When we are anxious about food and clothing it is not very long before we are persuaded that our essential happiness is dependant upon these things. Magazine and TV advertising reflect the world’s values. Note the focus is placed upon the basic necessities of life; food, drink and clothing - so that life’s servants have become our masters. We do not need to eat in expensive restaurants in order to live life to the full, nor do we need to wear the latest fashionable clothes to be accepted where it matters. The ‘person’ is much more important than the clothes he wears.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyGod both creates and sustains life, every breath we breathe is by his permission. Now our lives, for which God is clearly responsible are surely more important than the food and drink which nourishes them. In the same way our bodies, for which God is also responsible, are more important than the clothes that cover them.

Since this is so, then God, who already takes care of the important matter of our lives and bodies, can surely also be trusted to take care of the lesser matters of our food and our clothing.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietySecondly, Jesus appeals to the rest of creation to testify to the care and provision of God v26, 28-30. The birds don’t panic about where their next meal is coming from. Nor do the flowers desperately queue up at the January sales in order to pick up a fashion bargain. Creation displays a confidence in the Creator which we often fail to display. This thought that caused Martin Luther, as he walked through the woods, to raise his hat to the birds and say,‘Good morning theologians you wake and sing. But I old fool know less than you and worry over everything instead of simply trusting in the heavenly Father’s care’.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyA more recent poet has written;“‘Said the Robin to the sparrow: I should really like to know, why these anxious human beings rush about and worry so’. Said the sparrow to the robin, ‘Friend I think that it must be that they have no Heavenly Father such as cares for you and me’”. Now if God provides with tender father-like care for birds and flowers, how much more will he provide for man, the crown of his creation, whom he has redeemed to himself at great personal cost. cf. Rom. 8.32...We need to learn to think like this and to tell ourselves over and over again that our Heavenly Father who loves us and who has invested so much in our lives will provide us with everything that we need in life.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyThirdly, Jesus turns our attention to the nature of life, ‘which of you by being anxious can add an hour to his life, or a cubit to his height?’ v27. No one can! Jesus is saying something much more profound than, ‘Worrying never got anyone anywhere’. He reminds us that our lives are in the hands of our Father. We are his! He knows our end from our beginning. He has plans for our lives and he can be trusted to provide all that is necessary to accomplish those plans and to bring us home to glory.

Our lives are in God’s hands? The length of our days and physical height are outside of our control - would it not therefore be sensible to trust him for the lesser things as well such as our food and our clothing? Such knowledge of God should minister to our anxiety.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyThe only man who has any grounds for anxiety is the man who attempts to take his life out of the Father’s hands and keep it under his own control. The secret of freedom from anxiety is freedom from ourselves and the abandonment of our own plans.

However, that position can only be sustained in our lives when our minds are fully persuaded that God can be trusted implicitly to supply our every need. It poses the question do we believe that God rules? And is we say ‘yes’, then is our theology practical? Can we trust in God’s rule to operate for our benefit?

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyFourthly, Jesus argues that anxiety is illogical cf. v34... The worry which is rooted in our experience today invariably concerns something which may or may not bear fruit tomorrow. Whenever we experience anxiety it concerns something which may happen in the future, we become prisoners in the dark kingdom of ‘what ifs’. ‘What if I am made redundant? What if I never get a job? What if I never marry? What if I get an incurable disease?’ To be haunted by such fears has the effect of draining us of nervous energy, turning us in upon ourselves, and paralysing us beyond belief. Jesus’ point is simply made. We have enough to cope with in facing and dealing with our present difficulties without weighing ourselves down with future imaginary ones.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyFifthly, it is important to build into our thinking the assurance that our ‘Heavenly Father knows the things we have need of’ v32. The anxiety of the unbeliever is not simply that of the person who has made earthly treasure their goal but whose life is marked by uncertainty and fear. The gods of the heathens were capricious and unreliable. It was impossible to feel secure under their protection. Indeed, the fear in the mind of Muslim friends is influenced by an understanding of the capriciousness of Allah. One Muslim Hadith cites Allah as saying, ‘This one to heaven I care not, this one to hell I care not.’ In contrast, the Christian view of God is not of One who is indifferent but of One who certainly cares.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyNothing is too great for his power to accomplish or to small for his love to be concerned about. How this truth must have gripped the minds of the disciples. We find Peter in later life writing, ‘Cast all your anxiety on him for he cares for you’ 1Pet.5v7.

How seriously do we take this injunction? Have we learned to download our anxieties on the One who shows himself to care?

Remember that the very first temptation in Eden, was designed to impugn the character of God and present him as mean and miserly. Satan wants to uproot any joyful , expectant trust in our heavenly Father’s lavish provision.

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The Unreasonableness Of AnxietyFinally, we are encouraged to seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness. Why? Anxiety can never be cured by getting more of what we already have, but only through the assurance that our needs will be met by our King. The great ambition of our lives should therefore be to live under the authority of this king and to seek to see his kingdom extended, morally and inwardly as well as outwardly and geographically.

When we do this we make an important twofold discovery. Not only will God, who has never failed his children, provide for our needs but many of the things we thought we needed we find we do not need or want. In place of anxiety we find contentment.

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ConclusionAs we live in what is an increasingly anxious world, can you begin to imagine the impact that your life and mine might make upon it.

For that to happen we need to be seen in all of the changing circumstances of life to indicate that we are resting in and trusting a caring loving heavenly Father who is himself the only real cure of anxiety.