Matthew 6:25-34

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 100
• Hymn — All People That on Earth Do Dwell (#100)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Scripture Reading — Psalm 9:7-11
• Hymn — Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah, O My Soul (#57)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Prayer of Illumination
• Sermon
• Hymn — Abide with Me (#402)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: The Cure for Anxiety

Scripture: Matthew 6:25-34

I. Growing Faith That Sees Who You Are

A. Jesus asks three diagnostic questions to help us see ourselves rightly

1. The Source Question (Matthew 6:25): Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? God is the origin and sustainer of your life and body — they are gifts, not self-generated (Acts 17:25)
2. The Value Question (Matthew 6:26, 30): Are you not of more value than the birds? God feeds birds and clothes lilies — how much more does he care for image-bearers of greater value?
3. The Capacity Question (Matthew 6:27): Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? Anxiety is not a superpower; we lack the capacity to control or extend our own lives

B. Little faith (Matthew 6:30) is the deeper diagnosis — we do not rightly see our source, our value, or our limited capacity

1. Sin lies to us, telling us we are in control and can take life into our own hands
2. Believing that lie produces anxiety; rightly knowing ourselves breaks the cycle

II. Growing Faith That Studies Who God Is

A. Jesus twice uses the relational title your heavenly father — personal, not generic (Matthew 6:26, 32)

1. God as Father brings all his perfect attributes to bear: love, holiness, mercy, strength, and unchanging faithfulness
2. Your heavenly Father knows your needs and feeds — he who purposed life also provides for life

B. Calvin: "The Lord who has given life itself will not suffer us to want what is necessary for its support… whenever we are seized by any fear or anxiety, let us remember that God will take care of the life which he gave us"

C. A caution against passive faith

1. Birds illustrate God's provision, but birds are never idle — they are constantly active in seeking food
2. God's provision does not make us passive; very often his provision comes together with our activity
3. Some need to think less of personal effort; others need to think more — Jesus focuses on the fact of God's provision, not a formula for receiving it

III. Growing Faith That Seeks Better Things

A. Jesus contrasts Gentile (unbeliever) seeking with Christian seeking (Matthew 6:32-33)

1. Unbelievers seek food, clothing, and earthly security as an end in itself — they have nothing better to live for
2. Christians easily slip into the same practical atheistic thinking and desiring

B. The command: seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33)

1. Set the whole of your desire and affection on spiritual things — your relationship with God, his sovereignty, and his will
2. Means of grace — Word, sacrament, prayer, and fellowship — are to be of first importance

C. Martyn Lloyd-Jones: "If you want to be anxious about anything, be anxious about your spiritual condition, your nearness to God… this great concern about your relationship to God will drive out every lesser concern"

1. The nearer you are to a campfire on a cold night, the less you feel the chill
2. We come near to the Father only through Jesus Christ his Son — Jesus himself is calling us to draw near to him
3. Paul counted all else as rubbish compared to knowing and gaining Christ (Philippians 3:8)

D. Promise: seek first his kingdom and all these things will be added to you according to his good and perfect will (Matthew 6:33)