Sermon on the Mount

Matthew chapter 6 verses 25 through to 34. Therefore, I tell you. Do not worry about your life. What you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear It's not life more than food, and the body more than clothes. Look at the birds of the air.

They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any 1 of you by worrying at a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow.

They do not labor or spin. Yet, I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like 1 of these. If that is how god clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, Will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith. So do not worry saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear. For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Well, thank you, Chris, for reading that to us, and these are wonderful words, perhaps familiar words to many of us here, or perhaps brand new.

And let's As we begin, let's bow our heads and pray that God by his Holy Spirit would speak to us through his word this evening. Jesus said, come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Father, we thank you that to live under the authority and the teaching. And the salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be in the place of rest and peace. We confess Lord that we are often anxious and our souls are anxious. That we worry and we fret and we are troubled about many things. And the root of that very often is that we haven't trusted you, our good and sovereign heavenly father.

We recognize that we do live in an anxious world, which is so full of ever changing messages, which stress us out. And yet, when we come to your word, we find the balm and the ointment for that weariness that we can come to you and find rest and peace in Jesus. And Lord, we pray that as we look at this famous passage with its challenges and its many encouragements that you would help us Lord, if we know these words very well, we pray that you would shed fresh light upon them this evening. And, Lord, if we don't know them, we pray that for the first time we would experience the wonderful comfort and the joy it is of knowing you are heavenly father. And so whoever we are in whatever place we find ourselves at the moment mentally, spiritually, emotionally, please minister to us through your word, and we ask it in Jesus' name.

Oh, man. Oh, man. Well, if you've been following this series along, you'll know that last week Rory very helpfully opened up verses 19 to 24 for us in the sermon on the Mount, which ends with with these challenging words, very black and white words in in some ways. Verse 24, at the end of verse 24, chapter 6, you cannot serve both God and money. Or in the King James version, that's ye cannot serve God and Maman.

You cannot serve God and Mammon. And as Rory was helping us to see that that word has come to mean more than just money. It now refers to anything in this world that we might rely on or trust in instead of instead of God. And originally, if you look down in your bibles, the the headings which break up the chapters and the sections weren't weren't there. Those are a later addition to help us to to understand and to sort of portion out really the word of God.

But really, verse 24, would originally have flowed into twice 25 without the kind of break that we've come to come to recognize. So it would have read You cannot serve both god and money. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life. And that's important because what we are about to read is not just a series of tips on how to cope with anxiety. This section is still about who we serve.

It's about who we worship. It's about what we think of God when we think of God. It's about who we know and in which faith we're planted, really. Paul Tripp, an American writer puts it this way. Worry and rest always reveal the true treasures of your heart.

You will rest the most when what you treasure the most is secure, and you will worry the most when what you treasure the most is at risk. What does your world of worry reveal about the true treasures of your heart? And so there he's helping us to see that worry and worship are connected. If we are storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven, That is a very safe place for them to be, and our world of worry will be about those things. But if our treasures are upon this earth where Roth and where moth and Russ can destroy, then we're likely to live in a world of worry because our treasures aren't very safe.

And so the question is, what does your world of worry reveal about the true treasures of your heart. This is about worship. Now just to say, and it is worth saying upfront, it's not the case that if you know God as your father and you serve him, you will never worry. And therefore, if you ever find yourself do worrying, you are a slave to mammon. Things aren't as simplistic as that.

The picture is a little bit more complicated, partly because you remember that this sermon is for disciples. It is for those who already know Jesus as their king and God as their father. And so I presume that the Holy Spirit has left it here and preserved it across the generations. Because every new generation of disciples is gonna need it. And I guess that for my own heart, for as long as I am alive, And for as long as this text is here, I'm gonna need it.

So I'm never gonna get to a point where I'm done with worry. Where that was my issue and it's dealt with. Even for disciples, they need to keep relearning and rehearing these lessons. But nonetheless, this is absolutely how these sections connect, worry and rest always reveal the true treasures. Of your heart.

And that is the purpose of this little section here. Jesus wants his children to be free from worry, and he wants us to be free from worry by helping us to treasure the right things. By helping us to treasure the father and all that he is to us. And the way that I wanna break this up this evening, is to think about the sermon and the anti sermon. So that's how we're gonna break it up.

The sermon and the anti sermon. If these things are not true, if Maimon is God, How would the sermon look? What does life become if these things are not true? But if there is a heavenly father, who is good and sovereign and who we can know, what difference does that make? If these things are true, what will the sermon look like?

How will our lives be shaped. So that's what we're gonna do. There's 5 points, which are in fact 10 points, because in each 1, we're gonna look at the anti sermon and the sermon. And the first point is this, anti sermon 0.1, there is no father in heaven, be anxious about your life. There is no father in heaven, so be anxious about your life.

In verse 25 and 31, the word worry means anxious care. It means anxious cares. And in other translations, it says do not be anxious, but the NIV takes the word worry. And back sometimes can be positive. So if you look at Philippians chapter 2 verse 19 to 20, this is what Paul says about Timothy, He says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you.

I have no 1 else like him who will show genuine concern or genuine anxiety for your welfare. Now, that is a very positive way of using the word. Here is a man Timothy who is anxious and worried and consumed about how he may do good to the church. He wants to know. He's anxious to know how they're getting on.

But it can also mean anxious about the wrong things. And this is where the word is also used of Martha, if you know this story. Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.

Martha Martha, the Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things. And Martha is a helpful example of what Jesus is teaching in this part of the sermon on the Mount. Because when you read that story. Martha, the reason that Martha is so troubled and so anxious is because she's come to believe that the burden of provision on her shoulders. It's all down to her.

What Jesus eats? What will they wear? Where will they sit? It's down to me. I've got to provide, and she's consumed.

She's distracted because she thinks the burden of provision rests upon her shoulders. And as you can see, that is a frustrating way of living because it doesn't actually achieve the thing you want it to. I think that's what Jesus is getting at in verse 27. If you have a look at verse 27, he says, can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life. It's a it's a frustrating, troubled way of life because we're we think that everything rests upon our shoulders, but no matter how much we worry, it doesn't actually seem to produce the thing that we want it to.

We remain frustrated and troubled and anxious. Like Martha was. If there is no father in heaven, that is what life ought to be like. Be anxious about your life. But the sermon says, there is a heavenly father.

Trust him. Have a look at verse 32 to 33. For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. There is a wonderful old testament word for peace, which if you've been a member of the church for some time, you'll know and it's the word shalom.

And shalom means, more than just peace, it means a kind of wholeness, and a completeness, and a rest that comes from knowing God. And Jesus is teaching us here that for a disciple, their sense of shalom comes from the vertical. It comes from knowing the father in heaven. That's where our completeness and our rest comes from. But if we go looking for that in the horizontal, If we attach shalom to the horizontal to what I eat and what I wear and where I live and what my body looks like and what I achieve, my image, if my shalom is attached to the horizontal, then the fruit of that is going to be a troubled life.

Jesus wants us to find our shalom in the Father, to find it vertically, and not to panic Because he says here that the burden of provision is on his shoulders. That where he loves it to be. He loves to take that upon himself. We do not have to panic about our daily needs of clothes and food He says that he will take care of them. And that goes for all believers.

Michael Green has written a great commentary on Matthew. Says this, is Jesus being unfeeling and unrealistic here? No. He himself knew the pinch of near starvation, and was to taste in his flesh the bite of cruel nails. But these things did not rob him of his loving trust in his heavenly father whose overarching providence would not allow anything to fall him, which was not in the last analysis for good.

That analysis might not be apparent until eternity, but it could be relied on and it still can. In other words, even those brothers and sisters who are in great difficulty and feel the pinch of near starvation even today can have this shalom and confidence and peace because there is a good father in heaven who loves them. And in the last analysis, they will see that all together was designed to work for their good and for the glory of God. Isn't that just a wonderful sermon? God knows what you need and you can trust him for everything.

Second point, the anti sermon, The father is not sovereign. Time is your enemy. The father is not sovereign time is your enemy. Corey Tim Boone said, worry, does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.

In other words, she's saying that worry is a double frustration. Not only does it not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, that's frustrating. It empties today of its strength, and that's a double frustration, double frustration. So it empties me now of strength, and it doesn't achieve anything in the future. It's a double frustration.

And again, I think you see that in verse 27. Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life. In other words, it it's just it doesn't achieve anything. It's just frustrating. Not only does it not achieve anything tomorrow, it empties me of strength today.

And I think this is a huge thing with anxiety. That time becomes an enemy. There's the past. Why did I do that? How did I come across?

What has that done to my future? Why did I make that mistake? What a stupid decision. We feel haunted by the past. We're anxious about the past.

But then there's the future and anxiety feeds on the future. Something is always coming and it's always bad. Anxious people live in the worst case scenario a thousand times a day. Everything that they think about is coming and worrying and is going to be bad. It's the worst case scenario.

And verse 25, you can see that Jesus is talking about this sort of future fear. Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life what you will eat. Or drink or about your body, what you will wear. Can you see anxieties located in the future? What will I wear?

What will I eat? What will I do? It's living in the worst case scenario all the time. It's implied in verse 34, isn't it? If you look at that, Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow.

That's the temptation, isn't it? Because anxiety's future do not worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow will worry about itself, each day has enough trouble of its own. And look, Jesus here is talking about. The kind of nerves that you might have before an exam, the sort of sense of sleeplessness you might have or feeling a bit sweaty palms about something coming up.

He's talking about a troubled soul who is haunted by the past and afraid of the future. If there is no sovereign father, time is an enemy, time is not a friend. But the sermon says, the father is sovereign and our times are in his hands. And that wonderful phrase is actually taken from Psalm 31. Psalm 31 verse 15, my times are in your hands.

That's the first half of the verse. And it sounds really nice, doesn't it? And my times are in your hands. Very quotable. But the second half, my times are in your hands, deliver me from the hands of my enemies from those who pursue me.

So hold on. My times are in your hands. What does the future look like? It's dangerous. It's jolly dangerous, isn't it?

It's a bleak picture. It's a worst case scenario that the enemies are gathering around. Those who hate my life for pursuing me, it's it's a dangerous future he's looking into. But does it empty him have strength today? No.

Why? Because he knows that his times are in God's hands. The disciple knows that about God. We cannot change the past. We cannot change the past, but we know Jesus Christ who has changed our past for us.

We know Jesus Christ who knows all that we have done. And all that we have been, and yet has loved us and given himself for us and redeemed our past and turned it into a different story. We cannot change our past, but we know 1 who has redeemed it for us. It doesn't have to haunt us in the same way. We don't know the future, but we know the 1 who holds the future.

We know that whatever happens to us the future our times are in the hands of a good and sovereign god, who whatever happens to us is going to work it all together for our good and for his glory. We don't know that we can't change the past, but Christ has changed our past. We don't know the future, but we know the 1 who holds the future for us. And so Jesus is saying, don't let the past haunt you or the future scare you because yesterday today and forever, your times are in his hands. Corey 10 boom, worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow.

It empties today of its strength. And so how much better to trust God with our times. Thirdly, the anti sermon says, There is no bigger story, so seek your own kingdom. There is no bigger story, so seek your own kingdom. And it's very clear in this passage that there is a relationship between the kingdom of self and anxiety.

There is a relationship between the kingdom of self and anxiety. When I'm living in my own story, trying to be my own king, worrying about the shape of my own kingdom, I am going to be an anxious soul. Paul trip again says this behind every moment of worry is a war for the heart. This battle is about whether our hearts will be effectively and functionally ruled by the kingdom of God or by the kingdom of self. Behind every moment of worry is a war for the heart.

And that is just that is the logic of verse 31 to 33. Have a look at that with me, verse 31 to 33. Jesus says, so do not worry saying, what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the pagans run all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. You see how it works?

What is the opposite of seeking first the kingdom of God It's what shall we wear. What shall we eat? That's the opposite. And this is what happens with worry. It it shrinks the world, doesn't it?

It shrinks our world right down. And so it becomes very very hard to carry other people's burdens like Timothy and Philipp's too. It becomes really hard to look at creation and to see the birds and the flowers, and to grasp reality all around us. It becomes so hard to look to others and to look out to the world because my story is consuming me. My world has shrunk right down.

The kingdom of self is winning over the kingdom of God. And what happens then is that we just feel both vulnerable and we feel suspicious. We feel suspicious because when I'm like that, I'll start to believe that nobody can come with me. That nobody can share in my kingdom that nobody look knows what it looks like to live under King Me. It's only me and my world.

There is a relationship between the kingdom of self and anxiety. That's the anti sermon. And that is why to fight anxiety, we need both a bigger story to be part of. And we need brothers and sisters to help us to be part of that bigger story. When when Caleb was first first born, and, you know, I've spoken to Law about this.

She's happy to give this illustration. She definitely, after she after Caleb was born, had some kind of chemical or hormonal imbalance, some kind of post natal anxiety or or something and was very very anxious after he was born. And I remember when we were taking Caleb out of the hospital, and we were taking him home for the first time. It was raining that day, and I remember carrying him in the car seat. And there was somebody walking past us the other way up the corridor who was holding an umbrella.

And and just just very, very lightly, just graced Caleb's car seat with the umbrella. So it didn't even hit him, just the car seat. And for hours, later. Laura was saying to me, is he gonna be alright? You know, is he gonna be okay?

Did you see what happened there? And I didn't. I didn't even notice it what had happened. And yet she was just so so taken up with this with this anxiety about him. And as I say, I think there was definitely something postnatal about that.

But nonetheless, what we needed and what we got was mature Christian women in the church. Who came alongside her regularly, to carry our burdens and to pray for us, and that had such a profound effect in taking us back out into a bigger story and helping us to trust in God. But anxiety says the opposite, says, no, don't let them do that. Shrink down. They can't understand.

They can't come with you, better not to let them in. And so the world becomes small and we become taken up with this Kingdom of self. Jesus says in the sermon, no no, you belong in a massive story. Seek first the kingdom of God. Verse 33, look with me, he says, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

And all these things will be given to you as well. And in many ways, you can summarize that the whole bible with that phrase, the kingdom of God. This is the story of a creator who became a Savior. Of a king who left all the riches of heaven and came to establish his perfect reign upon the earth. And to summon the nations to throw down their crowns before him, to repent of their sin, to come out from under false authorities, and to submit to his perfect rule, and reign.

He is the savior who came to be the king of God's kingdom. Christ is that king, and he is writing a glorious international story. And what he's saying to us here, is that to seek his rule and his righteousness is to be part of something massively bigger than yourself. Massively bigger, something eternally, internationally, more glorious than ourselves, to see the Word of Christ go out and to see the people of Christ established in the world and to find ourselves in that story. That's the amazing thing about it.

It's so much bigger than us, and yet we feel so totally at home within it because that is the story that we were created to live in. The tragic thing about anxiety is that it is no longer sure that Christ is sovereign. It's no longer sure that he is sitting on the throne. And we lose sight of what really matters, don't we? And Jesus is saying to his people, no, you belong in the greatest story ever told.

Be anxious about the things of the lord. Look how Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 7 and the word for worry is exactly the same as it is here. An unmarried man is talking about different relationships here. An unmarried man is concerned, anxious. Worried about the Lord's affairs, how he can please the Lord.

That's what Jesus is saying. You belong to a big story. Be anxious about the kingdom of God. Live within something bigger than yourself. Fourthly, the anti sermon says, lose sight of reality.

Clothes are more than life. Lose sight of reality. Your clothes are more than your life. Have a look at verse 25. Therefore, I tell you do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear, is not life.

More than food, and the body more than clothes. And the word life there means the immaterial It means the eternal person. It means your soul. It means who you are, who God has made you to be the essence of the essence of who you are. And so when you put it like that, verse 25 seems rhetorical, doesn't it?

It seems like Jesus doesn't really want an answer to this question. It's so obvious, Therefore, I tell you do not worry about your life. It's not your life more than food. That's a rhetorical question, isn't it? Of course, it is.

But if there is no father in heaven, it's not that obvious, is it? It's not that obvious whether my life is actually worth more than my clothes. You see, you think about the the school child who is bullied for for bad clothes or bad skin or bad sporting ability. You know, a steady drip feed of that is gonna lead them to think that they are those things. That all that they are is reduced down to what kind of clothes that they wear, to the point where if they cannot be in those areas, then life is not worth living.

And if that is the world that I inhabit, I am going to be an anxious soul. Because I get to the point where I'm actually not sure whether this body with the DNA and the complexity, and and all the the the design and intelligence behind it. Is worth more than cotton. I won't actually know that anymore. It will be hard for me because my life has been reduced down.

To just the outward things, and I'm I'm not sure. The anti sermon makes us lose sight of reality to the point where we don't actually know anymore, where the life is worth more than clothes. I think verse 25, although it might be obvious, is evangelistically dynamite in this age. Is not your life more than clothes. What would life be like if that was true?

It'd be amazing, wouldn't it? Think these things we know but I think they are so powerful for our age. Well, what does the sermon say? The sermon says, This is the father's world. See reality everywhere.

See reality everywhere. Have a look at verses 26, and then 28 to 30 with me. Jesus says, look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them, are you not much more valuable than they? Verse 28, and why do you worry about clothes?

See how the flowers of the field grow? They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like 1 of these. If that is how God closed the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire. Will he not much more clothe you you of little faith.

The sermon says, look at the world and grasp reality. Psalm a hundred and 45 puts it this way. The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. Now that is not to say that living things like birds don't have their fair share of troubles because they do.

And if you've got a garden, and if you've watched the birds even for a few minutes, they are pecking each other's eyes out, ripping each other's heads off, and the way they go about it for the birdbath is so violent. I mean, they have it. It's a troubled old life being a sparrow in my garden. They have their fair share of worries, and it's not to say that they don't work hard. They work jolly hard, don't they?

In fact, they work all day. Trying to find the next bit of food to feed themselves and their family. So they live a troubled life, and they work hard. But Jesus is saying, you know, look at them. They don't obsess like we do.

About the things of this world. They do not lie awake at night, wondering where their next meal is coming from. They do not think that they are sovereign. They do know in some way that there is a creator creature distinction, and they do not dare try to go in the creator's place. They they sort of know instinctively that the burden of provision is on his shoulders and therefore they are free because God cares for them.

And Jesus is saying, is if that is true of the natural world, how much more is it true of you, my son or daughter? To you who are a member of God's kingdom, who have been bought with the blood of Jesus who has had his sins or her sins covered forever, you who are adopted into the family of God. If it's true for the birds, Would it not much more be true for you? Oh, child of God. This is how Paul puts it in Romans 8.

He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How? This is the question he's asked, how how will he not also Along with him, graciously give us all things. Just ponder that for a moment. If he gave his only son for you because he loves you so much, and he wants to make you right and bring you home if he loves you.

Will he not also along with him? Graciously give you everything else. Of course he will. If he cares for the flowers, then he's gonna care for you, child of God. Your soul is worth more than your salary.

Your life is worth more than your clothes. You are more precious than the birds. You are a child of God. But knowing that, depends on seeing reality. We have to see reality.

Otherwise, we're not gonna know that. And in our day, I think that's not easy. Follow this John Piper quote with me. It is a bit long, but I think if we can get this, it is so so helpful. He says, it is a tragic fact of the modern world that most contemporary scientifically minded people Think it is more true and significant to speak of the technicalities of photosynthesis than to say, God makes the grass grow.

This is not just a sentence for children. It is a sentence, a reality, desperately needed by the soul shrunken modern man, whose world has been reduced from a theater of wonders to a machine running mindlessly on mechanical laws. Of course, a god in trans Christian may happily go about his scientific work on photosynthesis and put technical names on the ways of God but woe to us, if we follow the secular spirit of the age into a frame of mind, where God is out of sight, out of mind, and out of our everyday conversation, about the wonders of growing grass. That way of looking at the world is everywhere, brothers and sisters. We have to it is it hangs in the air that we breathe.

It is a pollution that we take in all the time and it is slowly changing the world we live in from a theater of wonders into a machine. Where God is no longer the creator who paints and gives life to every flower. The world is a machine. We live inside a machine. That is not Christian.

The Christian looks out at every flower and every blade of grass, and every tree and says, God is doing that. God is doing that right now. These millions of different of grass in front of me, all with a slightly different heightened texture. God is growing that right now. God's doing that.

God is making it grow, keeping it alive. He put it there. I can see something in it, reality. That's what a Christian thinks. John Piper goes on to say, Jesus said, look at the birds because God feeds them, and to consider the lilies because God closed them.

Jesus's aim was not aesthetic. His aim was to free his people from anxiety. He really considered it a valid argument that if our heavenly father feeds the birds and clothes the lilies, how much more surely will he feed and clothe his children? This is simply astonishing. The argument is valid only if God really is the 1 who sees to it that the birds find their worms.

And the lilies wear their flowers. If birds and lilies are simply acting by natural laws with no divine hand, divine hand, then Jesus is just playing with words. If we live inside a machine, and God doesn't really care for the birds. If that is true, then we will never see the how much more. How can we see the how much more?

If God isn't even looking after the birds, how can we have any confidence that he'll look after us as children of God? I nearly I nearly did the entire sermon just on verse 26. I think this is such an important point. It I it is perhaps the greatest weapon in the fight against anxiety, and that is to grasp reality. To see reality for what it is, Your life is worth more than clothes.

God feeds the birds and he will look after you. If we can see reality, then we're a long way in the fight against anxiety. Lastly, anti sermon, run after this world and blend in. Run after this world and blend in. Verse 31 to 32, this is how a sermon reads, but the anti sermon would be the opposite.

So do not worry saying, what shall we eat or what shall we wear or what shall we drink or what show Sorry. What shall we drink or what shall we wear? For the pagans run after all these things. And your heavenly father knows that you need them, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. Several years ago, me and Laura were were flying back from Belarus, and we were taking a flight from Minsk into Poland.

And on this particular occasion, we were taking off in a in a in a thunderstorm, and so we were gonna be flying through a storm. And I'm quite a nervous flyer At the best of times, I don't really like it. I do actually feel quite scared when flying. I like being at the airport. I think it's quite exciting.

I like landing, but I don't really like it doesn't seem to be a stable proper way of traveling really in in a plane. And particularly when it starts, you know, shaking all around and and suddenly dropping and rising, You know, when that when that happens, I'm I'm really reading myself my last rights at that point and expecting that my life is about to come to an end because nothing so small and fragile with 2 inch walls can survive such a battering. And yet, I remember on this flight looking around, and seeing almost everybody else either asleep or engaged in reading or watching a film or something. And I thought, you know, here I am, you know, I don't suppose that most of these are evangelical Christians who know God as their father. I don't I don't support maybe they are.

I hope they are, but it's probably not the case. And yet they are more p at peace, and more tranquil, and more relaxed in this whole experience than I who know the father God who know that I'm gonna be with Jesus forever, who know that this life, whether I live 30 years or 70 years, it doesn't matter. It's all in eternity's eyes, it's a blip. And yet I'm the 1 here, anxious, reading myself my last rights, and they're all they're they're all asleep. And I know it's just a it's a silly little illustration, but the point of it here is that knowing God as our father should make a difference.

It is logical for unbelievers to worry a lot, because they don't know God as their father. They don't have an assurance that a good sovereign God has their times in his hands. They don't know that. They don't see that, but we do. We do know that.

And yet when I'm troubled about this world living in the me story, that distinction is very blurred, isn't it? And that is why we need to know that worry is not just an unfortunate habit, worry is a sin. It is a sin. Verse 30 is both tender and a rebuke of sin. Jesus says, if that is how God closed the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, Will he not much more clothe you?

You of little faith. You of little faith. You see, God is not he's not petty. And he's not saying, oh, you You worried about that. You're in trouble.

You know, you were nervous about that exam. You don't belong to me. You don't belong in my kingdom. It's more like Jesus is saying, my children, this sort of unrest grieves me. He grieves me.

Because it says to the world that knowing me as your father doesn't in the end make that much difference at all. It seems to make no difference to how you live and what you worry about. You're just like everybody else. And that is why We do need to repent of this kind of anxiety, and we need to see this sort of worry for what it is as a sin. If knowing a sovereign saving father does not affect our lives, then where are we?

Where are we in our understanding of God? The anti sermon says run after the world and blend in. Lastly, the sermon says, stand out. Your heavenly father knows what you need. For the pagans, verse 32, run after all these things, and your heavenly father knows that you need them.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. You see, if it is the case that by God's grace, I can trust my father for all of my needs If by God's grace, I can realize that my times are in his hands. If by God's grace, I can grasp reality everywhere. If by God's grace, I can seek his kingdom first. I am gonna stick out like a sore thumb.

The whole of this sermon on the mount is teaching us, that the kingdom life is very different from the world, and it is very different from hypocritical religion. It is a powerful, distinctive, third, proper way of life. And the idea that in every difficulty, we can have a profound confidence in God that for all of my needs, I can have a deep trust in God. The idea that I can find myself by losing myself is so radical. It must be what Jesus means in chapter 5 verse 16.

When he says let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven. Some will hate and some will persecute, But I think his point there is that this kingdom life is so distinct and so radical that some will be drawn to it. They will want to know the savior who makes it possible. The light that shines within you and the sort of peace that you have and they will want to give glory to the God that you know. 2 ways of life then.

Sherman and the anti Sherman. 2 objects of worship, God or mammon, 2 lives that follow. And I think just to finish off With I I guess the deepest and most significant question is what what is Jesus doing here in this section. Is he or is he not? Just playing with words.

Is he playing with words, or is this really, really true? And 4 our lives. 1 last illustration, which I hope will help. I was at the I was at the dentist a couple of weeks ago, and I was having filling, which I've had before 7 times. And I was going on this particular occasion, and so I'm quite familiar with the inside of a dentist.

Room. But I went to a new 1 this time, and it was quite different. In that when the chair went back, there was a flat screen television on the ceiling. And I don't know if you've got a dentist like that, but you you lie back. And instead of looking up at the lights, there's a television.

And on this television, was was a Caribbean island. Of of some kind. And there was sort of sand and and birds of paradise flying around, and it looked very peaceful. And in the middle in the middle of the TV screen with the words in big letters, chill your mind. That's what it said.

I think it was playing some sort of playlist or something, but it's chill your mind. And for me, the truth is, any distraction from the drill is welcome. And so I was thankful to have something to look at. But the reality is that when the needle cranes over the top of your chin to come down into your gum. And when you hear the sound of the drill starting up and preparing to bore into your cavity, Being told to chill to chill your mind is not fair.

It's not fair. It it is it is both unrealistic and powerless in that the words cannot create the reality in my heart. It's a it's a command that hovers above my life, and in the end is totally powerless to produce any feelings of chill inside me as I face this filling. Well, look, Jesus says, I tell you, don't worry about anything. Is it the same sort of thing going on?

Is is is that the same thing as chill your mind? In other words, when when the needle of my suffering comes into me, and the drill of difficulty comes into me. Are Jesus' words just platitudes on the ceiling? Don't worry, that are actually powerless and actually cannot, in the end, produce reality in me. Is that what they are?

Because there's only 2 options, isn't there? Either that is true, and Jesus is just playing with words. And he knows very well. That in the difficulties of life, these words will make no difference. It's just a poetic, nice way of thinking about life, or or These are these are holy spirit words that have been recorded for us to fire faith in our hearts, and to produce a sort of radical confidence and trust in a father.

Which will liberate us in every way. That's the only 2 choices, isn't it? He's playing with words. Well, these are faith filled promises. And I hope and I pray and I would submit to you this evening that the second of those is true.

And so let's pray that God would help it to be so. Let me just give you a minute to think through some of the things we've heard together. Give you a chance to pray. Loving father. We thank you that you are our father, and we thank you that you are good and that you are sovereign and that you love your children so very much.

We thank you that you did not even withhold your most precious gift. Your 1 and only son but gave him up for us. And will you not also along with him? Graciously give us all things. Father we pray that you would forgive us and we are sorry.

For when we either don't see or don't believe or distrust you. For when we are more like the pagans who have no knowledge of you than the children of God. We thank you our father that you do feed and look after this creation, that you clothe the flowers of the field, you give life to everything, and is it not then the case that you will take care of your children whom you have saved and who you love. Father we pray that you would help us not to worry about our lives. What we will eat or drink or about our bodies, what we will wear.

But that we would trust you to take care of us. And we pray that you would help us to find ourselves in a bigger story than ourselves. That we would know that Jesus Christ is sovereign, that his kingdom is worth living and dying that your righteousness and your priorities are worth pursuing in this life above everything. Because lord, the more that we can be taken up with your kingdom, the more the chains of anxiety will break and fall from us. So help us to see it.

Help us to see this for what it is. Not just platitudes on the ceiling. But faith firing promises. Help us to live by them even as we enter the anxious world of tomorrow morning. Help us lord by your spirit to remember, believe, obey, these things.

And we ask you in Jesus' name. Amen.