Tired of Anxiety? | Matthew 6:25–34

Show Notes

Episode 849: 
In this episode, we continue our journey through the Beatitudes by focusing on spiritual poverty and our dependence on God. Drawing from Matthew 5 and Jesus’ teaching on worry in Matthew 6:25–34, we explore how trusting God’s provision frees us from anxiety and self-reliance. Through Scripture and personal reflection, we’re reminded to seek God’s kingdom first and rest in His care. Join us as we reflect on how living “poor in spirit” leads to deeper faith and a more fulfilling life—Happy New Year from The Bible Guys!

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You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun, in practical ways. Hey, everybody, thanks for tuning in once again, hopefully again because you're returning to the Bible guys. And if you're not returning, this is your first time. Welcome to. Yay, you found it. Finally you found us, You found us. Hey, we are excited to be in a series talking through the beatitudes, which are listed, well, they're included and sort of define most of the sermon on the Mount. That's right. And before we dive into that, we have a segment that Desiree wrote. She just called it your Start. Your start. Yes, are you gonna start your year? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, for sure, she says, today. New Year's Day. Well, yeah, this is New Year's Day. Hey, what did you do last night? Did you step up to midnight? Uh? Probably probably? Will we always do, do you? Yeah, we do too. You know, I've always wondered what it would be like to be at like Times Square. And my wife doesn't even like to go into a crowded restaurant, so to be in Times Square would be ridiculous. But I think I might be up for it. Yeah, you'd have to wear diapers. I'm not kidding you, legitimately. Do Okay, no, thank you, Yeah, i'll pass. Yeah, you have to wear diapers and just say okay, I can't move, I can't get to a bathroom. So that's what people do. That's rough. That's pretty rough. Okay, that's more information than I wanted to know. That's too much, Chris. Okay, this is called your start. Today's I want to start a diaper. It's midnight, hang on, hang on, no if it's cold, but now it's warm. Yeah, that's right, all right, here it is okay. Today is New Year's Day, a fresh start, a fresh start and a chance to look ahead. What's one goal that you're excited to work towards, something that you hope for in the new coming year. Or a word you want to guide you. One goal to work towards or a word to guide you? Yeah, yeah, so you're gonna do either, or I have a word? Okay, what's your word? No? No, no, I wanted to. I wanted to steal your word, and I'm tempted if if you make me do it, I'm gonna steal your word. So I think you should do it. Okay, well, then final I'll do it. I'll go first. So communication, I was actually. Fine. I won't introduce the word. It's communication. That's my word. And I was reminded because I just said what two podcasts ago, that I messed up my entire summer by those weddings. And the bad part is I never communicated any of that to my wife, and so I just had a bad communication. And then there are times I'll be quite honest where my daughter's like, hey, you know, I'm going to Kansas today, right, And I'm like what, And then and my wife goes, we told you this, and I'm like, what, what are you talking about? And you know, because my my daughter's fiance lives in Kansas, and so she'll pop in there when she can, back and forth and until they get married. So bottom line is is uh, I thought to myself that, you know, the wedding stuff reminded me that. But then also in every other aspect of my life. One of our goals in the new year as a team is to have a teaching team meeting. Right, we're adding which I wanted to start six months ago. But uh, but but but we're finally doing it. And and uh, and that's going to be just for the purpose of better communication, further and faster all that stuff. And honestly some of that stuff, I want to have better communication with you and with Chad and with with with the teaching teaching team, so everything at work basically. So I think communication is a great word for me. It is. That's a good one. It's funny because I was thinking something along those lines. I didn't think of the word communication, but I was thinking more clarity. Yeah, yeah, on things, and so that was take clarity. No, no, no, no, I'm going to say. I think for me, my guiding word this year is priorities. So in every area of my life, I think my temptation is to believe I can do all the things and that I can, you know, pull it off, and we've got a good team. You're a maximizer, right so yeah, yeah, so, and so priorities are important. I always say duties never conflict. That makes my wife mad, but it's true. There's always one priority that's more important than the other one. Even if you have two priorities, there's always one that's more important. And so what I've been kind of thinking through over the last couple of weeks, quite honestly, has been I feel like as I've come to the end of twenty twenty five, I actually took a few days off here heading towards our big Christmas services because I just started feeling really, really thin. I think, you know, we had some stressful things, but I also had just a lot of stuff going and so, you know, so personal health, spiritual health, family health, and relational health, healthy at work and just making sure that and you can't have twenty priorities in every area, then nothing's a priority, right, So I have to figure out the two or three most important things in each of those and then be actively working to make sure that they're all a priority. You know that I have one or two key priorities for my family this year, well, then I have to make sure that I make them a priority, even though there's other priorities in other areas. I have some a few key priorities in the church leadership stuff that we're doing and the growth that we have coming up. There's a million things we could be doing, but I'm going to choose two or three that are the most important to focus on, at least in the first half of the year. And that's what I'm trying to do is just kind of streamline a little bit and maybe even weed out some of the distractions in order to be able to be more effective. Yeah, that's great. So communication priorities, yes, yeah, and so just make sure that you communicate your priority. It is a priority. It's a priority. That's why communication is a better word. Well, it's a priority to me that we communicate better. There you go, There you go. So it works both the ways. Yeah, that's great. So, hey, that's that's really good. So I wonder what your priorities are or what what you uh uh you know, want to set as a goal. So maybe if you haven't thought about it already, considering this is going to air on New Year's Day, uh, maybe you think of a word. Wouldn't that be cool? Wouldn't it be a cool action step to take away from the Bible Guide. Yeah, So whenever you're listening to this, whether it's by yourself and it's in the morning, and maybe you can think about it all day, come home and just say to your family or loved ones, I have a word. Jeff and Chris inspired me, actually, desiree inspired. This is my word for this year, desiree is the one that inspired us. Good job to keep up with us. Or maybe perhaps you're listening in the evening and maybe you're listening together as a couple, which many do, and then when the podcast ends, look at each other and say, Okay, let's come up with a word that'll guide us. That'd be kind of cool. Yeah, So there you go, So talking about a word. Oh yeah, I'm a big fan of the words like in the Book of Matthew, chapter five, six and seven. Yes, those are good words. I like words. Jesus words. Speaking of words, Jesus spoke. He said a lot of words in Matthew five six and seven. Matter of fact, he said the most words. I was most words, he. Says, I was going to use. I was going to use the word priority, as is to say, Jesus clearly tells us the priorities of lives, of our lives. In the Servant on the Mount. He does God blesses those who are poor, and realizing that he tells. Us what's most important, which is sort of like New Year's resolutions. That's good, good, Chris, good job better. Than mine, well, way better than yours. Way better, so much better. As usually speaking. Of a word, Jesus spoke a word. So the first in the in the Beatitudes, the first statement he makes is God blesses those who are poor in spirit and realize their need for Him for the kingdom of heaven is there. Say explain to everybody how many different days we're going to spend on each beatitude. We're gonna spend like three yeah, three three issue yeah. So there's three different things in the last three days that we've talked about that connect just to this first beatitude. So the first day, Jesus talked about how in Matthew five seventeen through twenty, we talked about how we are desperate for him because we can't keep the whole law. Well it's technically Tuesday, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but we can't keep the whole law, right, so we're desperate for him or we can't go to heaven at all. And so we realize that we're not rich in our good deeds, we're rich in him. We're poor in our own spirit, right, we need to And then yesterday we talked about this being poor and spirit makes us realize without him we can do nothing, and so it leads us to prayer and it dependence on him. And then today this is more like the result of that A little bit. In Matthew six twenty five through thirty four, he says, that's why I tell you not to worry about everyday life, whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food or your body more than than clothing. Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries at a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing. Yet Solomon and all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown in the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So don't worry about these things, saying what we will we eat, what will we drink? What will we wear? These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, But your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God a all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don't worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today. Yeah. That is a wonderful, wonderful passage. Just love it. It's one of my favorites. For real, for reality is for real? Yea, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Well you know it's do you have a lot of anxiety? You know, you're a person that doesn't strike me with a lot of anxiety or a lot of worry. Yeah, don't. I don't worry a lot. Yeah, And tell me, is there a time is there something that about the future that fills you with anxiety? I mean, besides retirement or things like that. Because when you had cancer, you taught on this, Yeah, in November of two thousand and twenty. Yeah, twenty twenty. Yeah, you taught you taught on this exact passage. Yeah. And and what you're really saying is like, hey, you know, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna worry about what could be because our heavenly Father is in control. Yeah. I think the part of it is faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is what romans what Romans eight? Yep, isn't Romans eight? Oh? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Oh yeah, isn't that Romans e. I'm gonna look it up. Yeah, keep going. And anyways, that passage reminds us that God's word builds our faith. So the more God's word, you know. And this is why why I just commend our listeners for diving in. I've had so many people tell me, Jeff, I feel like I've learned more about the Bible in the last year than I have. Was that rose Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ten, everyone who calls the name Lord will be saved. This is about how will they hear without a yet yep, yep, that's it right there. Yep. So I've had a lot of people say, man, i feel like I've learned more about the Bible. I've learned more of the Bible than I ever have. And it's because spending daily time with God's word, taking a little bit and it ta a little bit. Of faith comes by hearing and by the word of God. So I think a lot of it. I have a high sense of God is going to provide and God's God is trustworthy because I've spent so much time in his word. Even by the time I graduate from high school, I've memorized over fifteen hundred verses and I knew most of the major Bible doctrines, and it just made sense to me. Either I believe this or I don't. And so that's a big part of it. In the good days and the bad days, it's all either he's true and he's good and he's going to keep his promises or not. And then the other one is there's multiple times throughout the Old Testament where like Joshua will lead the people to set up a monument or something, and he would say, so that when you come back here and you see it, you remember, or so that when your children come by here and they say, why is this here? Then the people remember. And then both Moses and Joshua telling him to rehearse these things. And I think that there's a tremendous advantage when you rehearse and remind and retell the stories of when God showed up last time, you know, Hey, God shows up. God shows up. God shows up. He'll show up on this one too, And I think that those together have you know, I'm constantly rethinking and retelling the stories of when God does show up and does do miracles, and I'm completely convinced that God's promises in God's words are true. And so those two things together, I think build our faith. But in this one, I also think the third piece is seek the Kingdom of God above all else and live rightly. That's what righteously means. And He'll give you everything you need. And so this is why I love this verse. Right, So seek the Kingdom of God above all else. You can have tremendous confidence that everything's going to work out, okay, if you're chasing God's kingdom above anything else. Right, And what do we mean by God's kingdom? Right? Jesus came, he announced that the Kingdom of God is near, and he was announcing that he had arrived and that salvation by grace through faith is available. And then he sends us on this mission to go and build his kingdom, you know, go everywhere and tell everybody and make new disciples. And so if that's what we're doing, is we're trying to build this kingdom. We can have tremendous confidence He's gonna bless that. And he would define God's kingdom by what the work of the Holy Spirit on earth? Yes, yeah, the work of the Holy Spirit, the movement of God. Yeah, the work of the Holy Spirit moving the Gospel forward. Yes yeah, yes, and uh and so yeah it's great and uh and I love how he gives practical examples. So not only does he tell us, you know, not worry, uh, but he actually says, hey, our heaveny Father, uh, you know, provides for the lilies in the field, for the birds in the air. And then he says, how much more important are you than they? Right? And they don't worry? Yeah, right, right, They're not worried, right, lilies aren't worried. The birds aren't worried. Right right. And I and I love that example because obviously the birds probably aren't worried because you know, we have the best brain don't we. Right, we have more you know, we have more brain power than lilies. I'll tell you that that's true, right most of us, yeah, most of us. We do have that one listener and you know who you are. Right, But but the point is is that but what he's really saying, is it's not about that. It's not about being able to reason more or think more than a bird or a lily. It's about him saying, uh that that just like they don't worry. That's how you should be. Right. We're made in God's image. Yeah, so his creation. He loves his creation and provides for his creation. We're just created in his image. How much more is he going to provide, you know, for the reflection of his image? And so yeah, I think that's that's really powerful. So he says, So don't worry about these things. But isn't it interesting, he says, can all your worries at a single moment to your life? Well, it's like it reminds me of Jerry Seiphilk. He goes, because people always say I want to save time, and he goes, they get the end of their lives. There's no time saved up. He doesn't save any time. Yeah, he says, throw the under we're up and catch in your hand. You're saving time, he said. He goes, there's no time to save that. And it's the same right that our all of our worries don't actually accomplish anything. And so this is why he ends it. So don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow bring its own worries. I've made mention before. I usually don't look at my calendar, you know, way in advance. Very often. I just tomorrow is going to be its own problems. And today I'm just going to shovel and sweep today. And I mentioned that, right, the old Carol Burnett ending to the old show the cartoon, and that guy's just walking behind. There's the elephants in the parade, and then there's a guy behind's pushing that broom. There's gonna be another parade tomorrow, and there's gonna be another mess tomorrow. We'll work on that one tomorrow. But life is hard. I was just talking to some young people about this here recently. Life is hard. It's supposed to be right. So we live in a broken world. It's part of the curse. And so on one side we find the work that God gives us fulfilling and enjoyable, and the other side it's all hard. Everything is just it's harder by the way, Yes, that's right. And so if that's the case, everything worth doing is hard. Everything worth doing has pressure. Just choose to do things that really matter, right, and then the pressure matters, the stress matters, all those things that it matters. And then if you're aligning with him and you're seeking His kingdom, and those are the hard things you're deciding to do. And for you, if you're an engineer, you know, lean into that God made you this way. Man. Nobody want to drive a car I design. I can tell you that much, dude, I can't hardly put to it. I hung up a picture the other day crooked, and I had to put the nails in three times to get it right. Right. You don't want to drive anything I'm designing. So thank God for engineers. But how do you get God's kingdom moving forward in your office? Maybe God's also inviting you to start a Bible study or to reach out and offer to pray. I just was listening to a firefighter talking about this the other day and he said they had a particularly traumatic situation and one of his guys, he said, Lieutenant, one of his guys was really struggling over the next couple days with PTSD and he said he was right in the middle of it and it was really hard, and he said, you know, you can life can begin to pile up, and some people are going to be more susceptible to an event than others whose life's not piling up. At the same moment, he says, so, I can tell you I could see it coming because he just had all these pressures in his life and then this very traumatic situation that kind of hit close to home costs some PTSD And he said, so, you know, it's not a thing we do, but I you know, And so he said, I have authority, and so I got to be careful with my authority. But he said. I went up to him, said, hey, I believe in prayer. Do you believe in prayer? And the guy goes yeah, He said, can I pray with you? He said, this firefighter just fell apart in that moment, and he prayed, and he said. This began this conversation where he began to have an opportunity to disciple one of these young firefighters in his unit, because God's kingdom was even more important than the uniform he was wearing in that moment, right that you understand, I am here for a reason. If you're in that engineering department, or you're a school teacher or whatever, you are in that place as God's ambassador for a reason. So how do you move God's kingdom forward where he put you? Yeah? Right, it's not all about preachers and singers, right right, We just do it. Are the Bible guys being you know, playing goofy games and talking about the Bible for a few minutes. It's not the hyper spirit We tend to hyper spiritualize these things as opposed to just realizing you are His ambassador in the place you're at, and Chris and I don't have access to where you have access to. That's right, we. Don't even have your badge can scan the doors. We can't even get in right, right, And so God. Puts you assuming you work at a fancy place. But God, God put you there. Can we scan our retinal eye scanners to get into your high security prison? No, no, we cannot. That's so funny. Hey, I wanted to make a comment, a very unusual comment. I don't think I've ever spoken this out loud in twenty years. But do you know that every single time, without fail, that I read this passage, and especially the verse that says can worry at a single moment in your life? I think of cigarettes? Really? Yes, what because when I was young. I approached my mom and I said, please stop smoking. And I begged her for years and years and years, and I said, can you name for me a single thing that comes good from you smoking? Name one good thing? Because I could name a million bad right, And that's the way that worries, right, One good thing that comes that's what Jesus says. It's not one good thing that comes from it, but there's a million bad things, so stop it. Stop worrying, right. That was that was my case. And I went to her and I said, Mom, and I just listed right. You know. Number one, it's costing you money. Number two, it's disgusting. Number three, we all hate it. Number four, you might get cancer. Number five. Your teeth are yellow and they don't look great. Number six, I'm just going down the line, right. Your clothes smell like smoke. Number seven. You know there's ashes everywhere and we're all sick of it. Number eight, I'm just going down the line, right. And I said, please name me one good thing. One good thing. You have bad breath, right, he always smells like smoke. And finally she was able to name one. She goes okay, she said, when I smoke I eat less and I am thinner. I said, okay, fine, that is a benefit of smoking. But however, you know that you could do other things to accomplish that. Right. That doesn't still take away from the fact that she found one benefit. Right, Because she said something about nerves. I'm like, no, that's actually that's not true. That's not true, and and and so we so we sort of dispelled that. But she found one good thing. And uh. And I think that with worry. The reason why I always compared to worry is because I think, to myself is exactly that way, only I actually don't think there's a single benefit of worry. And think about it, there are more people that are struggling with anxiety and worry uh today than ever before in the history of mankind. Right, And somehow. We have it's because we have access to all the news. Yeah, in the history of humanity, people who lived in Detroit had no concept of what was going on in Tucson for weeks right right, right, And now you watch it live on TikTok, right, it streamed live everything. So we have all of the stress of the whole planet in our lap all day, every day. If we're not careful. Yeah. Yeah, that's really good. And and I think that you know, when Jesus says, you know, don't worry, don't worry, I want to say. I want to say to the you know, whenever I preach about worrying and I get there, I always want to say, like, there's not a single benefit of it, and either we're going to trust God or we're not going to trust God. And God says clearly, anything out of your control, trust me because you if you can't control it and you can't manipulate it, then if you spend any energy on it, then it's it's Jesus would say, it's damaging. Right. So the thing you worry about the most is what you're most devoted to. Right, So yes, man, that say that statement again. I was going to go on to something else. So that's powerful. Yeah, the thing you worry about the most is the thing that you're most devoted to. Yeah. Yeah, so if you so, if you worry about how to get the gospel for right, if you worry about work, if you worry about your kids, right, I mean it is it is the thing that you that you're most about to. So the focus, it's it's all about focus. Right, and so this is kind of the the final conversation about and this isn't everything Jesus says about being poor in spirit, but this idea, you know, worry fades when humility grows. So when I decide that God is bigger than me, he's worthy of me leaning in and trusting him. I'm poor in spirit, he's rich. He's the one who can provide for me. Then dependency on God leads me to trusting and depending on his provision for me. And when I begin to trust on his provision for me, worry goes away. Trust builds. So it's amazing how when he says you'll be happy, blessed are those who are poor in spirit. It turns out worry goes away when I'm completely and totally dependent on him, right right, when I realize I am poor in spirit and I need him, He's my only hope, worry starts to go away. That's the benefit. And this is the thing that great. So when Jesus does this, and you'll discover this through the whole all the beatitudes. So he's got a couple of things. These are the behaviors necessary. But then there's almost always and this is the benefit, right, And so he says there that blessed are the poor in spirit, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. And that's pretty cool. Yeah, And I'll just wrap up by saying this. I've been saying this for thirty years. If he is the great I am, that makes. Me I am not yeah, I'm the little I am. Not right, He's I am. That means I am not yeah. So hey, that's all of our time, so hopefully we'll see tomorrow on the Bible. Guys,