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Morning.
If you have your Bibles with you, will you open them to Matthew chapter 6?
If you are here this morning and you do not own a Bible, we would love to give you one as a gift.
We have Bibles in the back right there, the back of the auditorium, the connections table.
I looked this morning, there's like four or five of them back there.
If we need more than four or five, we can run and grab some more.
But if you do not own a copy of God's Word, please, as our gift to you, go grab a Bible.
Towards the end of our service this morning, we will be partaking in the Lord's Supper.
If you are a believer, we invite you to partake of the Lord's Supper with us this morning.
If you missed your elements on the way in, right behind the camera platform there, you'll see them.
They look like this.
Just simply run back there and grab one.
And at this time, our kids, kindergarten through second grade, are dismissed.
So this morning, some of you were looking around.
Some of you were searching for him.
I see you looking over there at his chair.
He is not here.
Pastor Bo, as he shared with us last week, he's away this week preaching at the church that he grew up in.
They invited him back for their homecoming service.
And so he's preaching for them this Sunday.
But don't worry, you only get me one week.
He's back next week to continue on in Matthew.
And so, but just in case you were wondering, just in case you missed it, that is where he is today.
So here am I.
So Pastor Bo asked me probably about six weeks or so if I would preach for him on May 3rd, which is today.
And in that moment, there were probably a couple of questions that would have been good for me to ask.
Number one, I should have asked my wife, hey, what does our calendar look like?
Because if I had, then I would have known that she wasn't going to be here.
Now, it's not like I'm keeping count or running accounts on how many times she's missed me preach.
It's three, by the way.
She did ask me this week.
She said, hey, are you going to mention from the stage that I've never seen you preach in person before?
To which I responded, absolutely, I am.
So if you guys see her in person, she really loves it when y'all walk up and mention that to her.
So just feel free to give her a hard time.
But in all seriousness, she and a bunch of other ladies from our church are serving in New York this week.
They're ministering to the women of Iglesia Batista Nueva Vida Church in Queens, New York.
I got it right.
That was a mouthful.
But just from updates we've gotten and some pictures that we have seen, they are having a great week.
And God is doing some really incredible things for them this week on the trip and through them.
And so, but if you would, just continue to be in prayer for them.
They wrap up their trip today.
They travel back later on today.
And so we look forward to them coming home and sharing what God has done on their trip.
I'm sure my kids are looking forward to him coming home as well.
They're probably tired of me.
Number two, I said there were two questions.
So the second question that I probably should have asked was, hey, hey, Pastor Bo, what passage of Scripture am I speaking on?
To which he would have told me, Matthew 625, do not be anxious.
And that I probably would have felt really, really anxious.
I need you guys to understand something about me.
I have a tendency to worry about things.
Like, as a matter of fact, I might very well be the most anxious person that I know.
If worry were an Olympic sport, it's quite possible that I would compete for Team USA.
Like, that's how serious it is.
Like, what Michael Phelps is to swimming, that could probably be me to worry, okay?
So, Pastor Bo asked me to preach.
I worried.
Preparation to come and speak to you guys today, I've worried.
If you can't tell right now in this moment, I'm a little worried and anxious.
And the wild thing is, when I'm done and I walk off this stage and I try to make sure I make contact with all five steps so I don't fall on my face,
I will feel relief.
And then I'll probably worry about what you thought of it.
You guys ever read something and just instantly feel like, man, I really needed to hear that?
Had one of those moments this week.
I stumbled upon a Paul David Tripp quote that made me feel better about how much I'm worried as it pertains to giving this message about do not worry.
So, this morning, as we talk about Jesus' command to not be anxious, I'm grateful.
And I'm anxious, but I'm grateful to have this opportunity to share the truth of God's word, not as someone who has figured this worry thing out, but as someone who just so desperately needs to hear it himself.
Let's read Matthew 6, 25 through 34 together.
"Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body and what you will put on.
Is not life more than food in the body, more than clothing?
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?
And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?
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 of 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?
Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear?'
For the Gentiles seek after all of these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."
Would you pray with me?
Father God, I thank you for this morning.
Lord, I thank you for our opportunity to be in this house of worship, Lord, for the freedom that comes with being able to worship together.
Lord, I pray that you would open our hearts.
I pray that you would open our minds, Lord, to your word.
God, let the words of this book penetrate our hearts.
Lord, calm my nerves if you see fit.
And if you don't, Lord, then I pray that it still glorifies and honors you.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
So this morning, we are continuing on in the book of Matthew.
And over the last few months, we've studied how Jesus came not to set aside the law, but rather focus on the intent of our hearts.
More recently, we've covered how in our obedience, whether it's in generosity or prayer, that it should not come from a place of pride or showmanship like the Pharisees, but a place of sincere and private devotion.
Master Bo shared with us last week, we are to store up our treasures in heaven.
He shared with us that one simply cannot serve two masters.
I read a quote this week that I think adequately illustrates the relationship between those two masters.
It said, "God and the world will never agree.
And however much we may attempt it, we shall never be able to serve both.
You can live for this world or you can live for the next, but to live equally for both is impossible."
Church, the message is quite simple, actually.
We cannot serve two masters.
We cannot worship two gods.
We cannot have two kings sit on the same throne.
But what Jesus shares in Matthew 6:25-34 is a passage of hope.
It's a command, but then it's a promise from the only master that can satisfy.
We do not have to live in worry or being anxious about anything because God is on the throne.
All right, so you guys didn't ask for this, and I'm certainly not qualified to give an English lesson.
But the word "therefore" pops up three times in our passage today.
And each time we're going to kind of talk about what it means because it matters, because it directs us, it guides us.
So the word "therefore" is, in this context, is an adverb.
It's technically a conjunctive adverb, which means it's a sentence connector.
So the reason "therefore" is important is because it directly connects us back to last week.
So let's read verse 25 again, but this time we're going to start in verse 24.
No one can serve two masters.
For either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and money.
Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,
nor about your body, what you will put on.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Jesus says in verse 24, "No one can serve two masters."
He's saying, "Therefore, for this reason, don't be anxious in your life.
Put me first."
We will have moments in our life of uneasiness, right?
Like, we'll have moments in our life that we don't understand, that don't make sense to us.
We'll have moments of nervousness, like this one right now for me.
But being anxious and worrying will emotionally and psychologically rob us of joy and peace,
that God wants us to have.
And what Jesus is directly connecting to our worry is the verse that tells us that we cannot serve two masters.
In my life, I can see where anxiety is a direct descendant from worry.
You see, worry comes from things that have happened in my past or things that may happen in my future.
But the things that have happened in my past, I can't undo or change them.
And the things that may happen in my future, I can't control.
And God told me not to worry about it.
Verse 26 says, "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?"
You know, verse 26 speaks, Jesus speaks to our value to God.
But in doing so, he compares us to the birds of the air.
So it rained this week, right?
Like everybody excited about that.
We needed it.
I don't think it rained in my house since like Christmas.
And now we've gotten like four days of it.
So it's crazy.
But after the rain one morning, I went for a walk.
And you know, the rain had cleared out.
And so I couldn't help but notice on my walk, like the birds were going crazy.
Like they're flying all over the place.
Some of them are in groups.
Some of them are like ones or twos.
And they're singing.
They're chirping.
They're loud.
And so like on my walk back, I started walking up my driveway.
And I noticed they were all over my front yard.
Like just everywhere in my front yard.
So naturally, I've got a good friend that I usually reach out to when I have questions like this.
And so like I pulled my phone out and I said, hey, hey, Google.
Why do the birds cover my front yard after it rains?
To which Google responds, it's funny you should ask that, Josh Nix.
I'm just kidding.
He didn't say that.
But Google said, birds cover your yard after it rains because the moisture forces worms and larvae to the surface.
I love this part.
It says, providing an easy, all-you-can-eat buffet for them.
The rain makes the ground soft and brings up earthworms, making it simple for birds to forage.
Jesus says, look at the birds of the air.
Or in my case, look at the birds on the ground.
The Greek word is belepo, which means to learn from.
Jesus is saying, learn from these birds.
As beautiful as they can be in color or as fast as their wings can carry them from place to place.
Jesus isn't talking about the vibrancy of their colors or even how fast their wings can flap.
He's saying, look at this bird.
This bird doesn't till up the hard earth.
This bird doesn't plant the seed.
This bird doesn't water it.
It doesn't harvest it.
It doesn't care for it.
It says, as a matter of fact, this bird doesn't even know where his next meal is coming from.
But God feeds him.
I have three points this morning that kind of just focus in on what we do when we worry.
Right?
So point number one, when we worry about material things, we underestimate how much God values us.
I may have oversimplified it when I said God feeds the birds.
The verse actually says your heavenly father feeds the birds.
Jesus wants you to hear that your heavenly father who made you in his image, he feeds the birds.
Your heavenly father who is rich in mercy, he feeds the birds.
Your heavenly father who has plans in purpose for your life, he feeds the birds.
Elizabeth Chaney spoke to this in her poem Overheard in an Orchard.
It says, said the robin to the sparrow, I should really like to know why these 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.
Church, I think sometimes, I think oftentimes in our lives, we walk around like humans without a heavenly father.
My worry underestimates how much God values me.
But when it comes to the worldly things, my worry also overestimates the value of the thing or things that I am worried about.
Pastor Rose spoke of some of these misplaced priorities last week.
He pointed us back to Jesus in verse 24 who says no one can serve two masters.
When Jesus tells us do not be anxious, I'm sorry.
When he commands us to not be anxious, he's saying that what you worry about points to where your allegiance is.
If we are consumed by anxiety, it's worth asking what master are we serving?
Verse 27, Jesus asks us a question.
He says, in which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?
And the answer to that question is no one.
Worry will not add a second to your life.
I can personally attest to this.
While worry may not add a second to your life, it will absolutely impact the quality of it.
So this week, I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole.
And again, I reached out to my good friend.
I said, Google, what are some of the effects of worry?
You guys ever search something up and you just realize like, oh, man, I've lived enough.
I know the answer to this.
I don't know why I just searched it at one of those moments.
Well, Google took me to one of the most trusted medical websites on the Internet, WebMD.
Right?
I'm kidding.
But here's what I learned.
Worry triggers a fight or flight response.
It releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which physically manifest as a fast heart rate, muscle tension, headaches, digestive issues.
Over time, chronic worry weakens the immune system, elevates blood pressure, causes fatigue or even exhaustion.
Have you guys ever been physically affected by worry?
Ever felt like you had like a 45 pound?
You ever felt like muscle tension or tightness and you're like, man, I didn't even do anything yesterday, but right?
You ever felt loss of appetite or nausea over something you're worried about?
I did this one.
I was about to say the other night.
I literally did this one last night.
I'm not going to lie.
You ever laid in bed at night and just stared at the ceiling over something you're concerned about?
Like exhausted but unable to sleep?
God's word tells us that he has a plan and a purpose for our lives.
And our worry is a sign that we don't adequately know him or we don't trust him or we just simply haven't surrendered to him as we thought.
John MacArthur said it.
John MacArthur said it this way.
Why would you even think that God somehow would not provide the fullness of life to fit with the fullness of his calling on that life?
I'll tell you, birds, man, they're hard workers.
They're pretty bad providers.
Jesus says, look, learn from the birds.
Verses 28 through 30.
And why are you anxious about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow.
They neither toil nor spin.
Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all of 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?
Last few weeks in our young adult group, which meets in classroom 105 at 9 o'clock on Sunday mornings,
if you're 18 to 24 years old, we'd love to have you.
But in our group, we've been discussing the book of Ecclesiastes.
And I've got to be honest, I am fascinated by the book of Ecclesiastes.
But I enjoy the writing style.
It's like a perfect blend of, like, irony, cynicism, and sarcasm.
And I don't know if you guys have picked up on it yet or not, but I'm a big fan of sarcasm.
But the teacher referenced in Ecclesiastes is none other than King Solomon.
God's Word tells us of Solomon's great wisdom and his wealth and his power.
There's a story in the Old Testament, in the book of 1 Kings,
where the Queen of Sheba comes to visit Solomon,
and it actually says that she had heard of the fame of Solomon,
so she came to test him.
She comes to Jerusalem with a large group of people,
like a royal caravan with her, right?
But in verse 3, it says,
she told him all that was on her mind,
and Solomon answered her every question.
In chapter 10, verses 4 and 5, listen to what it says.
And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon,
the house that he had built,
the food of his table,
the seating of his officials,
and the attendance of his servants,
their clothing,
his cupbearers,
and his burnt offerings that he had offered at the house of the Lord,
there was no more breath in her.
Literally took her breath away.
When Jesus says,
even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these,
Jesus compares the lilies to King Solomon and says,
even Solomon can't touch how I clothed these.
How much more will I do for you?
Point number two this morning,
when we worry,
we underestimate just how much God cares about us.
When I was in middle school,
we went on a trip for spring break one year.
I know what you guys are thinking,
like Disney World, the beach, whatever.
No, we went to Iowa.
Yeah, Iowa.
It was a mind-blowing experience though, actually,
for a kid that grew up like in West Columbia,
you know, like had probably seen a couple of farms,
but not real ones kind of thing.
But man, we get to Iowa,
and I need you to understand the only expectations
that I had had for Iowa were set in my brain
by Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones
in the movie Field of Dreams.
If you build it, they will come, right?
When we got there,
the fields didn't look anything like the movie.
Serious.
Like it was like early, early spring,
like the ice and the snow had just melted away.
The grounds were soaking wet,
and it was just dirt.
Like it was just muddy.
Tilled up dirt.
There was no crop.
It was just dirt.
I was like, this isn't,
this isn't, this isn't what I know.
But planting season had just begun for them, right?
My week was spent waking up at 5 a.m.,
checking on livestock with my uncle,
and then planting in the fields.
What I learned from my uncle after planting
was then you pray.
He said, son, now we pray.
He says, you pray for warm enough weather,
and you pray for favorable soil temperatures.
If it's too cold or it rains too heavily,
it can damage seedlings
and then force you to replant.
In the summer, he said, man,
we just control the weeds and the pests,
and we wait for rain,
but we hope for not too much of it.
And he said, in the fall, you harvest.
In verse 28, Jesus tells us,
consider the lilies.
One thing that I learned while in Iowa
was that corn doesn't care for itself,
and neither do lilies.
Lilies have to be planted and cared for.
Lilies don't go looking for water.
Water has to come to them.
They don't go looking for sunlight.
Like, God's got to bring it to them, right?
Jesus says, stop and consider the lilies.
He says, they don't toil over their clothes.
They don't spin them.
He says, consider, observe attentively,
fix your mind on.
Observe this from the beauty of the lilies.
If God so magnificently arrays the flowers in the field,
which are temporary,
living today and trampled upon tomorrow,
will he not do so much more for you?
When I worry,
I underestimate how much God cares about me.
And when I worry,
I overestimate how much my caring can do for me.
Verse 31.
Therefore, do not be anxious,
saying, what shall we eat,
or what shall we drink,
or what shall we wear?
For the Gentiles seek after all of these things,
and your heavenly Father knows
that you need all of them.
There's that word, therefore.
Therefore, we are invited to know freedom.
Therefore, we are invited to know freedom
from worry and anxiety
that comes from the daily necessities,
and God knows what we need.
We're invited to know freedom.
But what do we do with big worries, right?
Like, some of you guys are probably sitting here,
and you're thinking, man,
I'm not really worried about food.
I'm not really worried about clothes.
I'm really not even that worried about money.
But what do we do with anxieties,
like fear of losing a loved one?
What do we do with a cancer diagnosis?
What do we do when our marriage is falling apart?
What do we do when the world seems like it's caving in?
There's a passage in 1 Peter chapter 5
where Peter is writing to believers
who are being persecuted all across Asia Minor.
I'd say he's writing to believers
with some pretty big worries.
He writes in verse 6 and 7,
You know, Paul said it this way
in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6.
It says,
Do not be anxious about anything,
but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known to him.
It's God.
And the peace of God,
which surpasses all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds
in Christ Jesus.
Paul writes this to the church in Philippi
while he is literally chained to a guard in prison.
Who better to learn from
than the persecuted and the oppressed?
Do not be anxious.
Continuing in Matthew 6,
verse 33,
But seek first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness,
and all of these things will be added to you.
Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
You see, the choice,
this choice to seek first the kingdom of God
is the fundamental choice
that everyone makes when they first repent
and surrender their lives to him.
And yet, every day after that,
our Christian life will either reinforce
that decision or deny it.
The reality is that every concern of every day
for a believer is another opportunity
to put your faith in him
or to put it in yourself.
What we see at the start of this verse
is not simply a command.
It's an invitation.
Jesus is saying,
continuously in your life,
seek first the kingdom.
He's saying,
seek it today,
seek it tomorrow,
seek it next week
and the week following too.
Keep seeking the kingdom.
Ironically enough,
when we surrender to him,
the worry we've been holding on to,
it surrenders too.
Sinclair Ferguson says it like this,
the secret of freedom from anxiety
is freedom from ourselves
and abandonment of our own plans.
When we worry,
we underestimate how much God wants to bless us.
That's our last point.
Psalm 37, 4 says,
delight yourself in the Lord
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
John Piper says it like this,
God does not bless us begrudgingly.
There's a kind of eagerness
about the beneficence of God.
He does not wait for us to come to him.
He seeks us out
because it is his pleasure to do us good.
God is not waiting for us.
He is pursuing us.
When I worry,
I underestimate just how much God wants to bless me.
And when I worry,
I overestimate the good
that I can do for myself.
I'm going to be transparent with you this morning.
I spent a lot of time this week
trying to answer one question for myself.
It just seemed like it was popping up everywhere.
Is anxiety in my life a sin?
I think the better question
and the one that Jesus is calling me to respond to is,
what does being anxious say about me?
Am I trusting his word when he says that he values me?
Am I trusting his word when he says that he cares about me?
Am I trusting his word when he says he wants to bless me?
Or do I sit on the throne of my life
seeking to change a past that I simply cannot change?
Do I sit on the throne of my life
seeking to chase things that can't satisfy me?
Do I sit on the throne of my life
seeking to control a future that's outside of my control?
Why does God not want me to be anxious?
Because he knows
when he sits on the throne of my life,
there's no condemnation for my mistakes.
When he sits on the throne of my life,
he already has a plan for the tomorrow
that I'm worried about.
And when he sits on the throne of my life,
he will satisfy me
and give me all of the things that I need.
Every man chooses who sits on the throne of his life.
But God, I might lose my house.
Seek first the kingdom.
But God, my health.
Seek first the kingdom.
But God, my marriage.
Seek first the kingdom.
But God, what about my kids?
Seek first the kingdom.
But God, my life.
Seek first the kingdom.
I'm going to ask the worship team
and prayer encouragers to come up
and get in place,
and I'll close with this.
There's a sweet lady.
I've mentioned this before,
so I apologize if you've heard it.
But there's a sweet lady
that was my Sunday school teacher
many, many years ago.
She may or may not be sitting in this room right now.
But I remember a song that she taught
to a bunch of, man,
hooligan kids in a classroom in Red Bank.
Like, man, we were a ragtag bunch.
But, you know, I figured if we can learn
from some birds,
we can certainly learn from a kid's song, too.
And it went like this.
I cast all my cares upon you.
I lay all of my burdens
down at your feet.
And any time that I don't know
what to do,
I will cast all my cares
upon you.
The truth of God's Word tells us
that the God who took care
of our greatest problem
at the cross
cares about all of our needs.
All of them.
If you are sitting here this morning
living in a worry,
living in an anxiety,
living in anxiousness,
God's saying,
give it to me.
Give it to me.
But seek first the kingdom of God
and His righteousness.
And all these things
will be added to you.
Would you pray with me?
Amen.
God, I thank you for this morning.
God, I thank you for the truth
of your Word.
God, I don't want to carry this around anymore.
I'm tired of being wrapped up in my past.
I'm tired of worrying about the future.
I'm tired of sitting on the throne of my life
seeking myself first.
God, help me seek you.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
That's it for this week's message.
Be sure to check back next week
for a new episode.
And in the meantime,
you can visit us online
at willowridgechurch.org
or by searching for Willow Ridge Church
on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Thanks again for listening.