Our text will be in Matthew 6,
but I'd like to stay in Luke 10 to introduce this message
on worry, stress, and anxiety. The Lord went into the home of
Martha and Mary. These women were both loved by
the Lord Jesus Christ. John points that out. Remember
their brother Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead. Now Jesus
loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Now in the passage of Scripture
I just read, Martha was careful, full of care, anxious, worried,
and she was troubled, disturbed, Cumbered about, the scripture
says, with much serving. Distracted. And she was a believer. Mary had made some kind of choice
the Lord commends her for. Mary hath chosen, same word for
election. Mary hath elected. She chose
that good part And now that shall not be taken from her." Now I
want us to look at the difference between these two women. I want you to observe how disrespectful
that Martha was to the Lord. This is where her worry got her. She said, Lord, don't you care
that she's left me to serve alone? You tell her what to do. Bid
her that she helps me. Disrespect is an ugly thing when
someone deserves respect. But this is the Lord of glory.
And she tells him what to do. She gives him an order. She's worried about other people.
She's not thinking about herself. Tell her to do her part. She's
worried about other people. You and I both have plenty enough
to deal with ourselves that we really don't need to worry about
anybody else. You believe that? But look at Mary. Mary sat at
the Lord's feet. Now, Martha criticized her for
this, but the Lord commended her. Mary had chosen that good
part. sitting at my feet and hearing
my word and this shall not be taken from her. Mary saw that
one thing was needful. Now both these women were believers. We know that. Both these women
were believers. Which one describes you? Which one do you want to be like? I want to be merry. I want to
be someone who sits at the feet of my Lord and hears His Word. Would you turn to Matthew chapter
6. Now, I would say over the years that if men have got up
and read the Scripture, you'll notice Every service, someone
gets up and reads the Scriptures publicly. And I would say that
the passage of Scripture that has been selected most often
to read is this passage of Scripture here in Matthew chapter 6. I've
heard this passage read so many times. And in this passage of
Scripture, five times the Lord says, don't take thought. That's
the same word as Mary being careful and troubled and anxious. It's
the same Greek word. Five times in this passage of
Scripture he says, do not worry. Now let's read this passage of
Scripture together. Matthew chapter 6 beginning in verse 24. No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, take
no thought. Don't give a moment's worry for
your life. What you shall eat, nor what
you shall drink, nor yet for your body what you shall put
on, is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment. Behold the fowls of the air,
for they shall not, neither did they reap, nor gather into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feedeth them." Are you not much better
than they? Which of you, by taking thought,
by worrying, can add one moment? That's what that means. One cubit
into a stature. Which of you, by worrying, can
add one minute to your life? And why do you take thought?
Why do you worry for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field.
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin, and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore, if God so
clothed the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is
cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you? O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, don't
worry, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink,
or wherewithal shall we be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. This is what every natural man
seeks. For your Heavenly Father knoweth
that you have need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom
of God, and His righteousness." Don't miss that. He doesn't say,
seek the Kingdom of God and seek to be righteous and do righteous
things. That's not what He says. He says,
you seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Lord willing, next Sunday that's
what I want to preach on. And all these things shall be
added unto you. Take therefore no thought. Do not worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow shall take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof." You've got plenty to deal with today where you
don't even have time to give thought for tomorrow. Now when the Lord says, therefore
I say unto you, in verse 25, take no thought for your life,
it's because of what He said in verse 24, no man can serve
two masters. Either he'll hate the one and
love the other or else he'll hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now what is mammon? You
generally think of filthy lucre or unjust gain, some kind of
money that was not made right, but what it means is that which
is trusted. You can't trust God and something
else. Wouldn't it be a blessing to
simply trust? No worry. He's on the throne. I don't have a care in the world,
because I know He reigns." Wouldn't that be a blessing? No worry. Now since you can't serve God
and something else, since you can't trust God and anything
else, therefore I say unto you, take no thought. Do not worry. Worrying, being anxious, taking
thought is sin. And it's a horrible sin. It's
mistrust of our Heavenly Father. That's what it is. He says, take
no thought for your life. What you shall eat or what you
shall drink, nor yet for your body what you should put on,
is not the life. Isn't it more than meat? And
the body, more than raiment. I mean, is what we eat and what
we wear and what we have materially and where we're going, is that
what life's all about? No. No. Life is much more than that.
Now I know a lot of people treat life like that's all there is,
but it's not. Now the Lord gives us an example.
He said, Behold the fowls of the air. In another place, the
Lord said, there shall not a sparrow fall to the ground without your
Heavenly Father. If over on the other side of
the world a sparrow dies and falls off the limb and hits the
ground, it was because God willed it to happen. Nothing happens
outside of His sovereign control. Everything that happens, He's
in control of. Now He says, behold the fowls
of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather
into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feedeth them." Now let's
think of birds. Who feeds them? The Lord does. Now does that
mean they just sit there and open up their mouth and worms
drop from the sky? No. They go out and look for
insects, they look for birds, for worms, they look for whatever
it is they're going to eat, the seeds. You know, we have a bird
feeder outside our kitchen window. I love to watch the birds come
and they don't just wait for seeds to drop out of the sky.
They go after, that's the way they eat. But who's feeding them?
The Lord feeds them. And we gather into barns and
we sow and we reap. We've got to do that. If we don't
sow and reap, we won't have anything to eat. If we don't gather into
barns, what are we going to do in the winter when we can't grow?
We've got to do those things. That's the way. He's not speaking
against those things. But who feeds you? The Lord does. Your heavenly Father feedeth
you. Now, I love the way the Lord
calls God the Father, the Holy Infinite God, your Heavenly Father. You see, God the Father has made
His people His own dear children. I'm a son of God. He elected
me before time began to be a son. He redeemed me to be a son. He
regenerated me to be a son. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the
sons of God. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the power, the right, the privilege to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on His name, which were born,
not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will
of man, but of God. Now I want you to think about
this. You're a son of God. If you're a believer. Now if
you're not a believer, you're not a son of God. You're a son
of Satan. You're a son of the devil. The Lord makes that distinction.
Not everybody's a son of God, but everybody who trusts the
Lord Jesus Christ is a son of God. Son by adoption, son by
birth. But you're a son. I want you
to think about how you love your children. How you care about
your children. And that's nothing compared to
the care of the Heavenly Father for His sons and His daughters. Now what do you got to worry
about with Him being your Father? You know, when I was a child,
I don't remember ever worrying about where the next meal would
come from. Never happened. I knew my dad was going to take
care of that and I never worried about where my food was coming
from. Look at Matthew chapter 7 verse
9. What man is there of you of whom
if his son asked bread will he give him a stone? If your son
was hungry, I'm talking to mom or dad, and wanted something
to eat, would you give him a rock and say, eat this? Well, you
know you wouldn't do that. You wouldn't dare do that. Or
if he asked for fish, would you give him a serpent, a snake,
maybe even a poisonous one? You wouldn't do anything like
that. Verse 11, if you then, and remember,
he's talking to his children. He's talking to his children.
He said, if you then, What's he say next? Being evil. If the shoe fits, wear it. Would
that be you? If you then, being evil, and
every one of God's people know that is a description of them.
Yep, that's me. And the Lord doesn't discount
that. He says, if you then, being evil,
I'll be honest with you, I love that scripture for this reason.
That gives me some hope. He's talking to his children,
and he says, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts
unto your children, how much more shall your Father which
is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? In verse 27 of Matthew chapter
6, he says, Which of you... Now your father's feeding the
birds and you're better than they are. And he's going to feed
every one of them. There's not one bird that's going to fall
through the cracks. Every one of them is going to get exactly
what they need. You can just write that down and you're much
better than birds and the Lord's going to feed you. He's going
to take care of you. He's going to give you what you need. Which of you,
by worrying, by taking thought can add one moment unto your
life. Hold your finger there and look
at Luke chapter 12. The Lord says in verse 24, Consider
the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither
storehouse nor barn, and God feedeth them. How much more of
you better than fowls? And which of you with taking
thought by worrying can add one moment to his life? Now, I love
what he says here in verse 26. If you then be not able to do
that thing which is least, why do you worry about anything?
I mean, you can't do anything about it anyway. What good does
your worrying do? What does your worrying do? It
doesn't change anything. Everything's already determined.
Everything that's going to take place tomorrow, God's already
ordained it. Well, that's fatalism. No, it's
not. It's faith. It's not just some kind of blind faith. It's
knowing that the living God controls everything. That's not fatalism.
But everything that's happening, everything that's going to happen
to me, everything that's going to happen to my family, my worrying
doesn't change anything. I can't do that which is least. You know how much control we
have? Zero. We have no control over
anything. And when we worry, we act like
we don't believe that. When we worry, we think we have
some control over something and somehow we're going to make things
better. No. If you be not able to do that which is least, why
take ye thought for the rest? It's pointless, powerless, and
non-productive. Not only is it sinful, but it's
a foolish waste of time. Verse 28, The Lord asks a question. Why? Why? He's been commanding us
not to do it, now He's asking a question. Why do you worry?
Why do you take thought for raiment? Matthew 6, 28. Why do you take
thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. And I can just imagine the Lord
pointing at a field of beautiful lilies. I don't know what kind
of flowers they were, but everybody saw them and he said, consider
the lilies, how they grow. How do they grow? By the power
of God. That's how they grow. Not by toiling, not by spinning,
but by the power of God. Not by working, but by the power
of God. And I think this obviously has
a spiritual application. Reignment, my reignment before
God, my righteousness before God. How do I get it? I don't
get it by toiling and working. I get it by God giving it to
me. It's not toiling and working. It's not spinning. It's being
clothed. by the Lord Jesus Christ. Just
like Adam was clothed by God in the garden, the beast was
killed and he clothed him. He'd been clothed with the righteousness
of Christ. How do you get that? Do you get
it by working? By toiling? No, by God clothing him. Now, why take ye thought for
rain? But consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow. They toil a lot, neither do they
spin, and yet I say unto you, And there's something very powerful
when the Lord says, I say unto you, there's the divine authority. I say unto you, that even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now, if God,
verse 30, so clothed the grass of the field, which today is,
and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more
clothe you? O you of little faith. Now I want to talk for a couple
of minutes about this thing of little faith. He says if you
then being evil, that's one description, then he says O you of little
faith. Now let me say this about little
faith. Little faith is infinitely better than no faith. Little
faith saves. And little faith saves just as
surely as great faith does. You know why? Because it's the
object of the faith that saves. Not the strength or the weakness
of the faith, but the object of the faith that saves. I'm
thankful for little faith, what little faith I have. I'm thankful
for it because it connects me to the great, the glorious Savior. Little faith saves. Little faith is wrong. Little
faith believes in Christ. Little faith believes on Christ. But little faith does not believe
Christ. I want you to think about that.
It believes in Christ. It believes on Christ. But it
doesn't believe Christ. It trusts Him for salvation.
But it doesn't take what He says at face value. We trust Him for
salvation, but it doesn't really trust Him for much anything else.
We trust Him to save us from hell. We trust Him in the big
things, but not what we would call the little things. Romans 8.32 says, He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all. how shall He not freely, and
get that word freely, freely, that means without a cause in
you, how shall He not freely give us all things, big and little
and everything in between? And He does it freely, not because
we deserve it, but because He spared not His own Son. Because of the greatness of our
God, We all ought to have great faith, not little faith, but
great faith. I want to be somebody with great
faith. And I'm not talking about to promote myself. I'm talking
about somebody who trusts the great Savior for all things.
Little faith is, for lack of a better word, it's very stupid,
very dumb. I mean, He's the Lord of Glory. He's all-powerful. And to not
trust Him? is dishonoring to the Lord. Let
me show you a passage in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Would you turn there? He says in verse 14, Now we exhort you, brethren,
warn them that are unruly, disorderly, Walking contrary to the Scriptures.
Don't just let them. Warn them. Comfort the feeble-minded, the depressed. Support the weak. Be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for
evil. Don't pay anybody back unto any man, but ever follow
that which is good. both among yourselves and to
all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything
give thanks for this, whatever it is, is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you." I got cancer. That is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Everything's falling apart. That is the will of God in Christ
Jesus concerning you. Really? Really. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. Now let's go on reading. He says,
Quench not the spirit. Oh, I don't want to do that.
Despise not prophesying. Don't have a wrong attitude about
preaching. Oh, take heed how you hear. Prove
all things. Test what you hear. Hold fast
that which is good and abstain from all appearance of evil.
If it sounds wrong, if it feels wrong, it is wrong. Stay away
from it. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and
I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And look
at this, faithful is he that calleth you who also will do
it. All those things he tells you
to do, he's faithful to do in you. Takes all the pressure off. Lord, you said, you said this,
not me, you said this. Faithful is he that calleth you
who also will do it. Now do what you said. May God
give us that simple faith. Back to our text in Matthew 6
verse 31. I don't want to be somebody of little
faith. Therefore take no thought. Don't worry. saying what should
we eat or what should we drink or whether with all should be
clothed. So after all these things did the Gentiles seek. This is
what unbelievers seek. And then he gives us this assurance.
Your Heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these
things. Do you know your Heavenly Father knows everything you need?
And He's going to provide everything you need. Whatever it is you
need, you will have. Isn't that wonderful? There's
really nothing to worry about. But if the stock market crashes
and we lose all of our money again, it's the will of God.
That's exactly what it is. But if my child gets sick, it's
the will of God. Whatever he does is right, just,
holy, and true. I hope the Lord gives me the
grace to bow. Shall we receive good at the
hand of the Lord and shall we not receive evil? Blessed be
the name of the Lord. Whatever he does is right. Here's
what we're to seek. Verse 32. He says, verse 33,
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and you seek His righteousness."
Now don't miss that. You seek His righteousness. You make this the one thing you
seek, that you might be found in Christ and that you have His
righteousness. That's the only thing to be concerned
about. I want to be found in Him. You see, there's only one righteousness.
That's the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now, the way a natural
man would read that, well, if you're in the kingdom of God,
that means you're going to live according to the laws of the kingdom, and
you're going to start living this way, and you're going to start living that way.
That's fine. Whatever you want. Have His righteousness, though. That's what I'm concerned about.
And if you have His righteousness, that's His righteousness imputed.
That's His righteousness imparted in the new nature. You seek His
righteousness. And then we have this promise,
all these things that we need shall be added unto you. That's His promise. Do you believe
Him? Or do you mistrust Him? We ought
to be absolutely without a care. Verse 34, take therefore no thought
for the morrow. Don't worry about tomorrow. You know, tomorrow always works
itself out, doesn't it? It always has. It always has. You know who controls tomorrow? The Lord does. Do you know everything
that happens tomorrow, He ordained? And there's not a thing you can
do to change anything anyway. And it's all best. It's your
Heavenly Father who controls it. Isn't that great? I love
it that way. I would be scared to death if the Lord wasn't in
control of everything, but He's in control of everything. Every
man, every evil man, every wicked man, every demon, every event,
He's in control of it. I don't know about tomorrow,
but I know who holds tomorrow. I know who controls tomorrow.
Don't worry about it. As far as that goes, you've got
plenty of stuff today that you need to deal with. Isn't it so? Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. Now, God is sovereign. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He. Everything that happens, He did. Everything that's going to happen,
He did. Why worry? We have the promise of Romans
8.28. And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.
Why worry? You're not in control anyway.
Well, I mean, nothing. Don't worry about it. Nothing
you can do anyway. How it dishonors our Heavenly
Father to worry. Has He ever given us a reason
to mistrust Him? When we worry, we're mistrusting
His character. We're mistrusting His wisdom.
We're mistrusting His goodness. We're mistrusting His power.
We're mistrusting His faithfulness. How contrary worry and anxiety
and stress is to simple faith. It's easy to talk this way. It's
another thing to practice. But may the Lord give us the
grace to simply believe. Turn with me. I want to look
at another couple of scriptures before we quit. Turn with me to Philippians
chapter 4. I hope that we will really consider
what Paul says here in Philippians chapter 4. He says in verse 6, be careful, same word, don't be anxious,
don't worry, be careful for nothing. There's not one single thing
that you and I ever ought to worry about. Be careful for nothing. But in everything, By prayer
and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
unto God. Don't worry about it, pray about
it. Let me repeat that. Don't worry about it, pray about
it. There is one who can do something
about it. There's no human being. It's the Lord Himself. You present
all your perceived needs to God and do so with thanksgiving.
Not with worry, but with thanksgiving, knowing that God is God and whatever
He does is right. He says, let your requests be
made known to God. And I love the way whatever it
is. It doesn't matter how small it
is. It doesn't matter how insignificant it is. I'm ashamed to admit that I pray
about ball games. I do. You say, that's foolish. Well,
it may be. As a matter of fact, it probably is. It probably is.
But I know this, the Lord's in control. Who wins? He is. Somebody says, well, that stuff's
just... He is. Am I right in doing it? I don't know, but I want to pray
about everything. I want to pray about everything
because He's in control of everything. Now, somebody says, well, He's
not concerned about that. Well, maybe not, but He's sovereign. That means He's in control of
everything, so pray about it. It's not too insignificant. I
love that no sin is too big and no problem is too small. It all
matters to Him. And we're given this encouragement. Don't be careful for anything.
but in everything by prayer and supplication. That supplication
means a need. What do you perceive you need?
Pray about it. Pray about whatever it is. Be
careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving. Let your request be made known unto God. And notice
that you make your request but you don't tell Him what to do.
Lord, here's my request. I love Brother Elmquist's message
there in, Lord he whom thou lovest is sick. Doesn't tell him what
to do, just makes your request. And look what the next verse
says in verse 7. In making your request known
unto God, and the peace of God which passeth all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." It transcends
human intellect, analysis, and insight. No human counselor can
give you this because it's a gift from God and it arises from trust
and thanksgiving. The peace of God that goes beyond
anything human It passes all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. I repeat, don't worry
about it, pray about it. I think it's interesting how
when we come to a last resort, we'll pray about it. We've tried
everything, there's nothing you can do anyway. Prayer is not
the last resort, it's the first resort. It's the only resort. Don't worry about it, pray about
it. Another scripture, 1 Peter chapter
5, will close with this. Verse 5, likewise you younger
submit yourself unto the elder May all of you be subject one
to another and be clothed with humility. You know I've always
called humility, when I try to define it, humility is a just
estimate of oneself. But I've got another definition
I thought of that I think I might like better. A just estimate's
a good one, but a humility is a non-inflated estimate of yourself. Everybody's so uninflated, puffed
up. Humility balloons popped. It's not lack of self-esteem
or lack of confidence, it's a just estimate, a non-inflated view
of yourself. We have this promise, God resists
the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you
in due time. Now notice there's not a period
after time. There's a colon. The thought
goes on. Here's what it is to humble yourself
under His mighty hand. It's to cast all your care, all
your anxiety, everything that troubles you. You know, I've
got a lot of care. I've got a flat lot of care.
And by the grace of God, I'm casting it all on Him. Right
now, I hope I don't, as soon as I go out the door, I'll probably
get some of it back, you know, but right now, I cast it all
on Him. Casting all your cares upon Him,
for He careth for you. Now that word care is not the
care of anxiety, but the care of love. It's a different word. He cares for you. It matters
to Him. Everything about you matters
to Him. Cast all your care upon Him,
for He careth for you. May we be truly carefree people. People without a worry. Because we've cast it all on
Him. And you, as we get ready to observe
the Lord's table, You know why we don't worry about
not having enough for Judgment Day? Because of the broken body
and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. My sin became His
sin. He was crushed under the wrath
of God. And he paid the debt. And now
I don't have to pay it. I stand before God without guilt. I don't have to worry. Do I have
enough? Do I have more? You know, if
you're thinking that way, you never have enough, do you? No, all
we need in the Lord Jesus Christ we possess. We're celebrating
His shed blood and His broken body. So as we do this, as we
do this in obedience to the Lord, may God give us the grace to
truly have assurance, assurance of His favor, through Christ
Jesus our Lord.