I believe in wise planning. But if you're having trouble with that, the Lord says, don't worry about that. It's fine to save for the future. It's fine to plan for the future. It's wrong to worry about those plans.
Because God will take care of that. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. I'm your host, Phil Johnson. If you've ever found yourself overwhelmed, unsure, dreading what lies ahead, you've experienced the strangling effects of worry. And in today's economy, perhaps no other aspect of life causes more stress than your finances.
And is it any wonder, with the high cost of housing and energy, and groceries and education, and sooner or later something you own will need repairs? Yet even with so many money challenges, God's Word says you should not worry. But how do you keep the concern and the stress and the worry at bay? John MacArthur tackles that question today on Grace to You, the title of his series, What Did Jesus Really Say About Financial Worry?
Now, in case you're thinking that what Scripture says about financial worry really doesn't relate to the struggles people are facing today, let's hear what John had to say about that as a way of launching this study. Of course I have a different perspective. I take the biblical perspective on everything. And while the the coinage may change and the the economic issues may change and and the material possessions may change, how you and I think about money Is an issue before the Lord that wouldn't be any different than it ever has been throughout history.
So, the things that Jesus said about financial worry have to do with how we think about money, which has to do with how we use money. And that effectively demonstrates Where our heart is. As Jesus said, you know, where your treasure is, that's where your heart is.
So these are vital, pertinent, relevant issues. that transcend any kind of culture, any kind of economic system. We're going to be digging in here to Matthew chapter 6. And we're going to be looking at what did Jesus really say about financial worry. And what Jesus said about it is the most important thing that has ever been said about it.
Financial worry, or for that matter, worry of any kind, leads to serious personal problems and that becomes family problems very quickly. Worry Says a great deal about our confidence in God.
So, what did Jesus really say about financial worry? I want to encourage you to stick with us on this series. This kind of financial worry is a dominating feature of our contemporary culture. Yes, it is, friend, and you'll want to be here each day to see how God's Word really can help you put money worries to rest.
So now follow along in the book of Matthew. Here's John MacArthur. We find ourselves for this time in chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6, verses 25. To 34. And in order that you might have context for what we say to you, let me read this passage to you, and you follow along in your own Bible, beginning at Matthew chapter 6 and verse 25.
Therefore I say unto you, be not anxious for your life. What you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither yet for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than food and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air. For they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.
Are you not much better than they? Which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit unto his stature? And why are you anxious 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. Wherefore, 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, be not anxious, saying, What shall we eat or what shall we drink or with what shall we be clothed?
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Be therefore not anxious about tomorrow. for tomorrow will be anxious for the things of itself.
Sufficient unto the day is its own evil.
Now, you'll notice in the passage that an oft-repeated phrase is the theme. Be not anxious. In fact, it appears in here four times. Anxious is a word that simply means to worry. Don't worry.
That is the heart and the soul of the passage. The Lord is calling for us to cease from worrying. And I guess all of us have to admit that worry is a part of life. It's a pastime for most people. It occupies their thinking for a great portion of their daily wakening hours.
However, worry is a very dangerous item. It takes a severe toll on people. But far beyond its psychological effect is the fact that the Bible tells us that for a Christian, for a child of God, worry is a sin. Because worry is the equivalent of saying, God, I know you mean well by what you say, but I'm just not sure you can pull it off. Worry is the sin of distrusting the promise and the providence of God.
And yet we do it all the time. William Inge said, worry is interest paid on trouble before it's due. Another writer said, Worry is a thin stream of fear that trickles through the mind. If encouraged, it'll cut a channel so wide that all other thoughts will be drowned in it. And one writer put it this way: worry is faith in the negative, trust in the unpleasant, assurance of disaster, and belief in defeat.
And one writer said, worry is wasting today's time to clutter up tomorrow's opportunities with yesterday's troubles. I was reading about the Bureau of Standards in Washington, D.C. It really wasn't related to worry until I saw a very interesting connection. They had a little feature in there that was telling about fog. And what was the composite Element of fog.
And this I thought was fascinating. A dense fog That covers a Seven city black area. 100 feet deep. And by that, they mean a very dense, thick fog, seven blocks and a hundred feet deep. is composed of less than one glass of water.
Divided into 60,000 million drops. Not much is really there at all. but it can cripple an entire city. And I think that's a pretty good illustration of worry. Put it all together and you don't have much more than a glass of water.
but you can sure mess up a whole lot of people.
Now we worry, that's just the expression of human sinfulness. And I guess we don't worry. Anymore. about any other thing as much as we worry about The basics of life. And so we're a little different than the people to whom Jesus spoke.
Because they worried. And what they worried about in verse 25 is: what are we going to eat, and what are we going to drink, and what are we going to put on our bodies? I mean, they were worried about the basic stuff. I guess if you're going to worry and you're going to try to legitimize it, there's no more way to think of it than to say, well, after all, I mean, this is rather basic. I'm not worrying about extravagant things.
I'm just worrying about my next meal, a glass of water, and something to wear. But for the Christian That is forbidden. For the Christian that is sinful. For the Christian, that is foolish. There's no place for us to worry even about those basic commodities of life.
Why? Because the Lord says that's my area. And one of the things you learn if you listen to Jesus all through the Sermon on the Mount and all through the Gospels and if you listen to the epistles which are the commentary on the Gospels, one thing you learn is that God does not want his children preoccupied with the mundane passing things of the earth. He wants us to set our affection not on things on the earth, but on things above. He wants us to lay up our treasure in heaven.
He wants us to seek first the kingdom of God. And in order to free us to do that, he says, Don't worry about the other stuff. I'll take care of that. You see. That is a basic principle of spiritual life.
that we are not earthbound people. We just give that part to God, and we are free to live in the heavenlies. How foolish. to be worried about Material things. But that is precisely what people worry about.
Yeah. He could be talking about rich people here. The same people who have all the luxuries in verses 19 to 24 are also worried about the necessities here in 25 to 34. Because rich people worry about necessities. That's why they stockpile all our money so they can hedge against the future.
That's why they stash it all away, so that they'll make sure that if everything goes apart, they're going to be able to have it all.
So rich people worry about necessity.
So do poor people. In fact, poor people maybe worry about it in a little different way. They worry about it but can't do anything. Specific to relieve that worry. Rich people can at least stockpile.
Poor people can worry about it and can't do a thing to alleviate that. And so the Lord is here, I think, maybe. Primarily directing it to poor people, but it has to encompass the rich because anybody can worry about having the necessities of life. Why, there are people in our own society who have all they need and they're worried about running out. They're worried about things that are going to happen in the future, and they're not going to have enough resources, and they're not going to have the clothes, or they're not going to have the things they need to eat and drink, or the shelter, and so forth.
And in fear, they begin to hedge against the future. Really in a non-trusting, non-faith expression. Try to determine their own destiny. Apart from God, even Christian people. And so you could be rich and have this problem, but basically, primarily, I think he's talking about the person who has no resources for the future and is totally dependent.
On today, and then tomorrow, and the next tomorrow, fulfilling itself.
Now, should that person worry? You say, why? Poor people should worry. How do they know where their next meal is going to come from? How do they know they're going to have it in the morning?
How do they know they're going to have shelter and clothes? But our Lord precisely says you're not to worry about that. You're not to take your luxuries. And you're not to stash your luxuries in some hoarding fashion as a hedge against the future and not use what you have been given by God to accomplish his purposes now. That's verses 19 to 24.
Nor are you to have anxiety in your heart. For tomorrow's needs. Even if you have nothing.
So the Lord here is covering luxury in 19 to 24 and necessity. in 25 to 31.
Now let me give you some background in the text just briefly. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord is laying a standard that was uncommon in his day, and it was really. far beyond anything that was going on in the religion of Judaism. He gave them a new standard of themselves. He gave them a new standard, really not a new one, but a reiteration of the old one, the divine one.
He gave them the divine standard of the world. He gave them the divine standard of God's law. He gave them the divine standard of moral issues, the divine standard of religious worship. And here he gives them what God says about their money and their possessions. And throughout the Sermon on the Mount, and I think you already know this, what the Lord is doing is just giving them the categories where God speaks to the issue.
God has something to say about your attitudes, something about your commitment to the Word of God, something about your religious activities, something about your moral value, something about your money, something about your possessions, something about your prayer life. In other words, He sweeps through all of these dimensions of life. in this great sermon. And so at this point, we're touching on the money and the possessions part. and particularly in 25 to 34 on the necessities.
Somebody might answer this way. They'd say, Well, you know, I read verses 19 to 24, and it says, Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Boy, you just lay it up in heaven. And don't serve money, serve God. And somebody might say, Boy, you know, but what about the future?
Boy, you know, in this kind of changing world, if I don't stash a lot of it away, how do I know I'm gonna have food and drink in the future? How do I know I'm gonna have clothes for myself and my family? How do I know I'm gonna have a shelter? And I believe in wise planning. But if you're having trouble with that, the Lord says, don't worry about that.
It's fine to save for the future. It's fine to plan for the future. It's wrong to worry about those plans. Because God will take care of that. And as I told you before, if you have a choice between God saying to you, use this money now for this purpose, and your own feeling, well, I better have it for the future because it's unknown, then to keep it for the future is to disobey the moment.
Now these are general principles that you're going to have to apply.
So We may have treasure. We're to lay it up in heaven, and we're free to do that when we don't worry about. The necessities of life.
Now, these are general principles that you're gonna have to apply.
So We may have treasure. We're to lay it up in heaven, and we're free to do that when we don't worry about. the necessities of life.
Now let's get the general principle of verse 25. I'm going to cover the general principle and then some specifics. First, here's the general principle. Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious And that's repeated in verse 31, be not anxious. Verse 34, be not anxious.
Anxious. That is the all-inclusive theme of the passage. And basically, in the Greek, it simply means don't worry. Don't worry. And by the way, in verse 25, the Greek tense is unique and it means stop worrying.
If you're already doing it, quit. And in verse 31, it's different. It says don't start worrying.
So, either way, you cut it, he hits you. If you're doing it, quit, and if you haven't started, don't. Don't worry. Then he says in verse 25, notice it, for your life. And the word is sukhay, it has to do with the fullness of earthly, physical, external life.
All that this life in this world is. Don't be anxious about this world, the temporal, external, physical, earthly world. The eating and the drinking and the clothing and the housing and all that makes up this earth. Don't worry about that. And if you've already started, then stop worrying about it.
Now, let me give you a little bit of a connection. Verse 25 begins with the word therefore. And the word, therefore, is to take us backwards. And he gave us three principles, you'll remember, in verses 19 to 24. He said, first of all, Earthly treasures.
Corrupt. Earthly treasures corrupt. Then he said, Yearning for earthly treasures blinds your spiritual vision. Verses 22 and 23. Thirdly, he said, you must make a choice between God and money.
Now, let me sum it up. Listen to this. Since earthly treasures corrupt you anyway. Since earthly treasures tend to blind your spiritual vision. And since earthly treasures tend to draw you away from serving God, therefore don't worry about those kinds of things.
You see? That should not be your preoccupation. Even the basics of life. You say, well, can't we at least worry about the basics, if not the luxuries? No.
Not at all. If you're a child of God, you have a single goal, treasure in heaven. You have a single vision. You see, God's purposes. You have a single master.
You serve God, not money. Therefore, you cannot become preoccupied with the mundane things of this world.
Now, specifically, what is he referring to? Back to verse 25. What are the basics? What ye shall eat? That's food.
What ye shall drink? That's water. Or fluids, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. That's clothing. Food, water, and clothing.
Don't worry about that. Don't be anxious about that.
Now, in our society, we might think that that's a little bit obscure. We say, My, I don't worry about that. I was a supermarket on every block, and I can go in there and pile it all in. We got so much. Water in our house, we never think about it.
We've average house probably got 10 faucets, you know, indoors and outdoors, and you can have water running all over the place and sprinkler heads. And what do you mean, worry about water? Who worries about that? And then some prophet of doom comes along and says, We're running out of food in America, and we're running out of water in America. Maybe we do worry a little.
But if you were living in Palestine at Jesus' time, you might have been a little more concerned. Because there were times when the snows didn't come to the mountains, and when the snows didn't come to the mountains, the streams didn't run, and in the burning summer heat, the stream would dry up, and there was no water. And there were times when the crops didn't come through because the locust plague ate the crops, and when the crops didn't come through, there wasn't any food, and there was famine in the land. And when there was famine in the land, there was also no income in the land. And when there was no income in the land, there could be no purchase of clothing in the land.
And so there was none of the real resource that people need to live by. These words of our Lord are literally tremendous and powerful, spoken in the context of that time. Don't you ever bother to worry about what you're going to eat. Don't you bother to worry about what you're going to drink and don't give a second thought to what you're going to wear, said to those people on the edge of the parched desert who were totally dependent upon the natural resources, must have been a shocking statement. Don't even give it a thought, he says.
Certainly, that would be an indictment of our own worry about those kinds of things. Our Lord recognizes that man in his covetousness tends to devote his whole life to caring for the externals. He tends to devote his whole life to his food and his house and his clothes and those kinds of things. But then at the end of verse 25, he says this, putting it in perspective. Is not the life, the souquet, the fullness of physical life far more than food?
And is not the body more than just clothing? I mean, is that all there is in life? Is that all you're going to focus on? You know, frankly, that's the way it is in the world. Most people in our world are totally consumed with the body.
Just decorate the body, fix up the body, clothe the body, take care of the body, put it in a nice car, send it off to a nice house, stuff it full of nice food. Sit in a nice comfortable chair. Hang a bunch of jewelry all over the thing. Take it out on a boat. Let it swim, teach it to ski.
Take it on a cruise. The body. Feed that body. That's the way most people live. Isn't life more than that?
Is it life more than that? That's what he's saying. What are you worried about that for? The body isn't the end of all. Life is not contained in this body.
Life is contained in the very, listen to this: nature of God. I live not because my body lives, but because God gives my body life. See? Life is more than the body. More than food, more than clothes.
You never convince people in our society that. But it's true.
So why worry about those things? He gives three reasons why you shouldn't worry. Number one, it's unnecessary because of your father. Number two, it's uncharacteristic because of your faith. And number three, it's unwise because of your future.
Why you should never worry about finances, why you should never worry about the basics of life, why you should never worry about what you eat or drink or wear. It is unnecessary because of your father.
Now remember that. This is a fabulous thing that Jesus says here. I feel like a clumsy oaf trying to deal with this majestic material. But first of all, he says, it is unnecessary to worry about material things, even the necessities of life, because of your father. Have you forgotten who your father is?
It's so foolish. And yet how Often. We fail to believe that God's going to provide for us, and we worry. Anxiety is foolish. And the Lord gives three illustrations.
One from food, one from the future, and one from fashion. Food, the future, and fashion. And these are related to him as our father. First of all, the one on food, verse 26. This is really fabulous.
I think the Lord is standing on the hillside there, up in Galilee, looking down over that beautiful north end of the sea. The breeze was rippling across. The sun was bright in the sky. The people were all gathered at his feet. Lovely time of the year and a lovely place to be and I've stood there myself several times.
And I think as he was speaking to them.
Some birds flew across. One writer said that the north part of the area of Galilee. Is the crossroads of bird migration? It's a very special place where the birds migrate in that part of the world. And Jesus probably saw them fly by, and he said in verse 26, Behold, Look.
The birds of the air. Very common. They don't sew. And they don't reap, and they don't gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?
Listen. Every bird that lives in this world lives because God gave it life, right? God gave life to every bird. And if God gives life to a bird, he doesn't say, all right, bird, I've done my thing, I've given you life, now you figure out how to keep it. No, birds don't get together and say, no, we've got to come up with a strategy to keep ourselves alive.
Birds have no self-consciousness, no cognitive processes, no ability to reason. But God planted within birds something called instinct so that birds. are planted If you will. With a divine capacity to find what is necessary to live. God doesn't just create life, He creates life and then sustains life.
In Job, for example, chapter 38 and verse 41, it says, Who provideth for the ravens his food when his young ones cry unto God? In other words, when the little birds cry unto God, isn't that interesting? The little birds actually look to God, the Creator. says Job. It is God the Creator who gives the mother the instinct to bring the food.
It is God the Creator who gave the mother the instinct to build the nest. and to migrate to a new area at the exact and precise time. To the young ravens which cry out, he gives food, says Psalm 147, verse 9. God feeds the birds through the process of their own instinct. And the Bible calls it crying out to God.
It says the birds cry out to God.
Now, if God's going to take care of irrational birds... Who cry out to him through their instinct? Is not God going to take care of his own children? At the end of verse 26, are you not much better than birds? Arthur Pink said.
Here we may see how the irrational creatures, made subject to vanity by the sin of man, come nearer to their first estate and better observe the order of nature in their creation than man does. For they seek only for that which God has provided for them, and when they receive it, they're content. This solemnly demonstrates that man is more corrupt than other creatures, more vile and more base than even the brute beasts. Birds, God takes care of. Don't you think he'll take care of you?
Now by the way, this is not an excuse for idleness. He says in 26, they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, but your heavenly father feeds them. And somebody says, oh, that's the idea. I'm just going to stand out there on the edge of a tree with my mouth open.
Now listen, it never rains worms. Never. Birds, God feeds through an instinct that tells them where to find that food. And they go for it. They work within the framework of God's design for them.
and they never overindulge themselves. Birds only get fat when People put them in cages. Birds don't overdo a good thing. It's men who have enough and they go for more and they stockpile and they stuff and they hoard. and they ignore God's priorities and His promises, and they forfeit the carefree heart.
The birds just fly. They don't worry whether they're going to find the food, they just fly until they find it. God provides it, and birds can't plan ahead. And birds have no reason to worry. And if birds don't have any reason to worry, what are you worrying for?
Are you not much better than a bird? How silly. How silly. You don't think he'll feed you? No banker or stockbroker owns your money.
In fact, you don't even own it. God does. And He promises always to provide for every Christian's needs. Encouraging truth from John MacArthur's lesson today on Grace to You, part of his study titled What Did Jesus Really Say About Financial Worry.
Now, if you'd like to own this study, it's available for free at our website. Again, the title to look for, What Did Jesus Really Say About Financial Worry? Download it when you get in touch today. Our web address is gty.org. There you can download both sermons from What Did Jesus Really Say About Financial Worry in MP3 and transcript format.
In fact, the MP3s and the transcripts for all 3,600 of John's sermons are available online for free. Our website again, gty.org. And if you would, let us know how this series on financial worry helps you. Also, if one of John's books has encouraged you or if someone you know has come to faith in Christ after hearing John's teaching, we would love to hear those stories. You can send your email to letters at gty.org.
Once more, that's letters at gty.org. Or you can send a letter in the mail addressed to Grace2U. P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412.
Now for the entire Grace to U staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Thanks for starting your week with us. Be back tomorrow as John MacArthur shows you more truths that will help you deal with financial anxiety even before the bills pile up. We're continuing John's study called What Did Jesus Really Say About Financial Worry? with another 30 minutes of Unleashing God's Truth one verse at a time on grace to you.
