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25 Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ~ Matthew 6:25-27
Today, we return to our study of Matthew 6 where the Lord Jesus is teaching us about the importance of being defined by the culture of God. His teaching on the side of that mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee is all about the coming of God's kingdom and how it impacts our everyday lives. Having addressed the issue of the heart, the Lord Jesus highlighted that what we trust is what ultimately defines us. In today's passage we will learn of three reasons why we should never worry: our Father, our faith and our future.
In v.25 of today's passage we read, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry 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?"
In the previous verse, the Lord Jesus spoke of the unrealistic nature of serving two masters. When we trust in anything other than the Lord, our anxiety meter will be heightened. The substantiveness of the object that we worship is what defines us at the end of the day. We will only be at peace in our soul to the extent that we trust in our heavenly Father. By definition, God is the supreme being and there is no one above Him. Of course, believing in the God of the Bible does not dispel the darkness in our lives completely, but we can choose to not be defined by the lesser.
Being defined by God translates itself in how much God defines us through His Word. God's definition of us will be shown through our obedience to His Word. This, of course, will not mean that will be perfect in our obedience, but it does mean that we will be connected to the greatest resource to deal with life's issues. When we trust in temporal things, we will naturally worry due to the nature of those temporal earthly treasures. It doesn’t matter how rich we become, if we are trusting in our earthly wealth, we will struggle with worry and anxiety. For a millionaire to decrease in wealth by a dollar is more painful than for a poor person who has nothing to lose.
During the ancient biblical world, clothing was an important indicator of social status, occupation, and identity. One's clothes signified his wealth, authority, and/or religious devotion. It is the same today, nothing really has changed. Most often, the quest for wearing the best clothing is the quest for notoriety, popularity, and fame. In churches, many priests, bishops and preachers are robed in special robes. These and other garments supposedly set them off as pious men of God filled with something special before God and man. With the ending of the Mosaic Law, there is nothing prescribed in Scripture to physically set a pastor, priest, or preacher off from the rest of the congregation. And yet, in order to set these people apart, they are given these garments. Unfortunately, as we have seen throughout history, such garments often adorn people whose hearts are far from God. Very often they are money grabbers, perverts, predators, and highly arrogant in their demeanor. The garments of these are often-like lipstick on pigs. They adorn people whose hearts are self-centered and filled with pride and self-righteousness.
In v.26 of today's passage we read, "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
By carefully observing His creation, we learn a lot about the God of creation. Like the birds who go out each day and look for food, we should look to God to meet our needs for when we do this, we will be defined by God. The birds expect their Creator to provide for them and nourish them, and He does faithfully. Though God meticulously cares for the birds of His creation, He has more care for humans than He does for birds. In fact, God has endowed man with the ability to increase knowledge, figure out difficulties, plan ahead, and seek out better ways to discover His provision. Due to this, there is no reason for us to worry.
Here in today's passage, the Lord Jesus did not depart from the thought of storing up treasure in heaven. He was building upon that idea with His continued words. If we can see that God tends to His creation through how He has set things up, and if we acknowledge that God has placed a special stamp of His creative efforts upon man, then we should have faith that God intends good for us. The treasures of heaven are to be attained from this understanding. Our growing faith in God due to His past faithfulness should spur us onward in our heart's ability to see Him. In the end, everything that we possess, whether physical or spiritual, is ultimately derived from God, who created all things.
In v.27 of today's passage we read, "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?"
When we trust the Lord like the birds of the air, we will be able to rise above the anxiety that tends to shackle us. Worrying or fretting over every issue of life which is beyond our control is inconsistent with the one who is growing in his trust of the Lord. When we are given over to worry, we will find it most difficult to live the life the Lord Jesus died to give us. When we worry about all the what-ifs of life, it will reveal a lack of trust in our heavenly Father. We cannot worry ourselves into longer life. But, when we grow in our faith in the faithfulness of God and we gain a growing understanding of His care for us, we will not fret over our future.
