Seek First

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9:00 Service | 10:30 Service | Sermon Audio

A few months ago, Norma Jean and I were watching a movie called The Boys in the Boat. Have you seen it? Incredible story of the University of Washington crew team—as in rowing—back in the 1930s. It was The Great Depression, and most of the team members were poor, tough kids who grew up farming and logging. But they were good. And they kept winning. They win the collegiate championship, so they got to go and represent the U.S. at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, hosted by Hitler. So we’re watching this movie, and I had read the book a few years ago, but I said to Norma Jean, “I can’t remember if they actually won the gold. I remembered they made it to the Olympics, but I don’t remember if they won.” So I’m on the edge of my seat, watching. Little do I know, Norma Jean is quietly Googling on her phone. And all of a sudden, she says, “I checked—they won the gold.” And I looked her. And in my kindest pastoral voice, I said, “Thanks for ruining the movie for me.” She said, “I thought you wanted to know!” And I said, “I wanted to be surprised!” And she apologized, and it took me a few weeks, but I forgave her. 

See here’s the thing: in movies, not knowing what’s going to happen next is exciting. But in life, not knowing what’s going to happen next is stressful. And we are living at a time in our world, and in our country, and probably in your life, in which we don’t know what’s going to happen next.  

Last week the Fed lowered interest rates. Will that make buying a house more affordable, or will it flood the market with so many buyers that home prices go up? We don’t know. 

So far it’s been a relatively calm hurricane season. Does that mean people living on the coast can breathe a sigh of relief or is there going to be a whole season’s worth of hurricanes in late September and October? We don’t know. 

The Covid pandemic seems to be pretty much under control, but will there be a crazy flare-up this winter? We don’t know. 

I’m not sure if you were aware, but there’s an election coming up in November. Who will be the next President of the United States? We don’t know.  

You can do all the Googling you want, but you will not find the answers to those questions. The future is very uncertain. And as a result, as we enter into this fall, many of us are engaging in an activity that we’re really good at. Do you know what I’m talking about? Worry. Many of us are worrying. By the way, do you know the root of the English word “worry”? It comes from an Old English word that means “to strangle.” Because of the uncertainty of life, some of us are being strangled by worry. 

We need to hear from Jesus. 

Let’s read today’s passage—Matthew six, beginning in verse 25. Hear the Word of the Lord… 

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. This is the Word of God.  

So based on this teaching, let’s talk first about The Benefits of Worry. Some of the things Jesus says here are very deep, spiritual things. But some of what he says is more like common sense. And the best example of common sense is verse 27: Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? We all know the answer is “no.” But I think there’s still something in us that wants to believe that worrying helps.  

It’s interesting, because the Greek word that’s translated “worry,” when it’s used in other contexts, can be translated “concern.” As in, appropriate concern. After my first son graduated from high school, he took off in his car, by himself, to travel the country. No particular destination; no particular route in mind; he just had a rough idea that he wanted to wind up in California. I’ll never forget helping him pack up his Hyundai Elantra hatchback with camping supplies and a few other things, and standing on the driveway embracing my firstborn son, and saying goodbye to him, and watching him drive away. How do you think I felt? I felt concern. Of course! What father wouldn’t?  

So what’s the difference between that and worry? I think it’s this: worry is when the concern starts to control you. Dr. Michelle Newman is a Penn State psychology professor who specializes in anxiety disorders. And she said this: “Just having a thought about some potential bad thing that might happen—everyone has those. But if you have difficulty stopping the worry once it starts, that’s one of the ways we define what’s called pathological worry.” Can you relate to that? You just can’t get the thing out of your mind? 

She also gives a few more characteristics of out-of-control worry: fixating on things you have no control over, like when my son drove away, and I no longer had any physical presence in his life. Or here’s another one—focusing on things that have a very low probability of happening, and “catastrophizing” them—so I might imagine that my son is going to get lost, or kidnapped. Now: is it possible that could happen? It’s possible. But it’s highly improbable. And here’s the point Jesus was making: worrying about it is not going to make it any less likely to happen.  

All of that relates to worrying about the future. Bad stuff that might happen. But some of us struggle just as much worrying about…what? The past. Always looking in the rearview mirror of life, micro-analyzing your past actions; thinking about what you did yesterday; that decision you made last week; and should I really have let my son go on that trip? And is that person upset with me for what I said on Wednesday? That’s not legitimate concern; that’s neurotic worry. 

Now: some of you are not convinced. Because here’s what you’re thinking: “Worrying does help. Because when I worry, my mind analyzes and thinks through everything, so I wind up making better decisions.” Nice try, but it doesn’t work that way. To quote Dr. Newman again: “Mostly worrying becomes a process unto itself that doesn’t lead to problem solving or helping you in any way.” And then listen to this last quote from her: “I like to say that chronic worry is a process looking for content. You’ve gotten into the habit of looking for something to be concerned about, and you always find it.” Ouch. 

So this is common sense, right? Jesus is basically saying, “Worrying won’t make your son’s cross-country trip any safer; it won’t make the election turn out the way you want; it won’t change what you did in the past; worry won’t add a single hour to your life.” In fact, if you worry a lot, you are taking hours off your life. Because it increases your blood pressure; it raises your heart rate; it over-activates your immune system; it causes insomnia; it creates intestinal problems; it makes your skin break out; it raises your chance of cardiovascular disease. So if you’ve always thought, “Worry is what I do! It makes me alert; it keeps me sharp…” You’re kidding yourself. Worry is just bad for us. 

But Pastor Dave, you said the first point in the sermon was “The Benefits of Worry.” So what are they? Um…that was a trick. There are no benefits. Worrying is a complete waste of time. And that’s not super-spiritual; it’s just truth.  

So now, let’s get a little more spiritual. Let’s talk about The Source of Worry. There’s a little phrase that Jesus says in verse 30: you of little faith. It almost seems like an insult, doesn’t it? Don’t look at it like that. Because every time Jesus said those words, he was speaking to his followers. Believers. So he wasn’t saying they had no faith; he was saying their faith was too small. I even hear an affection and a gentle challenge to those words, like, “Come on—you guys should know better! Don’t you realize who I am and how committed to you I am? O, you of little faith!”  

See, worry—at its core—is a very spiritual issue. It’s about our faith.  

Now: in this group of people that Jesus was talking to, some of their biggest worries were: “Where am I going to get my next meal? Am I going to have enough clothes to wear this winter?” These were mostly poor people. And Jesus knew their world, so he picked three specific examples to increase their small faith. 

In verse 26, he says: Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? In other words, birds don’t have the sophistication and the systems that we humans have to obtain and store food. Right? They don’t harvest crops; they don’t store stuff for the future; they don’t shop in bulk at Costco. And yet…every day they seem to find something to eat. And Jesus says the reason is: your heavenly Father looks out for them. So does that mean birds just sit in their nests and open their beaks, and God drops worms in? Of course not! They go out and look for food. They do their part. So Jesus is not teaching laziness. He’s talking about a mindset. He’s saying: “Look—go out and do your work; be diligent; but then leave the results to God. Don’t lie awake at night, running spreadsheets in your brain, imagining financial disaster. See, God likes birds…but he likes you more.  

Example number two—verse 28: “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Flowers don’t expend any energy focusing on whether they’ll have enough to wear or if they’ll have the right kinds of things to wear or if they’ll look okay. But look at them! Not even King Solomon himself was dressed that well. And then he makes that same comparison: if God takes care of plants, which are so temporary, right?—they last one season!—don’t you realize how much more he’s going to take care of you? So stop focusing on clothes. What an unworthy thing to waste your energy on.  

Example number three—look at verses 31 and 32: 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. That word “pagan,”—in some translations it uses the word “Gentiles”—and it means people who don’t have a relationship with God. People who don’t believe there’s a personal God who loves them. So this is talking about atheists, agnostics; it even includes people who would call themselves believers, but they are functional atheists. In other words, they don’t actually live as if there’s a personal God who loves them. And honestly, the kind of person that Jesus is talking about here represents a higher and higher percentage of our population.  

So look what Jesus says about them: he says secular people tend to have a certain mindset when it comes to material needs. Their worldview is conducive to stress and worry. Why? They have no Father to trust. Right? So there’s no loving God who sort of has their back, and therefore, it’s completely up to them. So of course they worry! Even when they’re not working, their mind is working. Even when they’re supposed to be sleeping, their mind is working. So here’s what Jesus is saying to his own followers: if you spend your time worrying, don’t you realize you’re living like an atheist! Your heavenly Father knows what you need.  

You know what the problem is sometimes? We get our needs confused with our wants.  

Some of you really want a certain candidate to win the election in November. In fact, every year, you hear some famous person saying, “If my candidate doesn’t win, I’m moving to Canada!” Right? It’s always Canada! By the way, I know some Canadians, and they’re just as frustrated with their politicians as we are with ours! But politics are so extreme here in the U.S., and it’s easy to feel like, “I don’t just want my person to win; I need them to win! Our country needs them to win!” 

But it’s not true. Because no matter who wins, your heavenly Father will still be on the throne, and he will take care of you. Does that mean you shouldn’t participate in the political process? It doesn’t mean that at all. If that’s where God is calling you to make an impact, do it. But don’t do it like your life depends on it, because it doesn’t. Your life only depends on God. So you don’t have to worry.  

So...to this group of worriers, Jesus says Your heavenly Father knows what you need. And since he provides the needs of birds and flowers, and he values you infinitely more than birds and flowers, stop having such tiny faith! Stop acting like an atheist, and trust your Father.  

So not only does worry have no benefits; it’s actually sin—because it’s a refusal to simply trust in God. Life in God’s kingdom means the fatherly presence of God is so real in our lives, that we start to realize that worrying makes no sense. It literally is just a waste of time. But that’s easy to realize in a theoretical sense. How do you actually stop? 

Last point: The Defeat of Worry. Here’s the thing: to defeat worry, you don’t have to remove it; you have to replace it. Because if you just try to remove it, like, “I’m going to stop worrying. Today. Cold turkey”…but you don’t put anything its place, guess what? The worry is coming right back. So you can’t just remove worry; you have to replace it. 

And really this whole teaching has been building up to this—look at verse 33: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. This is the invitation of Jesus for worried and anxious people. “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” What does that actually mean?  

I see three aspects to it. First, it’s about Our Priorities. Here’s a life-defining question: What am I seeking first? In other words, what are the things that fill up my time and claim my energy and consume my thoughts? Jesus said secular people tend to “seek first” things like food and clothing and houses. In Morris County, New Jersey most of us have those basics covered pretty well, right? So we just upgrade. We seek more gourmet food or whole food or free-range food or organic food, and we seek more fashionable clothing and more beautiful houses. And Jesus basically says, “Can’t you think of any higher goals than that? Up in verse 25 he said Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Don’t you realize you were made for more than waking up the morning and being all fired up about how you’re going to replace your plain old driveway with pavers, so your house looks more like the guy next door? 

And he says, “Why don’t you take all that energy and passion you’re using to run after that stuff, and re-allocate it. Use it to seek God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness.” What does that mean? It means focus on the kinds of things Jesus focused on: people instead of possessions. The needs of others instead of your own wants. Loving people enough to offer to pray for them. Reaching across ethnic and racial boundaries. Spending time with people and giving hope to people who feel hopeless. Pointing people to God. Those are the things Jesus was fired up about, and that’s what it means to seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. 

Listen: it’s possible to call yourself a follower of Jesus, but not be seeking God’s kingdom first. At all. Does that make sense? So the thing that’s really captured your heart is succeeding in business or getting in great shape at the gym or winning an election or whatever. That’s what you’re truly seeking first. And you believe in God, but he’s way down your list of priorities. And here’s my point: that kind of casual faith is not the kind of faith that’s strong enough to push out worry. 

So, Pastor Dave, are you saying I should quit my job and become a missionary? Maybe. Not necessarily. What I’m saying is that Jesus is talking about something radical. He’s showing us that part of why we worry so much is that we’ve settled for desires that are too small, and those things nag at us and consume our time, and they keep us from what’s really important. So this is an invitation to put God and his kingdom above everything else in our life. Let’s get our priorities straight.  

Secondly, this invitation affects Our Prayers. The way we pray. A few weeks ago we looked at this verse—Philippians 4, verse 6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Here’s what this tells me: the kind of praying that displaces worry is characterized by two things: thankfulness and thoroughness.  

Here’s what I mean: did you see that little phrase “with thanksgiving?” Even when life is rough; even when we go to God with some big need, we should always begin with thankfulness. Always. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and I’ve got a big burden on my shoulders, and I’ve made it a habit to put that thing on hold for a minute, and say, “Lord, thank you for this home I get to live in. Thank you that I got to go for a walk with my wife last night—I don’t deserve her, and I don’t deserve to be healthy enough to walk—so thanks for that.” I intentionally acknowledge things like that. There may be lots of hard stuff, or broken stuff, but God has taught me to focus first on thankfulness. It puts things in perspective. It’s good for the soul. 

And then, thoroughness. It says in every situation, by prayer and petition…present your requests to God. “In every situation.” That’s pretty thorough, wouldn’t you say? For some of you this is hard. Because your prayers are quick; they’re very vague; or, if you come from a formal church background, maybe you only pray some kind of memorized prayer. And you’re missing out on something big. Because God invites you to talk to him about all the things that are causing you worry. Talk them through them with God. And he will lean in and listen. When you get into that habit, it truly changes your day. And you know what? You can’t do that in a 2-minute prayer. It takes at least 10…15…20 minutes a day. Sometimes 30. And you say, “I don’t have that kind of time.” That’s why you’re so stressed out.  

And finally, the invitation of Jesus is all about Our peace. Stay in Philippians 4, and look at the next verse. It says when we pray with thankfulness and thoroughness, here’s the promise: And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. What an awesome promise. Isn’t it? The peace of God…will guard you. There’s a strength to that. There’s a power to that. This is not the peace of meditation, or the peace of positive thinking, or the peace of nicotine, or the peace of Jack Daniels. It’s the peace of God…clearing your head, calming your thoughts, and reminding you Who’s actually on your side.  

And then let’s go back to the words of Jesus. In Matthew 6:33, Jesus says, “If you do this—if you seek God’s things first—“all these other things will be given to you as well.” In other words, you’re going to get your needs met…but you’ll get so much more. C.S. Lewis said it like this: when you put second things first, you lose both first and second things; but when you put first things first, you get second things thrown in as well. So it turns out you didn’t need to worry about all those things after all. Because God has you covered. 

So…I watched my son drive away that day in his Hyundai hatchback. And some crazy things happened on his journey. He got really sick for a while. His car overheated and literally burned up, and he spent the night in seedy hotel outside Amarillo, Texas, where he actually slept with his knife in the bed for protection. And since he had no car, he had to continue his trip on a train. So we would hear little updates from him, and every time, there was something in me that wanted to worry, and obsess on his safety, and control things. And I could almost hear Jesus saying to me, “O, you of little faith.” So I would take a deep breath, and pray for my son, and leave it in God’s hands. And it worked out: despite the disasters, he got to spend time with friends and family members across the country. He saw a lot of the country. And he did make it out to California, and camped on the beach in San Clemente. Eventually he made it back to New Jersey. And God used that whole thing to make my little faith a little bit bigger. 

How about you? What is God using in your life to reveal your little faith? What are you worried about right now? It’s a waste of your time! Seek first the kingdom of God…and all will be well.