Do Not Worry (Matthew 6:25-34)

Do Not Worry

 

Matthew 6:25-34

 

About 20 years ago, I quit my job and left Korea in order to live as a missionary in a foreign country. Before leaving home, I met my relatives and friends for saying goodbye, and many of them asked me, “How could you make a living in the foreign land?” Yet some of them, although very small in number, asked a different question. “How have you decided to live as a missionary?” They wondered what had made me to go overseas and teach the Bible to strangers, leaving my home, good people, and the secure job behind. I was glad to be asked so. And, opening the Bible, I explained my dream to them with all my heart. To tell the truth, I didn’t have any special plan to make a living there. During the course of missionary training, I heard many times: “If you do not trust God for your living, it is better not to go out as a missionary.” “Trusting God the Father,” probably this might be “the only plan” that I had in my mind at that time. Through the last over 20 years, living as a stranger in foreign countries, I have never been richer than a month’s living cost. Nevertheless, my bank account has never been empty. God’s faithfulness has been so wonderful to me.

 

In today’s passage, Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not worry.” Jesus told them not to worry particularly about their life, what they would eat or drink; or about their body, what they would wear. The word for “worry” here means “The mind is divided,” or “The thought is distracted.” That is, to worry is a state of mind or thought that cannot concentrate on important things but is divided or distracted to trivial matters. In fact, it seems that, nothing is more important to people than “making a living.” It is because making a living is a matter of life and death. Thus, it is regarded as a matter of course for us to worry about what to eat and what to drink. Nevertheless, Jesus says, “Do not worry.” This is a divine command that we must receive and obey. Jesus adds more words in order to explain why we should not worry.

 

First of all, we should not worry because life is more important than food and the body is more important than clothes. Jesus asked, “Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” This word is somewhat difficult to understand. People eat food for their lives. That is, we can say that food is the source of life, and even that food itself is life. We know that if we don’t eat, we die. But Jesus says, life is more important than food. This word suggests that it is not food that sustains human life. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” In John 4:34, moreover, the Lord said, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” These words suggest that man’s life comes not from food but from God. It is God who gave life to us and enriches the life even more. Therefore, we, rather than worrying about what to eat for life, must hold on to God who is the Lord of Life. When Jesus was telling the words quoted above, the Lord was very hungry. Even after fasting 40 days and nights, however, Jesus relied on “the word from God’s mouth” rather than on “bread.” This shows that God is our life “absolutely,” and for our life, we should rely on God and obey him “wholly.” That is, our heart should not be divided between God and food, or distracted to food in any case.

 

In the Bible, we can find a person who is exactly the opposite of Jesus. He is “the foolish rich man” in Luke 12. He was so rich that he did not have an enough space to store his harvest. With such a large property, he did not have any worry. So he told to himself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry!” He believed that his life would be as peaceful and joyful as his richness. However, God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” This man sought his life in eating and drinking instead of holding onto God, the owner of his life. And he was successful indeed. But, after all, he lost his life. This was the consequence of his belief that food is more important than his life. We live not because we eat and drink. We live because God gives us life and takes care of it. Our life will be secure when, as Jesus did, we hold onto God’s word and obey His will. Even when we die for that, God raises us again. Therefore, whether we live or die, we must stay in God’s word and obey it.

 

Another reason that we should not worry is that we are God’s children and God is our Father. In his words to the disciples in today’s passage, Jesus calls God “Your Heavenly Father” (26, 32). This Father God takes care of his children very carefully. Therefore, we do not need to worry. Isaiah 49:14,15 says, “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” This is the Heavenly Father’s heart toward His children. Even if a mother may forget the baby at her breast, God never forgets His children. In God’s eyes, we are like “a young child.” “A baby” has two key properties. one is that it is invaluable, and the other is that it is incapable. This is how we are found before God. In today’s passage, Jesus emphasizes repeatedly how valuable we are to God. He says, “Are you not much more valuable than they? (26), and also says, “Will he how much more clothe you?” (30). Jesus’ disciples are so valuable, and at that same time, they are helplessly incapable. In verse 27, Jesus says, “Who of you, by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

 

We should not live like an orphan. An orphan does not have parents who value and take care of him. Thus, he should solve the problems of food and clothes by himself. How pitiful he is? If we worry about what to eat and what to wear, it is professing that we are “such poor orphans.” This is a life of disbelief, which is not much different from unbelievers’ lives. We must know how valuable I am in God. At every moment, we throw out our chest, straighten our clothes, stand upright, and listen to the Lord’s voice, “How precious you are!” Moreover, we should know to the born how helpless beings we are. Like a baby, we cannot survive even a second apart from God. God the Father takes care of us like a baby at his breast. There is no failure or mistake in God’s caring. God’s love is faithful love, and God’s power is almighty power. Therefore, we can entrust ourselves to God as if a baby sleeps peacefully at the mother’s breast. We can put down all concerns and worries. We must do so. This is how we trust and fear God, and our confession of faith in the Father.

 

If I describe faith based on today’s word, it is like sponge absorbing water. Believing God is absorbing God deeply into our life so that our life get soaked completely with God’s work. God even feeds birds in the air one by one and dresses flowers in the field in gorgeous styles. In the same way, God wants to infiltrate deeply into our lives. We may think that making a living is a problem that I have to solve along with people in this world. It is not. A believer should live “in God” from the beginning to the end, from A to Z. And he/she should live “by faith.” Faith is like a space for God’s dwelling in my life. When we worry, we do not have such a space. We distrust God, and look for something or someone else to rely on. Jesus calls the worrying disciples, “O you of little faith!” If one does not believe God for his living, he is still living by himself. With such faith, we cannot please God. Therefore, whatever it is, we should prepare a space for God’s dwelling and working instead of worrying out of unbelieving. Then, like sponge absorbing water, God comes down deep into our life. He fills abundantly, and blesses gloriously. This is not “a possibility.” This is God’s absolute promise.

 

This is Verse 33. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Jesus said that the disciples should seek God’s kingdom and righteousness instead of worrying about what to eat and what to wear. “Worrying” is that one’s mind is distracted and divided out of fear. But here “seeking” means “desiring earnestly and pursuing in one heart.” Therefore, the life of seeking is quite different from the life of worrying. While the life of worrying is wandering and suffering without direction, the life of seeking is moving forward powerfully with a clear direction and purpose. In a book I read in the past, the author compared “worry” to fog. When a thick fog covering a village is converted into water, it is merely a cup of water. That is, a cup of water is enough to blanket a village under a heavy fog. In the same way, even a small worry can darken our heart completely. Therefore, even by looking at a person’s face, we can see that he is worrying about something in his heart. The life of worrying is wandering in the middle of a dense fog without direction. Jesus gives us a clear direction and purpose of life that we should pursue through our life. It is “God’s kingdom and His righteousness.” What is God’s kingdom and His righteousness? Simply speaking, it means that God rules and his will is fulfilled. We should not listen to the “noises of fear” that make us worry. Instead, we should listen to “God’s voices” by faith. Our life is not running after survival out of fear of death. Our life is pleasing God by obeying his will by faith. When we live such a life of faith, “the fog of worry” disappears, and clearly we can see God who is always with us and feeds us faithfully. This is truly a peaceful, rich, free and happy life.

 

We are God’s precious children, and God is our faithful Father. Every part of our life must be built on our faith in the Father. If any part is infected with “worry,” it becomes a painful disease in our soul. The only way to overcome this infection is trusting God our Heavenly Father. Whatever good reason we have for worrying, yet we should believe God. I pray that each of us does not worry but believe. I pray that, through our faith, God’s kingdom may come down on earth and God’s will may be fulfilled among us.