Mar. 08, 2026

Welcome back to our study of The Sermon on the Mount: Rethinking Our Faith.  Today, we will finish Matthew 6.  In this chapter, Jesus moves from talking about being real and authentic in life and in our spiritual practices right into teachings on serving, prayer, fasting, and giving. Last week, Ken did an awesome job leaning into a conversation about money, how Jesus explains a Christian should view and treat it.  That was fun, right?  It is interesting; money is a major source of tension for people and their faith. If we took a vote, it would probably be the thing people want to talk least about in church.  Stay away from my money, right?  Well, Jesus doesn’t stay away from it; in fact, he talked about it a lot.  Why?  Well, remember what Jesus is doing: He is establishing God’s Kingdom inside us. As we allow God’s Kingdom in our hearts, we live each day to please God.  Our lives change through heart change.  What we value most in our hearts is the things we will pursue and live for, and nothing can slide into that spot faster than money, and I love how Jesus just keeps moving through all these areas in our lives that can cause so much tension for us, and just to warn you, that won’t stop today.  Jesus moves the conversation from money to something that so many of us struggle with: worry, fear, and trusting God.  So, I’d like to start with a question that may not sound like a question on fear at first, but I think it will.  You ready?  

What are you missing out on? 

Ok, so notice that I didn’t ask what you are stressed about.  I didn’t ask what you are planning for.  I didn’t ask how hard your life was.  I didn’t even ask about your job situation.  And I didn’t ask what, who, or how many people you are responsible for, or what all you are managing in your life.  The question I want us to think about as we talk is, what are you missing out on? 

Why?  Because when worry takes center stage in our lives, it doesn’t just steal our peace; it shrinks our lives.  It steals opportunities.  It steals our energy and confidence. It steals our purpose.  Worry is a thing, and throughout this awesome sermon, Jesus just keeps moving us through tension points in our lives, things we struggle with, and if we are open and able to hear and receive Him, wow, it can free us and help us so much.  So, remember what Jesus is doing: He is establishing the Kingdom of God inside us, and when we allow God into our hearts, we live each day with the daily purpose of pleasing God.  We will live with freedom, courage, and a God-focus that doesn’t even seem possible in the challenging world we live in today, which has plenty for us to worry about.

Matthew 6:25 "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 important than food, and the body more important 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 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies 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, O 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. NIV

The other day, I took my granddaughter to the park, it was a blast.  It was the first warm day in a while, and the park was packed with people, kids everywhere.  Which for me had me questioning whether we should even go over to the playground, but for Freya, it was even more exciting!  Look at all my new friends and opportunities, and she went there as fast as her little legs could get her there.  It really got me thinking about how pure-hearted and trusting we are when we come into this world, and had me praying that she could keep that for as long as possible, because life just has a way of taking it from you over time, doesn’t it?  I’ve talked about this with you before, but one of the hardest and most painful things I’ve experienced in my life is watching my children come into this world with courage and confidence, so pure and free. It’s a beautiful thing.  Their heads held high, and a brightness in their eyes.  But then they head out into the world, into the schools, and community, and come back hurting. It’s so painful to watch their body language change, and their eyes dim over time, as this world seems to take away that confidence, freedom, and courage.  As a dad, that is probably the most painful thing to watch over time, and as much as you want to stop it from happening, whew, you can’t.  Life isn’t easy, and it teaches us some painful lessons.  And as I walked around that park, watching Freya talk to everyone, petting dogs, playing with kids she never met before or will see again, it just had me thinking about how painful and hard our lives can be, and just how much is taken from us over time, through painful lessons, disappointments, and as we go through life there seems to be more things to stress over, and be afraid of.  It had me thinking about my life a lot, too.  Because each year, as more of life takes place, it hasn’t gotten easier, there seems to be more fear and worry, and it takes more focus, effort, and prayer to trust God in a world that seems to scream that we shouldn’t trust Him.   It made me very thankful that I have this worry, because I have great ownership of it, and the older I’ve gotten, the more I've had to navigate it.  It’s amazing how life pushes in over time, and how much it can take from us if we aren’t carefully paying attention; it takes root, and we can miss out on so much.  Oh, to keep that freedom, courage, and trust that Freya has these days.  I just kept wondering if that was even possible.

Let’s start by looking at five things worrying about tomorrow does to us.

First, it steals today from you.  

Here’s what I mean: worry ruins your today by making you stressed out about a future that hasn’t happened yet.  You can’t be present.

“Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it saps today of its joy.” Leo Buscaglia

Second, you are wasting valuable energy.  

Listen, the older you get, the more you understand how valuable and limited your energy is. Worrying about things you can’t control is just giving energy away, wasting emotional and physical strength.

“Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.” Glenn Turner

Third, worry makes a hard life harder.  We end up carrying today’s burdens and tomorrow's potential issues all at once, and we only have so much strength.

“Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength - carrying two days at once.” Corrie Ten Boom

Fourth, worry distracts us from God.  

We get focused on our needs rather than living each day for God and simply trusting His provision, protection, and care for us. 

“You can’t worship and worry at the same time-one always silences the other. Worry drains what worship was meant to restore.” Unknown

Lastly, worry is saying God can’t be trusted.  

I saved this for last because I believe this is where we need to focus our time today, and I see it as what Jesus is trying to show us in the study.

“When we allow worries to dominate us, we’re actually saying that God can’t be trusted to take care of us. But God can be trusted!” Billy Graham

Let’s get back into our study and start with how Jesus begins and ends this section of Scripture we are studying today. 

Matthew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…” NIV

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.“ NIV

When you hear Jesus say, “Don’t worry about your life, and don’t worry about tomorrow.”  How does that make you feel?  If we are honest, we can hear statements like this from Jesus and immediately start explaining why that doesn’t apply to us. We can think, easy for Him to say, first, because He is God, and second, not to be disrespectful, but I mean, Jesus didn’t have a mortgage, a spouse, a bunch of kids to get to different sports fields, or the crazy boss and job and schedule that I have.  It’s easy to hear him talk this way and think about the calendar, the bills, the broken appliances, the job pressures, the children’s schedules, just all the stress, stuff to do, and uncertainty in life.  It’s easy to slide into a way of thinking that says, “Jesus just doesn’t understand my life and what I’m going through.”  But we need to remember something.  Jesus had some stuff going on, too. Yes, you have bills to pay, and sports fields to get to, and appliances to care for, but Jesus was carrying the weight of saving the entire world on His shoulders.  Do you remember me talking earlier about how hard life is and how it seems to just take life and dim our eyes over time?  Well, Jesus dealt with all those people and life things, too.  He dealt with people who didn’t pay attention to or understand him.  He dealt with people who belittled and thought less of him.  He dealt with confrontation, accusations, betrayals, and He knows where He is headed (the Cross), to be tortured, beaten, and humiliated, and to die the most painful death possible, so we could experience God…that is what the future held for him, he knew it, and still said, “Don’t worry about tomorrow.”  Whew, maybe it wasn’t easier for him, and I’m not trying to minimize your pain and stress, but to just make sure we are clear, Jesus’ life wasn’t easier than ours, and what he was heading towards was more intense. 

Let’s look at the question Jesus asked in verse 27…

Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

You know, worry can feel productive and responsible.  It can feel like control, but it accomplishes nothing. In fact, it is actually doing the opposite of helping.  Stress and anxiety steal our sleep and drain our energy, and we miss out on so much as we focus on things that may or may not happen. 

Worry feels productive and responsible.
It makes us feel in control, and for some of us, we feel intelligent or wise as we worry, but it accomplishes nothing. In fact, we know the opposite is often true. Stress steals our sleep. Anxiety drains our energy. Worry distracts us.  Hurts our witness and ability to reflect God’s love well.  And it typically makes the things we are stressing over worse, which then gives us more to worry about.  If we switch to the message version and read verse 34 again, we see something important. 

Matthew 6:34 "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” MSG

Do you see the shift there?  You aren’t ignoring responsibilities or pretending life is easy.  You are shifting your focus from you to God.  You begin to ask a new question when you live this way.  The old question was, “How can I manage all of this?”  The new question becomes “God, what are you doing and where are you leading me?”  That is very different, isn’t it?

I started today by wanting to show you something important about fear and worry.  It shrinks our lives.  There are things we won’t do, places we won’t go, conversations we won’t have, invitations we won’t accept, even foods we won’t try, or experiences we won’t have, all because of what may or may not happen.  So, let me ask you the question of the day again.  

What are you missing out on? 

Jesus told us that He came to give us an abundant life, which is not a life lived to survive each day.  So many of us are not experiencing that life, and it is not because God is withholding it, but because fear and life just seem to block us from what Jesus came to give us.  We get hurt, we fail, we try things that don’t always work. Life hurts and pushes in, and over time, we can shrink back and give more away than we realize.  Life has an incredible way of tearing trust away, making it hard to stand as the person you were called to be. Life isn’t easy, and the longer you live on this planet, the easier it is to live in fear, doubt, and worry.  When you do, you miss out.

So, I’m going to end a little differently today and share two conversations I had recently.  Both challenged me, and both meant a lot to me. I told you earlier that I've been feeling tension lately. Challenges and adversity seem to be pressing in on me, and life hasn’t gotten easier for me. Over time, in many ways, it has gotten more challenging.  I met a friend for coffee the other day. He is about my age, in a similar season of life, and a passionate Christian man and leader.  As we sat together, I asked him about his life, and well, everything was awesome.  With a peaceful smile and joyful energy, he spoke of how blessed he is, how healthy life and family are, I mean, it literally sounded like that song in The Lego Movie, “Everything is awesome!”  And he just kept saying God is so good, and to be honest, as he spoke, I’m sitting there thinking, welp, how do I tell him, that my life is hard, painful, and tiring…so instead of dragging him down, and in an effort to still be honest, I stayed really general with him, and told him some good things going on in my life and the churches…But I left that conversation with a lot to think about and a little confused.  Is his life perfect?  Really? If God is good and his life is perfect, what is going on with me? 

Then, a week or so later, I had the blessing and honor of spending time with Ron in the hospital, in what turned out to be his last day here on this Earth.  God just poured out of him as he spoke about his life.  It was such a blessing to me, and it felt like time just stopped.  The joy, the peace, the comfort in knowing where He was going were so special to see and hear, and, as Ron always did, even on his last day, he was still giving and lifting the medical staff and me as they came and went while we spoke.  

As Ron spoke about his life, there was such gratitude and joy as he walked me through the twists and turns his life took, and how clear it was to him that he couldn't have planned much of it, but that God orchestrated it all, and he was just amazed and grateful for how God put it all together.  Ron was at total peace.  He had no regrets and just couldn't thank God enough for the life he was given and the joy of where he was headed.  It was so humbling and a blessing to be with him.  As I listened to him share his life's journey with me, with so much peace and contentment, I realized something important.  He never said there weren't challenges, or that it was all easy.  In fact, there were job losses and unexpected twists and turns along the way... and I asked him this question.  "Did you ever question or wrestle with things that weren't making sense in the moment?  Did it stress you out?"  And Ron looked right at me and said, "Sam, no, I really never wrestled with it, because I knew God was driving, and I trust the driver."  What a beautiful lesson for us all and one I will never forget.

"I knew God was driving, and I trust the driver." Ron DesRoches

As he spoke, God just flowing out of him, this verse was in my heart and mind...

Ecclesiastes 3:14 I've also concluded that whatever God does, that's the way it's going to be, always. No addition, no subtraction. God's done it and that's it. That's so we'll quit asking questions and simply worship in holy fear. MSG

Ron understood this at a level that so many of us just don't. He didn't wrestle or question; he was grateful, at peace, content, not questioning God but simply worshiping Him with holy respect as His Heavenly Father, who he knows loves him and is guiding and caring for him.  We can learn so much from Ron; we need to trust God. 

As I left the hospital that day, I couldn’t help but think about these two men I had recently spoken to, who both talked about how amazing God is and what a gift God is in their lives, and I realized something.  They both spoke the same way.  Neither of them said their lives were perfect, and neither said their lives were easy or that there were no issues to deal with.  Neither said there wasn’t work, effort, or challenges, but neither worried about those things because both trusted God fully.  Both trusted how much God loved them, so they were at peace and saw beauty and gifts in all aspects of their lives, the good, the bad, and the in between.

Isn’t this what Jesus is saying here?  If God loves and cares for flowers in the fields and birds in the air, how much more then will he care for you?  You can trust God and his care and love, His provision and protection, and until you do, you will struggle with fear and worry.  If I truly trust God to love and care for me, would I be paralyzed in fear, weighed down by stress, and miserable in the outcomes that take place in life?  If I truly trust that God knows what tomorrow holds and I don’t, life is different, isn’t it?  I can relax, rather than living as if everything depends on me rather than God. 

So maybe you are wondering, do I trust God with my life?  Well, here is a great way to test that.  When I am unwilling to trust God, the focus stays on me, and I see the risks and uncertainty.  I see the negatives, losses, and hurts of life stick to me; I see roadblocks that keep me from doing what God asks… my life gets smaller.  When I trust God, I see opportunities and possibilities, I see the good in life, and God’s provision, and protection, and my life can expand.  Do you see it? 

Jesus says, “Don’t worry about tomorrow.” 

Not because tomorrow is going to be easy, but because God is already there and we can trust Him because we know and are centered on His great love for us.  It’s easy to dismiss statements like those Jesus made and just assume His life was easier.  It’s easy to dismiss the joy and passion of a child running to a park full of people she doesn’t know and seeing fun and opportunities, while you see danger and stress.  It’s easy to listen to people talk like my friend did, or Ron did, about how amazing God is in their lives and decide their lives must be easier…but maybe we need to pay attention and allow those moments to minister to our hearts.  Maybe it’s time to stop shrinking back in fear and worry and trust God fully. 

So, I leave you with that thought today.  

Can you trust God, or is it all on you? 

When the kingdom of God is established in us, we wake up every day to please God. We wake up and say, “God, today is yours.  Tomorrow is yours.  I trust you.”  That is a different way to live; that sounds like a lot of fun.