Matthew 6: Do Not Worry, Seek God First

Introduction

Who has never worried? David Pothier, pastor at la Chapelle, continues his series on the Sermon on the Mount, "the greatest speech in the world," with a passage that, he says, "concerns everyone": Matthew 6:25-34. The title of the message: do not worry.

We worry about our children, our finances, our work, our health. Singles worry about not finding a spouse, married people worry because they found one. The poor are afraid of running out of money, the rich are afraid of losing it. Pastors too: "When I can't sleep at 2 or 3 in the morning, it's not because I have too much joy, it's because I'm worried." We are all, he says with a smile, professional worriers: some have a bachelor's degree in worry, others a master's, others a doctorate.

The problem is that we have ended up resigned to it: we tell ourselves it is part of life. Jesus, for his part, says three times in this text: do not worry. And he does not just say it, he shows how.

Outline of the Message

1. The Context: You Cannot Serve God and Mammon

The passage begins with "Therefore." When you meet this word in the Bible, it points back to what comes before. In verse 24, Jesus has just said: "You can't serve both God and Mammon."
Mammon is money. Money and possessions are a major source of worry, in Jesus' day when people were very poor as much as today.
The paradox: we are richer than ever, so we should worry less. That is not the case. Among the biggest worries of people who have money is money. The pastor imitates someone who no longer knows where to store his boat or who wonders what his Tesla is still worth: "More money, more problems."
In the passage, Jesus names what worries us: money, food, the body, clothes, tomorrow. Not to mention social anxiety, status anxiety, performance anxiety, eco-anxiety.

2. Do Not Worry, You Are Valuable to God

"Look at the birds of the sky" (verse 26): the word invites us to consider, to reflect. Birds do not wake up at 3 in the morning wondering whether there will be a shortage of earthworms. They do not worry, and God feeds them.
One clarification: birds do not worry, but they work. Some say they are not worried about finding a job, but they are not looking for one. "God provides, but you have to work."
If God takes care of birds, he will take care of you, because you are worth much more than they are. Human beings are the only creature made in the image of God, and those who bear his image have great value, even those who do not reflect it well.
The pastor tells, with humor, the story of his golden retriever, a $1,000 visit to the vet and a $3,000 operation under consideration, finally avoided thanks to his wife's courage. His point: we love our dogs, our cats, our birds. God loves you and takes care of you far more.

3. Do Not Worry, It Is Useless

"Which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit to his lifespan?" (verse 27). Is there a single situation that worry has improved? Has anyone ever lived one more day because they worried? No.
It is actually the opposite. Worry leads to ulcers, high blood pressure, heart problems, headaches, neck and back pain.
It damages mental health, physical health and, worse still, spiritual health.
The pastor says he sees it all the time: when we do not manage our worries well, they sometimes turn into anxiety, and anxiety, when we no longer know what to do with it, often turns into depression.

4. Do Not Worry, Trust God

The lilies of the field do not toil or spin, and Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of them. If God clothes the grass of the field this way, will he not do much more for you, "you of little faith" (verse 30)?
David Pothier would not have dared to say it, but it is Jesus who says it. And he thinks Jesus says it with compassion, with gentleness.
When we worry, we are actually telling God: "I don't trust you. Your plans, your provision, your faithfulness, your goodness, I don't believe in them."
The pastor clarifies: he is not saying you have problems because you lack faith. He is saying that our worries reveal our lack of faith. The good news is that Jesus is not speaking to people without faith, but to people of "little faith." He welcomes our worries and wants to teach us to grow in trust.
What worries you most reveals the area where you trust God least: finances, singleness, children, health, marriage, work, business, retirement.
He quotes pastor Ed Dobson, who had Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS), lived with it for fifteen years and kept preaching while his muscles abandoned him one by one, until he ended his life on a ventilator. Ed Dobson said that worry reveals our lack of trust in God. Some days he trusted God; other days he worried from morning to night. In those moments he recited "Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing," without believing a word of it, and he repeated it until he began to believe it. At the end, he could no longer say it with his mouth, he cried it out in his soul.
Trusting God does not mean believing everything will turn out the way we want. It means saying: "No matter how things turn out, whether I leave this hospital bed or not, I will trust God."
His mother kept telling him: "David, trust in the Lord." As a child and then as a young adult, it annoyed him: didn't she have another answer? Today she is 92, lives in a care home, can hardly walk or read her Bible anymore, and the pastor's brother writes verses for her in large print. "She has lost everything, but she has not lost her trust in God." And the pastor concludes: his mother was right.

5. Do Not Worry, Your Heavenly Father Knows What You Need

"For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things" (verse 32). The Gentiles are people who do not seek God.
Jesus was not speaking to people with full refrigerators, or to people who turn on the tap for clean water, or to people who donate clothes to the thrift store every three months. He was speaking to people who struggled to find their next meal and drinkable water, and whose only possessions were what they wore on their backs.
To live with less worry, we must accept that many of our desires are not needs.
God wants to provide for your needs, not for all your desires: "If he gave you everything you want, you would destroy yourself with it."

6. The Solution: Put God First

Jesus does not just say to stop worrying, he says how: "But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well" (verse 33). All these things are food, drink, clothing, the necessities of life.
This is the heart of the message: "The great majority of our worries come from priorities that are out of order." We put things above God, and they are not necessarily bad things. But whatever you put above God, you will worry about.
Is God first in your day, in your thoughts, in your finances, in your relationships? The pastor admits that, for him, it was often success that came first, while he believed it was God.
For others, it is work or family. Children are a gift from God, but our age turns them into gods and puts a pressure on them they cannot bear: "If your child is your god, he will be anxious. And he will be a bad god." We also make gods of money, possessions, health, the body, image, popularity, sexuality. When that god is taken from us, we collapse.
One thing alone cannot be taken from you: God and his kingdom. The pastor loves his family and his ministry, but one day he will no longer be a pastor. If ministry comes first, what will he have left? If it is God and his mission, making disciples and bringing people to Jesus, that mission only ends on the deathbed.
When God is first, worries sort themselves out, and you can live today without constantly being in tomorrow.

7. A Time of Surrender to God

At the end of the message, David Pothier invites those who are worried to raise a hand before God, as if offering him their worries, their priorities and their idols, without taking them back afterward.
He also prays for himself, naming his own idols: success, achievement, activism.
He entrusts to God the children, the family, the threatened job, the financial situation and the bills to pay.
He then gives a second invitation to those who are far from God, weighed down by guilt and their failures, to give their lives to Jesus and put him first.

Key Takeaways

You are worth more in God's eyes than the birds he feeds: you are made in his image.
Worry adds nothing to your life; it damages your mental, physical and spiritual health.
What worries you most reveals the area where you trust God least, and Jesus welcomes even a small faith.
God provides for your needs, not for all your desires.
Most of our worries come from priorities that are out of order: seeking God's kingdom first is the remedy.

Personal Application

What is the thing that worries you most right now, and what does it reveal about your trust in God?
Is there an area where you say "I'm not worried" when you are not doing your part of the work?
Among your current desires, which are needs and which are not?
What comes before God in your life: success, children, money, health, image?
What verse can you repeat to yourself this week, like Ed Dobson with Psalm 23, until you begin to believe it?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Jesus say about worry in Matthew 6?

In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus says "Do not worry" three times. David Pothier draws five reasons from it: you are valuable to God, worry accomplishes nothing, you can trust God, your heavenly Father knows what you need, and the solution is to seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness.

Is worrying a lack of faith?

David Pothier clarifies that he is not saying you have problems because you lack faith. He is saying that our worries reveal a lack of trust in God. Jesus is not speaking to people without faith but to "you of little faith," and he does so with compassion: you can have a small faith and learn to grow in trust.

Why is seeking God first the remedy for worry?

According to David Pothier, the great majority of our worries come from priorities that are out of order. When we put a good thing (children, money, health, success) above God, we worry about it. If God and his kingdom come first, we hold what no one can take from us.