Matthew 6:25Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the raiment? 26Behold the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye of much more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit unto the measure of his life? 28And why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Take no thought, the injunction is not designed to promote thoughtlessness, but freedom from care.

In Matthew 6:25, It Says, he who provides us with life, with bodies (which from our perspective are most important), how much more will he also provide things of lesser importance like food and clothes! Therefore, the follower of Jesus is not to worry about such needs, as basic as they are.

This point is driven home by two examples. Life and food

“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? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

These creatures live from day to day, “they do not sow or reap or store away in barns.” Jesus, however, is not arguing that they should be our paradigm, and that we should therefore abolish farming. Rather, he goes on to tell us that despite the day-to-day kind of existence among birds, “yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” The conclusion is inevitable: “Are you not much more valuable than they?” If your heavenly Father feeds them, will he not undertake to feed you, especially in the light of the fact that he considers you more valuable than they?

Constant worry about how future meals will be provided is an affront to G od, it is saying that we cannot trust his providence. Has not Jesus already taught the heirs of the kingdom to pray, “Give us today our daily bread”? And will this prayer, taught by Jesus himself, be mocked by the Almighty?

Jesus’ argument, depends for its validity on a biblical cosmology.

The first view of cosmology might be called the open universe.

Cosmology is a term reserved primarily for the scientific study of the universe considered as a whole. Metaphysics is concerned with studies into the basic kinds of things and properties that make up the entire cosmos. Traditionally, metaphysics is subdivided into two branches: ontology and cosmology. Ontology deals with questions about the ultimate nature of things: whether a thing is one or many, or of what kind. Cosmology considers how the world is organized, and is also related to the specific view of images concerning the universe held in a religion or cultural tradition.

In the open universe model, the gods are at the top. Underneath is the physical universe as it may be perceived by primitive peoples. Their activity affects the gods in some way; and these gods or, better, spirits in turn affect things, people, and events in the perceived world. Such spirits are somewhat whimsical and capricious; and so a great deal of time and care go into placating them and winning their favor.

Right religious practice, avoidance of taboos, and the appropriate propitiating sacrifices, all help to ensure good crops, victory in the impending skirmish with the next tribe, the survival of the newborn baby, and the like.

In this open universe, of course, science (as we think of it) is inconceivable. The gods (spirits) are too unpredictable; “laws” of cause and effect could not be discovered because they are unexpected, and, if they were somehow unearthed, they would be otherwise interpreted.

A second cosmology view is the closed universe.

In this view, everything that is, lies within a circle. And everything that takes place is to be explained by what is already in the circle. The best modern representative of this model of cosmology is science of a purely mechanical and atheistic variety. There is nothing other than matter, energy, and space. Even time and chance are secondary. And every thing, every person, every event, every emotion, is to be explained by mechanical principles of cause and effect. Science is not only possible; it is the only perspective considered legitimate.

A Third cosmology view is the second view altered some.

At first, this is quite an improvement: God is at the center of things. In fact, however, it differs little from the second model, because God is merely part of the mechanism. The best contemporary examples of this sort of cosmology are found among certain philosophers and theologians. These men are not atheists in the sense that they deny the existence of a god; but they are atheists in the sense that they deny that there is a personal and transcendent God.
God-words are common; but they refer to some “Being” far removed from the God portrayed in the Bible. In the way men see reality, science (and its laws of cause and effect) is the dominant force.

The fourth model can be used to picture biblical cosmology. It is the controlled universe.

In this model, everything in the phenomenal universe is found, without exception, within the circle, along with every other created thing or being. Within this universe there are scientific laws to be discovered, and a patterned order which supports principles of cause and effect.

Above this circle which is the universe, stands God. Actually, because of God’s omnipresence, he stands both above this universe and in it. However, the infinite-personal God cannot be identified with his creation. In this sense, God stands ontologically over against his creation as its Creator and Sustainer. Designed by him, the universe hums along according to regular and predictable laws; but it does so only because he constantly exercises his sovereignty over the whole. No part of the system ever operates completely independently.

In this model, at any instant he chooses, he is free to suspend or abolish scientific “laws”; that alone will account for such a miracle as the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Man can discover scientific “laws”; indeed, he must, he is commissioned to do so as the steward of the creation.

But the scientist who has adopted this biblical cosmology will not only recognize such laws and allow for divinely initiated exceptions, he will realize that those laws continue faithfully because of God’s sustaining power. More specifically, since divine sovereignty is mediated through the Son, the Christian will hold that it is the Son who is, even now, “sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews. 1:3).

This biblical cosmology is often seen as the same as two counterfeits.

The first is offered by Deism: God has started the whole machine running, like a giant watch; but he has now more or less left it to its own devices.

The second counterfeit recognizes God’s sovereignty and transcendence, but pictures divine control as so immediate that science is excluded. But this ill accounts for the orderliness and structure God has built into the system, and for the mandate he has given man concerning it.

Old Testament believers were quite aware that water evaporates, forms clouds which drop their rain, which provides rivulets, streams, and rivers which run to the sea; but more customarily they preferred to speak of God sending the rain. Such is the biblical cosmology.

This cosmology stands behind Matthew 6:26. Only those who have adopted such a cosmology will sense the thrust of the passage

The Christian looks at a beautifully plumed bird, or an eagle in flight, or a robin straining valiantly in a tug-of-war against a fat worm, and sees his Father’s design and his Father’s care.
The believer who has understood and adopted this biblical cosmology has a constant, abundant array of evidence around him concerning divine providence and beneficence.

Jesus adds one more emphasis to this example.

He asks, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” (6:27). This verse has been translated in many different ways

It seems these phrase is an idiom, something like this: “Who of you by worrying can add to the pathway of his life a single cubit?”

As a person walks the pathway of life, the time comes when God determines it will end.

Worrying will not change that decree; he cannot travel a single cubit farther. So why worry about it?

He illustrates with the idea of our body and clothes, 6:28–30

Clothes are scarcely less important than food; and Jesus treats both in the same way. “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow.

The word rendered lilies is, in the original, an obscure word which probably means “wild flowers,” flowers of the field, complementing the “birds of the air”.

Watch those flowers grow: they do not work to earn or buy their beauty. They grow. Each flower individually, and all of them in a field as they collectively decorate the green grass, make the opulent splendor of Solomon’s clothing pale by comparison.

The Christian sees the fresh greenness of well-watered grass, and, whether or not he acknowledges the effect of chlorophyll, he certainly acknowledges the God behind the chlorophyll. God clothes the grass with spectacular arrays of flowers, even though the grass is destined to be mowed down and burned up.

Shall he not be even more concerned to clothe us, his children?

Biblical cosmology plus observant eyes engender real trust in God. Small wonder Jesus calls those who do not perceive these lessons, “men of little faith” (6:30).

All this should lead us to Distinctive living, 6:31

At the end of Matthew 5, Jesus insists that his followers must love their enemies, for even pagans and public sinners love their friends.

The norms of the kingdom require that our lifestyle be distinctive. So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (6:31f.).

Lack of uncompromising trust in God is not only an affront to him, but also essentially pagan, verse 32 provides two important reasons why we are not to sound worried and frustrated like secular men.

The first is that if we worry as pagans do, it is clear that we are pursuing the same things they are; but if we are, then because the kingdom values are so different, the kingdom is necessarily being denied.

Secondly, such worry on the part of those who profess faith in God constitutes some sort of denial of that profession, since the heavenly Father is well aware of our needs, and our conduct is advertising loudly that we don’t believe it.

Our worries must not sound like the worries of the world. When the Christian faces the pressure of examinations, does he sound like the pagan in the next room?

When he is short of money, even for the essentials, does he complain with the same tone, the same words, the same attitude, as those around him?

The follower of Jesus will be concerned to have a distinctive lifestyle, one that is characterized by values and perspectives so un-pagan that his life and conduct are, as it were, stamped all over with the words, Made in the kingdom of God.

What does this principle imply for Christians in the professions, in trade unions, in big business?

What if even one-tenth of contemporary nominal evangelicals pored over the pages of Scripture to establish what their lifestyles should be like, and, with balance, determination, meekness, and courage, found grace to live accordingly.

What transformation would be effected in our world! How the light would alleviate the darkness; how the salt would preserve society!

In the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate failed in his efforts to suppress Christianity, largely because of the distinctive living he found among believers. He told his officials, “We ought to be ashamed. Not a beggar is to be found among the Jews, and those godless Galileans [the Christians] feed not only their own people but ours as well, whereas our people receive no assistance whatever from us.”

We have some things to learn from the early Christians (not to mention many later ones, such as the Anabaptists) about the sharing of material things; but, more broadly, we have even more things to learn about the importance of the kind of living which is eager to pursue kingdom perspectives.

The question immediately at hand is worry. What if the world would look at Christians and say, not a worrier is to be found among those fanatics who call themselves Christians. They cope not only with the pressures faced by other men, but the pressures we put on them as well. And then they go and give comfort to some of us when we worry, whereas our people are constantly gulping down tranquilizers, visiting assorted counselors, and mass-producing overweight ulcers.”

The heart of the matter,

Because our heavenly Father knows what we need and has committed himself to be gracious to his children, Jesus gives this pledge: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (6:33).

(1)This promise is to the children of God, not to all men indiscriminately. This is made clear by the contrast between Jesus’ disciples and pagans in 6:31f., as well as by the condition in 6:33a itself: Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.

(2) Jesus promises that necessities will be provided (in context, food, drink, and clothes are specified), not luxuries. Many Christians in the West would think it very hard indeed if they had to live at a lower level, for they have long since come to take as necessities things which others would assess as luxuries.

(3) the major exception to this pledge occurs when Christians are suffering for righteousness’ sake. Some are martyred by starvation and by exposure. The overwhelming importance of the kingdom may require self-sacrifice even to this ultimate degree.

God does keep this promise. In the affluent West, too few of us, especially if we are young, have experienced his faithfulness in this regard. But some have been privileged to experience pressure to the point where they have had absolutely no recourse but God.

Disciples of Jesus must think clearly about these things. They will seek first their Father’s kingdom and righteousness, assured that he will provide enough to cover their needs. And, industrious and honest as they may be, they will refuse to tie their lives and happiness to treasures which can be corrupted and stolen. And rich or poor, they will struggle to understand how best to please their Father by using the wealth he has entrusted to them.

The goal, then, is always the kingdom of God. For the Christian, the disciple of Jesus, there is no other. The logic entailed by this simple fact orients his thinking to kingdom values and concomitantly abolishes worry over merely temporal things, a worry which compromises his trust in his heavenly Father.

The Final reason for Not worrying

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

It is as if Jesus recognizes that there will be some unavoidable worry today after all. But let’s limit it to the concerns of today! Our gracious God intends us to take one step at a time, no more; to be responsible today and not fret about tomorrow. “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” And if there will be new troubles tomorrow, so also will there be fresh grace.

The person who enters the kingdom adopts the perspectives of the kingdom. In broadest terms, this entails unswerving loyalty to the values dictated by God, and uncompromised trust in God.

We are refreshed in the assurance of God’s sovereign and wise goodness. According to Philippians 4, the way to be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful about everything. That’s what the text says. “In everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God.” Bengel was right to insist that anxiety and genuine prayer are more opposed to each other than fire and water. It is difficult to find a chronic worrier who enjoys an excellent prayer life.