Coming of the King: Week 14

Matthew 6:25-34: Security in the Kingdom

• 6:25 "take no thought" - don't worry. This was English at the time of Shakespeare. E.g. Bacon's Henry the Eighth describes a man "dying with thought and anguish" before his case was heard. This is not a prohibition against planning for the future or working for a living. If you are trusting your Father in Heaven for your daily bread, then you do not need to worry when government robs your retirement, for His wealth is untold. Mammon has always been unreliable. Do not trust it. Do your work to please God, not man. And not because you are depending on your savings to secure your future. Colossians 3:23 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." Philippians 4:6 (Same Greek word for "worry".)
• 6:26 God used the birds of the air to provide for Elijah, 1 Kings 17:1-16, and Jesus provided meals for the crowds that followed Him. Mark 8:18-20
• 6:27 Worrying - as opposed to making (and carrying out) the best plan you can and trusting God for the rest - is unproductive. In this practical matter, the teaching of Jesus and Buddha are very similar. Buddha does not point to any Heavenly Father you can put your trust in instead of worrying, and who can forgive your past sins. But he does drive home the utter futility and uselessness of worry about the future or fretting over the past. "Live in the present" was the message of Buddha.
• 6:28 "clothing" - God provided for clothing the Israelites when they could not, for their clothing did not wear out. Deuteronomy 8:3-4
• 6:30 God provided the second set of clothes in this world, Genesis 3:21, and it was better than the first. God provided completely for the seventy when Jesus sent them on a special mission, Luke 22:35-36, but afterward, they had to resume normal work and human provision - but still ultimately trusting their Father to provide.
• 6:32 "Your heavenly Father knows your need" - before you ask it! Matthew 6:8
• 6:33 Hold to the Father, and discount mammon.
• 6:34 Let your eye be single.