Do Not Worry: Seek First (Matt 6:25-34)
Verse 30 Jesus continues His analogy but switches from, “wild flowers” to “grass of the field.”
• Something seemingly as worthless as straw, so mattered to God that he took special care to clothe it.
o The grass wasn’t just an afterthought, God took care in creating it, and clothing it.
Verse 31 We can’t gloss over that one little verb here “saying”
• This verb means “saying,” but within its range of meanings is also, “to affirm,” or “to teach”
• The verb structure has also an ongoing continual sense to it.
o So, rethink this statement, “don’t worry by repeatedly affirming it”
• Don’t let your worry give expression to itself in what we say. That simply reinforces or affirms the worry.
Verse 32 Jesus now really turns up the heat on His audience by comparing them to those that have no faith.
• For us to today, do we look any different than the world around us that doesn’t know Jesus?
• In the NIV it says, “run after all these things.” The word in the Greek means, “striving after.”
• Jesus finishes this verse with an incredible statement, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
o This verse is an incredible promise; He sees our needs, every one of them.
Verse 33 We miss it in the English but there is a word play in the Greek between the, “run after or striving” of the last verse and the “seek first” of this verse. The word in this verse does mean seek but can also be striving.
• Don’t strive after the things of the world, but do strive after the things of the Kingdom.
o Different word, similar sound. A rhetorical play on words with a homophone
• The command is in the Greek present tense, ongoing, so it has the sense of “keep seeking His Kingdom.”
o This is not a onetime thing but a way of life, seeking the Kingdom first.
• It is also an imperative which makes it a command from Jesus.
• The word translated in the NIV as “first” has the following definitions first; leading, foremost, prominent, most important. The most important or the prominent thing in our lives is to be continually seeking of God’s kingdom and His righteousness.
Righteousness: Remember that righteousness is not something we do on our own.
• We don’t somehow muster up the strength to be righteousness; rather Jesus imparts His righteousness to us.
• When we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us and clean us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
33b This is the real promise in this passage.
Verse 34 Jesus repeats His command to not worry, but adds that tomorrow will have enough worry of its own.
Four things to Remember when tempted worry:
1. Look at nature: Consider it carefully: See the creator, see how God’s care is designed into nature.
2. Consider how much of what you are worried about is just cultural
3. Remember identity:
4. Seek first the kingdom becomes a call to readjust our purposes, thinking, our action to those of the Father.
5. Two big promises in this passage. The Father knows what are needs are, He will meet those needs.
