Christ’s Command: Do Not Worry (3)
Do Not Be Distracted From the Kingdom (Matthew 6:31-33) by Rev. Martyn McGeown
I. Distracted by What?
II. Distracted From What?
III. Distracted Why?
This video includes the congregational prayer, some Psalm singing, as well as the sermon, etc.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:19-34
Psalms: 96:1-5; 37:8-11
J. C. Ryle: “Anxiety about the things of this world is most unworthy of a Christian. One great feature of heathenism is living for the present. Let the heathen, if he will, be anxious. He knows nothing of a Father in heaven. But let the Christian, who has clearer light and knowledge, give proof of it by his faith and contentment. When bereaved of those whom we love, we are not to ‘sorrow as those who have no hope.’ When tried by cares about this life, we are not to be over-anxious, as if we had no God, and no Christ” (Expository Thoughts on Matthew, p. 60).
Arthur W. Pink: “The believer need trouble himself no further than soberly to use all lawful means, calmly and confidently counting on God to bless the same: God will provide what is needful for him and therefore he need not vex his mind about it … Here is double armour against the arrows of anxiety: the intimate relation which the great God sustains to His people, and the assurance that His knowledge of them is equal to His love for them. The children of this world are indeed tormented with anxiety as to how tomorrow’s supplies will be obtained, nor is it at all strange that they should be bowed down with such cares, for they have no heavenly Father to whose infinite love and faithfulness they may commit themselves … In these words (v. 33) Christ makes known the great counter-agent unto and remedy for covetousness. As in the previous verses He had been striking at the root from which that sin proceeds, namely distrust of God and excessive care for the things of this life, so here He reveals the effectual specific: that is, making the things of God our paramount concern. It is of no use only to tell men that they ought to trust, that the birds of the air might teach them to trust, that the flowers of the field might preach resignation and confidence to them. It is no use to attempt to scold them into trust, by telling them that distrust is heathenish. You must fill the heart with supreme and transcendent desire after the one supreme object; and then there will be no room and leisure left for the anxious care after the lesser. Have inwrought into your being, Christian man, the opposite of that heathen over-regard for earthly things” (The Sermon on the Mount, p. 249).
John Calvin on Matthew 6:33: “This is a reproof of the gross ignorance, in which all such anxieties originate. For how comes it, that unbelievers never remain in a state of tranquillity, but because they imagine that God is unemployed, or asleep, in heaven, or, at least, that he does not take charge of the affairs of men, or feed, as members of his family, those whom he has admitted to his friendship. By this comparison he intimates, that they have made little proficiency, and have not yet learned the first lessons of godliness, who do not behold, with the eyes of faith, the hand of God filled with a hidden abundance of all good things, so as to expect their food with quietness and composure. Your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of those things: that is, ‘All those persons who are so anxious about food, give no more honor, than unbelievers do, to the fatherly goodness and secret providence of God.’”
Matthew Henry on Matthew 6: “Though he knows our wants, he will know them from us; and when we have opened them to him, let us cheerfully refer ourselves to his wisdom, power, and goodness, for our supply. Therefore, we should ease ourselves of the burden of care, by casting it upon God, because it is he that careth for us, and what needs all this ado? If he care, why should we care?”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “There are so many people who can be described as spiritual worldlings. If you talk to them about salvation, they have the correct view; but if you talk to them about life in general, they are worldlings. When it is a matter of the salvation of the soul, they have the correct answer; but if you listen to their ordinary conversation about life in this world, you will discover a heathen philosophy. They are worried about food and drink; they are always talking about wealth and position and their various possessions. These things really control them. They are made happy or unhappy by them; they are put out by them or pleased by them; and they are always thinking and talking about them. That is to be like the heathen, says Christ; for the Christian should not be controlled by these things” (Sermon on the Mount, vol. 2, p. 139).