Did your presidential candidate win? Did they lose? If your person lost are you worried? If the person you didn’t want to win was successful, are you worried? Take heart. Jesus has a message for you.
“So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” Matthew 6:34
The Sermon on the Mount is the most renowned message that Jesus ever delivered. Let’s put the sermon in context. Leading up to the sermon, Jesus has recently returned from the desert and a time of solitude and testing by Satan for 40 days. The authorities are not fans of Jesus, but the regular people are paying attention to his radical ideas. He has put into place his leadership team of twelve and begins to preach in the synagogue and is healing people. He was saying and doing things that nobody was doing! Word of his teaching and healing quickly spread.
“The Sermon on the Mount is the most renowned message that Jesus ever delivered.”
As we move from Matthew chapter 4 to chapter 5, we move from Jesus speaking to only a few people to Jesus speaking to a large crowd. For the next three chapters, Jesus describes what a life looks like when it is lived with a kingdom perspective. He describes a life pleasing to God, and one filled with love and peace. Some scholars say Jesus may have spoken or days, not hours.
Many scholars believe the sermon took place on a mountain on the south end of the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum.
For a moment, let’s focus on just one portion of the sermon. In Matthew 6: 25–34, Jesus tells us not to worry. You might be thinking, that is easy for the Son of God to say. He multiples fish and loaves of bread. Jesus knows we can’t do that, yet he is giving us a directive, “do not worry.”
What are you worried about this week? Whatever it is, Jesus tells us not to worry.
Before we read this passage, let’s all take a few minutes and pause. Close your eyes and let’s individually take our problems to Jesus. Tell him what you are worrying about right now. Hold the palms of your hands open and lift them up to God, symbolically giving your problems to him. Now that you have given your worries, anxieties and fears to God, let’s read Matthew 6:25-34:
25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing?
26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God[e] above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
(New Living Translation)
May your day be focused on the eternal and may the temporary be less stressful.
This content was originally written by Darrell Passwater, Convene Forum Team leader, and updated by Convene. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Content edited and distributed by Convene for educational purposes
About the author
Darrell Passwater
Darrell Passwater is a Convene Chair in Southern California. Prior to coming to Convene he served in Christian higher education as a business professor and Dean.
He loves assisting people to develop spiritually, relationally and vocationally. His personal mission statement is to “Assist the Kingdom minded, assist The Kingdom.”