Hypocrisy in the Lack of Faith

["Click here for Matthew's account"]

"Worrying" is what is condemned here. The sin of worrying about the things of the life. Notice first that Christ establishes who it is that condemns this sin, "Therefore, I tell you." Christ is called by many names in the Old and New Testament but here, in this Sermon on the Mount, He is the Sovereign of our hearts and our Lawgiver.
"Take no thought, or be anxious, about your life." Obviously, there are some areas where God expects us to use the brains that He gave us, but lets look at what he is condemning here.

Any worry that disturbs us to the extent that it destroys our enjoyment of God, that hinders our health, that keeps us from getting our rest, that makes us unpleasant or mares our fellowship with other believers.
Any distrustful or unbelieving thought. God has promised to provide for our "necessities". i.e. Salvation by faith, Grace sufficient for our needs.
Any concern for our life. Death is of great concern in this world. "A man will give all that he has for his life". Old age pretty much does that today, but we are told to leave it with God, He will lengthen or shorten it as he pleases. Who, by worrying, can add one day to his life.
Any concern about tomorrow. Today our lives have been programmed to provide for the future. Social Security, investments, retirement benefits, by the time we reach 65, we are expected to have accumulated enough to take care of the "golden years". Life is a continual striving to attain certain goals, like keeping up with the Jones', and heaven help us if we get behind.

It is the taking of our lives out of the hands of God, that is condemned here. Christ knew that this kind of life can only lead to stress, high blood pressure and heart problems. For this reason He tells us to take no thought for the morrow. "Is there not more to life than this?" Food and clothing take a great deal out of our budget, but so does the IRS. Some things are a necessity but only to sustain life not to make it our goal in life. Christ is telling us that we should eat to live, not live to eat.
"Consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field." Matthew Henry believes that man has fallen into a very low state when he had to look to the birds to learn of God's care. Christ points out that the birds as fed, but not without some diligence in seeking on their part, but they are provided for and seek their daily food without thought for tomorrow. "Are you not more important than they?" Just how important is man? As heirs of Heaven, receptacles of the Holy Spirit, objects of God's love, partakers of God's Grace, provided for in a style beyond our ability to comprehend, certainly we must be very important. If we can accept, on faith, God's promise to provide for our eternity, why can't we accept His provision for our daily needs?
"Consider the lilies of the field." Notice how beautiful they are. Notice that they do nothing to assure their existence or their beauty yet Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like they are. They are clothed in all their glory and Christ is saying that God realizes the need for clothing and has promised that He will provide. Certainly if He provided for the flowers will He not provide for us.
Now consider our stature and our life span. There is nothing we can do about either one. Worrying cannot add one inch to our stature or one year to our life span. We cannot alter our heritage or the events of Providence in our lives. The lost seek these things because they do not know any better but God knows we have need of many things but we must seek first the Kingdom of God. Its sort of like meeting the requirement of faith to receive His blessings, then let tomorrow take care of itself, be concerned only for today. Have you ever considered how much of your time and energies are consumed in planing for tomorrow? Christ is telling us not to "borrow" trouble, a coward dies many deaths.
Matthew Henry ends this portion of scripture with these words of advice, "Let us not put upon ourselves all at once that which Providence has wisely ordered to be borne in parts." God has ordered our life to be borne in parts, sufficient strength is promised for this, why can't we accept this?

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