MATTHEW 6:25-34
4. Jesus is talking about being so entangled with the affairs of this earth that we forget eternity. We just forget to take
care of our lives and bodies beyond this life (Lk.12:20; cp. Ps.49:10-20; 2 Tim.2:4).

The charge is clear. We are not to worry. We are to be consumed with God and people, not things. We are
to seek God first and serve Him and our fellow man first. Then the necessities, and in some cases the luxuries,
will be given us (Mt.6:33).

Thought 1. There are two kinds of food, drink, and clothing. There are...
• the necessary items
• the extravagant or luxury items that lead to self-indulgence
Living sumptuously and extravagantly, at ease and in luxury in the midst of a needy and starving world is sin. It
is a sin that condemns us to hell (see DEEPER STUDY # 1—Lk.16:19-21). The believer is not to be entangled in the
affairs of material things (2 Tim.2:4).

Thought 2. Food, clothing, and shelter are necessities of life. It is not wrong to work for these, nor to make them se-
cure for our future. What is wrong is fourfold.
1) Ignoring and neglecting God while we work.
2) Working day and night and then worrying over how to keep what we have and how to make more and
more.
3) Never being satisfied with the necessities, coveting to have more and more, to have bigger and better, to
have as large and as good as the next person.
4) Neglecting the needs of others who have greater needs than we have (see outline and notes—Mt.6:19-24).

2
(6:25) Life—Body—Food—Clothing: do not worry about your life and body. The point is clear and striking: a person’s
life and body are of more value—much more value—than the food he eats and the clothes he puts on. Why then should a
person allow these things, secondary things, to consume and dominate his life? So many are controlled by the necessities and
luxuries, the material things of the world.
A person can eat and wear only so much at one time. Enough is enough; more than enough is too much; too much means
that a person is consuming it upon his lusts (see DEEPER STUDY # 1—Jas.4:1-3; note—Jas.4:2). His life is being dominated
by, instead of dominating, the things of the world.

Thought 1. Note several significant lessons.
1) Do not worry: think about your life and body and learn to trust God for food and clothing. Concentrate
your mind and effort upon your life and body, not upon food and clothing.
2) The point is simple and clear. Life means more than just things, even more than food and clothing.

“Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abun-
dance of the things which he possesseth” (Lk.12:15).
“He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care
of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful”
(Mt.13:22).
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake
shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul” (Mt.16:25-26).
“It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he gi-
veth his beloved sleep” (Ps.127:2).

3) Materialism (worldliness and possessions) can enslave a person to such a degree that it dominates his life.
In order to get and possess more, spouses argue, men steal, employees crave, employers hoard, children
pout and nations war. Life—living and enjoying what God has given—is ignored and neglected in order to get
and possess more and more.

“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your
lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and can-
not obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, be-
cause ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will
be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (Jas.4:1-4).

4) The basic problem of man is setting priorities and determining what is to be first in his life. The first
priority of every man should be to take care of his life—eternally. Why should a man be concerned about a
few short years when he has the opportunity to sustain life forever? Why seek the things that only sustain
and adorn his physical body for a brief time and then fade away? Why would he not seek first that which
can sustain and adorn his life forever? Seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness should be
the first priority of every man.

“And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeit-
ing, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares”
(Lk.21:34).
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