Matt 6:25–34 — Seek First the Kingdom

The title of this sermon comes from Matthew 6:33: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The earthly things in view are our needs for food and clothing.

The Structure of the Passage

Jesus tells his disciples three times not to be anxious. Verse 25 gives the banner prohibition: “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on.”

In verses 26–30, Jesus provides several reasons not to be anxious. Verse 31 then returns to the prohibition: “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’” This time Jesus adds a positive command. The Gentiles seek all these things, but the disciples must seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness.

Verse 34 states the prohibition a third time and expands its scope beyond food and clothing: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.” The passage’s central concern is unmistakable. Jesus warns his disciples against anxiety and worry.

The passage also develops the two examples introduced in verse 25. Verses 26–27 address anxiety about food: “Look at the birds of the air.” They neither sow seed, reap a harvest, nor gather crops into barns. They do not farm to produce their food, yet the heavenly Father feeds them. Jesus asks, “Are you not of more value than they?”

Verses 28–30 then address anxiety about clothing: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin.” Spinning does not mean turning in circles, but making thread and textiles for clothing. The flowers do not manufacture garments, yet even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of them.

The grass of the field is alive today and thrown into the oven tomorrow. We may not ordinarily think of grass as flowering because we keep our lawns short, but wild grass on the hills produces flowers in the spring. Here in Southern California, the hills bloom beautifully after abundant rain, although the display lasts only a short time. The grass soon dries and, in the ancient world, could be used as fuel for an oven. If God clothes such temporary grass with flowers, how much more will he clothe his children?

The Two Expressions of Anxiety

Anxiety and worry can express themselves in two ways. Jesus addresses both inward anxiety and its outward expression.

Inward Anxiety

Inward anxiety consists of obsessive thoughts, doubts, and fears about the future. Jesus addresses this in verse 27: “Which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” The day of our death has already been appointed by God. Spending emotional energy in an attempt to extend life cannot add even one hour to it.

We can trust the Lord’s providence. We are his servants, and he will take us to himself at the proper time. There is no benefit in exhausting ourselves with worry about something we cannot control.

Verse 34 makes the same point: “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Anxiety about tomorrow consumes us with fearful thoughts about a future beyond our control.

Outward Anxiety

Anxiety also appears outwardly as relentless striving to control the future and secure everything we think we need. Jesus emphasizes this form through his illustrations of the birds and flowers.

The birds neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns. Sowing, reaping, and storing a harvest are human activities undertaken to provide food and material security. Birds do none of these things. They simply receive what God provides as they gather seeds or worms from the ground.

Likewise, the lilies neither toil nor spin. Wild plants do not work at looms to make their clothing. They receive nutrients from the soil and rain from heaven, and God clothes them with beautiful blossoms for which they did not labor.

In modern life, outward anxiety often appears as workaholism. A person may labor far beyond what is reasonable, striving continually for career advancement, material gain, or the financial security associated with the American dream. We may not recognize the anxious thoughts within us because we are so occupied with anxious activity. Jesus warns us about this unrelenting drive for economic success.

Work Without Anxious Toil

Jesus is not teaching his disciples to avoid work or neglect their families. Such an interpretation would contradict 1 Timothy 5:8: “If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Disciples should work and provide for those entrusted to their care.

Jesus warns against anxious toil in which material provision becomes our controlling priority. We may become so preoccupied with food, clothing, and financial security that we lose sight of the greater purpose expressed in verse 33: seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

Christ calls his disciples to differ from the pagans around them. The Gentiles devote their energy to financial security because they live only for this age. They miss life’s higher purpose: to know, serve, and glorify God and to live for his kingdom and honor. Jesus forbids both consuming thoughts of anxiety and a life consumed by anxious toil.

The Antidote to Anxiety

Jesus does more than issue a negative prohibition. He recognizes that anxiety about our needs is natural and offers its antidote: faith in the heavenly Father. He draws us toward trust by reasoning with us about the Father’s character.

“Look at the birds of the air,” he says. “They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” God cares for birds and grass, which are of less value and permanence than his adopted children. How much more will he care for us?

Jesus makes his call to faith explicit in verse 30: “Will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?” Here faith is not so much the opposite of doubt as the opposite of unbelief—the failure to trust the Father’s power and goodness.

Both attributes matter. Our Father has the power to provide because he is the sovereign Creator and governor of the universe, extending his providence even to birds and grass. He is also good. He knows us, cares for us, and has our best interests at heart because we are his children. Faith means trusting this heavenly Father.

The words “O you of little faith” contain a reprimand, but they are also encouraging. Jesus contrasts the littleness of our faith with the greatness of our Father. He spends far more time explaining why we may trust than merely commanding us to do so. The Father values and cares for lesser creatures; how much more will he care for his children through Christ?

Verse 32 offers further assurance: “Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” He knows every intimate detail of our lives. Perhaps you are now enduring something that causes anxiety. It helps to remember that your Father knows exactly what you need.

What we think we need and what the Father wills for us may not be identical. Learning that distinction may take time as we grow in our relationship with him. Yet we can trust that he knows our true needs and will provide. If he does not give what we want, or does not give it when we want it, we may still believe that he has our good in view. The present trial, difficulty, or deprivation remains within his fatherly love and care.

Jesus therefore weans his disciples from anxiety not merely by repeating, “Do not be anxious,” but by revealing a Father who loves them, knows their needs, cares for them, and possesses the power to provide.

The Glory Greater Than Solomon’s

Jesus also directs us toward the great, eternal, and glorious world to come: the kingdom in its future fullness, when Christ returns, removes sin and suffering, and brings his people into glory.

This theme is implied in verse 29: “Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” If God gives the grass and wildflowers a beauty surpassing Solomon’s garments, how much more will he clothe his people in glory?

Solomon asked God for wisdom rather than riches or honor, but God granted him all three. His prosperity became so renowned that the Queen of Sheba traveled to hear his wisdom and see his kingdom. Afterward she confessed, “The half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard” (1 Kings 10:7). The wealth, splendor, and wisdom of Solomon at the height of his reign pointed beyond him to the glory of Christ.

Jesus later says in Matthew 12:42, “Something greater than Solomon is here.” Christ is the Messiah, and Solomon was a type and shadow pointing to him. In particular, Solomon’s glory anticipates Christ’s exaltation after his suffering: his present glory at the Father’s right hand and the glory that will be manifested at the last day.

When Christ returns, he will take us to himself and transform our mortal, sickness-prone bodies to be like his glorious body. Christ is the greater Solomon, but his people will also reign with him—not amid merely earthly gold and silver, but in the eternal weight of glory prepared for them.

Jesus does not spell out every detail of this eschatological hope in the passage, but his reference to Solomon suggests it. If the Father has such future glory in store for us, surely he will provide what we need now as pilgrims on the way. Verse 33 reinforces this assurance: “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

When we have such a great God, how can we have such little faith? Our anxiety resembles a child fearing starvation while his father is the richest man in the world. If the child understood his father’s resources and care, he would have no reason to fear abandonment. Our heavenly Father holds the whole world in his hands, and he will provide for us here and now.

The Father Revealed by the Son

Every statement in this passage is the teaching of Jesus to his disciples. He is our Master and Lord, and he is the eternal Son who became man to reveal the Father. The identity of the speaker therefore matters.

Paul gives similar instruction in Philippians 4:6: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Yet it has special significance to hear the command from the lips of our Savior, the incarnate Son who reveals the heavenly Father.

Some Christians object to red-letter Bibles because printing Jesus’ words in red may imply that the remaining words of Scripture are less inspired, holy, or important. That concern is legitimate. Every word of Scripture is inspired. Nevertheless, the red letters can serve a helpful purpose by reminding us that Jesus himself is speaking—our Lord, Savior, and Master.

Jesus speaks about the heavenly Father to draw his disciples into faith and trust. The Father does not speak these words directly, nor does an apostle speak them. Jesus Christ, the Son and mediator, calls us to the Father. This is essential, because we cannot know God as our Father apart from Christ.

The Gentiles seek food, clothing, and security without knowing God as Father. They may reason from creation that God exists and governs the world. They may even conclude that the God who provides for birds and grass should also provide for them. Yet they cannot know him as the Father who loves them, knows their needs, seeks their good, and will bring them into eternal glory. That knowledge is found only in Christ.

There is one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus. We can call God our Father only because Christ’s saving work adopts us into the Father’s family. All four Gospels move toward the passion narrative, where the Messiah lays down his life for the forgiveness of his people’s sins. The one who will go to the cross to save his people is the Lord and Master who teaches them about their heavenly Father.

Jesus does not call his disciples to generic confidence in a generic deity. He calls them to trust the power and goodness of the Father revealed in himself. Matthew 11:27 provides an interpretive key for the Gospel: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

The Son knows the Father perfectly and reveals him to us. He is our Savior and mediator, who goes to the cross for our sins and brings us into God’s family so that we may call God our Father. Every word of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount carries this mediatorial significance. Christ himself reveals the Father to his disciples through his person and work.

Seek First the Kingdom

Jesus’ practical command is clear: Do not be consumed with worry, whether inwardly or outwardly. Do not allow anxiety about physical needs, employment, money, health, or financial security to impede kingdom discipleship.

Concern about these matters is natural, but the Gentiles are consumed by it because their vision is limited to this life. Apart from Christ, they do not know God as their heavenly Father or possess an eschatological hope. Their energy and passion remain fixed on gaining and securing the things of this world.

Disciples of Christ have a heavenly hope. Redeemed by Christ’s blood, we can devote ourselves single-mindedly to God’s kingdom and glory while trusting the Father’s goodness. Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

To seek first God’s kingdom does not mean that we bring the kingdom into existence. Jesus explains the command by adding the words “and his righteousness.” He is referring to the life of kingdom righteousness taught throughout the Sermon on the Mount.

Seeking the kingdom means pursuing the higher righteousness of Matthew 5 and living as committed followers of Christ. It means embodying the Lord’s Prayer as pilgrims on the way: seeking daily bread as Israel received manna, forgiving others as we have been forgiven, and trusting the Lord for our daily needs.

It means refusing to be consumed by materialism as the Gentiles are. We live for heaven and the glory of the age to come, setting our hope fully on the glory to be revealed when Christ returns. In the present age, we live humbly and patiently. We readily forgive, show mercy, turn the other cheek, love our enemies, pray for them, and seek their salvation. This is the life of discipleship Jesus sets forth in the Sermon on the Mount.