Freedom from Anxiety Through Kingdom Priorities

Week 5: The Way of Trust — Freedom from Anxiety Through Kingdom Priorities Matthew 6:19–34

Central Idea: Jesus calls His followers to make obedience to God their one priority and to trust that He will provide all their needs. Anxiety about possessions and provision reveals divided loyalty and lack of trust in our Father's care.

Today we are exploring one of the most practically challenging passages in the Sermon on the Mount — Jesus's call to release anxiety and reorder our lives around His kingdom. In a world that tells us to earn more, secure more, and worry about everything in between, Jesus offers a radically different way of living.

This week we'll look at why anxiety is really a spiritual issue at its root, not just a psychological one. Jesus diagnoses our worry as a symptom of divided loyalty — trying to serve both God and the security that money promises. The cure isn't a better mindset. It's a reordered heart.

As we work through Matthew 6:19–34 together, we'll be asked three honest diagnostic questions: What do you worry about most? What does your budget reveal about your priorities? And are you living like someone with a heavenly Father — or like an orphan who has to secure everything on their own? Come ready to be honest, and come ready to be free.

I. YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS (vv. 19–24)

Treasure Reveals Heart Location (vv. 19–21)

Matthew 6:19–21 NIV

The point is: everything you try to secure on earth is ultimately insecure. Every earthly treasure has an expiration date.

The Eye as Lamp (vv. 22–23)

Matthew 6:22–23 NIV

The Impossibility of Dual Allegiance (v. 24)

Matthew 6:24 NIV

Do you own your possessions — or do they own you?

II. DO NOT BE ANXIOUS (vv. 25–32)

The Command and Its Reason (v. 25)

Matthew 6:25 NLT

Look at the Birds (v. 26)

Matthew 6:26 NIV

Anxiety Is Useless (v. 27)

Matthew 6:27 NIV

Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

Consider the Lilies (vv. 28–30)

Matthew 6:28–30 NIV

What the Gentiles Seek (vv. 31–32)

Matthew 6:31–32 NIV

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

III. SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM (v. 33)

The One Priority

Matthew 6:33 NIV

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The Promise

"And all these things will be added to you."

What Does Seeking the Kingdom Look Like?

IV. DO NOT BE ANXIOUS ABOUT TOMORROW (v. 34)

One Day at a Time

Matthew 6:34 NIV

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Anxiety Robs Us of Today

Can you trust God enough with tomorrow to actually rest today?

Three diagnostic questions to sit with this week.

First: What do you worry about most? 

Second: What does your budget reveal?

Third: Do you live like you have a heavenly Father who provides — or like an orphan who has to secure everything yourself?