Subject 13 : The Gospel According to MATTHEW
[Chapter 6-5] Sufficient for the Day Is Its Own Trouble (Matthew 6:34)
(Matthew 6:34)
“Therefore
do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own
things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
The
Lord said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
The biggest enemy to the righteous who live a life of faith is worry. It
is not even today’s worry, but worry for the future. To us, the
righteous, the worries about the future are from our own shortcomings
and weaknesses. Therefore, we may say, “This is who I am now, then, how
can I not worry about tomorrow?”
It
is only natural that we worry when we look at ourselves. However, if we
see our shortcomings of today and look at ourselves, who do not seem to
have the possibility of having any better futures, and predict our
future, we cannot but worry about it. And this can make us give up our
life of faith. This is because since we think that we know ourselves
very well and that there is no guarantee that the future will be better,
so when there is no hope, we come to fall on worries. And these worries
wither away our faith thoroughly and make us fall on the fatal
worries―“Should I give up my faith?”
However,
our Lord says this. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its
own trouble.” If we have anything that lacks now, we face it everyday
for what lacks everyday. Tomorrow will worry about its own things, and
sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
What
happens when we fall on worries by looking at our own weaknesses and
shortcomings? Just as a small yeast makes the entire bread rise up, to
us humans, and even to the righteous, our hearts become covered with the
shade of worries.
There
is no one without weakness. Everyone has it. If we look at ourselves as
100%, let’s consider that someone is worrying about his present
situation and about the future as the amount of 10% out of 100%. Just
10% out of 100% is in problem, but the rest 90% is okay. However,
because of this 10%, we have an illusion that we only have things that
we need to worry about. This 10% is overtaking the other 90% with the
thought that we are lacking, weak, always make mistakes, cannot do
anything, and the future cannot really be any better. As a result, this
makes us someone who cannot do anything, that is, the enervated person.
However,
in reality, our Lord said, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its
own trouble.” What the Lord said here is: “Is there anything you lack?
If you have trouble today because of what lacks, it is enough trouble
and you do not have to worry about what is going to lack in the future.
Do not bring the troubles of the future into the present and suffer from
them in anticipation.” The Lord says that tomorrow will worry about its
own things.
What
is in this teaching? When we see our lives as 100%, if there is 10% out
of 100% that worries us, we only need to be troubled with that amount
for the day. Of course, this does not mean that there will be no worries
in the future. This does not mean we do not have any area where we are
weak or lack. We all have that. However, if the weakness shows up, we
only need to be troubled from the very areas that the weaknesses show up
for the day. There is no reason why we need to bring up future worries
into the present and worry now in anticipation. Our Lord is saying that
we do not need to be frustrated with ourselves, thinking that we are a
crippled person, who cannot do anything, and give up on ourselves
because we are discouraged that we cannot live a life of faith anymore.
You
and I are righteous people. However, we are not perfect in everything.
Everyone has defects and weaknesses. When we first experience it, when
we are just born again, it is ok. Why? Because we have still hope. It is
ok because we have hope that it will change. But, as we live more and
more in our lives of faith, it is not ok anymore. Just because we live a
life of faith, our flesh does not change. Even Paul could not say that
he had no shortcomings. Rather Paul said, “O wretched man that I am! Who
will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24) We can find
that he also was in his worries and weaknesses.
Therefore,
when we find out about something that worries us, we must not bring in
what should be in the future and die from the burden of worries. If we
are going to be troubled because of some problems or our weaknesses, we
can be in trouble whenever it shows up rather than give up the life of
faith or die because we are lacking. This is the word of encouragement
from our Lord. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will
worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
We can be bold by believing in this teaching.
We,
the righteous are to live for God and His righteousness. Even though
we, the righteous have negative sides of our own, our lives are
beautiful when we are in union with God’s Church. We, the servants of
God also live for the Lord. We also have many shortcomings, worries, and
weak areas. However, as a result of that, do we just suffer from them,
and cannot move ahead? That is not so. We do stop worrying about them,
and go ahead by faith in His Word.
No
matter how hard we try to hide our weakness, we know that we cannot
change ourselves, and, as a result, we can give up our life of faith.
That’s why our Lord said, “Why do you worry, Do not worry for tomorrow.
Do not worry in advance about what might possibly happen again tomorrow.
When such things happen, and suffer because of it, it is enough to
suffer that day.” We must not die today because of that, thinking that
we do not have any hope, or give up our life of faith as we carry the
heavy burden of worries, or grieve and lose our strength or die.
You
and I all have weaknesses of the flesh. We all have shortcomings. One
day’s suffering is enough for the day and there is no need to carry
future suffering all at once and die. When we see perfectionists, we
sometimes see that they anticipate themselves in the future and give up
the path that they have not even been to. They look at themselves, count
it like this: “I am such a person. I am really not fit for the Lord’s
work and Lord’s Kingdom. And it is not in my nature to live a life of
faith.” This 10% worries can make them despair, and eventually quit
their lives of faith, saying, “I am not fit for it, so I am going to
give up my life of faith.”
Therefore,
you should know that this is the scheme of the devil. Not to fall on
such worries, the Lord said to us, “Therefore do not worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for
the day is its own trouble.” Even though we are not perfect people in
our flesh, because Jesus has blotted out all our sins, all we have to do
is suffer from the present troubles from moment to moment. If there is
something that we really need to suffer, it is enough to suffer that
day. Of course, we sometimes cannot but feel desperate because the 10%
worries overwhelm all the rest 90% of our life of faith. But we must
blow out the small flare of worries before it burns out all of our
faith. We have to reaffirm that Jesus took all our weaknesses and
shortcomings along with our sins when He was baptized by John the
Baptist.
We
must listen carefully to what the Bible says in Matthew 6:34. Every one
of us, the righteous, who thinks deeply about himself must listen
carefully to the Lord’s teaching. We must listen carefully to what Jesus
says about not worrying about tomorrow. There must not be such a thing
as looking at himself for tomorrow, worrying about it and giving up his
life of faith. If we lack today, we suffer a little today, and if there
is something tomorrow that lacks, suffer a little more tomorrow. We must
not be like a perfectionist, who thinks “Oh, no. It’s impossible for me
to follow Jesus,” and kill himself just as Judas did, and become
foolish Christians or God’s workers. Do you understand what I am saying?
In
reality, are there areas where you worry about the future and tomorrow?
Yes, surely there are. The biggest one might be looking at ourselves
and worrying about it. Because we are people, and especially the
righteous ones among them, we worry a lot. If we worry about tomorrow,
we die spiritually. We die now. Dying today without even having lived
tomorrow is truly foolish.
What
stumbles our faith is the worries of the world. It is worrying about
tomorrow. It is the worries that we do alone hiding in our hearts and
not telling anyone. The worries about our own today’s weaknesses and
shortcomings, and possible repeats of them tomorrow make us collapse.
Are we going to carry the burden alone and die alone, saying “I cannot
tell anyone about this”? That’s not the will of God.
As
in the Pilgrim’s Progress that is about going toward the Kingdom of
God, we are the pilgrims. Peter also called the saints “as sojourners
and pilgrims” (1 Peter 2:11). We are the pilgrims and travelers to the
Kingdom, who live in this world as the wind that passes by. A traveler
suffers moment-to-moment and day-to-day troubles. We cannot be travelers
if want to worry about ‘where am I going to sleep, where am I going to
rest.’ It is not wise if we bring our suffering up in advance and suffer
them all at once and die. We must shout out in our heart, “Therefore do
not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
We
have to confess in faith, saying, “It is true. Our Lord’s teaching is
true. It is so. Our Lord taught me that when suffering comes, I just
have to face it day to day and it is not wise to bring up future
suffering and suffer it now in advance. Truly, just as the Lord teaches,
I suffer my sufferings day to day, and if God allows any trouble to
come to me, and I then just suffer it on the day that He allows it.”
We
do not know what happens tomorrow, and do not know how hard it will be
no matter how big of a shortcoming shall be exposed. Worries may rise
from day to day, but I hope you are not impeding the Lord’s will because
of such worries. We, the righteous people live by the Lord’s will at
least 90%. It is only about 10% of us that is buried in our own
weaknesses. Everyone is buried in his weakness about 10% anyway.
Therefore, we should not be killed as a result of that. We should not
kill ourselves because of that, either. It is written, “Therefore do not
worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Are you sure that it is
sufficient for you to suffer just today’s trouble? Yes, we are.
Dear
fellow Christians, do you have suffering? Do you have worries? ―Yes.―
If we have sufferings today, we must suffer only for it today. Then it
is over. Tomorrow is a new day. I say this to all the saints and the
male and female servants of God: The Lord has told us, “Therefore do not
worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” How great a truth is this?
So precious is this admonition!
If
our Lord has not said this, we would still be bound with our present
weaknesses and even die from the overwhelming worries by anticipating
our weaknesses of the future, saying, “I must do the same thing in the
future.” This is the same pessimism that Judas Iscariot had. Judas was
remorseful seeing that Jesus had been condemned, and then he threw down
the thirty pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and
hanged himself, saying, “I am a person who should die like this.” Did he
seem conscientious by that? No! That is not the will of our Lord.
Killing
yourselves to take responsibility for what you have done is not the
only way to offer obedience before the Lord. “Sufficient for the day is
its own trouble.” Our life is troublesome and imperfect. Such is our
life. If we must suffer because we are not perfect, then we should only
suffer for the moment when our imperfection shows up. I hope you do not
become one of those suffering in advance and die, or give up your faith
today for your fear of the future.
We
must not be the masters of ourselves. The Lord is the only Master of
all of us. It is correct that the more we live a life of faith, the more
we feel our insufficiencies. However, we must not worry about what
would happen to us tomorrow. Tomorrow is tomorrow and now is now.
This
is all that I can share with you. If you understood one thing, I
believe my preaching has been successful. This is why I always repeat
the same teaching again and again within a sermon.
Truly,
we are those who cannot but die with all our worries for tomorrow. You
and I cannot but be such beings if we are only in our fleshly thoughts.
However, our Lord has saved us, who are like that, with His Word of the
water and the Spirit. And He admonishes us, “Therefore do not worry
about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient
for the day is its own trouble.” Our Lord has saved us from our worries
and our imperfection. He saved you and me. Dear fellow Christians, is
it not right? ―Yes.―
Those
who give up their life of faith look ahead at what might happen
tomorrow and worry in advance and have given up their life of faith.
There is a great possibility that such people will increase. This is why
our Lord says this. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its
own trouble.” We must only suffer today what is necessary for us to
suffer this day. There is no one who does not have that much suffering,
and the Lord God has made us the righteous who can overcome all of our
sufferings with faith. Whether the sufferings are from our own
shortcomings, or from the persecution the Lord allowed, we just have to
suffer from them that day and there is no reason why we need to worry
about them in advance. This is faith. Our Lord took over all our
weaknesses. Our God not only has saved us from all our sins, but also
from all our worries. When we believe it and follow the Lord, we feel
that there are no worries, concerns, fear or grief at all.
If
we did not have this teaching today, there is a great possibility that
we will say, “Oh, I give up right now. Oh I will die now!” in our life
of faith. When it is near the Lord’s coming, I am sure that we will see
many such people. It is because the anticipation of this time makes
everyone expose the more shortcomings. Our worries increase because of
the world being chaotic and it is difficult to live, but you must not
worry about tomorrow’s worries in advance today and die to today. I hope
you become those who worry about tomorrow’s troubles tomorrow. I also
hope you believe that sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Sufferings
and worries do not last forever. What lasts forever to us, who have
received the remission of sin is the Lord, the salvation and the Kingdom
of Heaven. Worries are temporary and do not last. Just as a day can be
clear or cloudy or rainy or sunny, we are not always worldly or always
spiritual. Even though we are insufficient, we the righteous are not
always disobedient. Even though we are insufficient, we are following
the Lord’s will. Jesus has already taken care of all our shortcomings.
Therefore, I hope you live by the faith in the Lord’s teaching. We thank
the Lord for giving us such a teaching so that we do not fall in our
worries. How great is this teaching to us, who are living in the last
days, we are truly thankful.
We
have sufferings everyday, but one day’s suffering is enough for that
day. And we must live for the blessed work of God everyday by believing
that He gives us new strength everyday to overcome all the troubles and
problems that hinder us from working for the gospel.
Halleluiah!
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