Trust the Father (Anxiety Series 1)

Trust is the antidote to anxiety

Anxiety is a theme throughout Scripture, yet overt teaching on anxiety is rare. One place where teaching on anxiety occurs is the Sermon on the Mount.

The details in the Sermon are rich and worth exploring in depth. Today, we discover that trust is the antidote to anxiety.

Here is a summary outline of the article for quick reference:

• Defining the Sermon on the Mount as Torah

  • Torah means divine instruction

• Torah Principle Introducing Anxiety from Matthew 6:24

  • Matthew 6 is the Anxiety Commandment Section

  • Principle: You cannot serve two masters but must choose whom you trust: God or Mammon

• Applying the Torah Principle from Matthew 6:24

  • Distrust in God the Father is the basis of anxiety; trust in God the Father is the basis of delivery from anxiety

Sermon on the Mount as Torah

The Sermon on the Mount is Torah, a Hebrew word which means divine instruction. English translators often render Torah as Law (e.g. Law of Moses). And yet, the English word law carries legal and cultural overtones that Torah does not have. Therefore, divine instruction best communicates the meaning.

Jesus is giving precisely that—divine instructions—from a mountain in his famous Sermon. He has done this before on another mountain. Jesus is God the Logos Incarnate, and it is He who gave the Torah to Moses from the Mountain called Sinai. He it is who inscribed with his finger the Ten Commandments in tables of stone.

In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord neither introduces new commandments nor abolishes the old ones. Rather, he interprets his own previous instructions under the Old Covenant (as recorded in the Old Testament) in his mission of fulfilling them under the New (or renewed) Covenant (as recorded in the New Testament).

The divine instructions in the Sermon on the Mount have a dual function. As a harmonious whole, the Old and New Testament teachings tie together and become teachings for our way of life as Christians. They remove roadblocks for how to take part in God’s life and teach us how to have anxiety-free living.

The Torah Principle Introducing Anxiety

Out of all the instructions he gives, anxiety is one explicit topic in the Sermon, as recorded in Matthew chapter 6:19-34. I call this the Anxiety Commandment Section. This section all holds together on the themes of trust in God and not being anxious.

Let’s focus on one verse today, verse 24.

Verse 24 gives one of the main Torah principles that applies to anxiety in the Lord’s teaching. It is first stated generally:

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.¹

This is the general principle. Our Lord then applies it to service between God and mammon, that one cannot serve these two specific masters at once.

You cannot serve God and mammon.

Let’s break down the components to understand the principle and see its relation to anxiety clearer.

God the Father

We know who God is. God in verse 24 is God the Father, whom the Lord Jesus himself serves and from whom the Lord Jesus received this very Torah. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus interchanges God and the Father throughout this passage (see v. 26, 30, 32), showing an identical reference. Elsewhere in John’s Gospel, he is explicit about the source of his teaching.

For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has bidden me. (John 12:49-50)

Sinister Mammon

But what is mammon? Mammon is a direct representation of the Greek ho mamnas (ὁ μαμωνᾶς), representing the Aramaic mamona (מַמוֺנַא). The basic meaning is just wealth or profit or material possessions. We might use an associated word, riches.

When paralleled with God in the specific Torah principle “You cannot serve both God and Mammon,” Mammon gains a sinister face. Jesus personifies Mammon in contrast to God the Father. One must choose between the true God, the Father, and the false imposter, the god Mammon.

This potential division is the snare hidden within riches. One cannot straddle the divided loyalties and survive the ordeal. The straddler will be faithful to one and faithless to the other, loving one and hating the other.

Attempting to straddle that divide is already a choice against trusting God the Father. Trust is a true binary decision in this case.

Application of the Torah Principle

The Lord Jesus launches into three applications from this Torah principle. They are conclusions drawn from the principle, introduced with the word “Therefore” in many English translations.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life… (verse 25)

Therefore do not be anxious… (31)

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow… (34)

These applications begin with commanded prohibitions not to be anxious. However, a careful reading reveals that the applications prioritize trust in God the Father for life and its provisions, which addresses the anxiety out of distrust.

Trust eliminates anxiety.

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on… Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them… [I]f God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ … [Y]our heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. (Matthew 6:25-33)

Jesus’ rhetorical address to his audience, “O men of little faith” (v. 31), is dense with importance. This phrase is the key unlocking anxiety. It reveals trust is the basis for not being anxious. St. Theophylact of Ochrid says,

Those of “little faith” are all those who concern themselves with such thoughts [as life’s provisions]. For if they had perfect faith in God, they would not give such anxious thoughts to these things.²

Trust is the antidote for anxiety.

Once again, I must mention English translation. Faith and trust and belief appear as three different (even if related) words and concepts in English. New Testament Greek uses the same root word in various forms, so it is more obvious that faith, belief, and trust are the same in Greek.

The point: having little faith is the same as lacking trust in the Father.

And this lack shows up in how we live—in alliances with Mammon! The way we often live shows more trust in riches or material supports than trust in their source: God the Father.

So, Matthew 6:24’s corrective Torah principle is fundamental to the topic, and functions two ways in the Sermon. First, it introduces anxiety. Second, it reveals trust as the basis for victory over anxiety as well as the basis of anxiety itself, which is distrust.

Conclusion

There is more to say about the Father’s provision, about trust/faith, and more to glean from Matthew 6.

For now, let us strive to divorce ourselves from Mammon and draw near God in trust through faithfulness to the Lord’s divine instruction.

1. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version.

2. The Explanation by Blessed Theophylact of Ochrid of the Holy Gospel According to St. Matthew. Vol. 1 in Bl. Theophylact’s Explanation of the New Testament. Translator: Fr. Christopher Stade. Chrysostom Press (1997), p. 62.