Why Jesus Says Not to Worry

Pastor, you need a shepherd. 

Yes, God has called you to shepherd others. The very term of pastor literally means shepherd. 

But you’re not just called to shepherd others. God wants you to be shepherded, too. You have a world of worries in your lap. You have a congregation to lead and a family to care for. Every week, people entrust you with their pain. 

You need someone you can trust to calm your worries. You need other people in your life to whom you can unload your struggles. But more than anything else, you need to let Jesus shepherd you.

A shepherd feeds, leads, and meets needs. That’s the good shepherd Jesus describes in Psalm 23— and the ultimate antidote to the worries you face in ministry. 

King David starts the most famous chapter in the Bible with these words: “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing” (Psalm 23:1 NIV). That’s the shepherd all of us need.

Worries inevitably come when we put our security in something other than God. Even as we preach the opposite, we can do this all the time as pastors. We trust in the growth of our church, in the kind words of our congregation, and in the regularities of our routines.

But all of those can be taken away from us. You can’t lose your relationship with God. Paul reminds us of the basis of his provision in Philippians 4:19: “My God will richly fill your every need in a glorious way through Christ Jesus” (GWT). God’s provision doesn’t depend on anything you’ve done. It doesn’t depend upon your magnetic personality, your preaching prowess, or your relationship with your congregants. 

Because of what Jesus did for you on the cross, you don’t have to do good or be good to receive the goodness of God. 

So, what does God’s provision as your shepherd mean for you as a pastor? God doesn’t want you to worry about anything. Let that sink in for a minute. You don’t need to worry about anything.

If you have any doubt about that, Jesus gives us five reasons why we don’t need to worry in the Sermon on the Mount.

1. Worry is unreasonable. Jesus says our worry makes no sense. “So I tell you, don’t worry about the food or drink you need to live, or about the clothes you need for your body. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes” (Matthew 6:25 NCV).
   
   Jesus reminds us we usually worry about the wrong things—issues that won’t matter in a year, much less for eternity and issues that we can’t change anyway.
   
2. Worry is unnatural. “Look at the birds in the air. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns” (Matthew 5:25 NCV). Human beings are the only thing God created that worries. Animals don’t worry. Trees don’t worry. Rocks don’t worry. Only Christians who are rebelling against God worry. God didn’t create us to worry.

3. Worry is unhelpful. “You cannot add any time to your life by worrying about it” (Matthew 6:27 NCV). Worry doesn’t work. It won’t make your preaching better. It won’t bring any new people to your church. It certainly won’t add any more time to your life. In fact, it may shorten your life. 

4. Worry is unnecessary. “God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today but tomorrow is thrown into the fire. So you can be even more sure that God will clothe you” (Matthew 6:30 NCV). You can be sure God will take care of you because he has promised to do so. The Lord is your shepherd. He feeds, leads, and he meets needs. Those promises are just as relevant to you as they are to the people you shepherd. 

5. Worry is unbelief. “Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these” (Matthew 6:32 NCV). Every time you worry, you’re acting like an unbeliever. When you do that, you’re showing a poor testimony toward nonbelievers and those you’re leading in the church. 

You don’t have to go the rest of your life being a worrywart. Anything you can learn, you can also unlearn. That includes worrying.

But it starts with this. Ask Jesus—every morning— to be your shepherd. Expect him to do what he has promised—to feed, lead, and meet your needs. Paul knew what it was like to have needs (2 Corinthians 11:27-28). But Paul writes in Philippians, “At the moment I have all I need—more than I need! … It is [God] who will supply all your needs from his riches in glory because of what Christ Jesus has done for us.” (Philippians 4:18-19 TLB).

The same God who met all of Paul’s needs will meet yours as well.