Scripture referenced 9 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Psalm 63 quoted at the opening of worship: 'because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you'
1 God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.
2 So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory.
3 Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.
4 So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.
5 My soul shall be satisfied as with the richest food. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you on my bed, and think about you in the night watches.
7 For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.
8 My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.
9 But those who seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth.
10 They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be jackal food.
11 But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him will praise him, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be silenced.
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Keep this verse
Romans 1:16
quoted during worship: 'I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation, everyone who believes'
16 For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.
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Matthew 6:25-34
the main sermon text, read in full and expounded throughout
25 Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
27 “Which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan?
28 Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin,
29 yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these.
30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
31 “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’
32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.
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Psalm 90
referenced in connection with not knowing the number of one's days
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place for all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
3 You turn man to destruction, saying, “Return, you children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in your sight are just like yesterday when it is past, like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.
6 In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is withered and dry.
7 For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath.
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.
10 The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.
11 Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?
12 So teach us to count our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, Yahweh! How long? Have compassion on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your loving kindness, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work appear to your servants; your glory to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us; establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.
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Matthew 5:6
quoted to support seeking righteousness: 'blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied'
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
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Matthew 5:10
quoted on persecution for righteousness and the kingdom of heaven
10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
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Matthew 6:9-13
referenced as the Lord's Prayer, appearing just above the worry passage in the Sermon on the Mount
9 Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy.
10 Let your Kingdom come. Let your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.
13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’
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Matthew 6:19-24
cited as the immediate context before verse 25: storing treasures, the lamp of the body, and serving two masters
19 “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;
21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.
23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.
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1 Corinthians
mentioned as containing a positive use of the word translated as anxious, where dividing attention can be good
Keep this verseRecap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Mark opened his first Sunday back from two weeks in Costa Rica with Matthew 6:25-34, the closing section of the Sermon on the Mount that the church has been working through together. The passage carries a repeated command: do not be worrying. His aim was to show that Jesus is not offering a shallow "don't worry, be happy" sentiment, but a specific alternative to anxiety rooted in where a disciple places his allegiance.
What was said
The Greek word behind "do not worry" is a present active imperative, and the word itself carries the idea of being pulled in opposite directions, a divided focus, a fragmented attention. Pastor Mark pointed out that this command shows up six times in the passage. Jesus is not just telling his disciples to relax; he is diagnosing a condition that comes from trying to serve more than one master at the same time.
Jesus reasons with his disciples through two examples from the natural world. The birds of the sky work, Pastor Mark was clear about that, but they do exactly what God designed them to do, nothing more and nothing less. The lilies of the field do not labor or spin, and yet not even Solomon in all his wealth dressed as beautifully as one of them. If God clothes grass that will be cut down and burned by the end of the day, he will certainly clothe his people.
The argument from the lesser to the greater runs through both examples. Birds matter to God; human beings, made in his image, matter far more. Worry cannot add a single moment to a person's life. Pastor Mark connected this to a funeral the church is holding the following morning for a man who had been in a wheelchair for years and was struck down at a gas station. Nobody knew when his last day would be, and no amount of worry would have changed it.
The contrast Jesus draws is between the Gentiles, those with no covenant relationship with God, and disciples. Godless pagans chase after food, drink, and clothing because they have no one to trust. Disciples have a heavenly Father who already knows what they need. That is the premise that makes the command reasonable rather than naive.
The solution Jesus gives is not passive. "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness" is an active pursuit. Pastor Mark connected this back to the Beatitudes earlier in Matthew 5, where Jesus calls blessed those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Seeking God's kingdom means accepting God as sovereign, living by his ways, and extending to others the same common grace that God extends to everyone. The promise is that everything else gets added, not as a reward, but as a consequence of having the right focus.
Pastor Mark traced the "for this reason" that opens verse 25 back to the verses just before it, where Jesus says no one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and wealth. Divided allegiance is the root of anxious living. The practical atheism of worrying, as he put it, is acting as though there is no almighty God who has said he will provide. The remedy is not willpower against worry but a reoriented allegiance toward God's kingdom, doing what God designed each person to do, the way the birds and the lilies do exactly what they were made to do.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- The pastor mentioned that the Greek word behind 'worry' in this passage carries the idea of a divided focus, being pulled in opposite directions. Where in your own life do you feel most pulled in different directions right now, and what does that do to you?
- The preacher pointed to the birds and the lilies as examples of creatures doing exactly what God designed them to do, without anxiety. What do you think it looks like practically for a person to do what God designed them to do, and does that idea bring you peace or its own kind of pressure?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 7,820 words
Alright. Good morning, everybody. How are you? Oh, whoo. That was a Carl.
It's time to start now. Oh, what do you say we stand up and we worship together? From Psalm from Psalm 63. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. Let's sing together.
The
Can you hear me now? Yeah. Here we are. I'm so happy to be here this morning. Little out of breath.
Feel like I'm a little bit out of time. Need to Breathe is the name of the band that wrote that little song right there. Need to Breathe. We just got back yesterday. If I start speaking in Spanish, those of you who recognize it, would you stand and say, hey, turn it over back in English.
Alright? I'm thinking in Spanish in reverse translating this morning. So we've been in Costa Rica for a couple of weeks. Got to speak at a seminary down there and it was absolutely awesome. And so, glad to be back.
Glad to be worshiping this morning. It's been great already. I've got a few announcements. I have no what the idea what they are. So Monday night at first b.
We we got back yesterday, so we're
just rolling.
We are on tomorrow for Monday night, and we're in John 18 where Jesus is betrayed and he's arrested, but he's on mission to go to the cross, to die for you and I. That's the text tomorrow, John 18. And then Felix in Guadalupe will be cooking. That's always a treat. So meal music message, 06:00 down the hall tomorrow night.
Thank you very much. Alright.
That sounds good. That happens at the same time as Awana, the kids club that happens starting off in this room and then they spread out all over the church. Kids matter to God and having his word in their minds is what transforms us all. That's what it transforms us. And so we pour into their minds to reach their hearts, and that's happening tomorrow night.
It's fun. It's a good time. Sisters Saved by Grace is women's Bible study meets on Thursdays from six to eight. In the fellowship hall, there's a light meal provided and dessert, and it's great. That's fun.
They're pouring through scripture together. There's a preset Bible study that has started back up. That's on Thursday mornings at nine sharp in the morning. They sharpen their colored pencils and go through the Bible together and discuss it, letting scripture illumine scripture. That's a good fun time.
Jane Credenberg usually is the leader of that group. If you want to get our weekly Emails, you can do so. Just sign yourself up on firstbjackson.org or let us know and we'll start sending them to you. That'll let you know what's going on. Blake?
Yes, I see that hand. Yeah. So, while we were gone, this is something that that got started while we're gone and it warms my heart. So, we are as a church reading the Bible together and each day in your inbox, if you want for this to happen, there is an a daily Email that goes through a chapter of scripture and you can read the scripture but it's by one of us, one of y'all really so far, and it's just been fantastic. Thank you, Brad, for editing and kinda administrating that or whoever it is that does that.
Thank you. It's been fantastic to read from one of you and say, wow, that's a good take. And I didn't know who that person was or how they got here, and I do now. And I'm gonna seek them out. Actually, if you have written for that since it got started a couple weeks ago, would you stand up?
Would you mind? They may or may not be here today. They might be watching from home. I don't know. Oh, these are anonymous people.
That's wonderful. The great and vast unchronicled witness. Yeah. That's that's wonderful. It's been really good for me.
Church directory and tax info updates. Nick is out there in the lobby and he has a photography situation set up and if you would, if you want to, would you go and let him take your picture and he's working on a church directory. It's fun. The way that y'all stood up for having written those things, I don't know how many people will show show up, but maybe you care about tax info. I don't know.
If you go back there, Nick will take care of you back there. If you want to get the alerts when First B goes live doing something online, you can go to YouTube to our page, First B Jackson, and click that little bell up there and it'll notify you when we go live. And it seems like there's one more that I'm missing. I know who it is. I know what it is.
Would you stand up if you're a Boy Scout or have been? Doesn't matter if you're in uniform or not. If you're a Boy Scout or have been whenever, thank you for being here. February is boy scout month, and this one is scouting Sunday. I just wanna say thank you to y'all.
They have been meeting in this church, not these particular people no matter what they look like for ninety years. Okay. Ninety years, the the the Boy Scouts have been meeting. Wherever First Bee has been in town, we've been kind of a sponsor. Y'all can have a seat.
Thank you. Would you give them a little howdy do? So if you come in on a Tuesday evening, a Monday evenings are full for a different reason. Tuesday evenings use the Boy Scouts or cub scouts and they meet in here and I'm just glad to have you. Thank you and they make us breakfast couple times a year too but this is scouting Sunday without the breakfast.
Alright. Would you stand up and sing with us? I know whom I have believed. Good to be back.
Lord, as we're singing that song, I think, thank you for faith. Thank Thank you for the faith that you impart to us. What what in whatever measure we have, God, let us put it to exercise. Let us put it into practice. And the more that we do, the stronger it becomes.
God help us to exercise that muscle in our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen.
All your plans are for your goal. Yes. We can know. Yes. We can know Uruaga.
The Lord our God is ever faithful, never
And I wanna pause to just thank you for your unchanging nature, that you remain the same no matter what. Our lives are always they're they're always changing. They're always in flux, God, but you remain the same and you are faithful. And, God, you will lead us. And, God, may it be our, our desire, God, not not to move with without you, not to lead without your your guiding.
In our hearts, we we plan our course, but you, God, are the one who determines our steps. Would you remind us of these things daily? In Jesus' name. Amen. From Romans, it says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God for salvation, everyone who believes.
Of the beauty I see. You are you are you are the healer of unbroken and weak. You are. You are. You though, you may stand and I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ. I will stand and be safe. This is my life. I'm not ashamed of that. I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ.
I will stay. This is my life. The author of salvation. You are author of salvation and faith. You are you are are victory I'm not ashamed of when I spoke.
I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ. Staying and be safe. This is my life. I'm not ashamed of when I soul. I'm not ashamed of Jesus Christ.
I will stand and be safe. This is my life.
Amen. You can have a seat here for just a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. Here's a here's a good word from Matthew six, and I believe we're gonna hear this today, I think.
Right?
It's the don't worry
Right.
Saying, what are we gonna eat? What are we gonna drink? What are we gonna wear? Your heavenly father already knows all your needs. Think about that.
God knows these needs already. It's not a surprise. Oh, you need that. No. He knows.
Seek the kingdom of God above all else. Live righteously, and he'll give you everything that you'll need. Don't worry about tomorrow. Oh, I'm gonna say this to myself. And and if if you're listening, you can hear it too.
Okay? Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Ray, would you pray? Sure. God, thank you for this day. Thank you for the day we have today. I thank you that your mercies are new every morning, Lord, and that you are constantly pouring out.
That creation itself is constantly pouring out knowledge of you, our God, the creator. May we be listening, lord. May we be listening, accepting, open, and ready to fill ourselves up with the knowledge of God. In Jesus name, lord, we ask you to receive back, from those of us, lord, who have who have humbled ourselves and put you at the forefront, lord. Imperfectly but we still, lord, want to acknowledge you and every good and perfect gift that you've given and lord, I ask that you'd receive em back that the knowledge of God would go forward, that the gospel, that we're not ashamed of it, that the gospel is a power unto towards salvation for all who will believe it.
In Jesus name, lord, we ask you that you'd use these resources that are given this morning whether it be financial resources that go in these plates or lord, if today is the day we make a decision to just look out for what you would have for us, lord And we lay ourselves on this altar. We lay ourselves metaphorically in these plates. Lord, I pray that you'd take the time and talents and resources that you'd given us and that you would take them, Lord, and do with them as as you will. In Jesus name, would you spread your gospel through the way that you empower us to live life. Amen.
Amen. It is time for children's church downstairs. Y'all can dance your way down there. Oh, boy. I have been up this evening or this morning, translating in my head.
Everything that's been going through my head has been coming out. Like, I'm serious about it. If it comes out and I say something that's not in English, y'all just stop me and back me up. Alright? I don't want you to in the And And I'm
of I'm
going
we're
the the about future. Matthew six twenty five through 34. Now, it's in the the middle towards the end, getting towards the end of the Sermon on the Mount. And we've been in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew for about four weeks while I was teaching. And then we've been in the Sermon on Mount in Luke for three weeks before that.
So it's been a while. Y'all had two weeks of elders that have filled in. Thank you to Steve Landis and Steve Baldock. That was fantastic. It was good for me.
I I listened in from where we were and, just cried through both of them. It was good. And tears of joy. It's really good to see, the body be in the body and it's good. The cure for anxiety.
Here we go. This is the whole passage. I'm gonna actually read it through once. I don't usually do that. I usually kind of unveil things pretty slowly, but I'm gonna read through it once.
And this is all that they're we're covering today, but I'll go back and look at it a little more. Carl even read some of it. Two, for this reason I say to you, Jesus is speaking and he's speaking to disciples. So second person plural right there. For this reason I say to y'all, who are disciples, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you'll drink nor for your body as to what you'll put on.
Is life not more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky that they do not sow nor do they reap nor gather crops into barns. Doesn't say that they don't work because if you watch birds, they work, right? There we go. I like that amen.
And yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more important than they, lesser to the greater? And which of you by worrying can add a single day to his life span? Why are you worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow.
They do not labor nor do they spend thread for cloth. Yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all of his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you? You have little faith. Speaking to the disciples.
Do not worry then, saying, what are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear for clothing? For the gentiles eagerly seek after all these things for your heavenly father knows that you know knows that you need all these things. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be provided to you.
Summary verse in verse 34. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. God, would you bless the reading of your word? And would you, Lord, instill this in our hearts?
May we internalize it in such a way that we begin to live it out. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. So that's the whole of it, and it starts off with a for this reason, I say to you. Now I told you, we're through the Sermon on the Mount.
So he's got a bunch of stuff he's already said before this. I'll come back to this, the for this reason I say to you. I'll come back to this at the end. Okay? It was last time I preached.
It's all of that content. Three weeks ago, if you got it, that's why he says this. For this reason I say to you. But I'll come back to that at the end. For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life.
Do not be worried. And when he first mentions worry here, he does so in an imperative. It's an imperative, so it's a command. And it is the command is do not be worried. Now, while I was reading that passage, I thought of about 10 songs.
And which song comes to your mind when you think about do not worry? I can't whistle on command. I gotta wet my whistle. Yeah. Yeah.
Y'all know the song. Right? Don't worry, be happy. Now that is one of them. You might have thought of Hakuna Matata.
Right? Or you might have thought that's Bobby McFerrin that does the Don't worry, be happy. Bob Marley did the three little birds rise up this morning, smiled at the rising sun. Getting back from a Caribbean vacation. Boy, it's flooded my soul with this, you know.
He's considering the birds, three little birds by my doorstep singing sweet songs. You know that there's also, if you keep on, there are other songs that just pop up. Don't worry, be happy, I think is an insufficient song. Jesus is gonna give us a lot about worry and anxiety in this. Actually, when he says, for this reason I say to you, we'll come back to that, do not be worried about life.
Actually, technically, it's do not be worrying about your life. It's a present active imperative. Do not be worrying about your life. I put this one up. There's two words.
Me is a negative particle, not. And then marimnate. Marimnate is over anxious. So not over anxious. Not anxious about, not distracted.
Actually, as opposed to the whole to be drawn in opposite directions, to have a divided focus. Don't have a divided focus. It will lead to worry. How many of you all have so many things on your mind that you can't figure out which one you're the most worried about? Maybe I should ask school kids who have homework assignments or maybe they don't worry and they're just happy.
I know when we got home, Pascal immediately looked to, okay, what's due first? I've got to divide and conquer this. So that she started making a list, put it all in one place and then figure out which ones. But marenate is being over anxious or being anxious about or distracted by or divided apart, drawn into different directions. Figuratively, like Patsy Cline, it's falling to pieces, getting split apart.
Being pulled apart in different directions, it's like the force that exerted by is exerted by sinful anxiety or worry. I like to divide things, break things down, but when Jesus is saying, do not be divided in your focus, I think is one way to put this. Do not be worrying. Do not be anxious. And, you know, we get be anxious for nothing.
We've got a lot of different verses that point to this. There is a positive version of having Maremneta that is in Corinthians that's saying that there are ways that you need to kind of divide your attention, but it's good for you to do that. So not over anxious, not anxious about, not distracted. For this reason, say to you, do not be worrying about your life. Disciples.
It's two disciples. And the first use is an imperative. It's a command. Do not be worrying as to what you will eat or what you will drink. That's a pretty basic need, eating and drinking.
Nor for your body as to what you will put on clothing. Pretty basic. There are other things we worry about. I I think in a society like ours, we are probably less concerned about what we will eat or what we will drink and what we'll put on. Probably less concerned about that as some of the other things that creep in.
But he's going back to the very basics of life here. Is life not more than food? It is. And the body more than clothing. Up above this, he's mentioned fasting, but doing it for the right reasons.
He's mentioned giving to the poor for the right reasons, not to be seen by men, but to actually help them help them with maybe food or clothing. Look at the birds of the sky. Carefully examine the birds of the sky. Actually, I had a chance to do a little bird watching and learn a few new birds I've never heard of before. One of them was all around us where we were, staying with someone I did officiated a wedding for a gal from Costa Rica and a guy from West Virginia, and she said, If you ever get a chance to go back to Costa Rica, my parents must have you at their house.
And they have a cabin you can stay in.
Oh,
okay. Oh, it was beautiful. And there were oropendula. Oropendula, these birds that they're constantly at work. They're constantly chirping and singing and carrying on.
I don't know all about them, but I was examining them a whole lot more than I had been. First of all, this was the passage that I'm thinking about this week. But I'm looking at these birds and they're constantly active and they're busy. These particular ones have three different nests. That sounds like, Oh my goodness, that's Jackson.
He got two or three homes. But they're not. No. No, it's not that. They have one real nest and then they have a couple of fake nests.
They work. They work. They've got these other fake nests because snakes have to eat too. And they're hiding away their babies, they're taking care of them, but it's just the way that they do what they do. They are doing exactly what God designed them to do.
They're birds. They have a bird brain. I think, you know, if my brain would allow me just to do what God designed me to do, I'd be thankful for a bird brain. Look at the birds of the sky. They're doing exactly what God designed them to do.
They fly because he made them to fly. They don't sow. They're not planting any of those seeds on purpose. They don't reap. You might think, well, of course, land in the field and they eat off the they're not stacking it up in barns.
Right? They don't sow, they don't reap, they don't gather their crops into barns, and yet your heavenly father disciples, this is the God that you have devoted your life to who you recognize that he has pulled you up from the mire. If God cares about these birds, he feeds them. Now they have they're working. Don't get me wrong.
This is not a Hakuna Matata, let somebody else take care of me. They're working, but they're not doing anything outside of what God designed them to do. That's great. Yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are they not are you not much more important than they?
This might fly in the face of all that is PETA. Or some current philosophies that say about humans, we are the virus. We are not the virus. Okay? We, as human beings, were created in the image of God and there is something that sets us apart from the animals and that is it.
There's dignity and there's sanctity in human life. Treat the animals well. I'm all for that. But you're more important than the animals. You really are.
You're supposed to exercise a godly type of dominion over the animals. So take care of them, but at the same time recognize that God cares about them, cares for them, and has designed them to do exactly what he's designed them to do. And you're more important than that, so will he not also take care of you? He span? Is there anybody present that would say, me?
No. There's nothing that you can do. You can't see it coming. Psalm 90. My my mind is flooded right now with all of your relatives that we've celebrated and honored in funerals here that didn't know this was coming.
Danny Mayer has been sick for a long time. He's been in a wheelchair for a long time. He got hit in a gas station parking lot in his wheelchair. Yeah. That's bad.
I met him in the hospital and loved the guy. We're doing his funeral here tomorrow at 11AM. Just loved that guy. But he didn't know that his last day was gonna be his last day. He'd been expecting it for a long time.
You know what? And God got him from very early on talking to Mike, his son, who was an elder here for a long time. I said, I feel like God's just gonna get him. I feel like he's gonna get him. He's surrounded him by people who love him earnestly and care for him.
The nurses at the hospital, the doctors at the hospital, the family that surround him, the the pastoral visits from the spiritual care volunteers and some of y'all. We didn't know when his last day would be, but you love people all the time. Right? Which of you by worrying can add a single day to his life? That's the second use of the word.
First time was an imperative, and now Jesus is reasoning with us as his disciples going, is it possible for you to worry yourself into better health? Oh, all of the studies say the exact opposite. The more you worry about it, the worse it's gonna get. Be careful, go to the doctor, do things, you know, take care of yourself, but don't worry about it. Worry rots the bones.
Dividing your attention across everything and being concerned about everything all the time and getting completely concerned about your body worrying about it. It doesn't help. It just doesn't help. Now I've had people say worrying does help. It does, absolutely.
95% of the things I worry about don't ever happen. It doesn't help. Second use of the word. He mentions it six times by the way. He keeps on going back to worry and a divided focus.
And why is it that you're worried? That's the third use. About clothing. Some of us are more worried about clothing than others. Some of us can't tell summer clothes from winter clothes and we only know it after the fact.
Why are you worried about clothing? Why is it that you're worried about clothing? Right here, can think of the series, The Chosen. Have you all seen this little thing? It's an app for your phone.
It's available on Amazon Prime. I don't usually do commercials, but it's really good. The Chosen, really good. I've had like four of you all contact me in the last month and say, Have you seen this? Yes.
It's awesome. He says to one of his disciples after he cures a leper, the leper's clothes are just filthy, ragged, you know. And after he cures this leper, he goes, which one of y'all has an extra tunic? And all of them start taking their clothes off. When you see God work, you're less concerned about what you're gonna wear.
So why are you worried about clothing? Notice this, Jesus says, now he's had us examine the birds who definitely work, but God cares for them even in spite of the fact that they don't sow or reap or put into barns. Now he's gone from the animal kingdom, the fauna to the flora, and he says, notice how these lilies of the fields grow. I got a chance to look at some of those this past couple weeks too and slow down and look at how beautiful the Heliconia is and all of those things are. It's amazing.
Look at how the lilies of the field grow. Now, you can't argue that they're working, right? But they are doing exactly what God designed them to do. They are drawing from the resources that God has provided. And they don't labor.
That's a that's a like they don't work in the fields. That's what that word means. They don't labor outside nor do they spin, that's interior work. They don't work outside and they don't work inside. Thread for cloth is added in the NASB to make it make sense in English.
They don't labor nor do they spin. They don't work outside. They don't work inside yet. I say to you, Jesus says to his disciples, not even Solomon in all his glory. And Jesus knew Solomon.
Right? Knew about him. Knew everything about him. Yet I say to you that he not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these and he was known for his style. How do you think he attracted all those wives and concubines?
Sorry. Wisest man to ever, but he learned through experiences. It's terrible. Not a great guy, but a good example of this, he was a rock star of his time. Right?
He was a guy that was really set up as far as clothing went. And I'm saying to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like even one of these. One of them is one thing. Seeing a field of flowers? Oh my goodness.
God takes care of them. It says, if God so close in such a way as this, close the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow, it's just thrown into the furnace. Actually by humans who are making bread. They're chopping this stuff down and putting it in the oven. If God so closed the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow it's thrown into the furnace, will he not much more clothe you?
Yeah. He'll take care of you. He's saying that God will take care of you. Now he's saying God will take care of you. So far, I have to admit the sermon sounds like, don't worry about a thing.
And that's all it's all it's given you. It's only the front part of Alright. Don't worry. Be happy now. You can't pay your rent.
Or the landlord says that rent is late. He may have to litigate. Don't worry. Be happy. Alright.
So far, it just sounds like it's not giving you much of a choice. It's just don't worry. Why are you worrying? Don't be worrying. If God's clothing the grass of the field and he's taking care of those birds by wiring them to do exactly what they're doing, then and we we don't have the solution yet, but he does say, you have little faith.
Y'all are running around seeking after the same things as everybody else in this world. Disciples are supposed to be different. Do not worry then. This one's is imperatival force, but it's subjunctive if you care. The subjunctive is the mode of two wills.
God is willing that you would trust him, and you can trust him. But you have the option of not trusting him. Do not worry then. Don't be worrying. This is I think it's an imperatible force and it definitely sounds so in English.
Do not worry is an imperative. It's command in English. But it's it's the option is there for you to worry. And some of us take it every time. Do not worry then saying this, what are we to eat?
What are we gonna drink? What about this? What are we gonna wear for clothing? For the Gentiles eagerly seek after all these things. What Jesus is saying is that godless pagans, the nations, that's everybody that's not the chosen people of God, Gentiles, ethne, all of the rest of the peoples eagerly seek after food and clothing and whatever it is that they're gonna they gotta have their needs met by the way they work after it.
Right? For the Gentiles eagerly seek after all these things. Godless pagans worry, but disciples are supposed to be different for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. Just above this is also the Lord's prayer. Right?
It's also teach us to pray. Teach us to focus in the right direction for your heavenly father knows that you need all these things. It's not a surprise to him that you need these things. So Matthew six thirty two, for the gentiles, the all of those other folks eagerly are seeking after all these things. And Jesus came to spread the love to the gentiles.
Right? Paul was the apostle of the gentiles, but Jesus opened the way for all of the nations. For your heavenly father knows that you need all these things, but but is a strong disjunctive right there. But y'all are to be different because disciples are different. But y'all be seeking his kingdom.
Oh, here we are. The Sermon on the Mount is about being the people of God, being citizens of the kingdom of God. Above all other affiliation, seek first his kingdom. Seek first that your sovereign would be almighty God. If your sovereign is almighty God, do you think he can take care of you?
Yeah. Y'all are to be different. Be be seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness. Not just being right in the debate, not just being right in politics, not just being right. Y'all be seeking first his kingdom so that God would be your sovereign and his righteousness so that his ways become your ways.
Familial connection, be imitators of God, therefore. Have some common grace for all. The rain falls on the just and the unjust. Just above this. Right?
God has common grace for all. You should too. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Seek to live after his opinion. Blessed are you, he's already said in chapter five.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for what? Righteousness. For they will be satisfied. That's future tense. Will be satisfied.
And then further down, verse 10. Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of this righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You can seek the kingdom of heaven and be a part of it right now. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all of these things, everything that Jesus has mentioned so far, food and clothing, what you'll eat, what you'll drink, what you'll wear, your body, which of you can add a single instant or day to your life by wearing nothing. All of these things will be provided to you.
Exactly the number of days that you need will be given to you. K? Then Lord, teach us the number of days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. So good. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
All these things will be provided to you. And then there's a summary verse at the very end right here. This last verse we're going over of the text for today. I'll go back and pick up what what the for this reason is, but so do not worry. How many times is he gonna mention it?
That's the sixth time and it's a summary statement of everything else. Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. That sounds like a southern expression to me. Fiddle d d. Tomorrow's another day.
Well, tomorrow is another day and you can't do anything about that right now. What you can do right now is what God directs you towards right now. You know one of the reasons that the 12 steps works is because they take them day by day. It it works. It works.
I've got a problem I can't solve. There is a higher power who can restore me to sanity. I'm gonna let him. Yeah. That's great.
The first three is just a dance we ought to be doing all the time. Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Lord, lead us not into temptation and deliver us from evil. Yours is the kingdom, Lord.
I'm a subject of that kingdom, a humble and willing subject of that kingdom. Show me your way. Allow me to walk in it. Amen. For this reason, I say to you so this is beginning back to the beginning.
For this reason, I say to you, and I'm gonna give you this. This is the immediate context right before that. The immediate context is probably probably greatly focused right here, that no one can serve two masters. Either he's gonna hate the one, love the other, he'll be devoted to one and despise the other. You can't serve both God and wealth.
And that hits at the very heart of all that is culturally us today. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. If you have treasures on earth, they are as a willing subject of God's kingdom for the kingdom of God to go forward. So that the Gentiles, the godless pagans would not have to worry. They would begin to trust in him.
Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy. Thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourself treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy. Thieves don't break in and steal. God has vouchsafed your reward. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
There's another one of those present tense. Where your treasure is right now is where your heart is gonna be. The eye is the lamp of the body. The way that you see things makes a difference. If your point of view or your way of seeing is clear, then your whole body is gonna be full of light.
It's so great to be walking in the light. But if your eye is bad, say your lenses, that prescription is not your prescription. It's the world's prescription. And it's gonna distort everything to a child of God. And if you begin to see things that way, if your eye is bad, then your whole body is gonna be full of darkness.
And if that light is in you as darkness, how great is that darkness? If you're operating with the wrong lenses and you just don't know it. So he clarifies again, no one can serve two masters for either he'll hate the one, love the other, he'll be devoted to one, despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. And if your divided focus is either I'm gonna serve God or I'm gonna serve wealth.
Jesus is saying, don't live like godless pagans. It is practical atheism to to worry. You have an almighty God. He says that he will provide for you. Let him.
Allow it. Do exactly what he designed you to do. Now, again, it's not don't worry. Be happy. It's not that.
It's don't worry. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. You do like the birds just what he designed you to do, and that actually might be a cause of anxiety for some of you. What if I don't do what God wants me to do? What if I'm kicking against the goads like Paul says that he was?
Where's my phone? Yeah. Oh, here it is. I wrote down things in the middle of the night. They may come out in either English or Spanish.
So some other things that we might be concerned about. Money, that one's covered in the text, no doubt. Power, kinda covered in the text, but having power, whether it's political power or relational power or influence, how to win friends and influence people. Fame, politics, acceptance. Oh my goodness.
Acceptance. We want to be accepted. We want to be loved. We want to be adored. And if we are striving for acceptance, we might go to all manner of things that God does not want us to go for.
Right? Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. If you focus your attention on him, he'll add all the things to you. And whether the people around you accept you or like you or not, you're acceptable by almighty God. Do what God designed you to do.
What if I miss it? Anxiety ridden question. God says, I will be found by the one who earnestly seeks me. So seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All the other things will be added to you.
Jesus points out the pointlessness of worrying. It doesn't help. Worry and anxiety show a divided allegiance. We all want to be loved, adored, wanted, desired, needed. We all want to be necessary.
And I've thought of this this morning too that some of us are seeking control and some of us are seeking not to be controlled. Is that true? Might be the same person. Nobody's gonna tell me what to do. You ought to be doing such and such.
If we are so concerned, and it often comes up when we're when we're talking about, children of parents. And when they get to teenage years, sometimes they start to buck against the rules or whatever. And so if if we are so concerned about our parents controlling us that the focus of our life is not to be controlled by our parents, that leads to a rebellion that's dangerous. First of all, be obedient to your parents. That's that's a biblical thing.
Right? They they might not always be right, but they're always gonna be your parents. Seek first the kingdom of God and see how you may honor them. And it might be somebody else that's seeking to control you. But if you're concerned about that control to this extent that I will not do what they say, even if it lines up with what God says.
Or I will do only what I want to do. You're setting yourself up for failure and you're dividing your own focus. That one kinda came out of nowhere this morning. I would hate for any of us to be controlled by something. In our rebelliousness against that, we miss what it is that God has designed us to do.
So he'll be found by those who earnestly seek him. We're going into a time of communion right now. And so when we pass around the bread and the cup today, we have a little plastic cup with some grape juice in it, and ushers can come forward and bring those right now if you want to. And we have a little wafer on the top representing the body of Christ, this perfect life that he lived out, and then the blood of Christ, the sacrificial death that he gave, surrendering his life, perfect record for anyone who would put their trust in him. He was literally seeking after God's kingdom first, and he made his perfect record available for all of those who would put their trust in him.
He's made his Holy Spirit available to anyone who would put their trust in him, and we can walk forward not worrying, but seeking first the kingdom of God because of that. Would you actually, I'm gonna use last slide as one one of my favorite theologians. This was actually a paragraph that's written after another theologian, but, into modern English, mostly modern English. And it's just a prayer. Dear Lord, shepherd It sounds liturgical though, and I'm Baptist, I know y'all are saying, what's he doing?
Dear Lord, shepherd of your people and maker of this world, offerer of never ending love and eternal life. Everybody wants to be loved and adored and God is the offerer of never ending love and eternal life. Please govern my life and my choices and my interests by your guiding hand. Steer my heart, Lord, toward the calm seas that you have set out saying, be still. Peace, be still.
And lift the anxiety that is pressing on my lungs. You, Lord, are the creator, the prince of peace, the wonderful counselor. I will put my life in upon your love, my trust in you, my foundation upon your solid rock. When the adversary comes with anxiety and temptation to lapse into sloth and inactivity, consider the birds, they do work. To lapse into sloth and inactivity with your grace, my foundation shall not be shaken.
For your love is my firm foundation. Help me never to fall prey to presumption and to reject your help, your word, your truth, or your calling. I wanna live just the life you want for me, Lord. And if I ever my vanity eclipses my awareness of you, help me to realize my disconnection to your kingdom and yearn to begin learning your mercies again. And when I am quaking, Lord, and wonder who I am, that you, the God of all creation, would know me by name or care to know my struggles.
Heal my unbelief, God. Heal my heart to open the space molded and meant for you inside. Amen. Sorry. Most of you have the little plastic cup with the little tinfoil wrapper.
God help us. I thank you for your life so perfectly lived and surrendered to the Spirit and for your blood that was spilled voluntarily as a sacrifice on our behalf, the last of the sacrifices acceptable to God. In Jesus' name, amen. On the same night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread after supper, and he after he had given thanks, he blessed it and said, this is my body which is given for you. He said to his disciples there and he says to us still today, he says, take this and eat of it.
Take it in. Ingest it. Take it in. And do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. We trust in the life that you live, Lord.
We wanna be a part of the continuing body of Christ that continues to live that out. May all other allegiances fall aside. In Jesus' name. He also took the cup after supper, after the bread, and he said to his disciples that were there and to us today, he said, this is the new covenant in my blood. He he's he's told us he came to fulfill the law and he did it.
This is the new covenant in my blood. Take this and drink of it and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen. Would you stand with me? And we're gonna sing a song.
I don't know what it is but would y'all stand up? The words will come up on the string. Oh, such an awesome God. What a great fitting clothes to the awesome and almighty God who can and does provide Jehovah Jireh. May we be putting our trust on him.
Amen. I'm gonna close with the benediction from the very last part of that. Six thirty three and thirty four and this is the other song that comes to mind. First right the gift is good. Seek ye first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All the sudden will be added to you.
Amen. Amen.
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