Scripture referenced 9 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Matthew 6:25-34 the main text of the sermon, 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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Keep this verse
Luke 12:22-31
parallel version of the sermon on the mount passage, mentioned as having been covered in an earlier series
22 He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear.
23 Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.
24 Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!
25 Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height?
26 If then you aren’t able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest?
27 Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
28 But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?
29 Don’t seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious.
30 For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.
31 But seek God’s Kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.
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Psalm 90
Moses prays that God would teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom
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 6:19-21
do not store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, cited as the immediate context above the for this reason phrase
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.
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Matthew 6:22-23
the eye is the lamp of the body, cited as part of the passage immediately above the anxiety text
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!
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Matthew 6:24
no one can serve two masters, you cannot serve both God and wealth, cited as directly preceding the for this reason
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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Matthew 5:6
blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied, linked to seek first his righteousness
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
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Matthew 5:10
blessed are those persecuted for righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, cited to show the kingdom is available now
10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
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Luke 6:35
God is kind to ungrateful and evil people, quoted in the offertory prayer
35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor opened 2022-02-06 back from a trip to Costa Rica, picking the sermon back up three-quarters of the way through the Sermon on the Mount. He preached from Matthew 6:25-34 on worry, and what Jesus actually offers as a replacement for it.
What was said
The passage opens with an imperative: do not be worrying about your life. The pastor pointed out that the Greek word behind "worry" carries the sense of being pulled apart in different directions, a divided mind, a fractured focus. It is not a gentle suggestion to calm down. It is a command. And like Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy," the command on its own is not enough. Jesus knows that, and he does not stop there.
Jesus reasons with his disciples in stages. First he points to the birds, which work constantly and do exactly what God designed them to do, yet never sow or reap or gather into barns, and God feeds them. Then he asks which of them can add a single day to his lifespan by worrying. The answer is none, and every piece of research ever done on the subject agrees. Worrying does not help. It makes things worse.
Then Jesus points to the lilies of the field, which do not labor or spin yet are clothed more beautifully than Solomon in all his glory. This is the same kind of argument, moving from the lesser to the greater. If God clothes grass that is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more clothe his own disciples? The conclusion Jesus draws is pointed: if you are worrying, you are showing you do not believe God is almighty or that he loves you. You are, as the pastor put it, a practical atheist.
The fourth use of the word in the passage shifts to the subjunctive mood, which in Greek involves two wills. God's will is that you not worry, and you have a choice about whether you will obey that or not. Jesus names the Gentiles, the godless nations, as the ones who chase after food and drink and clothing, and then draws the contrast sharply: your heavenly Father knows you need all of these things. You are supposed to be different.
The viable option Jesus offers is verse 33: seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. This is not a vague comfort. It ties back to the very opening of the Sermon on the Mount, where the beatitudes call those blessed who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and promise that theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The pastor connected it also to why the structure of Alcoholics Anonymous works: concentrate on today, acknowledge a higher power, and take a fearless moral inventory of where you are falling short. One day at a time is not a recovery cliche. It is what Jesus says next: do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
The pastor then returned to the "for this reason" that opens the passage, tracing it back up through the verses immediately before it, about not storing up treasure on earth, about the eye being the lamp of the body, and about no one being able to serve two masters. The divided focus that worry produces is the same divided allegiance that comes from trying to serve both God and wealth. Where your treasure is, that is where your heart is heading. Worry is not just an emotional problem. It is a sign of where you have placed your trust.
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 described worry as 'being drawn apart in different directions' and called it a 'divided mind.' Where in your own life do you feel that kind of pulling in multiple directions right now, and what is it that is dividing your focus?
- Jesus points to the birds and the lilies not as examples of laziness but as examples of creatures doing exactly what God designed them to do. What do you think God has designed and wired you to do, and are you doing it?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 8,466 words
Speaker 1How are you? Is this thing on now? Can you hear me? Alright. I am glad to be back.
Happy to be home. But at the same time, I have been up since about 03:30 this morning, converting things back and forth from Spanish and English. If what I say comes out in another language, please let me know that. Okay? If there's an interpreter present, Ms.
Helen, if you want to stand up and just let them have it, that would be good. But I think that I'll do it mostly in English, but, I've been going back and forth in my head all morning. And when we got back, we had two new Spanish speaking families in the first service that I have never met before but it was kind of cool to be having a tuned ear and ready for that. Would you stand with me as we sing? I'm so thankful for the time away but also for Steve Landis preaching the first week I was gone and Steve Falldoc last week.
I cried my way through both messages. It was so good. So, so, so good. Carl, thank you for jumping in and singing, the hymns last week. That was really good too.
We're gonna sing I am dying, oh Lord. Hymn number five fifty two, if you have a hymn number with you.
Speaker 2I am thine whole lord. I have heard that voice, and it told thy love to me. But I long to rise in the arms and my will be lost in thine. Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, blessed lord, to the cross where thou hast died. That I may not reach till I rest in peace with thee.
Call me nearer, blessed lord, to the cross where thou hast died from me nearer nearer nearer blessed lord to thy precious
Speaker 1bleeding side. Amen. What a great song. What a friend we have in Jesus. It's hymn number six thirty if you have a hymnal.
Hope you sing it. Off the wall. From memory.
Speaker 2What a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Unless, Are we weak and heavy laden, comfort with a load of care? Precious savior's still solace
Speaker 1there. Y'all can have a seat. I've got a few announcements and, after having not been here for a while, it's nice to kinda hear them again. I I didn't know what was going on when I got back. I we got back yesterday, by the way.
Monday nights at first b, we're in John 18. Carl will be preaching from John 18, which is crucifixion. This is the this is what the whole passion of the I've had a professor who is fond of saying, all four of the gospels are passion narratives with long introductions. So John 18 is where the Calvary happens. It's amazing.
Thank you, Carl, for faithful and diligent in that book plotting and going forward. Here we are at the Via Dolorosa. It's good. Gospel conversation. Also, the meal will be by Felix in Guadalupe, I don't have to switch my Spanish over just yet.
Felix in Guadalupe will be preparing the meal, music, a message tomorrow night, 06:00. Juana happens at the same time, starting off in this room, playing, games and having counsel time and scripture memorization, reaching kids' hearts by way of, their minds, pouring scripture in. The little clicky clicker is not clicking, Blake. Sister Saved Grace is happening on Thursdays from six to eight. That's a great time.
It's a small group of ladies who get together to study the Bible together. There's a light meal provided and dessert, which is great. That's good. Nancy Baxter has been leading, but they've been kinda taking turns on that. It's wonderful to see.
Precepts have precepts study has started back up. I don't have the slide that says willing willing have a a people do that. Sign up if you would like to for the weekly email to bulletins. We Recently, we have one more thing that we have started doing. Oh, it's on the next slide.
Good. So if you get the weekly email bulletins, it's like the paper bulletins we used to hand out. It tells you everything that's do to going each weekday morning. Now while we were gone to Costa Rica, we I was getting these things. It happened after I left, but it was that first week that we were there.
I started getting these just wonderful blessed emails of somebody introduces himself in the first paragraph, and then they have a chapter of scripture and then a little bit of application at the bottom. So we can all be reading through scripture together. Chapter a day, the Galatians and Ephesians is what they've been going through lately, and it has been just a huge blessing for me. If you wanna get that, let us know. There's a way to do that up there, but if you call the office, we'll let you figure it out.
I can't read that blue on blue right there. Bradley Yates, something like that. We'll get it done. We'll get it to you if you want it. Church directory.
Church directory. If you came in and you noticed back there that there are lights and things set up in the back near the couch back there, Nick has taken on doing photography of all of the folks who will allow us to do photography, then put in the church directory. So, if you would do that, I appreciate it. Also, if you want to know anything more about your tax info and the things that we send out in January, if you feel like there was something to miss, let us know and we'll handle that too. Nick is the guy to see about either of those.
If you want to have an alert go off on your phone like it used to with Facebook, a lot of people said, I just don't know when it's gonna be on YouTube. You can go to YouTube, first B Jackson is our page and then click that little bell and it'll let you know. Is there anything else? Oh, good. Announcements.
We got to do them, but they are not my favorite term. We don't do the we don't do the offering yet. I had somebody that raised a hand and said, offering offering, but we don't do that yet at this time. Would you stand up? We do that after we sing two more songs.
Not that we gotta do it the same way every single time, but there are people that really appreciate doing it the same way every time. Solid rock.
Speaker 2My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy leap on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all of the ground is sinking sand. All of the ground is sinking sand. When darkness seems to veil his face, I rest on his unchanging grace.
In every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand all other ground is
Speaker 1Jesus is lord of all. What a great statement. Jesus is lord of all. There was nothing that was made that was not made through him. He's the very agent of creation and worthy to open the seals.
Speaker 2All my tomorrows, all my past, Jesus is Lord of all. I've quit my struggles. Contentment at last. Jesus is Jesus is Lord of all. All of my conflicts, all my thoughts.
Is Lord of all.
Speaker 1Excuse me. Sorry. Did we just sing that? No. We did not just sing that.
Did I sing that and y'all sing something else? We're gonna sing it again. Alright. All of my longings. Alright.
Speaker 2All of my longings. All my dreams, Jesus is Lord of all. All of my failures, is power redeems. Jesus is lord of lord. King of kings, and all my life.
Jesus is
Speaker 1lord It's funny to mess up and have the next line be all my failures as power reduced. It's so great. So great. Now it is time for the offering. If y'all would have a seat, we're gonna have the ushers come forward and I'm just overwhelmed by thanks thankfulness this morning, Lord dear.
Gratitude for the gifts that you've given and gratitude for the way that you reach souls, lord. The way that you use your people to reach out to people who were not your people. The people that were of the world and not really paying any attention to you, estranged from you by their own sin and will, Lord, but yet you reach them. You reach out to them through those who are humble enough to just be obedient and love, to to share your common grace. Lord, you you tell us that you make your reign to fall on the just and the unjust.
You give good gifts even when people don't recognize them. It says in Luke, Lord, that you are kind You are kind to ungrateful and evil people. Lord, may we be kind to ungrateful and evil people. May we be kind to the people of other pastures. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask that you would use us, Lord, to do your will and your way.
Would you take of the the financial resources that you've given us? Would you take apart back, Lord, and multiply it and do your kingdom's work with it? Would you take our talents and our gifts, Lord, that we lay before your altar? And would you, Lord, take those things and just save them, Lord? Get them.
In Jesus' name, we're so thankful to be a part of your plan a and to know, Lord, that there's no plan b, that we're we're the continuing body of Christ empowered by your spirit. I pray Lord that we would recognize that fact and live in the comfort of knowing that you can use a willing body. Amen. Thank you, Judy. Amen.
So, we have been Tanya and Pascal and I have been away for the past couple weeks. It was something that we had planned a while back. If you remember back last February, there was a guy that came in, had a, you know, khaki pants and a blazer, Andrew Halbert. He dresses like the president of a seminary all the time. And he is the president of a seminary in Latin America.
A lot of y'all kinda got to meet him afterwards. He speaks English and Spanish, equally well. He was a missionary kid in Honduras. And our missions committee had adopted them as our missionaries, Andrew and Julie Halbert. They have a couple of kids, Brian and and Renee.
And they are, friends of mine. Andrew was a partner in language learning Greek together in seminary of mine. And so we have battled the, you know, verb tenses and all that together. And he asked me if I'd come down because of y'all having done admissions committee and First B in general. This past year, they had a chance to buy the property that they've been operating out of under a rental agreement for a long time.
And all of the sudden, the opportunity fell in their lap that if they could pay the back taxes, they could have this property and it would be deeded to them. And first b answered resoundingly, yes, we can help with that. And so we helped them, with that. And so I don't know exactly why I get the invitations that I get, but this was part of the reason. They have that building, and it's wonderful.
I told some of the folks here at the front before the service started, there are seven churches that meet in that building. And if you don't know this already, established churches don't grow as fast as church plants. You know, there's a certain time for, reproduction in a lifespan. Right? And this church plants grow a lot faster.
So seven church plants meet in their building. They also are a seminary that is graduating. They graduated 47 students. Most of them with a one year Bible certificate, some of them with their bachelor's degrees, and some of them with their master's degrees. And so I got to go down Tanya and Pascal to to do the commencement address for these graduating, little theologians.
Right? Pastors and, Sunday school leaders and all that. It's just great. It was a huge blessing to us. That was kinda in the middle of our time there, and then we had some time to rest and to warm up on either side of that.
We also visited with Ken and Lori McCune, who you all know have been missions folks to the Latin Americans here and in Bolivia and in Peru for the last forty years. And they have a place in Costa Rica now. We got to visit them. There's a a couple that came to be married last February. Actually, tomorrow is their anniversary, and it was a guy from West Virginia and a gal from Costa Rica, and we married him right here up front.
Florine played the piano. Ferry was one of the witnesses. And she said, if ever y'all go back to Costa Rica, my mother and father would love to entertain. And so we went and stayed in their cabin for a few days and just got to calm down and do ministry on a more one to one personal. Anyway, I'm full up to overflowing this morning and thankful for Steve Landis and Steve Baldock.
Both of y'all sermons were wonderful for me. So thank you. But we're three quarters of the way through the, Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. So we're getting to the end of chapter six. There's still some left in chapter seven, but we have been I think this is my fourth or fifth sermon from Matthew's version of the Lord's, the sermon on the mount and we covered three weeks in Luke's version of it before I left.
So, we've been in the sermon on that for a while. If ever there were a best selling title, the cure for anxiety in our day and time would be it, would it not? 06/25 through 34 in my Bible in the NASB version. That's the title, the heading. It's not an inspired bit of scripture, but it it is very descriptive of what Jesus is speaking about.
The cure for anxiety, or you may say worry, or you may say divided mind, a divided mindedness. So this is the whole of the text. I'll read it through one time. I don't always do that. Hardly ever do I do that.
I like to unveil things slowly. But I think today it warrants it to just read the whole thing and then come back and go over it a little slowly. So here we are. For this reason I, Jesus, say to you, disciples, do not be worried about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink nor for your body as to what you will 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 reap nor gather crops in the barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. It doesn't say they don't work. Okay? It doesn't say that they don't work. It does say that they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly father feeds them.
Are you not much more important than they? And which of you by worrying can add a single day to his lifespan? And why are you worried about clothing? Notice how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor nor do they spin 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 clothed the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace or oven, will he not much more clothe you? You of little faith. You disciples of little faith. Do not worry then saying, what are we to eat or what are we to drink or what are we to wear for clothing for the Gentiles?
Eagerly seek after all of these things for your heavenly father knows that you need all of these things. He created you. He knows what you need. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be provided to you. Summary verse.
So do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Amen. That's the whole passage. God, would you bless the reading of your word and the application of it to our hearts?
Would you change us today by applying this passage to our lives? Amen. So it starts off like this. For this reason, say to you, and whenever there's a there for a for this reason, always you need to go back and look. I'm gonna wait on that for a minute.
For this reason, I say to you, I'll come back to it. I promise you at the end of the sermon, we'll come back and see what's up there above that because this for this reason, I say to you, it matters. For this reason, I say to you, what? Do not be worried about your life. That's the first time worry is mentioned here.
And in this passage, it's a an imperative. Right? Here it is. It's the first use and it is as a command. So the imperative is funny.
Tanya, when we were learning Spanish, she was on a construction site and she was the boss. So she learned all of her command forms first. It's that's unusual. That's not the way people normally do things. But for this reason, I say to you, do not be worried about your life.
It's a command. Do not be worried. That seems easier said than done, doesn't it? While I was reading that passage, I thought of about 10 songs. I always think of songs.
But one of the songs was wet my whistle here. Right. There it goes. It just takes off. Don't worry, be happy.
That song. It was 1988, my junior year in high school. It starts off, and it just kinda carries forward. Bobby McFerrin sang that song, and it was, Don't worry. Be happy.
You know, if your rent is late and the landlord says he has to litigate. Don't worry. Be happy. Don't worry. Be happy is kind of a limited thing.
Don't worry. That's good. Jesus is saying, do not worry. It's the same exact command. But McFerrin's only option is, don't worry.
Be happy. Well, he doesn't give any rationale for that. Jesus is gonna say the command, and then he's gonna reason with us for a while, and then he's gonna say it again, and he's gonna give us an option that will allow you to not worry. Does that make sense? We serve an almighty God.
If we are his disciples and we're serving almighty God, will he provide what you need? I got a couple other songs in here rattling around. One of them is a a Bob Marley. So that was Bobby McFarlane, Bob Marley. We just got back from The Caribbean.
And Marley sings, Rise up this morning, smiled at the rising sun. Three little birds each by my doorstep singing sweet songs, melodies pure and true saying this is my message to you. Don't worry about a thing. Right? That one's actually biblical.
He goes on to say, don't worry about a thing, you know. Every little thing's gonna be alright. If the gist of it is everything's gonna work out in the end, and if it's not working out, it's not the end. Still not completely biblical, but he does say, look at the birds. Here we go.
Three little birds. For this reason, I say, you do not be worried about your life. Actually, it's an imperative. It's a present active, which means it's a continuous action verb. Do not be worrying about your life.
And I put this up. I usually just put up the verb and not the anything around it, but this is two words right here. Me, merimnete. Me, merimnete means not. The is a negative particle.
Not over anxious. Not anxious about. Not distracted. If you go further, it's a part as opposed to the whole. Properly, it is being drawn apart in different directions by many worries.
Right? When he says, Martha, Martha, you are concerned about many things. You're anxious about many things. Your attention is divided about many things. It's divided into parts.
Or like Patsy Cline, to go to pieces, to fall to pieces because you're concerned about too many things. Being pulled in many different directions, it is like the force that is exerted by sinful anxiety, and there is such a thing. There is such a thing as as having a divided focus because there are a lot of things that we have to do, but it's not used that way in this passage. Not at all. It's very much not anxious, not worrying, not over anxious, not distracted, and not having a divided mind.
For this reason, I say to you, do not be worrying about your life as to what you will eat or what you will drink nor for your body as to what you will put on. So those are basic needs. Very, very basic needs. Above this, he has discussed fasting. When you fast, go ahead and wash your face.
Don't make it look like you're fasting. Don't look like a sad sack. Go ahead and fast. There are times when you want to put aside something to eat for a while. But this is not just food.
This is water too. This is what you'll eat or what you'll drink. Or for your body, putting having clothes is a part of it. He talks about giving alms and helping people above this too. But when he says down here, do not be worrying about your life as to what you'll eat or what you'll drink or what for your body as to what you'll put on, is life not more than food and the body more than clothing?
It is. It is. It's more than that. He goes on to say, look carefully examine the birds of the sky. Now I'm not a bird watcher in general normally, but at one of the cabins where we stayed this week and then on one of the sloth trails and hanging out in different places around Costa Rica, spent a little more time looking and paying attention to birds than I usually do.
Look and pay careful attention to the birds of the sky. So these are birds that fly, not a ostrich. Ostriches also do what they were designed to do. But look at the birds of the sky and see that they have been designed very specifically specifically to to fly, fly, that they do not sow and they do not reap nor do they gather crops into barns. Now, have you seen birds just being lazy?
No. They're always working. They're wired in a certain way that God has showed them what to do, and they do it. They do it perfectly, actually. Birds do what birds do.
Look at the birds of the sky that they don't sow. They're not the ones who are spreading the seeds, at least not intentionally, nor do they reap. And somebody might argue with me and say, well, they certainly they bite bite fruit off of trees and whatnot, but they don't gather it in the barns. That's hardly reaping where you're cutting it off and stacking it up and providing. Look at the birds of the sky.
Pay attention to them. If you're worried about things, look at them. They don't sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father disciples, he's speaking to disciples, remember that. Your heavenly father feeds them. Birds do what God designed birds to do.
Are you not much more important than they? This is a typical Jewish rabbinical way of arguing. It is the lesser to the greater. And whether you are a member of PETA or not, you are greater than the birds. Okay?
You really are. We were designed very specifically in the image of God, and God said that was good. He also gave us dominion over the animals. We're not to abuse or mistreat them in any way, but you are more important than they are. God uses birds as examples.
He uses ants as examples. He uses all kinds of examples. We'll see lilies in just a minute. Are you not much more important than they? And the answer to that question is, yes, you are.
Not a sparrow falls to the ground that God does not know about it and that he's not concerned about it. And if he cares about that and he knows how many hairs are on your head, then is he not concerned for you? He is. He is more concerned for you than he is for those birds. He goes on, not just about what you eat or what you drink, but this is Jesus is now reasoning with us in the second use of the word about worrying, the meremnete word.
And which of you by worrying can add a single day to his lifespan? Is there anybody who raised their hand to that? No. In fact, if you read any research that's ever been done ever about health, worrying doesn't help. Worrying makes it worse.
The more you concentrate worry on what if, what if, what if, what if. Now we all we have doctors, we have diagnostic machines, and we have the ability to dig in, and we should. I think we should. But worrying doesn't help. So he's gonna give us an option.
It's not just don't worry, be happy. I watched the video actually for don't worry, be happy yesterday, three minutes and seventeen seconds of three guys who are basically clowning around the whole time with, you know, the whole deal. One of those guys ended up committing suicide because that's not a good answer. Don't worry. Be happy.
Just stick a geranium in your hat and be happy. No. He's gonna give us an actual viable option for this. Which of you, by worrying, can add a single day to his lifespan? I'd say none of us can.
We can't by worrying. There are a number of days that God has given us, and Moses' prayer in Psalm 90 was that God would teach us to number our days. Teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Ain't that great? But I don't know how many I have.
I know Danny Danny Mayer. We're gonna do Danny's funeral tomorrow. Danny didn't have any idea how long he would live. Actually, Danny thought he lived less days than he did. I think all of us did.
When I originally met him, I think it was after he had been hit. He was already in a wheelchair, and he had been hit in Smith's parking lot. Somebody ran into him and ran over him. He had MRSA. He had all kinds of maladies.
He had more surgeries than anybody I've ever met except for Carol Black. He has known I mean, every single person thought that he wasn't gonna live, but worrying didn't make it any better. We had such a pure relationship. I love that guy so dearly. And to get your text a few weeks back that God got him, I was expecting that the whole time I knew him.
You know? I'm gonna cry a little bit this morning. Sorry. I'm not worried about him, though. God almighty is reaching out to him through you people, his obedient servants reaching out through his wife and through his family.
And he got him, and we get to celebrate that life tomorrow. Worrying doesn't help. Right? It just doesn't help. And some people I've had somebody argue with me before and say, yes, it does.
Worrying helps. If I don't worry, don't do this. I said, and you know what? 9500% of the things I worry about don't happen. That's not proof that worrying helps.
Okay? Second use of the word is, which of you, he's reasoning with us, by worrying can add a single day to his life? Nobody can. Here we go. Why are you worried about clothing?
Why is it that you'd be worried about clothing? Why are you? That's the third use of the word. He's still reasoning with us. He's saying, notice this.
Take account of this. Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. Flowers, how they grow. I got to look at flowers, different flowers. Actually flowers, not snow.
Heliconias and all these beautiful kinds of jungle flowers. Poor man's umbrellas. Have you seen poor man's umbrellas? There are leaves that are this big around. And a poor man could use it as an umbrella in the rainforest.
Right? Notice how the lilies of the field grow. They do exactly what God designed them to do. They do not labor nor do they spin. Actually, that first word is work out in the field, work outside.
And that second word, nor do they spend. The cloth thread for cloth is added in English to help it make sense to us, but they do not labor nor do they spend. They don't work outside and they don't work inside, but they do draw upon the resources that God has given and provided for them through the ecosystem around them. They draw in what God has provided for them. Yet I say to you, that not even Solomon in all of his glory Solomon.
Remember Solomon? Wisest man ever, learned a lot of it by experience. Magnificent in his presentation. Right? Builds the temple and arrays himself beautifully.
But it says, not even Solomon in all of his glory clothed himself like one of these simple lilies of the field. So if God so clothes or in such a way as this, clothes the grass of the field, is alive today and tomorrow it's thrown into the furnace or the oven, It's saying that God is actually providing for you through these beautiful flowers and through these beautiful wood and these flowering plants and whatever. You can actually burn those things up and cook bread with it. He's providing for you in these beautiful things. But if so clothes the grass in the field, it's alive today and tomorrow it's thrown into the furnace.
Will he not much more clothe you? This is a lesser to the greater argument. Of course, he will. He will take care of you. The don't worry be happy song is stuck in my head.
It keeps on going around. And it's not a viable option just to not do this, do this. If somebody tells you not to do something, what's the thing you wanna do more than anything else? Yeah. He's you've gotta have something more than that.
You of little faith. He he says it. You, disciples of little faith, you are showing by worrying that you don't believe that God is almighty, that you don't believe that he loves you. You are a practical atheist if you are worrying. Almighty God, he's almighty, and he loves me.
He'll he will he will allow me to have a life based on what he's wired me to do. And that's true whether you're a millionaire or a martyr. You have little faith. You disciples of little faith. Don't worry then.
Do not worry then. In English, it's definitely an imperative, but this time it is actually the fourth use and it's subjunctive. If you know anything about language and moods, the subjunctive is a mood that has two wills involved. And so God's will is that you would not worry. He says, don't worry.
And if you're an obedient servant of God, you don't wanna worry because he's commanded you not to. But right here, it the way that it's worded, it says, you have a choice of worrying or not. Don't be worrying. It's God's will, but you have a choice of whether you will or won't do it. Do not worry then saying, what are we to eat or what are we to drink or what are we to wear for clothing?
It's funny that the what are we to eat or what are we to drink, he's got an answer for them. You know, he's gonna feed 5,000 before too long. He's gonna say, this is my body. This is my blood. Pay attention to this first.
Right? But Sam, what do we eat? What do we drink? What do we wear for clothing? I am gonna do a little commercial here.
I don't usually do this, but have you all seen The Chosen? Have you all seen that? Steve told me about it. Sandy told me about it years ago. He said, oh, you gotta see The Chosen.
It's amazing. It's an app for your phone, and I thought, oh, gracious. I got enough apps on my phone. And I didn't listen to them for a while. Bobby Daly said, have you seen The Chosen?
I'm gonna send you the DVD. So, oh, mean, alright. I don't even have a DVD player anymore. I guess I'll download it on my phone. So I watched it.
And as I watched the first one, I thought, this is the best thing I've ever seen about the life of Jesus. Second was just as good, third was just as good. Now there are two or three seasons and they're amazing. And so there's one place where Jesus heals a leper. He touches an untouchable man and says, I am willing.
So the leper, once he's healed, has still got the same ratty clothes he had on. And Jesus turns around to his disciples. We're his disciples. Right? He turns around to his disciples, says, which one of y'all's got an extra tunic for him?
And everybody starts taking theirs off because what are we gonna wear? I'm not worried about it when I see Jesus at work. Right? It's really good. Don't worry then saying, what are we to eat?
What do we drink? What do we wear for clothing? For Gentiles eagerly seek after all of these things. Jesus is saying godless pagans worry. Godless pagans worry.
Those who don't have as their father an almighty God. Actually, next phrase is this, for your heavenly father, disciples, your heavenly father knows that you need all of these things. He knows what you need. The the Lord's prayer is just above this. Right?
We've got lots of instruction before we get to this, but disciples, you're supposed to be different. I'm calling you to a higher standard. You're not just like all of the other peoples around you. Gentiles is ethne, which means nations and families. It's every other family.
God's people specifically chosen. You have a heavenly father that knows you need all of these things. You should be trusting him to provide them. So Matthew six thirty one and thirty two says that, you're supposed to be different. And then 33, there's a strong disjunctive right there, but but y'all are supposed to be different.
But instead of worrying, this is what you should do. Seek first, put in priority position his kingdom. That kingdom implies a king and that king is the sovereign almighty God. Is he really your sovereign? If you are a citizen of heaven, you're a citizen of the kingdom of God, be seeking to be a good citizen of his kingdom and seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.
That's what we're to be looking for, not just to be right in an argument, not just to be recognized for prestige or power, fame, money, glory, whatever. We are to be seeking after his kingdom and his righteousness in the way that we walk, in the way that we operate. Actually, this goes back it's called back to the very first lines of the opening of the Sermon on the Mount. The beatitudes, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Will be future tense, but the closing of those beatitudes says this, blessed are those who have even taken it on the chin, been persecuted for the sake of that righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
God's kingdom and his righteousness are available today for theirs is right now the kingdom of heaven. Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, your disciples. You have almighty God and his spirit available to you. All these things will be provided to you. He's given us a viable option.
It's not don't worry, be happy. It's don't worry. Seek first God's kingdom and he will take care of you, period. And again, true for the martyr or the millionaire. He's gonna take care of you.
He has a plan. He has a specific design for your life, and the way that he has wired you is what he wants to use you to do. Just like the birds, just like the lilies. And then in verse 34, we get a summary statement. This summary statement to close is just, so do not worry.
It's the fifth time he's mentioning it and then down below it, so do not worry about tomorrow. You know what? AA, one of the reasons the 12 steps works, they concentrate in AA on what? Today. I'm sober today.
Right now, I'm sober today. I have a problem that I can't do anything about, but there is a higher power who can restore me to sanity. I'm gonna let him. Those are the first three steps. Now in my life today, what is the fearless and searching moral inventory that shows me where I'm not being a citizen of heaven, where I'm not righteous.
I want to turn that over to you, God. That's why it works day by day. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own, Has a statement a truer statement ever been uttered? No.
Be concerned about today and don't worry about tomorrow. For tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. And I'm gonna go back and pick up the for this reason. The for this reason, I say to you, it's good on its own without having this little statement, but if you're looking for it and you're trying to decide, okay, anxiety or worry means having a divided focus.
This is what is immediately above that. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth. If God has gifted you with treasures on earth, they are to be accessible for his kingdom. Do not store up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. The birds don't gather or reap sow or reap or gather into barns.
He's saying, moth and rust destroy, thieves break in and steal. The best security you can have on earth is still not secure. Store up for yourself treasure in heaven. That's secure. Incorruptible hope never can be taken away wherever.
Neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves don't break in and steal. For where your treasure is think about the verb tenses here. Where your treasure is is where your heart will be. Wherever you invest, that's where your heart is headed. The eye is the lamp of the body.
Our way of seeing is important. Our way of seeing is the lamp of the body. It gives direction for our soul. So then if your eye is clear, if you have good lenses and you see clearly, your whole body's gonna be full of light. But if your lenses, if your way of seeing is bad, if your way of seeing is more cultural or political or anything but Jesus' way of seeing, if it's anything but God's clear view, it's gonna be bad for you.
If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. The light that's in you is darkness. How great is that darkness? Your whole world is gonna be skewed, and you're gonna be seeking after the wrong things. And the last little paragraph is what is immediately above for this reason.
No one can serve two masters. You will have you can't have that kind of divided focus. One of them is gonna win out. No one can serve two masters for either he'll hate the one, love the other, or he'll be devoted to one and he'll despise the other. You cannot serve both God and wealth.
I think that speaks to our time. I think it speaks to our place. I think it speaks to our heart. Where are we investing? Are we investing our time in his word?
Are we investing our resources in his mission? Are we investing our solitary thoughts on the things of God, or are we worrying? I have a prayer to close by one of my favorite theologians. Actually, there's one younger theologian who has written about, in the style of another. Sir Francis Bacon was the origin original, but this one looked at that prayer and then came up with a very, I think, meaningful prayer for today.
And so I'm gonna close with that. We'll go into a time of communion right now after that. But I think this is a good prayer to begin a communion right here. So the ushers, if y'all wanna come forward to bring the cup, and Judy, you wanna play something pretty in a minute here. Would you just see and read along with me?
You don't have to read it out loud, but I'll read it out loud. Dear Lord, shepherd of your people and maker of this world, offerer of never ending love and eternal life. Think about that. It's almighty God and what he is doing is leaning towards us and offering us never ending love and eternal life. Please, Lord, govern my life, my choices, my interests by your guiding hand.
Steer my heart, Lord, toward the calm seas that you have set out saying peace, be still, and lift the anxiety that is pressing my lungs. You are the creator. You're the prince of peace. You're the wonderful counselor. I, Lord, will put my life 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, Remember the birds do work. They're constantly going, but they're going at doing what it is that God has designed them to do. If he's designed you to be an artist, be an artist. If he's designed you to be a worker that can just keep on digging a hole, just keep on digging that hole. If he's designed you to be somebody who encourages other people or somebody who gives mercy, somebody who is, being gracious, if it's an intercessor that he's designed you to be, be what you are in Christ.
I'm gonna go back come back to this. I've got a few other things because Jesus says food, water food and drink and clothing. But I think we probably get into other things that we get upset about, and I'm I've got a list of them right here that I wrote down in the middle of the night in different languages. I'll translate them into English, I hope. Are you concerned with power?
Personal relational, are you concerned with power and influence? How to win friends and influence people? Fame, politics, acceptance. We all wanna be loved and adored and accepted. And if our focus is on that acceptance by other people, not by God, it will divide our focus horribly.
There are people who want to control people, and there are people who absolutely do not want to be controlled. And I think each of us is exactly that person. I don't want anybody to tell me what to do. Now what you ought to do is this. Right?
No. Acceptance. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. All these things will be added to you. Do what God designed you to do.
Well, what if I miss it? That's an anxiety ridden question. What if God designed me to do something and I miss it? Well, seek him. He says, I will be found by the one who earnestly seeks me.
Seek first kingdom of God, his righteousness. All these things will be added to you. He Jesus has pointed out. He's given a command, and then he's pointed out the pointlessness of worrying, and then he asks us not to do it again and leaves it in our lap to say whether we will or won't worry, and he gives us a viable option. It's not just don't worry, be happy.
It's don't worry. Seek first. You've got an almighty God who is your provider. Trust him. I had a word for this morning I didn't expect, that a lot of times the acceptance thing is really important to us, and a lot of times the control thing is really important to us.
And if we are trying to control someone else, it is an illusion we cannot do that. And if we feel we have been controlled by a parent who's tried to steer us toward what we think is legalism and whatnot, our reaction to that by going lawless is still allowing them to control our life. If people in the legalistic ditch or in the licentious ditch will look to the author and perfecter of our faith, turn their eyes on Jesus, and seek after him, they will be lifted up out of either one of those ditches. But I'm afraid that we're going to keep on staying in there if we allow anything else to divide our focus. Worry and anxiety shows a divided allegiance and it is practical atheism.
We all wanna be loved, adored, wanted, desired, and needed, and we are necessary in the kingdom of God as obedient disciples. Let God direct where we are. I'm gonna go back to the prayer here. When the adversary comes with anxiety and temptation to lapse into sloth of 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 reject your help, your word, your truth, or your calling.
And if 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 my name or care to know my struggles, Lord, heal my unbelief. God, heal my heart to open the space that's molded and meant for you inside. Amen. I think that's a good place to distribute the the bread and the cup here.
And, Lord, would you show us our fearless and searching, Lord? We want you to show us our places where we fall short, and we wanna pray alongside this prayer, Lord, that we would allow you to show us and then revive us again. In Jesus' name, we ask your blessing as we distribute this bread and cup. Amen. Amen.
On the same evening that he was betrayed, Jesus took bread after supper and after he'd given thanks, he said to his disciples that were there with him, this is my body which is given for you. Jesus had walked out in perfect submission to God's spirit, a perfect life, had a perfect record to show for all of that submission. And what he was saying is, this is that. This is my body. It's given for you.
Take this and eat and do it in remembrance of me. Take it in. Having taken that perfect record, he also sacrificially gave up that right, and he did so for anyone who would ever, in the future, put their trust in him, for anyone in the past who had put their trust in the provision of God alone. Jesus is the center point of all history, beginning author, finisher, perfecter, and it all hangs on what you do with Jesus. He says that this is the new covenant in my blood.
Take this and drink and do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lord. Thank you that you've given us a viable option to worry, that you have taken upon yourself everything we could ever be worried about, and you've given us the way.
May we walk it out in Jesus' name. Amen. We have I'm I'm gonna just do the doxology. Is that fine with you? Would y'all stand with me and we'll sing the doxology?
Speaker 2Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host praise father son and holy ghost
Speaker 1And now for the benediction, but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things will be added to you.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
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