Believe Week 14 - Single Mindedness Series

Believe 14 – Single Mindedness

January 25, 2015

Matthew 6:25-34

I’m not sure which I’ve heard more, men are simple minded or single minded? Maybe it’s both. I know men and I will include boys in this one who have a single minded focus. Generally speaking, if you ask a man to get you a bag of noodles from the cabinet they will tell you there are no noodles. Why? Because the noodles were in a box. Men have a divide and conquer mentality, which is also part of our single mindedness. Especially, when it comes to doing tasks like this. It’s happened within my family, and I will not say which one of us was guilty. But it’s happened more than once.

On the other hand, I’ve gone to the store believing I can remember the grocery list. How hard is it to remember 3 items? I suppose this is where the simple mindedness comes into play. I end up with 15 items. They were on sale and I had coupons. But I couldn’t remember what I was really supposed to get. So, that means I was simple minded, not single minded.

It’s easy for this to happen, isn’t it? We walk into a room knowing what we wanted, but when we arrive in that room, we have to walk out of the room hoping to retrace our steps so we can remember what we were supposed to get.

Today our focus is not on the simple minded, it’s the call for all of us to be SINGLE-MINDED. Let’s take a look at what Jesus had to say in the Sermon on the Mount. We are looking at Matthew 6:25-34.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,

29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

34 Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

There’s a lot of anxiety in this passage. When Jesus said ANXIOUS, the word means to be divided / distracted or even to go to pieces as you are pulled apart. That’s a great description of what it means to be anxious. The word is used 6 times in 10 verses.

Are there things in your life which have you worried or anxious? — —

Issues like your family, your job, finances, relationships, school, your health, your future — then you can certainly understand a divided and distracted mind.

When your mind is divided and distracted, when you’re feeling pulled apart, it’s really difficult to focus on anything. Your mind is divided, even on decisions which are all good, we still have difficulty making decisions. Now add to that the complexity of life and choices we need to make and it’s easy to become anxious and have divided minds and feel like we’re being pulled apart.

I read a study which asked people to select their top three fears from a list of 10. Financial fears made up 66 percent of the responses. *(http://www.gobankingrates.com/

banking/study-finds-1-3-people-worry-money-time/)

That may be why Jesus told us not to be anxious about life. He gave examples of things we can be divided about:

1. What we will eat.

2. What we will drink.

3. What we will wear.

4. What our bodies look like.

5. What our life expectancy is.

What’s Jesus getting at? Not that you don’t need to have something to eat and drink and wear. Jesus has already taught the Father knows what we need even before we ask. He knows there are things we need to live.