In the past month, we have taken time each Sunday to think about the issue and reality of overload on our lives. (Slide 1) We spent time with 1 Peter 5:7, ‘Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.’ How to deal with worry was our main topic of discussion.
Then we looked at Matthew 16 and processed the parable of the sower in light of contentment and discontentment and its relation to overload. On Communion Sunday, we walked through Mark 14 and Jesus’ moments in the Garden of Gethsemane and we were encouraged to remember these three important points from the pen of A. Philip Parham:
(Slide 2)
God believes in me; therefore, my situation is never hopeless.
God walks with me; therefore, I am never alone.
God is on my side; therefore, I cannot lose.
(Slide 3) Finally, we examined Ecclesiastes 3 last week and took time to think about our season of life and the challenge of overload as we did some comparison with a busy mom named Patty and examined King Solomon’s life and choices.
(Slide 4) Today, we conclude this series on two fronts:
1. A look at the need to simplify.
2. Why addressing overload is a very important issue.
Our text for this morning is Matthew 6:25-34 and you can follow along in your Bibles or with the words projected on the screen. Let us hear the word of God this morning:
(Slide 5) So I tell you, don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food, drink, and clothes. Doesn’t life consist of more than food and clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t need to plant or harvest or put food in barns because your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than they are.
(Slide 6) Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not.
“And why worry about your clothes? Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you? You have so little faith!
(Slide 7) So don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. Why be like the pagans who are so deeply concerned about these things? Your heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
(I simply remind us this morning that good Bible Study includes (and perhaps even begins with) context.)
The context or background setting of this passage is what has come to be called ‘The Sermon on the Mount.’
Now there is a parallel section of this passage in Luke 6:17-26. It is much shorter in length whereas Matthew includes a larger amount of material in this segment as it actually begins with chapter 5 and goes through chapter 7.
One might consider it a complete sermon but it could also be a composite of a group of sermons or messages from Jesus to the disciples given over the course of a couple of days. However, we note that the placement of these remarks in both Luke and Matthew indicated that Jesus gave them at the beginning of His time with them.
I think that the reason Jesus did this is that He was beginning to contrast the long held way to God of law keeping and ritual with the new way (new covenant that Jesus would speak of) that He was about to proclaim. He also, I think, was preparing the twelve for the challenges they would face while with Him and for the rest of their lives.
Jesus gives the twelve and us, a good lesson here, about preparation for serving God and He demonstrates good leadership as He orients the twelve to what is necessary to follow Him.
Jesus is not talking about rules and rituals here. He focuses on character and the internal aspects of following God. He is setting forth God the Father’s expectations as to how one is to see truly and live out the Kingdom of God.
Chapter 6 begins with a word of caution about developing pride from one’s performance of good deeds. This is part of the contrast between what He expects of the twelve and the example set by the religious leaders who ‘strut their stuff.’
Then He teaches them about prayer and again cautions them about their attitude toward and ways of prayer as He tells them not to pray ‘like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them.’ It is in this context that Jesus gives what we call the Lord’s prayer.
Then He moves onto the practice of fasting. We have heard about fasting before and again Jesus is contrasting what others do (don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, who try to look pale and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting) with what He says to do, (when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face.)
Then comes some comments about a ‘biggie,’ money. But Jesus broadens the scope of the subject to more than just how much money one has to how much does money (or treasure or wealth) control you.
As He does this, He makes a very important statement in the midst of His comments, “Your eye is a lamp for your body. A pure eye lets sunshine into your soul. But an evil eye shuts out the light and plunges you into darkness. If the light you think you have is really darkness, how deep that darkness will be!”
What Jesus means here is that what catches your eye influences your values, priorities, and your beliefs. If the pursuit of money (or worry) clouds our vision, then there is a problem.
Finally, we come our main text in which worry is finally mentioned. I say finally mention because it is a theme which runs through this entire chapter as follows: (Slide 8)
There is worry about one’s reputation. Now at a certain level, we need to be concerned with our reputation because it concerns our character and how our character is judged. If we claim faith in Christ, then our character must reflect that claim.
But this is not what Jesus is thinking about here. In the segment about service, prayer, and fasting, Jesus is pointing out that He expects the disciples to serve, pray, and fast in such a manner that points people to God and not to themselves.
This is in contrast to what the religious leaders and teachers are doing because they are worried about their reputation. They are insecure in their identity and they are worried they are being liked and admired because they need that admiration to function and valid themselves.
There is worry about having enough.
This is implied in the segments about money and worry and having legitimate needs met. Jesus addresses fear of going without in these words.
To step back for a moment and think about our context for a moment is to realize that Jesus is giving the disciples directions on how to follow Him. It is to also acknowledge that in all of the contrasts that Jesus uses in Matthew 5 through 7, the call to follow Him, is a call to live differently and live without worry and to overcome, not just resist, but overcome the internal conditions that leads to overload. Worry is at the core of these internal conditions.
For many people worry has become a chronic condition. They cannot stop worrying! They worry about anything and everything.
Never have I read in the Bible that worry is something that we are to do. I read the opposite that we are turn over our worries and cares to God and let Him deal with them.
To do so is to not stop being responsible for our lives and choices. Rather it is to stop being controlled and held hostage by worry.
How do we then deal with worry? (Slide 9) Jesus gives us the answer in verse 33, ‘he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.’
This is simplicity. This is the corrective to worry. Simplicity is necessary if we are to create margin in our lives and not let overload overwhelm us and affect our walk the Lord.
(Now I need to pull over for a minute before I continue. The longer I live and the more I work with people and the more I deal with my own aches and pains (the relational and spiritual kind); the more I realize that for some people a layer of worry develops that has to be pealed off over a period of time because worry has become a defense reaction to significant and even traumatic events in one’s life.
I believe, and I have seen, how God works to take this layer off. But to get to the place where there is a new and sustained inner peace, it requires some very intentional work (even counseling) to get to the place where the chronic nature of one’s worry is properly addressed. But make no mistake, God wants us to live without worry!)
Do we live simple lives today? Some of us here do. I can see it in your faces and hear it in your voices.
But there are many who do not live life simply. We hear and see it in them as well. In their faces and voices tinged with weariness, fear, disappointment, even anger. We see it in their choices and the rush of their lives from one thing to another.
(Slide 10) The simplicity in Jesus’ statement is located in the directive to ‘live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.’ This means that what God wants to happen becomes our focus and our point of living. Everything else we cast aside. This does not mean we become irresponsible parents or workers. But it means that our purpose for these things has a more focus and God-centered perspective to them.
No longer do we worry about our possessions and how much we have or don’t have. No longer do we preoccupy ourselves with being ‘in’ or ‘out.’
Simplicity brings clarity to our lives and hearts. Worry begins to drop away because we stop worrying about things that cause us worry and focus on accomplishing God’s purposes in us. (Think: loving God and neighbor and helping others become disciples.)
Simplicity narrows our focus from many things to a primary group of things such as faith, family, and service. Other things do not matter any more.
From the First Baptist Church of Huntsville, Alabama’s website was this helpful outline about simplicity (Slide 11):
• Possessions are a gift from God (dependency)
• Possessions are to be cared for by God (trust)
• Possessions are to be available to others (selflessness)
(Slide 12) There is also this quote from Richard Foster, “Simplicity frees us from the tyranny of the self, the tyranny of things, and the tyranny of people.”
This brings to why addressing overload is important. Overload is important for two reasons (Slide 13):
We are living too fast and leaving God out in some vital ways in our lives. As a result, our faith suffers and doubt, fear, worry, anger, conflict, and a whole host of things gain the upper hand in our lives. Our family life suffers. Our financial life suffers. Our spiritual life suffers. Our work life suffers.
We are going too fast in too many directions and we are miserable, when we are honest about it.
(Slide 13a) Our mission and ministry as a church is adversely affected.
We need balance in our lives. We can be as overloaded with church involvement as we can anything else. We can easily lose sight of why we are here if we have too many things going on, and become burned out over time. But, as we look to the future, we need to be giving as much careful and active attention to our ministry as to our new building. God has a place of ministry here for us and we cannot let overload get in the way of that ministry.
As we conclude this morning, we do so with a video clip that was a part of the introductory sermon of this series. It is called ‘The Value of An Hour.’
As we watch it again, I would have you reflect on how you spend each hour of your day and ask God for the desire, strength, and patience to begin making the changes to simplify your life and finding the margin necessary to live.
(Slide 14) ‘The Value of An Hour’ from sermonspice.com
Let us spend some time in silent prayer seeking God’s direction for our lives. Amen.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pagan
www.fbchsv.org/biblestudy/disciplines/Simplicity.html
