When Glenys and I arrived at our cabin in Sauble Beach for our vacation, a sign over the two sinks in the cabin said “Don’t drink the water.” Most of us don’t like anyone telling us we can’t do something. The Ten Commandments of Exodus 20 are similar. “Thou shalt not” or “You shall not” instructions mean “Don’t”.
Instructions that say, “Don’t” may have more to do with “You shouldn’t because if you do there are consequences” rather than “You had better not”. We have free choice after all. However to do what we’re told not to do will mean the consequences won’t be pleasant. It’s the parent who says to a child, “Don’t eat that before dinner; it’ll spoil your appetite.” The child is insistent, “No it won’t.” You sit for dinner and the fork plays with the food but little goes in the mouth. Why? Because freewill didn’t pay attention to wisdom and a good meal was wasted.
It’s the parent who says to a child, “Don’t eat that before dinner; it’ll spoil your appetite.” The child is insistent, “No it won’t.” You sit for dinner and the fork plays with the food but little goes in the mouth. Why? Because freewill didn’t pay attention to wisdom and a good meal was wasted.
Today’s theme is worry. Who here has never worried? If you’ve never worried you can go now; there’s nothing more we can say to you!
The focus for our time in this text is verse 25 where Jesus told the people, “Do not worry”. Of course you can worry if you choose, that’s your ‘right’ with God’s gift of free will. But, you have to take the ulcer, the high or low blood pressure and sleepless nights that go with it. Jesus is telling us there’s a better alternative to worry and if you are sick of worry you can have that alternative! Does that interest you at all? Sign me up!
How is this remotely possible? Well, Jesus clears the path for us to live a worry-free live.
1. Make investments that outlive life
Verses 19-20…
Did you notice those two words again “Do not”? It is in the same context as what I outlined before. You can, but there are consequences. So, the alternative is to look at your finances another way.
One source offers insightful information about these verses. The images here represent people who were obsessed with hoarding and acquiring wealth and resources to enhance personal comfort and luxury. The warning is not to focus selfishly or, as to quote the Fourfold Gospel Commentary, “not to look upon our possessions as permanent and abiding.”
In Jesus’ time people didn’t have banks but protected their wealth by burying it in the ground which meant it rusted over time. Moths fed on clothing as they did old rags. James speaks of it in 5:2. People built their houses of loose stone and sun-dried bricks. It was just as easy for a thief to make a hole through the wall as break down a door. The potential for loss through any of these realities was very high. We can appreciate therefore why Jesus paints a picture of the senselessness of being excessive in acquiring material things that take all one’s energy to protect and guard. It’s a prime recipe for worry.
Jesus teaches us many lessons. He shows us how pointless it is to consume our energies with material things when the longevity of these investments is short and can end as quickly as they begin. How silly to fuss over things that rust, corrode or thieves steal. It’s as ridiculous as giving $1,000 to an addict to keep safe for you.
No matter how Jesus teaches us we can’t help ourselves. We invest, hoard and spend ourselves into debt and if not into debt we spent on things we don’t need. Our problem takes us back to the “no drinking the water” sign and the Ten Commandments. We understand the common sense of “no drinking”. Most of us realise there’s e-coli or other bacteria that could enter the bloodstream, infect us severely and could be deadly. With the Ten Commandments the outcomes are not as clearly spelled out so since we don’t fully understand the value of the instruction in terms of what it can save us from we decide it’s not enough to simple obey them as the wise and loving advice of our heavenly Parent.
The instructions of Jesus create problems for us before we get going. If we don’t fully understand His logic and its relationship to our real-time situations, we tend not to trust it. However, if we are to make investments that outlive life we have to trust that what Jesus says is acceptable even when we don’t fully make sense of it. And in this situation, wisdom suggests we invest in heaven.
What does that look like? There are many images of course. From tithing to support the local church, to investing in missions worldwide. It’s buying a pair of shoes for the child who had none and giving a senior citizen who cannot drive a ride to the Drug Store. Investing in heaven is sometimes 6’ 4” or two years old. He’s deaf or blind, and sometimes she is so drugged up she doesn’t even know you were there. His clothes are ragged when you pass him the grocery bag and her legs hurt from being seven months pregnant. Allow your imagination to paint your own picture. Jesus said it best in Matthew 25:40, speaking of the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, and sick or prisoner that we help, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” You see, investing in heaven is not about putting money in the bank but banking your money in people and their needs and giving to the church to propel it forward to reach into the communities around us.
Verses 21-23…
In these verses Jesus wants us to understand that just as our eyes give light to our bodies so the focus of our hearts determines the outcome to our souls. A person who cannot physically see needs a guide, either holding the arm of a friend, using a cane to tap the way ahead or a guide dog. They stand at the corner and listen for the sounds of traffic and the chirping of the crosswalk signal to safely cross the street. That’s the result of eyes that do not provide light to the body.
If we focus our hearts on materialism and creature comforts we soon become blind to the investments of heaven. Our creature comforts prompt us to spend our resources wastefully even at the expense of not being responsible members of the body of Christ. These practices are in danger of making us blind to Kingdom values and investments so that finally we exercise little or no responsibility to invest our resources for eternal purposes and we can even easily justify why we don’t do anything that speaks of Kingdom investments.
Jesus then exposes the raw lesson with a pointed statement in verse 24…
We have to make up our minds where our loyalties lie. We can’t have it both ways; we cannot be loyal to God and money. Only one of them can be God. If we are to know the experience of worry-free living we have to change the way we live. We must learn to trust what Jesus says and do as he instructs. If our hearts focus on what happens in our bubble we’ll go down to the grave wrapped in worry because that’s where our heart resides. There’s an alternative. Change our heart’s focus!
Besides making investments that outlive life,
2. Be reminded of your value
Jesus moves on to tell us in verse 25, “Do not worry.” It is only when we establish our priorities to align with God’s priorities are we then ready to receive the instruction, “do not worry”. We realize we can actually live a worry-free life! It is when we understand God’s priorities that we finally realize “life is more important than food and the body more important than clothes.”
There is a possibility however that we don’t quite get that yet so Jesus throws in a few more object lessons and questions – Verses 26-30…
We have a picture of God interested in the smallest of his creations. Not only that but we see a picture of God giving glory to a flower of the field that we’re told King Solomon could not even match. One writer pushes home the significance of this comparison. “The magnificence of Solomon and of his court is proverbial in the East unto this day. To the Jew he was the highest representative of earthly grandeur, yet he was surpassed by the common lily of the field.”
I remember the monarchy’s coronations and highlights of marriages and awards. Images of rows of royal guards in their red and black, white horses and gloss black carriages, gold crowns and silk, velvety robes. As the pomp and ceremony captivate our eyes we hear Jesus saying, “Not even the queen, dressed in all her splendor was dressed like the lily.” These are powerful pictures that if God takes such intricate interest in birds that flutter here and there and flowers which fade with the seasons, we need not worry about his care of us since, as Peter tells us, “The Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.” (1 Peter 4:14)
After this emphasis with lessons about wealth and possessions, Jesus says again in verse 31-32, “So, do not worry…”
‘Pagans’ leaves us with some fascinating possibilities. We must be careful not to read too much into it but touching down on the options opens our eyes to a different way of understanding ‘pagan’ language. Douglas Harper shows how in classical literature a pagan was a word used to refer to the local villager or civilian. The word is rooted in ‘pangere’ which means to fix or fasten things. Think about this for a moment. A ‘pagan’ is that person who has no consciousness of God. They don’t wake every day with a sense of Divinity around them or working in the fabric of their lives. They understand themselves to be the solution and end to everything. Their purpose is to look after life and make the best of it.
It is possible that in some respects followers of Jesus adopt pagan attitudes and behaviours. It is not so obvious that we would go so far as to deny God but honestly, how many of us almost “worry ourselves to death” because we can’t do this or achieve that and we see no hope in sight. All the while we seldom stop to surrender that issue, child, job, or debt to God and ask his help. Maybe we have a little more pagan blood in us than we care to think. In these verses one could think it seems as if Jesus may be telling us that when we worry and run after the material realities, failing to pay attention to God and his priorities we may reflect the spirit of people who don’t even know there is God. Yet, as we run around and fret, worrying about everything and almost behaving like pagans, Jesus reminds us on the heels of that possibility that God knows what we need. So what to do about it. Here comes the victory!
3. Do your part and trust God to do his
In verse 33 Jesus tells us how we ought to respond to crisis and how God will in turn respond to us. Read Matthew 6:33 with me…
Jesus tells us that when we can’t make ends meet, when clothes is raggedy and food supply is scare, he says take your eyes off that and (verse 33) “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness”! And then he follows up with a promise – God will do what? “All these things will be given to you as well.” What things? Food and clothing. Praise the Lord!
Glenys and I were only married five years and in our second church. Money was tight and our needs were overwhelming. For a variety of reasons we were down to making an important decision – give our tithe or use it to buy groceries. Our faith was simple but strong. We decided our $20 would go to God as it should and we would trust him to somehow provide the other. We had a little baby girl during this time so the decision was huge and the confidence that God would pull through for us was significant. With that decision we headed out to look after some pastoral visitation. Among those we went to see was an elderly member of our church. After we sat with this soft-spoken, gentle-spirited man, we prayed with him and rose to leave. As we neared the door he took Glenys’ hand and said, “I want you to have this.” Glenys hugged him, I shook his hand and we went to the car. When Glenys opened her hand there was a $20 bill. No, hold on a moment, it was two $20 bills. Would you believe it? There were three $20 bills! Sixty dollars in 1989 was not a small amount. God rewarded our faith three-fold! I believe this happened because we first sought the things of the Kingdom and God’s righteousness and God honored his promise to us when we did that.
Make the things that matter most to God, the things that matter most to you. When you do, God will look after everything else for you!
After the promise, Jesus said again, “do not worry…” (Verse 34) Jesus does not want us to worry. Jesus impressed us with the lesson that there is an alternative to worry and more worry! There’s definitely another way!
WRAP
- Align your priorities with God’s priorities
- Never forget you are more important to God than anything else in the world
- If you seek God’s interests first, he is bound to deliver for you and wouldn’t have it any other way.
