If you would, please stand as we say together our memory Scripture for this quarter:
Matthew 6:31-33
“Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
And our memory refresher Scripture is …
2 Timothy 2:11-13
“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him. If we disown Him, He will also disown us; if we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot disown Himself.”
Please open your Bibles to Matthew 6:25-34
Are you ever worried that you are not worried enough?
Let’s do a little exercise, OK.
I might be beneficial to close your eyes for this exercise but it is not absolutely necessary …
Imagine you can have any home you want.
- Where would it be located? In the country? In the suburbs? In a small village? In a large city? Would it be by a lake or brook?
- What type would it be? A single story ranch home? A cottage? Would it be a mansion? Or perhaps an old farm house?
- How many bedrooms would it have?
- How many baths?
- What color would it be?
- Does it have a large yard or a small one?
- You can decorate the yard any way you like
o Lots of trees or Flower Gardens or Shrubs
- Yes, this is the house you have always dreamed of …
- It feels pretty good, doesn’t it? The place you’ve always wanted …
(Pause for a few seconds)
OK … now the house is on fire and there is nothing you can do to save it!
How does it feel now?
Now remember … that’s just your imaginary house burning down … how do you feel?
I don’t know how you felt when your imaginary house burned down but that’s what worry is like.
“Worry is the misuse of imagination.”
We imagined having a wonderful home and it felt great!
We imagined it burning down and it did not feel so great!
Let’s look again at our memory Scripture:
Matthew 6:31
“Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’”
Here Jesus is not talking about any luxuries like a dream home.
These are basic survival needs; food, water, clothing, shelter, surviving extreme heat or cold. If you don’t have these things you will die!
The land we live in is an anomaly; a place that is different from almost any other country or place or time in history.
This is also true of what we would call modern Western Civilization over the past century.
When Jesus is talking to these people there is no welfare. If you are able to work and refuse to do so, no one will take care of you, not even your family.
There are no food pantries handing out food. There are no soup kitchens.
Work equaled the ability to purchase food. You might receive pay with which you could purchase food or you might receive food as your payment.
You couldn’t sign up for disability or workers compensation or food stamps or welfare or any kind of assistance.
Social security was non-existent as well as retirement plans.
When you got too old to work or too injured or too diseased either your family took care of you or else you died!
And yet, Jesus is says, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’”.
And, the situation with water was not much better. It might have been fine in Jerusalem and other large cities and most communities would spring up around a well or a small brook or river that may or may not have any water in it.
And yet, Jesus is says, “Do not worry, saying … ‘What shall we drink?’”.
Finally Jesus says, “Do not worry, saying … ‘What shall we wear?’”.
We think of clothing like what we see in Walmart; racks and racks of clothing all segregated into boys, girls, men and women’s departments and those departments getting changed out every three months for the next season months in advance.
Just try to find a pair of insulated winter gloves in a store in March.
And, if you can’t afford Walmart there’s always Goodwill or the Salvation Army or a local mission like the Trading Post. Some churches have used clothing supplies as well to give to those in need.
Heavens! I remember a family who had adopted five children who would get $3,500 from the government each year for school clothing and would spend all of it. Why? Because … Why not?
But for the average person in Roman occupied Israel when Jesus was here it was very different.
When we see the young man in the Gospel of John running away naked because he had only been wearing a linen garment it may have been because that was the only garment he had.
Roman soldiers were not poor by the standards of that day and yet they did not throw away Jesus’ bloody garments when they were crucifying Him but they divided them up and cast lots for the seamless one.
So, how can Jesus say, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink’ or ‘What shall we wear?’”
Jesus can say this because He knows that the heavenly Father knows that you need them.
Jesus says, “
Matthew 6:32
“For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”
Your heavenly Father knows that you need food and water and clothing.
God the Father also knows that unbelievers need food and water and clothing.
We know that our heavenly Father knows that we need food and water and clothing.
The unbelievers don’t know that God the Father knows that they need food and water and clothing and other material things so they pursue them as a top priority because they cannot rely on the Lord to provide for them.
But, we, as children of God are different, right?
We know better, right?
And because we are different and we know better we live differently, right?
Look at the comparison …
The [unbelievers] run after all these things (food, water, clothing as top priority)
But [you] seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness!
Matthew 6:33
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
So, what is the Lord saying to His children in this verse?
Is He saying that we should become monks and cloister ourselves away from the world and then He will drop food, water and clothing into our laps?
Not at all. To shut yourself away from the world completely would be sinful.
We are to take Christ to the world. We are not to keep Him to ourselves!
So, what does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness?
We as believers are in the kingdom of God.
Jesus is King and we are His children, His servants, His friends, His witnesses, His ambassadors, His disciples.
We are to seek the welfare of the kingdom of God above all other priorities.
When we seek the welfare of the kingdom of God above all other priorities our priorities take second place to the kingdom priorities.
Along with seeking the welfare of the kingdom of God we are to seek His righteousness.
What does that mean?
To put it simply, it is seeking the will of the Lord and obeying it without question.
When we seek the Lord’s will in everything and obey in the strength of the Lord the results are in His hands … which is why He can say to us, “Do not worry …”
When the Lord says, “do this” we do it in the strength of the Lord and for His kingdom.
When the Lord says, “don’t do that” we don’t out of love-driven obedience and for the sake of His kingdom.
That is His righteousness.
Or … would you rather take on the responsibility for your own life instead of placing it in the hands of Jesus?
The Needhams wrote a song called, “Why pray when you can worry?” and the song asks the following questions …
Why hand it all to Jesus?
Why lay it at His throne?
Why would you give Him all the fear and dread that you have known?
Endless days and sleepless nights are everything you life was meant to be …
So why pray when you can worry?
Philippians 4:6-7 (elaborate as you read through it …)
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
- Don’t worry = do not be anxious about anything!
- Present your REQUESTS to God
- What will you receive? The peace of God which transcends all understanding!
Proverbs 3:5-8 (elaborate as you read through it …)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
“Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.”
- Trust in the Lord annihilates your worries
- Take your directions from the Lord
- Don’t try to out-think the Lord
- Vs 8 – if you follow the Lord’s leading you will have less stress in your life
Consider the trust that …
- Abraham had when the Lord told him to pack his bags and head to the land “that I will show you …”
- Abraham had when the Lord told him to sacrifice Isaac
- Mary had when her conversation with, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.”
Now … what problems do you have in your life that are worrying you?
Are you imagining the worst case scenario?
Are you ready to seek the Lord’s will in that case and follow His plan from this point forward?
Final comments and prayer
