Trusting God in Everyday Living
Matthew 6:25-34
July 3, 2005
Introduction
Before I get into the message for today, I want to extend a special invitation to make sure you’re here next week. We’re going to look at that all-important hot topic so important to our society, the issue of judging.
Back in the day, the most quoted verse was John 3:16 -
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
But now the most quoted verse is Matthew 7:1 -
"Do not judge, or you too will be judged."
How do we handle that? What was Jesus really talking about there? Can you give a good answer to someone who accuses you of being judgmental?
Believe me, the world sees Christians as being very judgmental, and we need to be able to respond to that charge in a reasoned and reasonable manner.
So be sure to come back next Sunday as we tackle that very sensitive issue.
But today, as we finish Matthew 6, I want us to look at the words of Jesus regarding how we can trust God in our everyday living.
So many people think God is just interested in your Sunday mornings, and that outside of that he’s either just waiting to strike someone down or giving them a free pass to heaven.
And the reality is that none of these perceptions is true. The fact of the matter is that God cares about you and me as individuals, and he cares about every single part of our lives.
And one of my hopes today is to reinforce that by looking at these words of Jesus.
I’ve told you that I’ve been thinking and praying through some phrases that we could use when describing how I’d like to our church to be viewed by those in the community and in the church.
One of those phrases is this: Real faith in a real God for real people in the real world. I want people to see that we believe God operates in and through the lives of his people in the everyday world that we all live in.
The truths of Scripture are timeless, folks. And this passage we’re going to cover today is a great example of the practicality of the Bible in our current time.
I’d like you to follow along with me as I read this passage. I’m reading from the New International Version, but you can read from whatever version you might be carrying with you today.
If you don’t have a Bible with you, you can use the blue Bibles in the seats in front of you. Our passage is found on page 685 of those Bibles.
Matthew 6:25-34 (p. 685)
MT 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
MT 6:28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?’ or `What shall we drink?’ or `What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Let’s pray.
In this passage of Scripture, Jesus hits home with his talking about one of the most basic areas of everyday living: making ends meet.
We live in the greatest country in the world, and tomorrow we celebrate the birth of this country 229 years ago.
God has blessed our country, and we’ve become the richest nation in the world, and the only remaining super-power.
But in spite of that, we still have many thousands who live in poverty. And there are lots of people who work like dogs day in and day out, and still can’t pay the bills.
And they worry about it. That’s just natural, isn’t it? Has anyone here never worried about stuff before? I have. It’s not healthy; God tells us in Scripture that we’re not to worry because he’s got under control, as we see in our passage, but hey - everyone gets concerned about stuff.
So today I want to address four truths about trusting God in the face of everyday living here in the 21st century.
Four Truths about Trusting God:
1. God knows our needs.
I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time here, but it’s important to understand that God really does know what’s going on your life.
Verse 32 -
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
God is not ignorant and is never surprised.
Psalm 139:1-3 -
O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
God’s not up in heaven and the angel Gabriel comes up to him and says, "Hey God - check this out - Fred here’s really goin’ through the wringer right now. You mind looking into it?"
And God doesn’t look at the angel and go, "Whoa - you’re right! Good thing you told me, Gabe! That was close - I almost totally missed it!"
Folks, God knows. And he’s wanting to help you with it. And he wants you to trust him for it.
But the first step in that trust is that you understand that he knows. Nothing takes God by surprise.
Sometimes when I pray, I just say, "God, you know what’s going on here. You know everything that’s involved, and you know the circumstances behind it. And you know just what to do about it. I pray that you’ll step in here and have your will be done."
The first truth about trusting God in everyday living is that God knows our needs. The second truth I want to cover today is that...
2. God meets our needs.
That’s the main gist of our passage today. Jesus says that, "Hey, you know what? My Father knows, and if you’ll live for him, he’s got it taken care of. He’ll meet the needs you have. Really!"
Well, just how does he do this? Here are three primary means God uses to meet our needs:
* Work.
I gonna camp on this one for awhile, so sit tight, okay?
God gave us bodies that are capable of doing many different things to earn food and money. And as time marches on, we find more ways of doing things to earn food and money.
There are literally thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of careers that didn’t exist even 15 years ago.
And this brings me to this passage from 2 Thessalonians 3:10 -
"If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
You know what? If you’re able to work, God expects you to work. Look at this again: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
It doesn’t say, "If a man can not work..." God isn’t addressing the inability to work, just the unwillingness to work for your needs.
God doesn’t believe in laziness. And he won’t bless it. Read through the book of Proverbs sometime to find out what God has to say about it.
Someone has written that there are four kinds of bones in the world.
The WISH BONES who spend their time wishing someone else would do the work;
The JAW BONES who do all the talking, but very little else;
The KNUCKLE BONES who knock everything that anyone else is trying to do;
The BACK BONES who shoulder the load and do the work; (SermonCentral.com. Contributed by: Jim Kane)
Look with me at 1 Timothy 5:8 -
If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
I’ll just be honest with you here: I have little patience for those who are able, yet unwilling to work to provide for their needs.
On more than one occasion, I’ve had people come to me and say, "I can’t find a good job in this town." And I tell them they have a couple choices: they can go to some other town or keep looking for work here.
And I have a saying that I give them: If you can’t find the job you want, you gotta take the job you can get.
There is work in this town, if you’re willing to do it. It may not be the most glamorous and it might not pay the best, and you might have to take 2 or 3 jobs to make the money you need, but that’s a whole lot better than having the repo guys permanently camped in your driveway, right?
Hey - I know what I’m talking about here! Remember? I’ve been there.
So Brian, what about things like welfare and food stamps and such?
Here’s my take on that stuff: I think they should be given to people who are unable to work, or have been laid off for one reason or another.
But I don’t think they should be given to people who are able but unwilling to work.
There was a time a number of years ago when we were on food stamps and Medicaide. It was embarrassing to me, but I needed the food for my family, and we had doctor bills. My job wasn’t paying enough. And I was already out of the house 15 hours a day working.
One of the few things that helped my keep my chin up was the realization that I had already been a productive member of society, doing my part for the government and the economy.
In other words, I viewed that program as something of a stopgap measure meant for those who, for a time, could not make ends meet, even though they were trying.
But folks, you’ve gotta understand that one of the ways God provides for your needs is by giving you the ability to work. And he expects you to earn your keep.
And let me say one last thing about this: if you’re not willing to give up your cigarette and beer money to help your own cause, don’t expect the church or me to help.
That might seem harsh, but folks, I’ve seen way too many people in my life, both as I grew up on the Indian reservations and off them, that people had a hard time keeping the light bill paid, but had plenty to spend on alcohol and cigarettes.
When you’re willing to use that money for your bills, then I’m willing to help you with more.
God expects you to work, if you’re able.
Here’s the second way God provides:
* Family.
God sometimes causes the hearts of our family members to step in and give us food, clothing, shelter, money, or whatever.
It’s happened for my family, and there have been times when I’ve given money and stuff to some of my family, when I could.
And that’s fine, as long as you don’t become so dependent on that that you don’t bother to start paying your own way.
* Miraculously.
I have found money in our mailbox at times over the years, even before I became a pastor.
But just this last week, someone anonymously sent us a gift certificate from Kesslers and a re-usable coupon card.
Generally God provides in miraculous fashion mainly through the generosity of his people, the family of God.
But sometimes it’s by an inheritance you weren’t expecting, or maybe a raise, or something.
The second truth about trusting God for your everyday living is that God meets our needs, generally through making us able to earn a living, but also through the blessings of family and the family of God.
Let’s move to the third truth about trusting God in our everyday living, and that is that...
3. God wants us to trust Him.
These words of Jesus are more than a teaching about trusting the Father. These words are an invitation to trust the Father.
The word trust is another word for faith. Faith is exercising trust in someone or something. In this case, you’re exercising trust in the one who is actually able to make something happen.
But it’s not just saying, "Okay, God, time to cough up the dough I need."
This trust involves obedience.
Proverbs 3:9-10 -
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.
You’ve heard the phrase, "put your money where your mouth is," right? Well, here’s where it really counts. If you say you trust in God, let it be shown in your pocketbook.
This isn’t a tithing message. But you need to know that this is probably the biggest test of faith for most Christians.
And before you say that I don’t know what you’re going through, let me remind you that I’ve mentioned a number of times that in the past we have been on the bubble financially, and bill collectors were pressuring me to sell my children to pay them off!
Okay, not really, but that’s what it felt like.
But my wife and I have found that when we obey in faith, God always comes through. I can’t explain it except to say that God never says one thing and does another.
We started tithing when we couldn’t really afford it. We had to make choice between paying bills and giving to the Lord. When we chose God first, he always came through with the other stuff. Sometimes it was after the due date, but we never had our utilities cut off, and we always had food.
But why is trusting so hard?
Answer: because we like to be in control.
What I mean by this is that it’s very hard for us to trust God to fill in the gaps when we fall short in meeting our own needs.
We want to trust our own efforts, our charm, our skills, or whatever. And while we need to use these whenever we can, the fact of the matter is that sometimes it might not be enough.
And so we start looking for other things to help, and never think to look to God, who ultimately is the provider of it all anyway.
Sometimes we need to just say, "Okay, God. I’ve done all I can. I really need you to help me out here." And watch and pray.
One way to make it easier to trust him is to begin praying about stuff immediately instead of when it gets overwhelming. Start praying everyday as you’re going to work that he’ll help you to be productive, thanking him for the job you’ve got.
This will help you get past that hurdle of always feeling like you’ve got to be in control.
Ask him to help you exercise the faith needed to trust Him. Don’t think you have enough faith? We can ask him for that, too.
Let’s review: what was the first truth about trusting God in every living? God knows our needs? What was the second truth? God meets our needs? And the third? God wants us to trust him.
Here’s the fourth truth about trusting God in everyday living and it’s that...
4. God wants us to seek Him.
Almost as well-known as John 3:16 and Matthew 7:1 is verse 33 of our passage today:
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
How does this relate to trusting in Him to meet our needs? It’s by seeing the connection between the phrases, "seek his kingdom" and "all these things will be given to you as well."
What are the "all these things?" It’s just what Jesus was discussing - our everyday needs.
How do we do this? How do we seek God? There are two main tools:
* Time with God (reading the Bible and praying).
* Time with God’s people (worship, fellowship).
When you take the time for these things, you discover that God meets ALL of your needs: financial, as well as spiritual, social, emotional, etc.
Conclusion
The key to trusting can be found in one word: focus.
Where is your focus? Is it in the circumstances? That’s not a recipe for trust. That’s a recipe for panic.
But if you can focus on God, then you can have the peace that comes from knowing that God knows, cares, and will move on your behalf.
Philippians 4:6-7 says this -
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. (NLT)
We do all we can, trusting that God will come through in the end.
But a word of caution: he doesn’t always do it on our timetable, or in the way we want him to. And in those times, we still need to trust him to step in.
The foundation is trust in God, not ourselves, our circumstances, or our efforts alone.
When we can take our eyes off the circumstances and focus on God, life in general becomes smoother. Train the eyes of your heart to look heavenward as a habit.
Believe me, it works. And I know that there are plenty of people here today who can tell you the same thing, from their own experiences.
Jesus invites you to put your needs and worries into the hands of the Father. And the Holy Spirit is available to help you do that.
As we close, I want to pray that you would be able to do that, okay? Let’s pray.
