Untitled Sermon (2)

Introduction

My sons absolutely love to play hide and seek…

they love it…and becasue of that, I love it...

they get so excited when I go in search of them…that their hiding places…are…well…easy to determine...

Not to mention…half the time…they come running out of their hiding places…laughing all the way and tackle me to the floor...

God has indeed blessed us with our boys...

But it’s not just children who play hide and seek…adults do too.

Adults tend to hide in different ways…we might hide in our addictions…we might hide in our work…our family…our church work...

…we might hide by building up emotional walls to protect ourselves from ever being hurt by anyone again…so that we can feel safe...

We hide in all kinds of ways.

Today’s message

I’ve titled today’s message “Hide or Seek?”

In our scripture reading this morning form Matthew 6…Jesus talks about being anxious…worried…pre-occupied with the necessities of life.

Jesus declares “your heavenly father knows you need them all.”

and he says

Matthew 6:34 ESV

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

Often we hide in our anxieties and fears...

That is increasingly easy to do in our world…

with out of control government spending and debt…

with seemingly being on the brink of world war 3 with Russia and China…Ukraine and Taiwan...

with facing a very dark economic forecast for us and the world..

The world economic forum coined a new term in January 2023 called the “Poly-crises” which they define as “a cluster of related global risks with compounding effects, such that the overall impact exceeds the sum of each part”. Great!

with pandemics and illnesses…bioweapons…and the like…

Just this week…this past wednesday a story was posted on CNN titled “Scientists have revived a ‘zombie’ virus that spent 48,500 years frozen in permafrost.”

In other words…we have no shortage of concerns in our world…in our present moment in time.

I’m not trying to make you anxious or scared…I’m simply stating the obvious…there are all kinds of things to worry about…now…and for the rest of our lives...

Later in Matthew 24:21-22 Jesus says:

Matthew 24:21–22 ESV

For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

What’s my point…there is always trouble in the world…and it will only increase until Jesus returns...

So when we read in Matthew 6:34

Matthew 6:34 LEB

Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

How can he possibly expect us to be able to do that.?

Context

But reading this passage in context of the previous sections of Jesus teachings…especially on money, prayer, fasting, and storing up treasures in heaven rather than on earth.

As R.T. France says...Jesus is still teaching here about “the theme of the disciples’ attitude to material needs and possessions, and the issue of priorities”...

R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 265.

Jesus is certainly not saying…there is nothing to worry about…what he IS saying is that the priority of our worries should be focused on today…and our main priority is to seek God and His kingdom…above all else...and not to hide in our anxieties and fears...

Because fear has a tendency to do that…make us freeze…or hide away…until the danger has passed…the problem is…as I just mentioned…there is no shortage of things to keep us in fear in perpetuity…which reeks havoc on our bodies minds and souls...

Our Sympathetic Nervous System…AKA our “flight-fight-or freeze” response…works extremely well at keeping us alive…in the short term…but if we live our entire lives in that state of heightened fear/stress…we will not be healthy...

Jesus makes it explicitly clear here…that our heavenly father has concern for us…even over and above the birds of the air or the grass of the fields…and God has the ability to meet our most basic needs...

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REAL

The harsh reality of our world is that not every animal or human finds enough to eat to survive...

According to Recycle Track Systems (rts.com)

Food...takes up more space in US landfills than anything else.

They add:

“While the world wastes about 1.4 billion tons of food every year, the United States discards more food than any other country in the world: nearly 40 million tons — 80 billion pounds — every year.”

That’s rather disheartening…isn’t it.

Jesus is not saying everyone has all their basic needs met…they most certainly don’t…and you and I as caring, loving, active Christians should work to ensure that people near us…have enough to eat…keep donating to our food bank…and supporting other ministries or non-profits that work for food security...

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France sums up Jesus’ teaching this way:

“In the specific situation of Jesus’ first disciples the issue was one of direct existential importance: their itinerant and dependent lifestyle made the questions of daily provision constantly relevant, and worry about material needs a recurrent possibility.

These were the people for whom the petition “Give us today the bread we need for the coming day” (v. 11) rang true each day, and it was the confident offering of that prayer to a “Father in heaven” that was their essential safeguard against worry.

R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 266.

Closing

Taking Matthew 6 as a whole…you see Jesus building up his disciples to trust that God knows their needs and that God can provide those needs…and who rewards in secret for what disciples practice in secret in order to draw nearer to God...

Faith grows stronger each time you and I recognize that we have needs…that we are sinners…that we are in need of daily bread…and water…and clothing...

Faith grows stronger from our “awareness” (France) that God knows our needs…both spiritual and material...

Faith grows stronger when we recognize our need…are aware that God knows our needs…and that we are reliant on God’s provision to meet our needs.

...and that is the opposite of worry.

So let us stop hiding in our fears and anxieties …or behind the walls we build up to “protect” ourselves from being hurt…let’s get real with God and with one another...

Let us seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness...and all these other things will be added to us...

…and when God meets our daily needs…let us seek to help someone else meet their daily needs too…

…because when we do that…we are seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness…here and now.

Thanks be to God…AMEN.