DO NOT WORRY

Good morning, Church! God is Good, All the Time

It s a pleasure to be here with you this morning. I have the privilege of teaching from God’s word today and real privilege it is to do so on the Lord’s Day for our community here at South Peoria Baptist Church.

It’s my goal here today to make sure that all of you walk out of here as Baptists Covenant Theologians. Sound good? How many know what Covenant Theology Is. We have work to do. Naw I say that tongue and cheek but I do want you to leave here with a solid framework of how God has revealed himself in scripture through covenant.

I know Jeremiah has mentioned words like hermeneutics before…if you have not heard that before it simply just means how you interpret the word. I love covenant theology so much and Baptist Covenant theology in particular that I attend a seminary called Covenant Baptists.

Covenant Theology is simply a hermeneutic in which we look at God’s revealed covenants and looks at the whole of the word in light of that revealed Covenant. Covenant theology has a long history in church and rose to an even bigger prevalence during the protestant reformation. So has we look at each verse we form a biblical theology…a plain simple ready of the text, taking in consideration the context of the book, chapter and verse we build into the systematic theology which in this case we are looking at God’s covenant and as how this looks in our lives today. Not that God’s word ever changes but our culture and way of life does and that can mean the practical theology is expressed differently. CLEAR AS MUD?

Trust me you will all be covenant theologians before we are done.!

But in an attempt not to bore you before we get there I want to share some humorous quotes from the man that I believe the funniest Baptist God ever made. If you know our elder team here at all you know we love us some CHARLES SPURGEON!

Thes are not only funny but oddly enough apply really well to the passage were looking at.

NUMBER 1: Everything in life is difficult….EXCEPT PANKAKES.

I agree. If you God had put me in the garden and that tree had pancakes on it…I don’t think I would have lasted long!

Number 2: You Can’t stop a bird from flying over your head….but you can stop it from nesting in your hair!

That’s even easier for some of us. I won’t say who

Number 3: This is my favorite:

Spurgeon’s mother (who was a devout member of the congregationalist puritan church wrote to him and said “Oh Charles, I have often prayed that God would make you a Christian. But I never asked him to make you a Baptist.

Spurgeon wrote her back and said Oh dear mother….GOD IS FON OF EXCEEDING OUR EXPECTATIONS!

TURN WITH ME FIRST THE GENESIS 1 before we move back to MATTHEW 6

As we read these either commit them to memory or highlight them, bookmark them, copy and paste them or however you file things to remember.

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:26-27 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness, so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the [ai]sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 2: 15-17 Then Yahweh God took the man and [n]set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. 16 And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; 17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Genesis 2: 18-20a And out of the ground Yahweh God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the [p]sky, and He brought each to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. 20 And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the [q]sky and to every beast of the field;

Genesis 2 24-25 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

You probably have some idea now why I bring this up, in light of today’s text. If not yet…you will!

In the meantime I will just say that this is the first revealing of God’s covenant to us. All the elements of a covenant exists in the first two chapters of Genesis.

1…You have a transcendent element…God the father in 1:1

2….You have a hierarchy 1:26-27

3….You have an ethic in 2:15-17

4…You have an oath in 2:18-20

5…And finally you have succession (where is this going) in 2: 24-25

The succession here is key because when sin enters the world and the ethic is disrupted and the oath is broken the succession changes from man cleaving to his wife to The Seed of the woman crushing the head of the serpent Genesis 3:15.

Are we all covenant theologians now? Great, lets turn back to Matthew 6!

25 “Therefore, I tell you,

So, as you may have heard me say whenever you see Therefore you should ask yourself, what it is there for! So let quickly recap the last few months. Going back to the beginning of Chapter 5 OUR LORD starts the sermon on the mount with the.

BE ATTITUDES: Reminding that while in this world our hearts are naturally wicked and prone to deceit…who could know it (Jeremiah 17:9) and Paul would remind us in Romans 1 28:32 all the qualities of the natural heart apart from God such as wicked, greedy, envious, ect…the attributes list by Jesus in Mathew 5:3-11 such as merciful, meek, and seeking God’s righteous are the qualities that we are to daily conform to.

SALT AND LIGHT: Salt is a preservative and we as Christians preserve the integrity of Lord’s Gospel to purify our homes, communities in preparing a world for our King’s return. The light of the Gospel is shown into the darkness to defeat it.

EPHISIANS 5 tells us: 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them, 8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of that light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 [e]trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 And do not participate in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead even [f]expose them.

THE FULLFILLMENT OF THE LAW: Christ is exposing the false traditions of the Pharisees and giving His people a true reading of the law and it’s application in fulfilling God’s justice amongst each other and in acts of judiciary, NOT FOR PERSONAL VENDENTTAS

A true breakdown of what it really means to MURDER, Commit ADULTRY, to DIVORCE, to make unlawful OATHS, a true application of an EYE for an EYE and What it means to LOVE YOUR ENEMY.

GIVING TO THE NEEDY: is how we began chapter 6. Remember we have already been told about the conforming of our hearts and in that vein we need no credit when helping the poor amongst us. It need not bee with a TRUMPET BLAST nor in expecting a CONGRADULATIONS.

Now I want to you to think of all that and how epically you and I fail at this every day. Imagine putting all that teaching together and brokenness you should feel over how you’ve probably already today just collapsed that model. But that’s not the end all be all. We know we will fail and thus we should like this for a continuingly transformed heart and mind (what’s referred to as progressive sanctification.)

“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation,[a] but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’

FASTING is up next. Another spiritual means of praying and discipline to conform to the image of God daily

TREASURES IN HEAVEN: While am always hopeful for this world and what it will be at the inauguration of our Lord’s return until then we live in a world marred by sin so all of what I just said is to fulfill the Gospel task, a Christian life well will result in treasures past this age…eternal and incomprehensible to us now.

ALL OF THAT IS THE THERFORE! IS that enough teaching on the first three words of this section. Great! So, lets dig in.

This section is entitled DO NO WORRY: If you think about everything we just went through since Chapter five…makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it? The culmination of Christian life teaching is to trust God’s plan is perfect.

This section is comprised of 4 commands (three of which are do not WORRY! And the other being Seeking THE KINGDOM OF GOD

COMMAND 1: 25a do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.

Think about this statement do not worry. This is not Jesus saying listen I know you have never worried up until this point a day in your life. No, he is describing an action already going on in the hearts of His hearers. This is a command of stop this now.

Psuche is the Greek word used here for life and describes the totality of life. Every facet of your being.

Physical: Do you not know that you are a [a]sanctuary of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 1 COR 3:16

Or do you not know that your body is a [a]sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from [b]God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body. 1 COR 6:19-20

Mental: I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds JEREMIAH 17:10

Emotional: 19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. JAMES 1 19-22

Spiritual: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Christ is referring to all of life, every bit of it and we are never justified in worry when we have the Master we do.

Simply put…worry is the sin of distrusting the promise of God and even still it is probably the most common sin committed by Christians.

REASON 1 25b Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Jesus names the most basic things we need. Food, Drink and Clothes. Things that we often neglect in our western minds because most of have not experienced at time in which we were in needs of those things.

This was not true in the time of Christ and the disciples. Mild winters that brought little snow to the mountains meant a shortage of water to drink and to grow crops.

Now our Lord is no ignorant of our need of these things. You will notice that the reason is stated rhetorically. Is lift NOT more than these things? The first reason under this command is simply to state that God will provides.

You know it’s common the false Prosperity TV Land World of Health and Wealth preaching to say things like “GOD HAS DONE EVEYTHING HE IS GOING TO DO…THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT.

You would be amazed how many homeless people have grown up in this environment and in their unbelief try to manifest means for them to live and when it doesn’t work then a sharp turn to crime soon follows. Both are one and the same. There both a man centered way of trying to force the will of God.

REASON 2 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?

Starting the verse off with LOOK should evoke some imagery in your mind about this passage. You can almost see in your mind a flock birds flying overhead as our Lord said this. Maybe even pointing as he said it LOOK at the BIRDS

In summarizing AW Pink on this topic he points out that this passage should make us more aware of our sin and broken because of it. A bird is an ignorant animal and only knows that which he was created to be and when he is provided for he is content. Whereas man…separate from the ignorant animal by way of being made in the image of God has chosen to use that which God has provided to sin.

In this verse we also see the concept of sowing and reaping. Our Lord here is speaking to mostly believers as these are the disciples gathering to here his teaching and as he often does he is reminding them also of principles in which much of Israel has forgot, misapplied or in some cases walked away from completely. The idea of sewing and reaping is one of them.

Most of the Bible was originally written to those living in an agrarian society, people familiar with working the land, managing livestock, and raising crops. Many of Jesus’ parables involve the farming life. Not surprisingly, then, the Bible contains many references to sowing and reaping, and here are some of the principles we learn: Sowing and reaping is a law of the natural world. On the third day of creation, God commanded the earth to bring forth living plants “bearing seed” and fruit “with seed in it” (Genesis 1:12). These plants were then given to man for food (verse 29). Ever since the beginning, man has understood the process of sowing and reaping and has applied it to his benefit. God uses the law of sowing and reaping to bestow His blessing. God’s blessing comes generally to the whole world as He sends sun and rain to the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45). In some cases His blessing comes more specially to those of His choosing, such as Isaac. Genesis 26:12 says that Isaac sowed a crop and received a hundredfold in one season because the Lord targeted him for blessing. Israel’s gratefulness for God’s yearly blessing was expressed in the Feast of Firstfruits, when the first of the harvest was brought to the Lord as an offering (Exodus 23:19a; Leviticus 23:10). God warned Israel that, if they forsook Him and pursued idols, the law of sowing and reaping would be suspended and their crops would fail (Leviticus 26:16b). This happened to disobedient Judah on a couple occasions (Jeremiah 12:13; Micah 6:15). Sowing and reaping is also a law of the spiritual world. It is more than just an agricultural principle. It is an axiom of life that we reap what we sow. Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” There are natural consequences to our actions. The world operates under the law of cause and effect. There is no way around it: every time we choose an action, we also choose the consequences of that action. Sowing and reaping implies a wait. Nothing good grows overnight. The farmer must be patient in order to see the fruit of his labors. When the Bible likens the ministry to planting, watering and reaping (1 Corinthians 3:6), it suggests a length of time. God will bring forth fruit to His glory in His time. Until then, we faithfully labor in His field (Matthew 9:38), knowing that “at the proper time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9; see also Psalm 126:5). We reap in kind to what we sow. Those who plant apple seeds should expect to harvest apples. Those who sow anger should expect to receive what anger naturally produces. Galatians 6:8 says, “Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Living a life of carnality and sin and expecting to inherit heaven is akin to planting thistles and waiting for roses. This principle works both positively and negatively. “The one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward” (Proverbs 11:18b), but “whoever sows injustice reaps calamity” (Proverbs 22:8a). We reap proportionately to what we sow. The rule is, the more seed planted, the more fruit harvested. The Bible applies this law to our giving. Those who show generosity will be blessed more than those who don’t. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Corinthians 9:6). This principle is not concerned with the amount of the gift but with the spirit in which it is given. God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7), and even the widow’s mites are noticed by our Lord (Luke 21:2-3). Notice how I didn’t say to sow a gift of $100 to a TV preacher because he promised you would get 1000 back and if you sow more you will get more money back. We reap more than what we sow. In other words, the law of sowing and reaping is related to the law of multiplication. Jesus spoke of seed that brought forth “a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown” (Matthew 13:8). One grain of wheat produces a whole head of grain. In the same way, one little fib can produce an out-of-control frenzy of falsehoods, fallacies, and fictions. Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). Positively, one kind deed can result in a blessing to last a lifetime. Sowing and reaping is used as a metaphor for death and resurrection. When Paul discusses the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, he uses the analogy of planting a seed to illustrate physical death. “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body” (1 Corinthians 15:42b-44a). A seed may “die” when it falls to the ground, but that is not the end of its life (John 12:24). Found throughout Scripture, the idea of sowing and reaping is an important principle imparting wisdom for both this world and the next.

REASON 3 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

To believe that we can control the years of our lives is to deny the sovereignty of God. If God’s decree and plan is from all eternity past to all eternity present then and future then what you have and will have is known to God. Many of us get on health kicks and use phrases like this diet will increase your years.

Many of say things like this out of a place of earnestness and are not trying to deny the sovereignty of God. Think of this way…is God sitting in heaven with a plan for your life but waiting to see if you call an audible. You know I was going to take his today but he started a new diet so I think Ill give him 10 more years.

Now we are to be good stewards but in so doing your are answering the bell of quality not quantity.

REASON 4 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.

This reason brings to us both a memory of the beginning and allusion to the end. When sin entered the world our first parents, for the first time were aware of their nakedness. Shame is a consequence of sin. But even thin our Lord provided the fig leaf. Notice that the fig leaf was already there before they even sinned as if gee did God know this would happen?

But fast forward to Revelation 19: 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His [a]bride has made herself ready.” 8 And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

I challenge you to read through Revelation. Put down the preconceived notions of the SCARY BOOK with APOCOLYPTIC LANGUAGE and embrace for the beautify rich theology it provides

Christ has revealed to us His plan of clothing His bride and we are preparing those cloths even now in this day.

REASON 5 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

Solomons kingdom was temporal and failed in his sin as much as it succeeded in his wisdom. But that final Kingdom will be clothed even more beautiful than the lilly.

REASON 6 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—you of little faith?

And little faith is what we have the tendency to be. This wont be the only time we are called little faith by the Lord.

Matthew 8:26 26 And He *said to them, “Why are you so cowardly, you men of little faith?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and [a]it became perfectly calm.

Matthew 14:31 31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Matthew 16:8 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “You men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread?

Notice every reference to being Little Faiths is owing to concern of span of life and food.

ALL OF THAT WAS COMMAND ONE AND REASONS 1-6

COMMAND 2: 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

Basically, summarizing all of the reasons given under command 1

But he does give a reason for found in verse 32

REASON 7 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.

When I preach on the street, I often use this theme of differences between the pagan and the Christian. That outwardly we may not appear to be much different. But our lives as believers should be marked by different goal in life. Running the race differently and ultimately at the end the difference will be our clothes.

You see that when that day comes that all men are raised, we will be as naked and ashamed as our first parents but for the believer that awaits a robe forged in Christ’s righteousness and the unbeliever will stay as naked and exposed as Adam and Eve were at the moment Sin entered the world. They could find only leaves and our final clothes were bought and paid for on Calvary.

Leading us to command number 3 and reason 8 found in verse 33

COMMAND 3: 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,

REASON 8 33b and all these things will be given to you as well.

Going back to Genesis I said I will make you all covenant theologians by the time we leave here. God showed us his plan. He showed his kingdom in the very beginning of the book. And what was old will be new again.

God in His transcendence created everything that ever was or ever will exist right in the opening verses. A sort of general covenant of creation.

But then His covenant with Adam include specifics of the first covenant of works or the Adamic covenant. He gave us a hierarchy that still exists today and will one day be renewed to it’s original intent a the final consummation of all things for all eternity

He gave us a land to work with plants and animals.

So sometimes in theological circles The question gets asked…were Adam and eve vegetarians? Makes sense that they were right. A perfect world not marred by sin which leads to death. So no animal would have died to feed us.

But there is a deeper issue and that is that…wait for it…Adam and Eve didn’t even have to eat at all. Think about it. We eat today to sustain life. Our body’s cells have to be replenished and one of those ways is through eating and drinking.

But if there is no sin then the body does not break down making eating to sustain life, unnecessary.

But you might think he gave them things to eat. Exactly the point of this all! Food was covenantal. Work was covenantal, The very ethic and oath was to work and work to the glory of God would leave us well in the land…and since God in his absolute sovereighty and wisdom still gave our first parents clothes after they sinned and an eve deeper reason for afood after they sinned then why would we believe that that we would not be sustained. Not be provided for until that day when they first covenant of work is restored in the final kingdom which is a return to an even better eden.

A world in which food will once again be covenantal for enjoyment and fellowship

A world in which work will again be in covenant and fellowship in the eternal worship of our Lord.

Luke 17 Jesus says, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you

Believer! Because Christ has already one and just like the fulness of His covenant through the messiah was revealed progressively in the old testament

Writing the law of heart until the flood

Renew the covenant both of spirit and flesh with Abraham promising that one day a messiah through a covenant with King David would emerge.

In between that the Law was given on stone tablets so that when that messiah brings his kingdom your heart of stone would be circumcised and believers would be baptized (REMEMBER I SAID BAPTIST COVENANT THEOLOGY)

Now the kingdom… that mustard seed is growing in the hear and now, the already and not yet…shining the light of the gospel through the darkness…the gates of hell will not prevail and not because they won’t close before we fall off the cliff but because we are to burst through them with a promise that they will not close behind us.

And let us not forget Command 4 and Reason 9 of this final section of chapter 6

COMMAND 4: 34a Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,

REASON 9 34b for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Call out to Christ to be saved…not making him but acknowledging that he already is King and if you are sitting here today and have not done so I plead with you today.

As we wrap up our elders and prayer team will be down here to speak with you come speak with us before you leave here today and we would love to sit down with you and pray with and for you.

SO ARE WE ALL COVENANT THEOLOGIANS NOW>

AMEN…LETS PRAY.