The Purpose of the People of God - 6:25-34
The Purpose of the People of God - Matthew • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 50:08
0 ratings
· 9 viewsFiles
Notes
Transcript
The Purpose of the People of God
The Purpose of the People of God
INTRODUCTION GOES HERE
Worry and Anxiety?
Anxiety
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? 27 “And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span?
28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Let’s Pray
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
δια τουτο - through this
Context
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Jesus has just condemned the pursuit of wealth at the expense of the pursuit of God.
Not a condemnation of wealth
A condemnation of self glorification
He asked that His disciples be singular in purpose and pursuit, the glory of God.
Jesus answers the expected question.
If I’m focused on God, what about the rest of life? How will it fall into place?
25 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Worried about your life….
Eat
Drink
Clothing
These are natural worries to have.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Note that these are different things
Life ≠ Food
Body ≠ Clothes
26 “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
Prescription - Look!
Birds of the air get fed
Do the birds serve as a reminder to you?
Are you worth more than the birds?
Obviously this is true
Though it is not stated or referenced, can we think of a time when this has occured?
4 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My law. 5 “Now it will be on the sixth day, they shall prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”
There is a reason people call Matthew the Second Exodus.
Matthew continues to use this motif because he is calling the church to the same thing Israel was called to - to be a light to the nations
In the Mekhilta, an early section of Mishnah believed to be recorded around 350AD, 2 parallels are drawn.
The original interpreters of the law were those given the bread from heaven.
Who were the next interpreters or teachers of the law?
The Priests and Levites
They did not farm for bread either, it was provided to them through the offerings to the Lord.
We see God’s provision again in Lev 25:18-24 - the Sabbatical Year (7th year)
21 then I will command My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the produce for three years.
provides plenty for 3 years
the sixth year
the seventh year when nothing is planted
the eighth year (year 1) while waiting on that years plants to grow
Now we come to the point.
27 “And which of you by worrying can add a single cubit to his life span?
This is a verse that we all know.
It poses a very logical question, what does worrying accomplish?
The answer, nothing positive.
28 “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, 29 yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
Having dealt with food and drink, Jesus turns to clothing.
Prescription - Observe!
Lillies are clothed
Does the beauty of creation remind you that you are cared for by God?
The leaves in the fall
Comparison with Solomon
We know the splendor of Solomon, let me help remind you of the picture:
1 Kings 10:14–23 “14 Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,
That’s over 22 tons
15 besides that from the traders and the wares of the merchants and all the kings of the Arabs and the governors of the country. 16 And King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, using 600 shekels of gold on each large shield.
15lbs of gold per shield
Total - 3075lbs of Gold for these 200 shields
17 And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, using three minas of gold on each shield, and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
3.78lbs of Gold each
1134lbs total for the 300 shields
18 Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with refined gold.
Covered up ivory - together these two are symbolic of royalty, power, and in some cultures divinity or divine blessing
19 There were six steps to the throne and a round top to the throne at its rear, and arms on each side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the arms. 20 Twelve lions were also standing there on the six steps on the one side and on the other; nothing like it was made for all the other kingdoms.
21 Now all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None was of silver; it was not considered valuable in the days of Solomon.
22 For the king had at sea the ships of Tarshish with the ships of Hiram; once every three years the ships of Tarshish came carrying gold and silver, ivory and apes and peacocks. 23 So King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.”
You can imagine, given this description, how Solomon must have dressed. In the best of the best.
30 “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!
If God, so splendidly cares for the temporal, even by our standards, how much more will He care for you? Remember, you will not pass away.
Earthly vs Heavenly Treasure
God is storing up for Himself things of immense value in eternity. You are one of them.
You of little faith!
This is used in 3 other places in Matthew:
Mt 8.26 - Calming of the storm
Mt 14.31 - Peter walks on the water
Mt 16.8 - Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees - We brought no bread
ALL 3 of these are about disciples!
31 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 “For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
Food, Drink, and Clothes
Do not worry about these things, God already knows you need them.
We mentioned this in our discussion of the Lord’s prayer:
11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread.
God doesn’t need a reminder of our needs. We need a reminder of our dependence upon Him.
32 “For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Gentiles
Non disciples
Matthew is distinguishing between groups, the disciples and the crowds
NOT believers and unbelievers
eagerly seek - this is an intensified word
These Things and These Things - Paints a chiastic structure emphasizing what is in between
Don’t seek the earthly perspective
Seek the heavenly one
33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
δε - Now
Seek! (Present Tense)
His kingdom
His righteousness
all these things
food, drink, clothes?
will be added to you (Future Tense)
This is not the promise of prosperity.
Previous examples are where God provided for the nation of Israel. How does God normally meet individual needs?
He uses His people!
Lev 23.22 - leave the corners of your field and the fallen produce
Lev 25 - the year of Jubilee, to restore property to one another because we are only stewards of it
Deut 18:1-3 - the Priests are provided for in the faithfulness of the assembly to bring their offerings.
Individual needs are met by the body.
It says seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
Seek! - Plural
Though our individual practice is important and it matters, after all that is the only piece we can control, the calling to discipleship is corporate. You cannot be a disciple of Jesus and be alone.
Matthew is doing the same thing here in how he has organized Jesus words.
Remember the Exodus motif?
Jesus is bringing about a second Exodus
Do you know what one of the major outcomes of the first Exodus was?
Specified Purpose for the nation Israel!
4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 ‘So now then, if you will indeed listen to My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
This is the Purpose of the People of God and it is something we are to do together!
The Greek word for fellowship is κοινονια - It literally means participation.
When Luke writes about the purpose of the church in Acts, or Paul writes in 1 Corinthians or Philippians, what are they asking you to participate in?
The Kingdom
Care for one another in Christ Jesus
34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
ουν - “Therefore”
This text is not an exemption from responsibility of what we need for each day, but a matter of focus.
We have confidence in that tomorrow rests with the Lord, live in today.
Now I want to circle back to where we began today.
Anxiety is a major problem today, both in and out of the church.
Not all anxiety is bad
Anxiety is your body’s natural response to danger.
Clinically - Anxiety has been classified as a subsection of fear.
American Psychological Association:
The difference between healthy and unhealthy is healthy anxiety or fear is present oriented and short term, unhealthy anxiety or fear is future oriented and long term.
It is natural and healthy to have anxiety about some things.
Where it becomes a problem is not in having anxiety, but in how we deal with the underlying causes, or rather how we don’t deal with them.
Balloons in a tub analogy
When stress is induced, too many balloons begin to float up
This is when anxiety becomes evident and seen
What they’ve found is that anxiety, though triggered by an event, an external stressor, is usually because of other things: the balloons
What is the clinical treatment for anxiety?
Broadly fits into two categories
Rationalization - Recognizing the truth
Skill development - Problem Solving/Reconciliation/Circumstantial Solutions
Both of these seek to achieve the same goal
Help the individual grow in confidence to deal with the balloons.
What is confidence?
1 a : a feeling or consciousness of one’s powers or of reliance on one’s circumstances
b : faith or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way
2 : the quality or state of being certain
3 a : a relation of trust or intimacy
We have the greatest source of confidence for the future we could possibly have!
The Lord! We know what the ultimate future holds!
Pursue Heavenly Treasure!
Pursue Eternal Things!
Have an Eternal Mindset!
This is why Jesus calls the worriers “You of little faith”
There is a correlation between faith and unhealthy anxiety in the life of a believer.
Yet, it is a great disservice to tell someone if you simply have more faith your anxiety will go away.
Telling someone to have more faith is like telling someone to just stop worrying.
IT DOESN’T WORK - Don’t think of purple elephants?
So what do we do?
Now I want to be clear, I am an advocate of professional counseling or therapy.
In fact, I think much of what has been learned in the last 30 years of study corroborates the truths of Scripture as it pertains to behavioral health.
If anxiety is regularly affecting your life in an adverse way, seek help.
Good counselors, good therapists, will help you develop tools and skills for building confidence.
These are tools that God designed us to develop! This is a good thing!
So as the body, what are we to do? We are to do the same thing as counselors. We are to help develop tools and skills to build confidence in the Lord!
Share your stories
Share your testimonies
Share the Word and how it changes your life
Community Groups
Intergenerational Worship Nights
Takeaways:
Earthly vs Heavenly Treasures
This is a text of priority
Choose the eternal over the temporal
“Through this I say to you, do not be worried”
Anxiety, Worry, is in part a matter of focus!
2. Discipleship is a Corporate Practice
Discipleship begins as an internal practice
The needs of the individuals are met in the congregation
3. Build one another’s confidence in the Lord
The cure for anxiety lies in our confidence in the Lord
But we are not intended to just have that on our own
Let’s Pray!
