Jesus Means - Week 4

Matthew 6:25–33 NIV

“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 than food, and the body more than clothes? 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 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? So 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 his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Jesus teaches about two big things in life - wealth and want

I have definitely known both in my life to some degree. (Poor enough to need the food bank and have our hydro cut. Not rich by any means, but known the freedom of lack of debt).

Remember the Lord’s prayer? (RECITE)

That line ‘give us this day our daily bread’ isn’t just Jesus waxing poetic. He’s quoting scripture.

Proverbs 30:8–9 NIV

give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

Now, this is not to say, if you’re poor, you’re out of the will of the Lord, and if you’re rich, you’re out of the will of the Lord.

In Matthew 6, Jesus doesn’t say, ‘don’t be poor’ and ‘don’t be rich’. He says - don’t worry about things.

He talks first about the birds. They don’t sow or reap or stow away stuff. But God feeds them.

(Story - Elijah and the ravens)

He then talks about flowers. He says ,the flowers don’t worry about what to wear - and God clothes them more beautifully than solomon in all his glory.

What does this tell us?

We are often wrong about what is right

I’ll tell you what the birds don’t have. Fast food drive through. Freezers stocked full of gourmet foods. Fancy dining in fancy places.

And I’ll tell you what the flowers don’t have. Brand names and famous designers.

Imagine if we applied these kinds of metrics to the birds and the fields!

We call it blessed when we have more than we could possibly need, and all these options. (STORY - our grocery store and variety). God calls it blessed that we got what we needed today. (STORY - Teguce, working with kids digging through trash).

The psalmist says - if i worry too much about stuff, if i make my life more than just what i need for today - I could disown God (Who is the Lord? I have everything I need!). Or I could dishonor God (I don’t have what I need! I need to take it by any means necessary!)

both of those things are bad deeds started by bad desires.

Furthermore - you’ll forget many of those days that you took care of your own stuff. You’ll often always remember those days that you saw God step up and take care of you.

I can’t tell you what it looked like the last time i made a big grocery trip and spent too much money. I still remember God blessed us through our old church with a shower of groceries when we were in need.

Jesus taught me over the years

Don’t worry about the stuff - God’s got it under control

Birds and fields are ridiculously temporary. But Jesus says - if this is how he treats them - and we’re worth more than them - how much more will he take care of us!

Jesus further says - the world runs after these things, and your heavenly father knows you need them.

Sidebar - sometimes, I think the issue is not that God doesn’t know what we need - but that we disagree with him about what goes on that list.

Worry about the Kingdom

STORY - My Jeremiah call. Fire in my bones.

I feel, deep down, that everybody should be in ministry like I am. I know it’s not the way God does it. But to me - everything else about life (earning money, gathering stuff, scoring points) is secondary. This is primary.

There are more ways to serve the kingdom than just full time pastoral ministry. But I am very strongly driven by this idea that serving the Kingdom is my first priority, after my wife and kids. It’s the thing that drives me.

All the other things to worry about - clothes and money and everything. They’re just secondary indicators. They’re almost hurdles, in a way.

I don’t need designer clothes. I just need to make sure I have some.

My bank account is kind of like my gas tank - i don’t care to obsess over the millilitres. I just need to know I have enough to get from point A to point B.

Before Jesus came into my life, I was a kid, trying to clamour together things to try and build this thing I called a life. But after Jesus - I did something totally different.

I gave Him my posessions - He gave me a purpose

This seeps into every part of my life. My kids aren’t just things that I need to manage to not mess up until they leave the house. They are lives that God has blessed me with, and I’m here to raise them up into mighty workers in the kingdom.

My wife isn’t just someone to read with and play games with and do other stuff together. She’s a partner in life and in ministry, someone who challenges me, sharpens me, helps me grow.

And Jesus powers all of this. And this is that unifying factor in life. Maybe all you feel like you have is clutter - well, Jesus has a calling to cut through it all.

But it takes that first step - giving up those posessions.

Are you ready to trade?