First Things

You are what you Love

Matthew 6:19–24 ““Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Matthew 6:25–34 ““Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

The Cruciform Life

This series is built on this one simple truth: Our Christian faith (those who call ourselves the church) is measured, not by how good we are or what prayer we might have prayed… Our faith is measured by how our everyday lives line up with Jesus. Specifically, the life Jesus lived that is expressed through the Cross.

Put even more simply: Jesus is a live-able model for life in the world today, and those of who are called his disciples are empowered by the Spirit to live that way.

Plumb Line: Last message in the series…Jesus is the plumb line, or the standard that measures our lives.

You are (NOT) what you Think

[I know you didn’t come to get a French philosophy history lesson!] In the 17th century there was a French philosopher Rene Discartes who came up with what he determined was the way we can really know who we are in this world. He summed it up like this: “I think, therefore I am.” Basically, he argued that when you think something is true, or we might say, when you really believe something, that’s what makes you who you are. That’s what determines what you become in the world.

Modern Philosophy: Whatever I think or believe makes me who I am.

The Life of Jesus: Whatever I worship and love makes me who I am.

Let me tell you why that matters…

We live in a time when it is far too easy to separate what we say we believe, from how we actually live in the world.

In other words, no matter how much you say you believe something, or how much you think about it, that might make it true in your head, but it will never make it true in your life.

Here’s what Jesus said:

John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

First Things

Truth: It’s not what you say you believe that determines the course of your life. It’s what you love.

Jesus says (Matt 6) you will know what you love (heart) by where your treasure is.

How do I know your treasure (love) of my life?

Simple: By what gets first place?

Matthew 6:31–33 “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

What gets First Place?

At the beginning of each day, what gets my attention first?

When the pressure gets put on my life’s schedule, what is the first to go?

When I get triggered, mistreated, or attacked, what comes out?

When I make decisions about life, is prayer my first action or an afterthought?

Treasure in a Field:

Matthew 13:44 ““The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

Liturgy - the work of the people

There’s a word we don’t use in our church very often: Liturgy. It’s a word that simply means worship.

It comes from two words put together: laos meaning people and eron meaning work

So, worship is literally “the work of the people of God”

If the enemy can’t destroy your soul, he will settle for stealing away your worship (what you were put on this earth to do)

Matthew 6:25–33 ““Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

[Read v.33 with me] “Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS…”

It’s not right thinking that makes us God’s people…it’s right living, or as I like to say RIGHT PRACTICE

Your daily decisions become HABITS and your habits determine the course of your life.

The Work of God’s People

[Make these the habits of your life.]

Prayer

Gathering for Worship & the Gospel

Confession of Sin

The Altar

The Scriptures

Treasure in a field