2020-03-15 Matthew 10:28-31
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28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.
30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted.
31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
mat 10:28-31
mat 10:28-31
I. View today through the lens of eternity.
I. View today through the lens of eternity.
28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
A. No matter what happens with the Corona-virus, place your hope in your eternal home.
A. No matter what happens with the Corona-virus, place your hope in your eternal home.
28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Illus: I do not want to make light of a disease which is growing across our country.
What I want to do is frame the way we as believers understand it. I want to be purposeful in placing our hope in Jesus Christ.
As believers we know that there is more to life than the 80-100 years we will inhabit our boddies.
One day we will all pass away, but that is not our future. We do not consider these bodies of ours on this earth our home.
As believers forgiven by God, trusting by faith in Christ, our home is God’s house.
This gives us a confidence in the midst of political chaos, a viral outbreak, and broken world to stand strong.
We say, the corona virus is temporary. My life on this earth is temporary. This world and it’s brokenness is temporary.
What does paul say? To live is christ and to die is gain. It is an audacious statement that can only be held if you so hope in your eternal home that you live with hope in this temporal broken home.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
5 You are being guarded by God’s power through faith for a salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials
7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; though not seeing him now, you believe in him, and you rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,
9 because you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.
B. We can live with confidence in this time, know it is temporal, we are not.
B. We can live with confidence in this time, know it is temporal, we are not.
28 Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Illus: In a time like this we are shaken. We are shaken because what we thought we could count on no longer stands.
This is what I mean. We used to have confidence that we lived in a completely healthy world. We could trust that we could come to church, interact with friends and go to walmart with relative safety.
WIth in the course of a few weeks, a life long assumption is shaken. Where we once trusted in health, we no longer feel we can.
It is ok, to embrace the unease of this moment. It is ok to embrace the vulnerability.
It is good to allow moments like this to shake you to realize that we live in temporal bodies in a temporal world.
Let your finiteness lead you to place God’s eternal plan.
Take your hope and strength off of this world, and place your hope and strength in God.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.
II. God is in control.
II. God is in control.
29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.
A. Hold to the sovereignty and power of God.
A. Hold to the sovereignty and power of God.
29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.
Illus: Where do you fined your strenght today?
Is it in your health, your position, your bank account?
In the book of Ecclesiastes Solomon goes through all that we build our lives towards and in the ends calls it vanity.
All the power, health, even trust in our stock market we thought is in vain.
Life is more fleeting and weaker than we realize.
That is why we do not place our trust in what is vain, weak or fleeting.
To stand strong today we must return to a rightful view of the power and sovereignty of God.
Look at the text. No one sparrow falls without God’s consent.
If God watches over the sparrows, surely God is not blind to the Coronavirus.
God is in control.
IN the midst of all of the craziness, place your hope in Jesus. Do not fear. God is in control.
25 “Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?
26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they?
27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?
B. Regain a confidence in the living God.
B. Regain a confidence in the living God.
29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.
Illus: We may say that God is alive active in this world, but many times there is doubt.
There is this feeling that God is separated away, watching what is happening at a distance.
I want to tell you that God is not far off.
Often when I stand at the bedside of a saint who has steppend into eternity, I share that scripture teaches Jesus is THERE to take them into eternity.
Jesus is here. Jesus is with people in the hospital. Jesus is with our leaders making decisions. Jesus is active.
Hold to Jesus. Regain a confidence that He is not just in the heavens looking down, but with us at this moment strengthening us and working in us.
6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
III. You are valued.
III. You are valued.
30 But even the hairs of your head have all been counted.
31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
A. You matter to God. You are loved by God.
A. You matter to God. You are loved by God.
Illus: The greatest reason not to fear is because God loves you.
Yes, we do not fear because our home is in eternity with God.
We do not fear because this world is temporary.
We do not fear because our faith is not in our money nor health.
We do not fear because nothing happens outside of God’s control.
But most importantly we do not fear because God is in control.
Let me tell you about the love of God… how much God cares for you...
God loves you so much that he died in your place.
mt 6:
31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.
34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.