2.5.9 1.24.2021 Matthew 6.19-34 Identity of a Disciple

Start

Entice:

What are the behaviors,

what are the allegiances,

what are the identity markers

which disclose to the world that we are disciples of Jesus? Though He may not describe it that way that is largely what Jesus is driving at in the Sermon on the Mount,. Are you really my disciple? How would anyone know? How are you different from the deluded culture(s) around you?

What sets you,

What sets us

What sets the church apart?

Engage:

These questions are

truth questions.

We will come back to them over and over again this year. Discipleship does not consist of whatever you want to do, whoever you want to believe, wherever you want to follow...sanctified by a Jesus tagline and T-shirt. I heard a preacher say one time "for a Christian, everything is a loyalty test." Yes, even the basics of Christian identity; maybe especially the basics of Christian identity.

Expand: By the time you are a mature Christian you should be beyond identity crises. Sadly that is not the case. Cultural, social, economic, political, structural voices tear us away from our first allegiance.

Excite: Today's passage is all about remembering that loyalty

Explore:

You can be led by Jesus or defined by a deluded culture-

not both.

Explain: Some of Jesus' most arresting words address these identity issues and answer some of life’s central questions.

1. What do I truly treasure?

Matthew 6:19–21 ESV

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

2. Who do I truly serve?

Matthew 6:22–24 ESV

22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 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! 24 “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.

3. What am I truly worth?

Matthew 6:25–30 ESV

25 “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? 26 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? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 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?

4. Who can I truly trust?

Matthew 6:31–32 ESV

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

5. Where can I find true Purpose?

Matthew 6:33–34 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Shut Down:

Jesus sure could draw the crowds. Sometimes they were blown away by His words of authority. Sometimes they were awed by His miracles. Sometimes they wanted to crown Him king. Sometimes they wanted to kill Him. One time they did.

Some in our culture would call a crucified Messiah a loser. Because of His resurrection…He was victorious. We can share in His victory and share in His life. This is is the essence of what it means to identify as a Christian. The trajectory of Jesus’ life and ministry was set because He had the divine temerity to claim that there would be, could be no other loyalty, no other allegiance no other gods before Him.