Seek Jesus First...
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Intro
Intro
Good morning all!
I hope you've had a good week. We’ve had some beautiful weather this week and I am so thankful for each day the Lord gives us, amen.
We’ll did you pray for those I mentioned last week? Did you pray for our children, those who help serve in Children’s ministries? I hope you were faithful to pray for them.
This week I am going to ask you to pray for the women in our church, these ladies are sisters, aunts to many and a mother to their children. Pray for them, our lives would be so empty without them. We need their vision, strength and blessings!
Pray for them.
Now this morning we come to one of my favorite passages in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 6, 25-34.
So I would ask you to get your Bibles, and lets find Matthew 6 again… and let’s find this passage.
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? 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. 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.
So with this passage I want you to recognize with me 3 thoughts this morning.
1. A Call to Release Anxiety...
I think we could agree that anxiety is a horrible issue and for those who experience its symptoms, it can be devastating.
Anxiety can be caused by many different factors, we realize that… This morning we are focusing on the aspect of anxiety that produces worry.
Worry.. the act of fretting over something we may or may not possibly face can be debilitating and hurtful.
And what we know is that worry, fretting has been about since the fall of man and here Jesus takes time to reflect upon it. Calling people to a different point of focus that honors God and brings them peace.
So lets go back to verse 25
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?
Now remember with me, I point this out a lot, the word ‘therefore” is important. Jesus is telling us, think about all that I have said thus far.. because of this… you should be able to let go of worry and or anxiety concerning life.
And Jesus is very focused about the point at hand,
Verse 25… “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life…” and in particular where it concerns food, drink and your body, your clothes-what you will wear.
Now we know these items food, water and clothing are the very basic necessities of life, correct. We need these items.
Food sustains us, water hydrates us and clothing covers us..it protects us from the elements whether it is cold or heat… clothing is a necessary item for our decency.
And then Jesus asks a rather unique question… Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing…
What is Jesus doing here with this question?
Jesus is presenting a greater to lesser argument.. What He is reminding us is this, life is more important than food that sustains it, but life consists of so much more my friends.
Life is important and God values your life.
Stop there and answer that.... Do you believe that God values your life?
That He holds your life as important? Yes.. we know He does… Of course He does, Jesus died for you..
So the call is to not worry or be anxious about your life.. Jesus is not calling you to do nothing, We need to do our part, we need to work, contribute and so forth. And in the midst of that.. Trust Him to take care of your life.
So there is the real question… Do you trust God with your life? Do you trust Him to take care of you, help you, walk with you.. and provide for you?
You have heard me say before… You have heard me say… We trust Jesus with something so big, as eternity and our salvation. But we have a hard time trusting Him for today and tomorrow?
So Jesus is meeting us here right were we are … let go of your anxiety and trust ME - trust the Lord.
Why is that so hard.... it reveals the problems of our heart. It really does… and please know I am not judging here. If we say we trust Jesus ,that then must apply to every area and place of life.
Now my friends, ask the Lord to examine your heart… repent of your failures and recommit your life and walk to God.
Now, this brings me to a second thought for today… are you ready?
2. Illustrations that God Provides....
As we continue through the text here of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus begins to speak plainly as to why people can put their faith and trust in Him, and God the Father.
Jesus will look to everyday life, using it to teach us these great truths.
So lets begin my friends and look with me at verse 26..
Jesus makes is comparison with the birds of the air....
A. The Birds of the Air
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?
Jesus says look at them… they neither sow or reap. Meaning they do not plant any seeds, they neither plow or prepare the ground. The birds do not care for the plants of the fields, they do not hoe or weed the areas and certainly they do not work during the harvest time to gather and store up into the barns for the winter.
So birds while industrious, they are always out gathering all the things that have been provided to them… All they have is given to them by God. Our heavenly father has provided for them. He sustains each one, none escape His care nor His love.
And then the Master put forth a question for them… in light of God’s care for the birds of the world… If He cares for them,
“Are you not of more value than they?”
God made man and gave him dominion over all of this creation, listen to
Listen to Genesis 1:28
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
My friends, If God has provided so abundantly for us , Are you not valuable in his sight , and with that in mind, We should trust Him and not worry.
Of course we should, to fail to trust Him might indicate we have a hard time trusting the one who loves us more than anyone else.
Now move on… Jesus isn’t done yet...
Jesus posses a second question to those listening…
B. Can Worry Add to your Life?
Lets look at verse 27....
27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
So will worry or anxiety extend your life, can stress, fretting and so forth bless you with longevity? We know that worrying about something, to be anxious for nothing in all reality will not add to our life.
In fact it takes from our life. Worry will hinder us, it will stop us and lock us up so that we cannot do anything productive.
And yet the answer has been provided… Have faith in the one who loved you more than the world itself...
And I realize that is easier said than done at times. But regardless, Jesus says it worry, being anxious will not benefit our life...
Lets move on… Jesus provided another example for us to see… move to verses 28 to 30 my friends
C. Don’t Worry about your Clothing...
Lets look at that passage.. verses 28-30
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?
Jesus turns his attention to another basic need of life, clothing! Now in the days of Jesus unless you were wealthy, most of the clothing was fairly simple without a great deal of bright or warm colors.
Most of the garments were more natural fiber colors, brown, beige and other earth tones I guess one would say.
Wonderful colors like red, scarlet, purple and blues were reserved for the wealthy and ruling classes because of the shear cost involved.
But there were some like today, their clothing was old and worn, they were happy to have good garments and perhaps wondered were the next would come from.....
So Jesus says why worry about your clothing… And he gives them a great illustration that is really quite deep in meaning.
Consider the lilies of the field… wonderful beautiful flowering plants. Jesus says consider their life span (how they grow).. They neither toil or spin..
Now that has a wonderful meaning.. Toiling refers to labor in the field, Spinning to weaving and sewing processes. These plants do nothing to help their growth and they do not work to provide for themselves.
Yet, God takes care of them that they are more adorned than King Solomon was during his reign.
Then Jesus brings a stronger argument to then… verse 30
Ver 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?”
Plants are fragile, they come, bloom and in a short amount of time it they are gone.. Jesus says the Father provides for the grass of field, beautiful and wonderful but it is here today.. and tomorrow is to thrown into the oven, meaning it was picked and used as fuel for their stoves.
But my friends, Jesus says If the Father does all this, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith.
O you of little faith… people of little faith, people who at times are double minded in that you believe some things and you cannot believe others.
So here is a question for you....
Do you believe God will provide for you and your needs?
You see faith is the real issue… Do you trust God or not?
Robert Mounce, a great theologian says “Worry is practical atheism and an affront to God.”
We either trust Him with everything or we trust Him for nothing...
Now, one last thought my friends...
3. A New Look on Life...
Now, I know that worry is a difficult point in life, it is hard not to worry at times and some of us are more predisposed to worry. So the situation is even tougher at times.. So listen to Jesus as He offers us a new look for life.
Lets look at verses 31 -34
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. 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.
There is that magical word again, Therefore....
In light of the examples Jesus has just provided us, here is how we are to live.
Do not be anxious, do not worry about those things you need to sustain life. Don’t worry about your food, drink or even your clothing...
Why? If God takes care of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, will he not take care of you.
In fact, Jesus says the Father is aware of our needs, it says “He knows we need them...”
And if God is aware of our needs and will provide them, then we don’t have to worry about it, we have nothing to be anxious about..correct.
Our response is simple them...
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Now lets bring this whole chapter to a final idea...
Our priority isn’t self, it is God. How so?
Lets consider some thoughts here
A. We are praying for his kingdom to come, and his will be gone here just as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10
B. Jesus told us to store up treasure for ourselves in heaven, treasure that cannot be lost, treasure that is of great value, more so that gold or silver. Matthew 6: 20.
And now verse 33 gives us a critical point to consider....
In the midst of everything we are living, experiencing in this life, our task is to seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness...
Our choice is to be Him, His righteousness, those are the kingdom minded points for living…
If we can do this, He will take care of the rest.
I thought of George Muller, a man who cared for the Orphans of Bristol, England. He sought God, He sought to live for God and to care for the helpless of God’s children.
Even when they didn’t have milk or bread for the children. He would say make it a matter of prayer and God would provide and in just a bit someone would come along with extra bread, more Milk than they could sell
God provided...
God is calling for us to keep our focus, our life pointed toward Him and live responsibly… IF we can do that, we should never have to worry.
He will be there to sustain us, walk with us and help us all the days of our life.
The final charge is verse 34
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Tomorrow we cannot control, We are alive today, live for God today, Do your best for Him and trust Him/
And when tomorrow comes… then do the same, each day living for HIm that day
You cannot do it if you eyes are not on Jesus.
Are your eyes on Him?
Seek first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness… seek to be like Him in our walk, talk, actions , our love … in ever way. Make that our priority and let God take care of the rest!
Can you let God take care of the rest?
Can you trust him for that?