"Communion"

Thoughts

The need for encouragements is at the same time self-evident and ongoing. It’s self-evident because we inherently know that we need it. That need is not something external - being told we need it, it’s internal - we know it from personal experience.

Introduction

new series

topical on encouragement

hope and desire that the people of God here at New Hope would continue and deepen efforts to be encouraging

what does that look like? What is encouragement even?

READ MATTHEW 6: 25-34

Matthew 6:25–34 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? 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.

My task this morning is to lay before you the challenge this morning that shows you need encouragement

to make you see the discouragement potential

Slightly different sermon this morning - normally one passage

Matthew 6 is a beginning point us this morning

please dig into these texts on your own - do not just take my word for it

1. Cares of this world

By mere act of living, you have things that you care about in this world. There are two primary areas of these cares, the first is those that are daily.

a. Daily Matthew 6:25-34

Basic Necessities Food/Drink/Clothing is a basic need for everyone

right before this we read Jesus warned about the lure of material possessions. Here he takes a step back even more basic to what you need daily

the fact that Jesus had to tell the poeple (and us) to not be anxious about these things reminds us that this is what we are prone to do

Comparison of ‘simple’ (birds/grass) vs ‘greater’ (provided & clothed by the very hand of God)

Benign, but very important things that we have difficulty in trusting God for - maybe even won’t trust him

places us on the same footing as those who have nothing to do with God (Gentiles - v 32)

Command is to Seek the kingdom

b. Dying 1 John 2:16

1 John 2:16 ESV

16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.

The apostle John writes this to believers that they would have eyes to see the reality of the things of this world

desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and the pride in possessions are obvious

They truly are of this world, but they are dying away -

their destruction is as sure as this world passing away

There is still a very real pull on our own flesh

Encouragement: Seek the Kingdom

Command!

to counter the discouragement of not having (or potential of not having) what you want

Scarlet O’Hera - “I’ll never be hungry again”

seeking has the idea of obtaining, not searching blindly or wildly - expecting to actually get something to grasp

Samuel Rutherford - “I would not exchange my sadness with the world’s joy. O lovely, lovely Jesus, how sweet must they kisses be when they cross smelleth so sweetly” (Letters, pg80)

2. Enemy of your souls (1 Peter 5:6-9)

1 Peter 5:6–9 ESV

6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

not your neighbor who starts mowing at 6 in the morning

1. Contrary

‘prowls’

Not looking out for your good

The very same one who deceived the first woman

looking to be against the things of God in this world

looking fr just the right moment

You cannot outwit him

2. Consuming

destroy / ruin completely

Does not always look dark and foreboding

C.S. Lewis: “like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,”

Encouragement: Not Alone

Resist in faith - turn to the gospel and your faith in the completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ

If you hold to the Lord Jesus Christ as your only hope in life and death

3. Desires of your heart (Haggai 2:1-9)

Haggai 2:1–9 ESV

1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: 2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ”

1. Expectations

There were people alive who still remembered what the temple looked like before the Babylonians destroyed it

the younger generation doesn’t know what they don’t know!

If you know what good it could be, discouragement easily creeps in

expectations of the behavior of fellow Christians, expectations of how a community could work if abiding by grace,

symbol of God’s presence - the temple

where is God?

2. Embarrassing

laughing stock to the other nations, especially those neighbors that still mocked Israel after they had returned from exile

what did this diminished version of a temple say about the God of Israel

Encouragement: Greater Glory to Come

Promise that Christ will make all things new

John Piper- (Money, Sex & Power) Pg 95 “The great danger for naturally self-exalting human beings is that we be deceived into thinking that power -any power- is ours by right. It is not ours. It is God’s - all of it. And it is on loan to us - in measure- to use for his great purposes.”

pg144 “At the end of the age, when all of this history is over, and God has completed all his works, his people will worship him forever. And one of the acclamations we will make before him over and over, is, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive, …power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:11). We will sing, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power!” (5:12) and “Blessing and … power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (7:12) and, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power to our God” (19:1)

Does that describe you? If so, take a sobering look at the discouragements that you face as one who has been redeemed by the blood of the lamb. Take encouragement against the real discouragements of this world.

Hear the words of Jesus - “Take heart! I have overcome the world.”