Kingdom Part 5

Next Steps 103

Service in gym next week

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Recap

Matthew 6:19–34 NIV

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Pray

Jesus now begins to talk about treasures

And just like the Law

And just like our righteous deeds

The kingdom of God is concerned with our hearts (our desires/our will/that which motivates us

including when it comes to our possessions or treasures

Last week I said that we are designed to achieve, designed to work, designed to want to win, and to be rewarded

What Jesus is teaching here does not contradict that

He is only nudging our hearts to chase after and achieve things that will last

Is it wrong to have things? money? possessions?

No! Jesus is simply teaching that when those things become the prize of our life that we actually lose the life God intends for us to have

In the Greek it may be read more accurately as “Do not treasure up treasures for yourself”

The word picture is that of stockpiling or hoarding

Have you ever watched the show on hoarders?

Maybe you are boarder-line one yourself

But when I’ve seen that show I typically get sick to my stomach and stressed out

It’s gross and unnatural that someone could prize a possession so much that it would cause them to live that way

And it’s the picture Jesus gives us as someone who searches for wordly possessions to fill them

God has designed us in a way that without Jesus we will always want more

As a kid one of my most favorite tv shows was winnie the pooh

When our identity is tied to our possessions, we will never have enough.

I believe God created these things for our joy and His glory.

It was never His intention for creation to sustain us and most certainly not draw us away from Him

Buying Noami a kitten

My intention was for her to enjoy the kitten

God’s intention is for us to enjoy His creation

But Jesus says, “These things do not last.”

If you are looking for a bigger house to fulfill you you will always be empty

If you are looking for a new boat or car or the new best phone or whatever it is you might pursue then Jesus is teaching us that you are putting those possessions in a position they were never meant to be in

They will fade, they will rust, they will someday be destroyed. They will not last and they will not sustain you

So, Jesus gives us an alternative

He says store up for yourselves heavenly treasure

Where the things that apply here on earth do not apply there

They do not rust, they cannot be destroyed, they cannot be stolen, and they last forever

Store up gospel, life giving things.

Store up righteousness, love, peace, hope and so on

Then verse 21 is the crux to this section

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also

The things you value the most will tell you a lot about the condition and direction of your heart

The things we desire the things we chase after the things we spend time, energy, and effort on are all things that worship

Because whatever those things are, are heart is there

And we’ve seen how much this new kingdom is centered on the hearts of its people

If our hearts are not in the right place then we will not be in the kingdom of God

It’s as simple as that. If our desire is not first for the kingdom of God then we will always struggle with the kingdom of God

For the wherever our treasures are, our hearts will follow

There are some things you just don’t understand until you pay for it yourself. Driving around mom and dad’s car vs my own car

So the things we put our treasures in, our heart is going to follow

When my treasures were tied up in my own car my heart felt a lot different about it then it did with mom and dad’s

Where our treasure is, our heart goes

Then Jesus takes a complete turn, He gets ADD in the middle of sermon and starts talking about our eyes and light and darkness

At least at first glance that what it would appear like (no pun intended)

But we must read it in context

He talking about treasures and storing up and He’s going to talk about two masters in vs 24 so here’s what it means

Your eyes are what allow you to see.

Without eyes or if you were blind you wouldn’t know what light even is

It’s your vision that allows you the capability to understand light and darkness

So Jesus is painting a picture. That those who fix there eyes on Jesus

Look to Him to provide for them all that they need

Then they are able to see

They are able to live the life God fully intends and has designed for them

But, if that person were to look to the world to provide all they need they would be blinded to the truth

He takes it even another step further and says those who might go back and forth are wrong and have a distorted view of themselves and the kingdom of God

We can not serve the world and God

We are either all in or we are all out

The kingdom calls us to wholehearted devotion

And money here can be better translated to materials or possessions

So don’t think that just because you don’t have a ton of money in the bank or make a certain dollar amount a year that you couldn’t possibly be serving money

Because the focus is whether we live our lives completely devoted to the kingdom of God or not

Following Jesus is a full time gig

It’s not a part time game we get to play

Anxiety

Then in vs 25 we see a therefore, connecting the previous idea to the one we are about to see

So it’s important we don’t separate these ideas because they work together

Jesus is saying “because God is your master, do not worry”

Now for some of us that’s not that difficult

For others you’re a worry wart

You don’t know how not to be worried about something

In the Greek the word “life” here is meant to encompass the fullest meaning of life possible

Our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual

I want to be careful here because I dont want to overstate what Jesus is saying nor do I want to undersell it

I think because we have so much, we have a lot that we can worry about

so although we may worry a lot, I don’t want to dismiss our worry and anxiety or minimize it as something that is normal and ok

I don’t believe Jesus is saying that you should just go through life without a plan and without working hard and just let what happens happen because Jesus will take care of you

We have to understand the heart behind the message

I believe our anxiety is a matter of trust and contentment

Remember that this is in the context of finding our hope, faith, trust, and satisfaction in Jesus and not in earthly possessions

So Jesus uses this analogy as a contrast to the one before

He says earlier…don’t let the abundance of earthly possessions keep you from being kingdom minded

Now He is saying....don’t let the lack of earthly possessions keep you from being kingdom minded

If you are someone who looks at the glass as half empty then you may be quick to say that you dont have enough and you may even be tempted to believe that God has not provided for you

Philippians 4:11–12 NIV

11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.

I believe Paul would say: You know how to help with anxiety and worry. Find things to be grateful for and realize that you are a son or daughter of God and that our heavenly father will never leave you or forsake you. He is trustworthy

For He provides for the birds of the air and the flowers in the fields so He will certainly give you all that you will ever need and more

Wrap Up

So let me sum up what we’ve seen in this text:

Jesus has painted a picture of two different kingdoms at play

We’ve talked a lot about the kingdom of God

But there is another kingdom at play in our lives

It’s the kingdom of self

If God’s kingdom is the kingdom of Agape

Then the kingdom of self is the kingdom of Eros

Vs. 33 tells us to: Seek first His kingdom.

instead of seeking the kingdom of self we ought to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness

Instead of being ruled by self indulgences we are to be ruled by God

Seeking His will to be done in our lives

Seeking the righteousness He desires for us to obtain

Then it comes with a promise that all of these things will be given to you

So the worry of food and clothing/ how you may survive/ having too much or too little will be given to you

Kingdom people are to be free of self-centered material anxieties and instead give themselves to the spread of God’s rule and righteousness

Our supreme motive is to be for the glory of the King and not the glory of self

So it is a question of what we seek first

What is most important to you?

Ultimately it’s a question of balance

Hear me out: Jesus has said having many possessions and earthly things should not keep our hearts from chasing after Jesus

And He’s said: Having too little should not keep our hearts from trusting in Jesus

There is a balance. It’s not as if we should just forget the world right? You still have to go to work and be dad and be mom and be this and be that. So it’s a balancing act.

And when I say balance I do not mean equal

Paul David Tripp (Lead): balance is everything in its right place doing what it was meant to do.

Our problem is not that we have too much or that we have too little.

Our problem is that we do not have a heart of balance

We do not desire the right things at the right level

Most of the time we can feel this tension and so our solution most often is to try to equal out the things of this world with the things of the kingdom

The problem with that solution is that it’s not the one God gives us and it’s not the one we are designed for

Jesus teaches us that to obtain balance we have to uneven the scales

Crazy concept right!

But if we don’t get this right we become lazy with the things of God, frustrated with God, or untrusting toward God

What we have done is: we’ve taken that which belongs to the Creator and have placed it on created/worldly things

And everything, no matter how good it is, that takes on more weight from our heart of balance than it was designed to have instantly becomes a bad thing.

How do kingdom people have a heart of balance?

We seek first His kingdom!

His kingdom should far outweigh any and everything else in our lives. We have to have uneven scales

How do we that?

We have so many things going on.

How will we fit our hobbies into it?

How will we fit our job into it?

How will we fit our marriage into it?

How will we fit our kids into it?

How will we fit our kids activities into it?

How do we fit it all in? How do we stay balanced?

Seek FIRST His kingdom.

It is only when God has His rightful place in our hearts that everything else is weighted appropriately

So we need to stop asking how we will fit all of it in and focus our His kingdom first and then allow everything else to fall into it’s appropriate place

Many of us our modeling this very poorly for our children and we are seeing the repercussions of it

We’ve communicated that gymnastics is more important

That football is more important

That school is more important

Hunting season is coming up: Let me warn you moms and dads…every time you skip a gathering with the bride of Christ/church to sit in a tree stand you are telling your kids that hunting is more important than Jesus

Every time you spend hours upon hours sitting at games and activities but then spend little to no time talking to them about Jesus you are communicating what is most important

We have to do better!

Are those things bad?

Is hunting bad?

is football bad

is soccer bad

is God going to strike you out of His kingdom for missing a week of church? No

But it can easily become a slow creep.

It’s when we begin to fix our attention on things created and lose sight of the Creator himself that we lose sight of all that creation was intended to be in the first place

Those things are there for us to enjoy, for us to do, but they must always be secondary

And when we begin to balance out our hearts the way God has intended for us to, then everything falls into it’s appropriate place

And I believe that is what Jesus is communicating here

Do not let the abundance of things cause an imbalance

nor let the absence of things cause an imbalance

Seek first His kingdom and everything else will be as it should be

pray