Where is your focus?

Where is your Focus? ​ A pastor was preaching a sermon one day, and he thought it was a pretty good one. He looked down and happened to notice his wife furiously taking notes on the note page provided by the church. After the service, he asked her what she thought of the message. "Oh. Well, I didn't really pay attention," she answered. "What do you mean?" he responded. "I saw you taking all those notes!" "Oh that, that was just me making a grocery list," she said. ​ So often it seems that we approach worship, and even the life of faith, with, at best, partial attention. Today we finish our series, "Enough Is Enough," as we look at what it means to find contentment in Christ. The first week we saw that contentment is a type of strength. The next week we saw that we can trust that God will supply what we need. This past week we saw that we can be content because of the love of God shown to us in Jesus. And this week we will end by seeing that contentment comes from a change in our priorities. Don't spend this time of worship thinking about what you're going to buy when church is out! That isn't the description of someone who is content, but of someone who is anxious about the day. ​ ​ Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing ​ Jesus taught about the necessity of changing our priorities when it comes to daily life-perhaps most famously in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:25-34, Matthew 6:25-34 ESV "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? 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? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 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? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. ​ Six times in those nine verses Jesus speaks directly against anxiety. His point is to not be anxious about daily necessities: food and clothing. For food, he encourages us to "look at the birds of the air" (v. 26); if they are fed, then God, who loves us even more than the birds, will provide for us. Next, to calm our anxiety, he encourages us to "consider the lilies" of the field (v. 28). Are they not beautiful? If God clothes the fields in that way, will he not provide even more amply for us? "Don't worry about these things," Jesus says. "Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all." ​ This isn't a "Don't worry; be happy" platitude from Jesus. His point is this: don't spend your life worrying about taking care of yourself. God will take care of you. Instead, use your time and energy on something far more important: the kingdom of God. Let's be honest: a lot of the time we spend pursuing things we think we need, or maybe just want, for lasting happiness is time wasted. Jesus wants us to reorient our lives in such a way that we put first things first. ​ ​ What is the Main Thing ​ ​ And what should come first? The kingdom of God ​ Matthew 6:33 ESV But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ​ ​ (Matthew 6:33). Seek that first, and everything else will fall into line. ​ The 1963 drama Lilies of the Field (directed by Ralph Nelson [United Artists, 1963]) tells the tale of poor nuns living in the Arizona desert. Homer Smith, an itinerant army veteran, stops to help them with a fence, thinking they will pay him. Instead of paying him, they declare that God has sent him to build them a church. They have no money and no supplies. What follows is a beautiful story of a man wrestling with God's will, while God steadfastly provides all that is needed for the church to be built. In the process, Homer Smith and an entire community are changed for the good. The movie is a wonderful example of what Jesus is speaking of when he tells us to seek first the kingdom of God. Every time the nuns run into an obstacle in the construction process, they pray. And every time, God provides. ​ It would be worth your time today to make a list of all the things you are worried about. How many of them fit into the category of "clothing" or "food"-that is, the necessities of life? How many of the items fit into the category of wants; maybe a vacation, a new TV, or a better car? And where on your list does the kingdom of God show up? Is it first in your list of concerns? Does the time you spend worrying about and pursuing the other things on your list eclipse the amount of time you spend serving God and trying to help grow the kingdom? How much of your time are you spending worrying about things in the future that you can't control? Again, to that Jesus says: "Don't worry about tomorrow; focus on today" (see 6:34). And today, first and foremost, Jesus says to seek the kingdom of God.