Peripherals and Priorities

Matthew 6:19–34 NLT

19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. 22 “Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. 23 But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is! 24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money. 25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? 31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Worry...

I am good at worry.

Things I have been known to worry about...

Getting to school on time

This is your 10 minute warning...

Returning library books before they are past due, or lost, and I have to pay a library fine

Forgetting to do homework on the weekend

I used to get sick on Sundays because I was worried I forgot to do some homework, or forgot something over the weekend that I needed to do for school

I worry about the state of our church

I worry about people in our community

I worry about losing my job and with that having no home to live in (or no job for that matter)

I worry about my kids health and safety

This week I worried about getting to and from Washington safely so I can come back home and preach a sermon on NOT WORRYING! That’s ironic!!

We are good at worry!

What are some things we spend our time worrying about?

What do we get from worrying?

Ulcers, stress, bald heads, migraines, strokes,

Jesus says NOT to worry

How can we not worry...?? Is Jesus distracted form reality or living in a different universe?

Jesus gives US a new reality to reorient our priorities around

Well, the passage on worry begins with "therefore" in the Greek. This means that what comes before leads into the do not worry...

So, what comes before?

Choices about priorities that will reorient our lives and perspectives

1- Storing up treasure on earth vs storing up treasure in heaven

2- An eye focused on worldly things

An eye focused on God's things

N.T. Wright on the eye

1- Keep our eyes fixed on God

2- Take caution in what we actually look at

3- Like headlights… are the leading you in the right direction and showing you what is ahead...

3-Serve God or serve money

It’s really a message about priorities...

Each choice has a clear negative and a clear positive.

What are some other choices we could add to the list to help prove the point?

Jesus highlights that it SHOULD be easy to make the right choice - but, why do we so often make the not so good choice?

The answer is BECAUSE OF OUR REVERSED PRIORITIES...

All 3 are a way of saying the same thing...

Seek God's Kingdom and priorities 1st or seek your kingdom and your priorities 1st

Matthew 6:33 NLT

33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

If God's Kingdom comes 1st = NO NEED TO WORRY

Think of the things we worry about...

Jobs, money, status, prestige, legacy, etc...

Those are the things that Jesus just told us we need to make different choices about.

Our focus should be on God, God’s Kingdom, what God is doing now, God’s right way of living that leads to justice, and what God is doing in us and through us.

Essentially, Jesus is saying “Worry about what God is worried about.”

This is not permission to not plan, or to be lazy...

There is plenty of scriptural advice for planning, being prudent, and working.

2 Thessalonians 3:10 NLT

10 Even while we were with you, we gave you this command: “Those unwilling to work will not get to eat.”

Proverbs 6:6–11 NLT

6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! 7 Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, 8 they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter. 9 But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep? When will you wake up? 10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest— 11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

Luke 14:28–32 NLT

28 “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? 29 Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’ 31 “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? 32 And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away.

So, Jesus is NOT saying, "Be lazy, don't work, and let what will be, be."

No, there is planning, working and the like. BUT, we are planning for God's glorification - not our own.

We are planning for the future - but we are NOT worried about it...

It means don't worry...

Don't worry about status.

Don't worry about things that often will distract us.

Focus on God and Gods priorities.

Worry, strive, that your priorities align with God's.

When you do this, all the other things fall into place...

When God is our focus, everything else falls into place.

Stories of God's care...

(Kansas City house, money coming in the mail, etc...)

Gods care for creation is an example

Birds of the air

Lilies of the field

God is concerned about the needs of creation

God is concerned about our needs too

Just as God has intimate knowledge of what birds and the rest of creation needs, God has intimate knowledge of what WE NEED as well

But, those things that often worry us should be PERIPHERAL

They SHOULD NOT be what our focus is on.

They should not be what is priority.

We worry when we make peripherals our priorities...

Jesus says to make priorities our priorities. When we do that, the peripherals falls into place.

When our focus/concern is on the Kingdom Of God worry CAN/SHOULD subside. Because what we treasure, who we serve, and what we value changes.

Worry is often a self-centered vice that comes from self-centered desires.

This is the new reality that Jesus calls us into - the reality of true, continual, Sabbath rest

This new way is RESTFUL.

Living sabbath where God provides for us as we focus our priorities on Him

Matthew 11:28–30 NLT

28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

So, let us live into the New Reality where our focus is on God and what God is doing. And, as we do that, let us learn more about dependence upon God and more about what it means to not worry.