Week 2-FAITHFULNESS

The question - what does God’s faithfulness look like in the unknown? What should we expect / not expect? What can WE do to be faithful in the unknown?

Matthew 6 has two different kinds of unknowns.

1st - the ‘I’m not sure the answer’ unknown.

Matthew 6:25–33 NIV

“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? 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? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 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? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

What do we do when our RELIEF is unknown?

The big worry here is - is everything going to be alright?

And something we need to understand about ourselves with this kind of unknown:

Fear is the primary motivating factor

It’s important that we know where OUR problem comes from here. What the root is.

It SOUNDS reasonable - we need to make sure we’re taken care of.

The thing is, Jesus agrees - it’s reasonable. He says, ‘the people who don’t know god run after these things, and your heavenly father knows you need them’.

Jesus’ follow up prescription is pretty easy:

Don’t worry, and seek the kingdom first

Now, this is important - Jesus doesn’t say, don’t try, don’t work, don’t save. he says - don’t worry.

Jesus tells us to make a priorities shift. he says, the pagans, they make their lives about these things - more stuff, more money. Jesus says, if you want to follow him, your focus needs to shift.

This doesn’t seem like such a big deal - until God asks you to do something that feels like it’s giving away some of that security.

God does what He does to further His plans for the world

When help build His kingdom, He’ll take care of us along the way

And honestly - the greatest, most fulfilling way to see God’s faithfulness, is when you’re in a position that you need it.

I have seen so many people who have lost sight of God’s faithfulness because they haven’t left any room for it. Even the slightest inconvenience needs to get immediately addressed.

And again, this doesn’t mean that refusing to work, refusing to save or anything means God will bless you more.

What it DOES mean is that refusing to value our needs over God’s plans is a road to experience God’s faithfulness in dramatic ways.

When we won’t sacrifice in order to keep our plans, we get what we can muster up ourselves. But when we’re willing to give ourselves up to see what God can do, we’ll get what only God can give.

This connects to the SECOND kind of unknown in Matthew 6, and this one is a little more invisible, but a lot more dangerous.

Matthew 6:1–3 NIV

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

Matthew 6:5–6 NIV

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:16–18 NIV

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

What do we do when our REWARD is unknown?

This is another unknown - when we don’t see REWARD. And i’m convinced - this one is worse than relief.

The truth is, the needs being met by relief are a lot more important than the needs being met by reward. But we WANT the reward ones a lot more consciously.

We need clothes, we need food, and fear leaps up when those are threatened.

But our heart follows after our treasures. We need a roof over our heads - our hearts seek after a really nice place. We need clothes - our hearts seek after looking fashionable, standing out.

We need needs, but we seek after rewards

And it goes beyond needs. When we give - we want to see a benefit. When we serve, we want to see it happen in ways that apply to us. Basically, when we do something, we want to see it pay back to us in some fashion.

Even something as simple as attending church, we tend to decide based on the answer to the question, ‘what do I get out of it?’

What does this have to do with the unknown?

Jesus repeats a key phrase word for word throughout the three stories I read. He says,

Matthew 6:2 (NIV)

Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.

When a person gives, and they announce it and make a show of giving, they get their reward. People clap, pat them on the back, maybe write thank-you cards.

When a person prays, standing in front, shouting and making a show of it, people praise them, saying ‘oh, look how great their faith is!’ and ‘you can tell how mature they are!’. They get status and recognition.

When a person fasts, and they look somber, gaze at every passing morsel of food and dramatically refuse, exclaiming ‘I CAN’T, I’M FASTING!’, clutching at their gut - they get recognized as being extra holy. extra committed to God.

Basically - when we do something, anything for God, but we have an expectation for a payback, a reward, for SOMETHING to come our way right here and right now.

So in each circumstance, Jesus says -

Don’t work for the reward now. Wait for the reward later

And I’m using a play on words here.

We’re motivated to WORK for our reward now. To make things happen, to steer the ship towards what’s good for us.

Jesus tells us to WAIT for our reward later. And there’s definitely an unknown component there. It takes faith and trust to do something and specifically say, i’m making a point of NOT looking for the reward now.

And this is REALLY important, because there’s a SECOND phrase Jesus repeats word for word in each of these examples. and it’s this:

Matthew 6:6 (NIV)

… your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Jesus promises -

If we stop seeking after the rewards now, God’s got plenty for us later

How is it even a choice, if on one hand, we have whatever we can do with our own two hands - and on the other hand, we have whatever God can do in his infinite power and generosity? That’s a no brainer.

But we need to understand:

When we face an unknown LATER, we look for a known NOW

even if that now is worse.

Following God is filled with plenty of unknown laters.

Fasting in secret sucks. It feels like all pains and no gains. Being extremely generous in secret can be an unrewarding action.

But those are things that START with us. God will also call us to sacrifice. He’ll call us to give up the center of attention, or the spotlight. He’ll call us to take some reward we have, and pass it on, or give it away.

And that sounds sacrificial, it sounds tough.

But here’s what trusting in a faithful God in the unknown sounds like. We stop thinking, i’m giving up rewards, i’m sacrificing, and we realize that

God is the only one actually giving out real rewards

Matthew 6:19–20 NIV

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

When we focus on the here and now, we’re not fighting to get rewards. We’re scrambling to gather up fistfuls of dust. 5 minutes after we die, all we’re going to have left is whatever God has for us. Waiting on God’s unknown treasures is the most rewarding thing we could ever possibly do.

God is so generous, so kind, and so rich, that anything he has for us is better than anything we could ever possibly get ourselves or from anyone else.

And

God is so faithful that we can EXPECT great rewards from Him in those unknown times

Because he’s promised it. But we can’t say that we trust God’s promises if we’re not willing to rest on God’s promises. Our actions need to show that we believe it, not just our words.

And here’s my big, main point for today, in this conversation about what it means to understand God’s faithfulness in the unknown:

God works here for our relief and stores up there for our reward

Doesn’t that sound like an amazingly faithful God? That he works hard to make sure we’re well here and well off there?

But we need to trust that He’s doing it. Not just trust - EXPECT. Gear our lives towards it.

What’s the easiest, most practical way we can do that?

Work towards others getting first

Both in terms of relief and reward.