It's a wonderful Lord's Day and we have a wonderful crowd here
for which we are very thankful. We have visitors that are among
us, and we want you to know that you are our honored guest.
Welcome and please come back every opportunity that we have
to meet and assemble. I want to talk on a passage of
Scripture found in the great Sermon on the Mount as we
continue our series. And now we come to Matthew
chapter 6 and verse 24. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24
is a bridge between what Jesus has just talked about and what
he's going to talk about. And I don't have time for any
review. We got a lot to cover.
We got to keep moving today. But verse 24 marks a bridge
between priorities that he just spoke of, about laying up for
yourselves treasures in heaven and what he's about to talk
about, which is proper faith. I'm going to talk about the kind
of faith the Lord wants us to have in our life.
We're going to talk about how to cultivate great faith later on
in our lesson, How to do that as we put all of our faith and our
trust in God in the hands of God.
Even though in life we got a lot of stuff that comes our way that
sometimes derails us, sometimes discourages us, and sometimes
causes us to worry and have all kinds of anxiety.
The Lord is going to deal with these things today in our
lesson. You can't serve 2 masters.
It's impossible to serve God faithfully.
That's the point. It's important.
It's impossible to serve God faithfully when all of your
thoughts and all of your concerns are on worldly or
fleshly things. It's hard to do.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 1 and verse 25 that you can't
serve. You can't worship the Creator
and serve the creation. So let's look at this passage
beginning in verse 24, Matthew chapter 6.
Jesus says you cannot serve 2 masters for either.
He will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be
loyal to the one and despise the other.
Then he says you can't serve God and Mammon.
We'll get to what that means in just a moment.
But first of all, the phrase you can't serve 2 masters.
The word serve literally means become a slave too.
You can't become a slave to two masters.
And by the way, the word masters in this passage is often
translated with another word that we know, and that's the
word Lord. In other words, you can't have
two Lords in your life. You just can't.
And by the way, the concept there is talking about a master
that owns slaves. The Lord's point is very clear.
Everybody has a master. And you might say this, I
remember this when I was young, I used to say this really an
ignorant statement, but I used to say I'm my own man.
I make my own decisions. And while that might be true,
I'm not my own man. Everybody is owned by something
or someone, whether you know it or not, or whether you believe
it or not, or whether you've considered considered the fact
or not, you have a master. And if we do not deliberately
place ourselves under the control of God and we do that
willfully by obeying Him. Do you not realize that by
default we become the servant of sin by default, if we don't make
that willful and deliberate choice.
I'm going to give you some Bible for that.
There's no middle ground. What Paul say, Romans 6 and 16.
Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey
you are that one slaves whom you obey, whether sin leading to
death or obedience leading to righteousness.
And by the way, death there is talking about spiritual death.
One of those two things are controlling our life.
Now I got to say this, that perhaps one of the greatest
problems today and struggles in Christianity Today is the
notion, OK, that I can make the world's pursuits my number one
priority and then just drag God along for the ride.
That is a real struggle with people in Christianity Today.
This is a frank ISM, by the way. You've heard me say this, the
phrase just add a little Jesus to your life.
A lot of people want to just add a little Jesus to your life.
I got to make a reference to a passage that's found in the
Bible when Jesus talked about the rich young ruler.
And I can't go into that very deeply.
I'm just going to be very brief. There was a man that came to
Jesus and he says, what good thing must I do to inherit
eternal life? And Jesus says, gave specific
things about the commandments. He gave a few commandments.
And the man says this. The man says, oh, I've kept all
that from my youth. What do I lack?
And Jesus says what you lack is you take all of your
possessions, and a man was very wealthy and you sell all of your
possessions and you give to the poor and you'll lay up treasures
in heaven. And then he says, take up your
cross and follow me. The Bible says that the man went
away sorrowful because he had great riches.
What was the point? The point was not that the man
was rich and Jesus condemned being rich.
What Jesus was saying is he knew that that man's riches were
standing in his way of following Jesus with his heart, soul, mind
and strength. Sometimes people today view God
as a personal good luck charm. Yeah.
In other words, I want to do whatever I want to do.
I just want to carry God around in my pocket as a personal good
luck charm. I want God along for the ride
because I want blessings and protection.
I'm going to make some bold statements.
Here they are. Please get this number one.
God is not a toy #2 God is not a tool for our manipulation #3 God
is not our servant, we are His. Just as a master is in total
possession of his slaves, we are in total possession of God.
He owns our life. We've been bought at a price by
the blood of Jesus. Therefore our allegiance 100%
must be completely and totally to God.
And you know what? That entails?
A word that sometimes people don't like that entails self
sacrifice. Notice what Paul said in Romans
chapter 12. I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a
living sacrifice. Then he goes on to describe it
holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
It's not above and beyond the Call of Duty.
It is your reasonable service because we are enslaved to God
and because of what Jesus has done for us and dying for our
sins and do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
I'm going to make 3 very irrefutable statements right now
regarding salvation and everybody I study the Bible
with, we come up with these things and I discuss these three
very important facts. These are three general facts. 3
irrefutable facts about salvation.
Here they are, number one, you can't go to heaven without Jesus
#2 it is only the blood of Jesus Christ that takes away our sins.
And you contact that blood. Baptism, irrefutable fact #3
about salvation. You've got to live the Christian
life and all that's entailed. OK?
But one of those things in living the Christian life is you
must worship God. Worship is part of it.
You know what the word means? The word actually means to kiss
the hand to or kiss the hand toward.
When we've come here to this assembly today, do you realize
we are the participants and God is the spectator?
We've come together to worship God.
And by the way, it is not about coming to a place.
And my motive is or the motive behind my ACT is so I feel good
or lifted up or encouraged. Now, I got to tell you, when you
worship in spirit and you worship in truth, and the motive
behind the ACT is to worship God, man, you can't help but
feel good. I feel great right now
worshiping with you. I've enjoyed every aspect of our
worship so far. You can't help but feel good
when you put everything you've got behind it.
But the motive behind the ACT is not what we get, it's what we
give. And that is our worship to God,
for He is worthy. I'm going to make a statement
here. I'll make 2 statements by the
way. 2 statements that are both incorrect.
Now you may not be surprised about the first one, but you may
be surprised with the second one.
But I'm going to give you 2 statements and they are both
incorrect. Please hear my words.
The only worship that God requires and expects from my
life is personal and private worship.
That is incorrect statement #1 Here comes incorrect statement
#2 The only worship that God requires and expects from my
life is public worship in the assembly.
That is incorrect statement #2 What makes both of those
statements incorrect? The Word only because our life
is about worship that is personal and private, and it is
about worship that is public, as we do corporately in the
assembly. I'm going to give you Bible.
What's the Bible say about private worship?
First of all, let's talk about that very concept.
When Jesus was tempted by the devil in Matthew chapter 4,
after he was baptized and he's in the wilderness, 40 days, the
devil comes to him and he says you can have all the kingdoms of
the world. He shows him all the kingdoms of
the world. He said you can have all of it.
All you got to do is fall down and worship me.
The word worship means kiss the hand toward it means to honor or
serve me. The devil was saying to Jesus
you worship me individually and privately, you personally
individually. He wasn't saying go out and
start the a satanic church talking about personally and
Jesus said in response to that get behind me Satan, for it is
written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only you
shall serve another passage, private worship, personal
worship. Matthew chapter 28 after Jesus
rose from the dead, Jesus rose from the dead and the two
wonderful Marys. They go to the sepulchre and the
stone is rolled away. When they finally realized that
was Jesus, do you know what they did?
The Bible says they fell down, they grabbed his feet and they
worshipped him personally. Now make no mistake about it,
and I know another gospel account says Jesus says touch me
not, but the actual phrase in the original says stop clinging
to me. So they did cling to him in
worship. And Jesus says, stop clinging to
me, for I've not yet ascended to my Father, which is in heaven.
Right? OK, that was a act of personal
worship. All right, Is there a Bible
passage that encourages personal worship?
Yes, I'm going to give you one right now.
There are others, but here's number one in Philippians
chapter 4. It's Paul's antidote for
anxiety. In other words, don't worry
about anything, but pray about everything.
Notice what he says. Be anxious for nothing, but in
everything, by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving,
let your request be made known unto God.
So if we are going to go to God in prayer and supplication and
Thanksgiving, isn't that prayer in itself?
Is it going to God and making our request known to God?
Prayer in itself? In a general sense, yes.
But this word prayer in this passage is a different word.
This word prayer means praise, adoration, and worship.
It's when you go to God in prayer.
And Paul was given the antidote for anxiety instead of worried
about your problems. First you tell God how great he
is. You praise God from whom all
blessings flow. You get your mindset on God and
fixed on God. You praise his name.
That is a form of worship. And Paul here was not referring
to the assembly. Although every time we pray, I'm
just going to say it, we ought to spend some time as we begin
praising God, giving God the honor and the glory and praising
his name. Absolutely hallowed be your
name. Absolutely.
But this is praise, adoration and worship.
That's personal and private. Here's the problem.
Our Christianity is not limited to personal and private worship.
It's included. It's not limited to what else is
required public worship. In John chapter 4, when Jesus
was there with the woman at the well, and the woman said to
Jesus, he says, good teacher. He says to Jesus, he said, our
Father said that the place of worship is in the mountain here.
And then the Jews say, no, it's in Jerusalem.
Jesus says, I'm telling you there's going to come a time
when it's not going to be in the mountain, it's not going to be
in Jerusalem. Then Jesus said this.
In other words, she was referring to public worship.
Jesus said in John 14 and 23, but the hour is coming, and now
is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in
spirit and in truth. The Father is seeking such to
worship him. That is public worship.
All right. How important is it to worship
publicly and how do we actually do that?
First of all, have you ever stopped to consider the
importance or the magnitude of being part of a family about
being part of a body? In First Corinthians chapter 12,
Paul said you are the body of Christ and members individually.
You have to be part of the congregation.
Paul goes on to say in First Corinthians 12 when 1 member
suffers, all members suffer with it.
When 1 member rejoices, all members rejoice with it.
If you're not part of the body, how you going to know who to
rejoice with and to suffer with? We are the body of Christ.
So when do we come together or how is it that the body worships
publicly? Well, Paul deals with that too.
First Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 23.
It's when the body of First Corinthians 12, it is the
church, 1st Corinthians 14, and it's when they come together in
one place in undivided assembly. That's the kind of worship that
Jesus was talking about. And you know what?
It doesn't have to be on a mountain.
It doesn't have to be in Jerusalem.
It doesn't have to be any particular place.
It's anywhere the church comes together as a body in one place.
We just happened to do it right here at 2215 Plans Rd.
We pack up and go to Terry's house, Wade's house.
As long as it's the whole assembly, the church coming
together in one place as a body, public worship is required.
I like this, though. I found this quote.
Somebody might say, well, what about me?
I don't have a lot of talents or abilities or whatever.
Yeah, OK, whatever. Everybody's needed.
And it doesn't matter who you are or where you came from.
I like this quote. It doesn't take much of a man to
serve God, but it does take all of him.
That's what God wants. And we can't serve 2 masters.
So what did Jesus say? He said you can't serve 2
Mathers, for either you will hate the one and love the other,
or else you will despise you will be loyal to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.
All right, first of all, the word loyal means to hold to one
according to the King James. What does that mean?
Hold to one. It means this line up your face
with your master. That's what it means.
Be loyal. By the way, Line up your face
with your master. That's what the the focus hold
to 1 means. It means God is my master.
I am going to focus and line up my face with his face.
Now we can't do that literally. We do that figuratively, OK?
He's our number one. That's a mindset.
It's impossible to serve somebody else and serve Jesus at
the same time. So the Lord says, hey, you line
your face up with me. That's what I want for my
disciples. OK, Then he said this.
You can't serve God and mammon. What's mammon?
Mammon is an Aramaic term meaning wealth or riches.
OK, so the concept here is riches.
And I want to say this too, that there's some expositors that
say, and I don't know that you can prove this, but this is what
Robertson said, but I'll just pass it along.
Some expositors actually believe that there was a Pagan God and
his name was Mammon, and all pagans actually worshipped
Mammon, which was the Pagan God of money.
So it's entirely possible that's what the Lord was saying here.
You can't serve 2 masters. You can't serve God and money at
the same time. And again, again, nothing wrong
with money. It's the servitude of it that
becomes wrong. Remember all the examples we
gave in the Bible couple lessons ago of people that were very
wealthy, but they put God first and God was number one.
Question is this, folks, It's where your heart is.
And if you had $1,000,000, how much would the Lord have?
I'm just going to leave it right there.
That's it, OK. It's true though, that even
though this may not be true about a Pagan God, which may or
may not, it is true that often times money becomes the God of
people today, the most important thing in the world.
So here's the point. This phrase completes the
picture. We have two choices.
We either line up with the face of God or we by rebellion decide
no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to gaze my focus and
focus on the world's goods. Now because of all this, you
can't serve 2 masters. He now talks about the attitude
that we should have about worldly things and worldly cares
and this is what he said. I know it's hard to do but he
says don't worry about your life.
Wow, you know the King James says take no thought, but this
is a better translation. The new King James is a better
translation because that's what it means.
He wasn't saying the Lord was not saying don't think about
life, don't think about things, don't make plans, don't don't
get your mind. Didn't didn't mean that at all.
What he's saying is don't worry about your life.
The English standard version renders this passage do not be
anxious about your life. And that's really the point.
Don't be anxious about worldly things because God is in
control. I'm going to tell you something.
I know a lot of people that say that God's in control.
Yeah, He is. But do you really believe it
when you say it? I mean, do you really believe it
or just God's in control? Yeah, He is in control, but do
you really believe it or do you think, yeah, but I'm really in
control too. I'm going to tell you something
about control, that you know, control is an illusion when it
comes to us. You think you're in control.
You don't have a clue. God is in control.
And when you think you're in control, oh, that's an illusion.
Control is an illusion. Have you ever heard the phrase,
oh, he's a control freak? You know it's an illusion, it's
a power struggle and an illusion, but think about it, if
you want control your power struggling with God and you will
lose. Let me just say this, when you
worry about the cares of life overly so, then the cares of
this life begin to control your mind.
And when the and when that happens and controls your mind,
guess what? You just violated verse 24 about
serving 2 masters. You've just allowed that to
control your life. OK, Jesus gets specific here.
He says three things, so don't worry about your life.
Then he gives examples, what you're going to eat, what you're
going to drink, and what your body's going to put on your
clothes and all that. Don't worry about that.
These are three things. These are not luxuries.
These are the necessities of life.
They aptly portray the entire human existence.
These three things, food, drink, and clothing.
The Lord's point is this. If we can get our mind right and
fixed on our faith on God to take care of those things, then
everything else will come into proper perspective.
If we could trust Him with that, we can trust Him with anything.
OK, Paul said this first Timothy 6:00 and 8:00 and having food
and clothing with these, we shall be content.
I'm going to tell you this word right here is a hard word.
It's the word content, man. It's hard because sometimes
we're not really just content with what we need.
We overly strive for and worry and are concerned about what we
want. But there's a big difference
between what we want and what we need.
Paul goes further. This in Philippians chapter 4
and verse 11. Not that I speak in regard of
need. And I got to tell you this verse
really encourages me because you know what?
When I'm stumbling and struggling with being content,
guess what? Paul said.
For I have learned, he had to learn it.
Anything you learn is hard or everybody would have it.
Everything you learn takes work. If we go to school takes work.
Anything you learn takes work, and anything you do by way of
learning takes time. And Paul said this.
I've learned it in whatever state I am there with to be
content. What else?
How about Hebrews 13 and five? Let your conduct be without
covetousness. Be content with such things as
you have. For he himself has said, I will
never leave you nor forsake you. What an amazing passage.
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
I guess the point is this. When we spend an inordinate
amount of time and energy worrying about physical things,
we miss the entire point of our existence.
And now he's going to give three things, 3 illustrations that
prove his point. We're going to go quickly
through these verses, very quickly.
The first one is the next verse, verse 26.
He said look at the birds through the illustration.
Look at the birds, for they sow neither sow nor reap, nor gather
in the barns. Birds do nothing, fly around,
eat seed. OK, yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not more valuable than
they? If God can take care of birds
through His system of nature to care for birds, don't you think
He could take care of those that were created in His very image?
Even more so, that's example #1 how about this verse 27?
Which of you by worrying can add 1 cubit to his stature?
By the way, scholars vary and differ whether this is talking
about, are they talking about adding to your height or is it
talking about adding to the longevity of your life or adding
to your life? It doesn't matter.
It's a rhetorical question that has no answer, and the answer is
obviously obvious. Nobody can.
Here's the point. Whether it is your physical
stature or whether it's talking about your the length of your
life, here's the point. Worry will not allow you to grow
even this much. And anxiety is not going to
extend your life, by the way. It's going to shorten it.
Yeah, Oh, the Lord was brilliant, wasn't he, Master?
Notice verse 28. So why do you worry about
clothing? Consider the lilies of the
field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin.
Now interestingly, don't let the world's affairs overwhelm us
because God wraps an insignificant Lily in beauty and
splendor. And you know what?
They don't work and they don't spin one thread to make clothing
and yet God erase them in beautiful splendor.
Again, His point is this. How much more is God going to
provide for his own then he says this verse 29 and yet I say to
you that even Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like
one of these Solomon was the wealthiest is of Israel's king,
wealthiest king. But he said this Solomon and all
of his wealth and all of his royalty was not arrayed like the
beauty of a Lily. In other words, he couldn't take
his all of his wealth and array himself like a Lily even that
God did. And then he says this.
Now if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is and
tomorrow is thrown in the oven, will he not much more clothe
you? And then here it is.
Oh, you have little faith. You know, this is a common
rebuke in the Gospels. There's many places I don't have
time. I just don't have time.
I'm going to mention two. That time that Peter walked on
water. Yeah, Peter walked on water,
too. The disciples were out in the
middle of the water on in a boat.
Jesus waits and it's dark and it begins to walk on water.
Jesus walked on water first. They looked up and they saw
Jesus and they think they're looking at a ghost and they're
scared. Jesus says don't be afraid, it's
not a ghost, it's me. Peter says, Lord, if it really
is, you bid that I would come out to you.
And Jesus says, come on Peter. And Peter steps out of the boat
and yes, Peter walked on water too.
For a moment, you know what happened though.
Peter lost his focus. Peter took his eye off Jesus.
Peter started looking around at the peripheral issues and
realized what he was actually doing.
Got the waves going like crazy and I'm walking on water now.
I'm scared. It all began because he took his
focus, his eye off Jesus. You know what happened after
that? He lost his focus and then he
lost his faith. He's in the water now.
He's beginning to sink because he has doubt.
Doubt set in, despair set in, and a lack of faith kicked in.
He's now afraid and he says, Lord save me.
And Jesus does. And what did Jesus say to him?
Jesus says, Peter, why did you doubt?
O you of little faith, let me tell you something.
If you have a lack of faith in your life or your faith is
shaken, let me ask you where your focus is.
Are you focused on all the problems in your life and all
the peripheral issues, or are you focused on Jesus?
Get your focus back another time.
I got to move quickly. In Matthew 17, we're going to
talk about the difference between little faith and great
faith because this is little faith.
When you don't trust God and you don't put your your life in
God's hand, that's little faith. In Matthew chapter 17, I have a
whole sermon on this. I'm not going to step on that
sermon. I'm not going to use those
illustrations and most of you in this room have heard it.
I had to look at the passage though, Matthew 17, when that
man, I'll go quickly through the story, brought his demonically
possessed epileptic son to Jesus and he said, I took him to your
disciples. They couldn't cure him, right?
Fast forwarding through the story, Jesus heals the boy.
He cast out the demon and then then Jesus departs and his
disciples come to him. And the disciples says, how come
we couldn't do it? And Jesus says because of your
unbelief. But in the original it doesn't
say unbelief. You know what it says your
little faith. Because of your little faith.
It didn't square well with them. You know why?
Because in Matthew chapter 10, they were given the power to do
this. In Matthew chapter 10, they were
given the Commission to do this every time they preach the
gospel. And according to the gospel
according to Mark, they already had been doing it.
What was the problem? This was the first miracle like
this that they were going to have to perform without Jesus
being present. That was going to take faith and
they had little faith and not great faith.
Jesus says to them, if you had faith of a mustard seed, you can
do two things. Number one, you can move
mountains. And by the way, that's mountains
of difficulty. That is not literal mountains
and #2 nothing would be impossible for you.
That falls within the realm of the Lord's promise and God's
will. And by the way, those two things
apply today. If you have the right kind of
faith, the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains of
difficulty in your life and nothing would be impossible.
That falls within the promises of the Lord and God's will.
So what's it mean to have the faith of a mustard seed?
I've heard this all my life. Well, all you got to do is have
a little bit. They had none.
No, they didn't have none. They had little.
They just got to have a little bit.
If you have a little bit, it can go a long way.
That's not what he meant. That's not the principle of the
mustard seed in Matthew 13. The principle of the mustard
seed in Matthew 13 is not that it starts off small.
It's that it starts off with a small seed, which represents
their faith. Starts off small and it grows to
the greatest of herbs. In other words, your faith has
to grow to greatness. That's great faith.
You've heard me say this before. Little faith is trusting God
because you see what he's already done.
Got a roof over my head. Got food on my table?
Yeah, God provides. I got faith.
Oh, I got faith. Big deal.
It's called gratitude. Great faith is trusting God with
nothing in your hand. When you lose your job and
you're out trying to find one and you got bills to pay, that's
great faith. When you trust God for that,
that's great faith. That's the faith of a mustard
seed. That's the faith that has to
grow. I'll tell you some unbelief or
little faith is as old as mankind.
But remember, please, God is always pleased with those who
cultivate a great faith in their life.
So the context of the passage, in this context, Jesus speaks of
anxiety and worthy over worry, over clothing, but in reality,
he's addressing a deeper spiritual problem.
One man said it this way. Ultimately, all anxiety stems
from a lack of a spiritual commitment to God.
That's harsh, isn't it? It's true.
You either trust God or you don't.
When you don't have faith, when God said I will provide and you
don't have faith, you are literally saying I don't trust
you to the Father. We don't want to do that, right?
Something else too. It's not a trivial thing, it
actually something that chokes out our faith and hinders our
whole existence. Let's notice Luke 8 and 14.
Now the ones who fell among the thorns is with a parable.
Lasaur notice are those who when they have heard, go out and are
choked with cares, riches and pleasures of life and bring no
fruit to maturity. Now we all understand about
riches and we all understand about the pleasures of life.
We get that. But make no mistake about it,
Jesus also said the cares of this life too.
Worrying about the cares of this life, You know what does it
chokes out your faith. Then verses 31 and 32, therefore
do not worry saying what you shall eat or what you shall
drink or what you shall wear, for after all these things the
Gentiles seek for your heavenly Father knows that you need, that
you have needed these things. First of all, obviously the word
Gentiles, we refer to it as anybody that's not a Jewish
person. And while that's true, the
actual word means peoples or multitudes.
It's talking about peoples or multitudes.
What he's talking about is the people that are in the world.
There's a comparison between Christians, those that are in
God's family and non Christians, those that are outside of God's
family. He's saying stop worrying and
don't worry because you know what, that's what the world
does. They worry.
You could say it like this. God is saying hey don't worry,
you got me, you have God. Then verse 33 but seek first the
Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these
things, the things He said not to worry about, will be added
unto you. Now let's talk about this
phrase, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Now we know that the Kingdom is the church.
We know that, but I'm going to tell you this right now.
Putting the Kingdom first is more than putting the church
first. Does it include that?
Absolutely. Does it end there?
No, it does not. Putting the Kingdom first.
It also means allow God to thoroughly and completely
control your life. That's what it means to put the
Kingdom first. When we do that, He promises to
reward us in that regard. Not as payment, just a promise.
Not because we've earned it, but a promise.
I'm going to take care of your needs.
Now, you might need transportation.
God may send a skateboard. You may want a Mercedes, but you
may get a bus ticket. But that's transportation he
provided. See, remember we said before the
big difference between what we need and what we want.
Jesus says God's got this, but there's something else too.
He also promises us something far greater than necessities of
life, and that is eternal life. All right.
What about this phrase though, and His righteousness?
The word righteousness means God's attributes.
Now God has many wonderful attributes, but what does it
mean about God's attributes? And how can I attain God's
attributes? The first thing I'm going to say
is this righteousness is not attained by empty ceremony.
In other words, going through the motions.
Sometimes people think, man, if they attend all the services,
man, they're dialed in, they're spiritual, they're righteous,
they're great. Is attending the service as part
of it create our Christian life? Absolutely.
Does God want us to do that? Absolutely, but it's not limited
to that. I'm going to get to how it's
not. Just stay with me, please,
please. Righteousness is not attained by
just simply simple empty ceremony.
It's not attained only by the things in which we do which is
included. It has to include the things in
which we are. So I'll build on this statement.
Righteousness is not attained by empty ceremony.
It is a surpassing righteousness that is the result of an
intense, constant, ongoing dedication of heart, dedication
of mind, and dedication of soul. That's what it means to seek
first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness.
That's what that means, means all that.
So then he sums it up like this. Therefore don't worry about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.
Have you ever heard the phrase don't borrow trouble?
How about this? Don't suffer future pain.
I'm telling you what pain's in the future, so why worry about
it now? Or don't worry about something
that may or may not happen. Notice, sufficient for the day
is its own trouble. In other words, there's enough
to worry about right here today. The Bible is filled with
passages that say don't worry about tomorrow.
Do you know this? Tomorrow is an unbiblical
concept. For example, the Bible says
today is the day of salvation. In other words, don't put it off
for tomorrow. Jesus says don't worry about
tomorrow, be focused on today. Everything is about today
because you know what, like James says, for what is your
life? It is even a vapor that's here
and gone. Just simple as that.
We don't know if we're going to be alive tomorrow.
We don't even know. I like a preacher who said one
time he said, you know what? If the Lord comes back, we don't
have to worry about it anyway. Don't suffer future trouble,
Don't borrow trouble. Don't suffer future pain.
Don't worry about tomorrow. Focus on today and put tomorrow
in God's hands. That's what the Lord said.
But even though that's what the Bible says, that's what we
struggle with, I would imagine all of us the most.
That's where we struggle. And guess what, if you're a
person that never is concerned about tomorrow or never has
worried about tomorrow or never has worried about how
something's OK, then I don't know.
Congratulations, you're perfect. I'm not, but man, I have.
I think we all have. The plan is perfect and simple
here. It is hard to do sometimes, but
we're going to get to how to do that in a minute.
Hard to do sometimes, but it's simple.
Here's the instruction. Trust God #1 and live for today.
What a simple life, man. I can get this thing really
complicated if I start worrying about stuff down the road.
But look, here's the plan. Trust God and focus on today.
That's all I got to do. You know, the world knows that.
My dad used to say by the inch is a inch by the yard is hard.
We get that today when I rode bulls for years.
You don't think about 8 seconds. 8 seconds on the back of a bull
that's 1800 lbs is an eternity. Yeah, it is.
You might think 8 seconds. No big deal.
Oh, it's a big deal. You never think about 8 seconds.
You never think about how long you're on his back.
You think about 1 jump at a time.
That's it. 1 jump, that's the principle that Jesus is saying 1
jump today. Don't worry about the next one.
It's coming maybe, but you'll be ready for that too and be guided
by God's Providence. That's where anxiety is going to
flee from our life and our burdens become manageable and we
experience real peace. So as I wrap this up in
conclusion, if we're going to have the kind of faith that God
expects us to have, please get this statement.
If you're taking notes, write it down.
God must be alive in your life. If you are going through the
motions, attending the services, checking the boxes, look in the
part obeying all the rules. If that's the extent of your
Christianity, you are dying spiritually.
You are, as Jesus said, you've left your first love.
You've left the motive behind, the ACT, all those things about
how we live. That's important and that's part
of it. But if that's the extent of our
Christianity, that's not good enough.
God's got to be alive in your life.
It has to be real. I'm going to make a statement
right now. Have you ever heard somebody say
this? The only thing that matters in
my life is having a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Have you ever heard anybody say that?
I'm going to say something that may shock you.
That statement is 100% true. It is a true factual statement
that is misapplied. Here's how it's misapplied.
Nothing is required of me. I don't have to be part of
organized religion. I don't have to be part of a
church. I don't have to assemble on
Sunday. I don't have to do anything.
I do anything. I want all that matters.
Having a relationship with Jesus.
That is a misapplication of a very true fact.
But make no mistake about it, it is all about having a
relationship with Jesus. Here's where we differ with some
people that make that statement. It's how you have a relationship
with him. The point is though, it is
everything, a relationship with Jesus.
Let me give you some Bible for that.
In Galatians chapter 3, this is how you begin a relationship
with Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Some translations render it like this, have clothed themselves
with Christ. Guess what?
That's a relationship. That's a relationship.
I didn't have a relationship with Jesus.
I'm baptized for the remission of my sins.
I have clothed myself with Jesus.
I have now begun my relationship with Him.
What about after that? Do we continually stimulate and
cultivate a relationship with Jesus beyond that?
Yes, we do notice in first John two and three.
Now by this we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.
Interestingly, these two words here know.
This word know here is a Greek word that's found 13 times in
the Epistle of John, and the word actually means to know for
certain in the here and now. It's the same word that first
John 513 says, I'm writing these things that you may know that
you have eternal life. In other words, to know for
certain that you have eternal life.
Now, the same author that gave the assurance is the same one
that gave the conditions. We'll get to the conditions in
just a moment. OK.
That's the first word. Know here.
By this we know for certain that we know Him.
That word means relationship. I can even phrase it like this.
By this we know for certain that we have a relationship with Him
conditional if we keep his commandments.
Yeah. Of relationship with Jesus.
You got a relationship with Jesus or do you go through the
motions? What else?
Remember we talked about Paul said to Galate in Galatians.
He says we cry ABBA, Father. Second word, Father denotes
God's paternity as the eternal heavenly Father, the almighty
creator. What about ABBA?
Don't forget that word. Powerful word.
It's an Aramaic term of endearment that a child uses for
their dad. Your Heavenly Father is the
Heavenly Father, but he's also your father.
That is a relationship. What's wrong with that?
Don't let your religion become stale and stagnant.
Understand you got to have a relationship with God and Jesus
Christ and cultivate that. I'm not finished.
This is our relationship of us knowing if we know Jesus.
What about this? What about when He knows us?
Because that's a relationship. First Timothy 219 Nevertheless,
the solid foundation of God stands having this seal.
The Lord knows those who are his.
That's a relationship. How does he know those that are
His? Let everyone that names the name
of Christ depart from iniquity. So I know that I have a
relationship with Him if I'm keeping His commandments.
It all began when I was baptized into Jesus Christ for the
remission of my sins. It continues and the Lord knows
me as I know Him, as I keep His commandments, and I depart from
iniquity. Relationship, relationship.
May I say one more time, if you're going to have the proper
faith that God expects you to have, He's got to be alive in
your life. It's got to be real.
That's a proper relationship. So if you're struggling with
that, then let me say this. If you're struggling with your
faith, then let me say study God's Word every day.
Meditate on God's Word every day, be in the Word every day if
you're struggling with your faith, but there's more and then
pray to God constantly and ask God to help you with your
unbelief. Remember that man in Matthew 17
when he came to Jesus and he wanted his boy healed that we've
already noticed. He said Lord, I believe, but
then he says help my unbelief. So if you're struggling with
your faith and you ask God specifically, please help me
with my faith. He will.
He will if he will give you, by the way, wisdom when you ask of
it and he gives it liberally. Don't you think He'll help you
with that too? Help me with my unbelief.
Trust Him in everything. If he's going to provide the
food on your table, can't you think take take care of the big
stuff too? Yeah, He sure can.
I'm finished. This morning.
The lesson was serving 2 masters.
We can't serve 2 masters. You'll love one and hate the
other. You can't do both.
God must be first and foremost in your life.
He must be ever present before your eyes and have your eyes
fixed on Him. Trust Him for all the things
that He will provide in your life and don't worry about the
things of this world. Have faith in God and trust in
God. Focus on today and don't worry
about tomorrow. He'll take care of it.
And if you're struggling with your faith, we got to have that
faith of a mustard seed, folks. It takes time, but it's got to
grow. Work on that growth this week,
work on praying for your faith to grow this week.
Work on having the faith of a mustard seed that someday it'll
grow to greatness. Do that.
I'm telling you, it'll change your life.
Make God and Jesus alive in your life.
I'm finished. We never close the time that we
assemble and we teach from God's Word without extending an
invitation. It's the greatest invitation in
all the world. It's the invitation to become a
child of God, to become a Christian.
The steps to become a Christian are very simple.
You got to hear the Word. Romans 10/17.
So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
After we hear the word of God, we've got a choice.
We got to believe with all our heart.
Hebrews 11 and 6. Without faith, it's impossible
to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Then we've got some things to do.
Got to repent, repent of our sins, got to make a change in
our mind, change in our life. Acts 17 and 30.
Truly these times of ignorance got overlooked but now commands
all men everywhere to repent. Got to make a change, Got to
serve God, got to follow God and not the world anymore.
Then be willing to confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Acts 837. Then Philip said if you believe
with all your heart you may. And he answered and said, I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Upon taking these steps of obedience, you're now a fit
candidate to go to the point of salvation, which should be
baptized for the remission of your sins.
Mark 1616. He who believes and is baptized
will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.
If you've never taken those steps of obedience, we'd love to
assist you in that today. We're ready, willing, and able
to do that. Maybe have taken those steps of
obedience. Maybe you've drifted.
Maybe there is something in your life that you need to correct,
that you need the prayers of the congregation for just.
Maybe you're struggling and you just need prayer.
If we can assist you in any way, come forward while we stand and.