I'm going to advise you to take care of your Bible or your Bible
app and open it to Matthew chapter 6. as mentioned earlier,
we've been in this series on Money Matters and what it is for
us to trust, God in matters of money which are really matters
of heart, as Jesus taught us last week, in Matthew chapter 6
and pointed out this movement between our treasure, what we
focus on and ultimately, who is Lord in our lives is Jesus Lord
or is money serving as a kind of Lord and Master in our life and
he picks up on it in the next component about being worried
about money or what money can buy or can't buy that.
We actually get caught up in a lot of worry.
I don't know how this was calculated but someone
calculated that Canadians worry so much about money that the
time spent worrying. Is a the equivalent to 31 days.
That's a whole month. And their comment was that's
enough time to get another job. I didn't think it was completely
empathetic but, you know, it's there, it's true that a lot of
time is spent in worry, and we're going to talk about that
impact. But many of the students will
graduate in Canada and they're going to have student loan debt
and the average debt in 2022. Was twenty-six thousand dollars
and seventy five twenty six thousand $75 and I thought it
was very important that they actually added 75 on there.
They didn't leave anything out. You know what about 26,000
dollars is average student loan debt.
It can stay around a long time, it creates a kind of nodding
worry. In fact, seventy percent of
Canadians, have some kind of form of DET besides a mortgage,
and the average Canadian. Debt is 20 1183 dollars.
Most often that's associated and called bad debt.
That's the debt you worried about.
Did you know that Canadians? When asked this year, what their
main goals and 2023 were Get out of debt and pay their bills.
Main goals, main goals is that really meant to be the main goal
of life. But it's what we get drawn to so
quickly and one to remind us that Jesus was preaching to the
poor. We considered and looked at last
week. What was that crowd like that?
Was there with Jesus. Jesus intended his ministry.
To be good news to the poor. And so the words that were going
to read those seemingly very frustrating Jesus, who died on
the cross for our sins was buried and was raised again to
life having predicted. It also gave us these words not
to frustrate you but to ultimately lead you to the
fullness of Life To Joy and to peace.
That's the attention of his teaching, the transformation of
people who get to know him. And so he wants to transform our
thinking and our emotional habits, even about money.
So let's read what he says. beginning in verse 25 of Matthew
chapter 6, he says, therefore I tell you do not worry about your
life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you
will wear it's 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 anyone 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 not even Solomon in all his Splendor was dressed.
Like one of those. 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, oh 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.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow.
For tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble on its own.
Amen to that. First, let's take a look at the
issue of worry and what we can drive about worry from from what
Jesus was teaching. Ultimately is teaching, is that
worry, damages us Do I have any professional worriers?
Do you want to admit? Like you're a professional
Warrior. You let anxiety.
Pull you into a thing and you ruminate over it and you spin it
and you turn it and you consider it here.
Then you flip it around over here and you consider it and
you're worried and you're worrying.
You're worried. It's possible to find occasions
and times in our lives where we feel.
So Such a lack of power, such a lack of agency that were caught
in worried. And I believe that Jesus
recognized that when we have money as our Lord, it actually
does create a worry system inside of us.
And so he's trying to draw out here for the crowd who is
listening to him for his disciples who were also
listening. The Fatal impact of worry,
notice what he says in verse 25. 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, worry, reduces life to the necessities.
That's what you're drawn to this.
These are the necessities and he's recognizing that the folks
there who he was teaching, Lord, give us our daily bread.
We're also worried about daily bread.
And so we need to be conscious that worry will move us to just
reduce life to the necessities. Same thing happens.
Again worry doubts, our value in the eyes of God.
Notice what he says in verse 26. Are you not more valuable?
Look at the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or store
away in Barns. Yet your heavenly father feeds
them. Are you not much more valuable
than they You have immense value to God?
But worry, always seeks to drain that Consciousness away.
That you actually matter to God. Worry, anxiety creates the
illusion of purposeful action. None of us if truly asked hey,
what are you doing over there? Sitting in the corner on your
phone, none of us are really going to say worrying.
But we're worrying many times. We're searching, we have this
great fear of missing out, fear of being left behind fear of not
having enough, and it's actually now in a worry, spin, a worry
storm that's being fed by what were flipping through.
We're worrying. Just doesn't look like it.
Notice in verse 29, Jesus says, in verse 28 and do not worry
about clothes. See how the flowers of the field
grow, they do not labor or spin, do you know the strange thing
about worrying is that it can make it seem like our frantic
activities to keep up with others that were comparing
ourselves to. Is somehow also productive.
We're spinning away. Comparing ourselves to others
trying to keep up with them. The strange thing about worry is
that it erodes our faith. So to that, Jesus uses a little
term of endearment. Oh, you little faiths.
I think he didn't mean it, as a condemnation, but he was using
it almost as a as a light to lighten the moment and say you
little faiths It would be like my grandmother or somebody
calling me a worrywart. You're just worrying away at
that just whirring away. And Jesus is noting that truly
what worry does is erodes our faith in God because it's
centers, all of the solutions just in ourselves or in someone
else or someone else that we can blame.
Worry, turns us into practical atheists.
Where we stopped praying. We just worried. but Jesus
wanted those he was talking to, to see something delightful
about God, he wanted them to see differently, It was really
interesting and last week, one of the most difficult parts of
that teaching last week was the whole teaching on the eyes and I
kept hearing back from life group leaders saying that was so
hard to figure out that that little aspect of if your eyes
are bad, then your whole body's bad, but if your eyes are good,
then your body is full of light and life.
But it's what you focus on and worry actually will take us to a
lot of places to focus but we might not actually see properly
and it's fascinating to me that Jesus.
Here has them look up and look around.
He said look at the birds of the air.
I can't imagine that. It's Jesus is teaching he sort
of sweeps his hand over and says look look at all the Ian geese
over there. No, it wouldn't have been that.
What it in Israel. But it would have been some
other bird. That neither sews nor Harvest,
but is provided for doesn't God provided and he says, look at
the flowers of the field. Not even Solomon was dressed up
as beautiful as the flowers now, it's fascinating that Jesus
finally mentioned Solomon. In fact, Jesus disses Solomon.
Solomon, the son of King, David who became king, who built a
grand Temple. And built a Grandeur Palace for
himself. And who was known for his
Splendor and his dress and the Majesty of his spaces.
Solomon had all the good views. Solomon had all the good looks.
Solomon had filled his life with beautiful people and beautiful
women. And Jesus disses him.
That that would have not just gone over the heads of that
crowd. Like it did yours.
Jesus just threw shade on Solomon.
Huh. Go figure.
What's that about? I think it's about what's called
The Royal consciousness. The Royal Consciousness Walter
Brueggemann who's an Old Testament scholar, says that the
chroniclers of the history of Solomon.
And the Kings sort of seemed to gloss over Solomon.
Sometimes they call him the wisest man that ever lived.
He was ruling at the Heyday of Israel that that he had a great
heart, we know, because he was so rich.
But that's not actually true. Our temptation is to believe
that someone is Rich must be really blessed by God and so
there must be good. But Solomon actually shows us
the continual erosion. That happens when you make
wealth and power your treasure and the progression of Solomon's
life is about the decay of his own faith with God and a
disaster. An ultimate crisis for Israel
from which they would never recover.
So Jesus is throwing shade on Solomon.
He's dissing him. Because he would have been the
image of really having it right in life.
And Jesus says, don't make him your goal.
I wonder how tempting it is for us to make.
Other Royals are gold. Whether they have royal families
or they have the royalty of wealth and power and ease.
We make them our goal. And Jesus says, don't look there
and the reason Walter Brueggemann says, don't look
there. He says that the Royal
Consciousness becomes numb to the realities of life and is
always trying to avoid the reality of death.
Even to avoid the realities of the sufferings of others.
And so it is that when they study the brains of those who
have great power and wealth, they actually find that.
The empathy section of the brain that should be lighting up when
they see someone else's suffering is a little dim.
That's troubling, isn't it? Where am I psychologists up
here? Yeah, that's troubling.
I mean Jesus, he's so smart. Jesus knows so much about the
human psyche and what happens to us?
When we make wealth, our treasure.
And when we worry so much, Now, Jesus is speaking to a people
who were vulnerable to Nature. They understood that when there
was a famine, you might have to move to survive.
He's speaking to a people who knew what it was to be victims
of a system designed to take from you and keep you down.
He speaking to them. And so it seems unreasonable for
Jesus to be saying, don't worry about your life.
Right. That seems unreasonable.
Look at the birds. Look at the flowers.
Don't worry about your life. Why?
Because look there's a God who values you.
Look. There's a God who will provide
for you? And this is, this is the hard
move of faith for us to make in a world where we're worried
about paying our bills, where we worried about my degree is
actually a pathway to taking care of my family.
But Jesus wants us to be on more solid ground.
Look at the world differently. Let him heal your eyes.
So that you will trust him as your provider.
Do you know one of the things that worried does is that worry?
Put such a squeeze on us that we can't see opportunities.
We can't dream up opportunities. We lose sight of the, the
strength that God puts in us already and for the extra Grace,
he can provide to move us forward.
And so, then Jesus moves on to say, here's what you should be
doing seek first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and
he will add all these other things to your life.
Seek first the kingdom of God and he will add all this to you.
It's such an important move for us to make.
What am I actually seeking in my workplace and my workplace.
Am I seeking the paycheck? Or in my workplace.
Am I seeking for the kingdom of God to be in this space?
Am I seeking to deliver his righteousness into this space?
When I study, am I just seeking to pass that test when I go to
class? Am I just seeking to fill my
space? Or am I seeking for the kingdom
of God to be in that space and for the righteousness of God to
be in that space? Jesus says that if you will seek
Him and pursue him as a first thing, he's going to provide the
lift. He's going to provide the grace,
he's going to provide the rest. It doesn't mean there won't be
days of suffering or a difficulty or of hard work.
But it means you don't Grant your employer the final and
ultimate word on your worth. Or on your work.
They don't own you. you belong to God, the Father Who gives
incredible worth and value to you?
And also can provide. This is our ambition and pursuit
to see the kingdom of God in all of the spaces in which we occupy
as the church gathered and the church scattered to seek first.
The kingdom of God means I'm looking for the rule and reign
of Jesus, to be evident in the places in which I go, and that I
am. So the first in my heart second,
in my home, space third in the world, Wherever I Go.
I'm looking for the rule and reign of Jesus, who died on a
cross for our sins was buried, and God Rose him from the dead.
He has the authority and place in my life.
Not the tyrants. Not the wealthy.
But Jesus in this way, the kingdom of God is a bit more
subversive than we imagine this kingdom of God works in our
lives with the small decisions that we make and a little book
called God's economy. There's this description of the
kingdom of God and he captures it in a university student named
John who went to Duke University.
And he says, that Duke, John was surrounded by the children of
millionaires and a few billionaires.
They became his friends in that setting and in his first year,
he tried to run with them. But in his second year, for some
reason in response to some kind of word from Jesus and his life.
He met a family at his the church and he asked them, could
I live with you? And so he moved in with them.
And his whole life became rearranged between going to
school and actually being a part of a family.
And his friends began to comment.
Well, why aren't you coming with us?
Oh, I'm going home. And then after dinner, I'm
reading books to the kids, you don't have kids, that's really
weird. Isn't that weird?
But it was a little decision that had a huge impact in his
life to create a different pattern and to Value something
different in his life. It's these little decisions that
are actually bigger than you think little decisions in
response to something. Jesus shows you where you look
at life differently and you make a decision That's different.
This happened for Christian otsu.
Soccer player from Ghana. Who recently died in the
earthquake in Turkey. Tragic loss.
It's been wonderful though to read about his life and how he
went and progressed in the soccer World and became so
successful. And he was known for his
generosity. For how he spread his wealth
around to others. And some occasion a journalist
asked him so is the reason you're so generous because you
were so poor. He said no generosity.
Is something both the rich and the poor occupy.
If their followers of Jesus. so, it's because of my faith in
Jesus that I'm generous How does that move happen in our lives?
When worry wants us to grasp and hold onto everything and to be
stingy. Some of the disciplines of
scripture that we mentioned last week, like taking a Sabbath.
Taking a Sabbath rest from your work and laborers so that you
pause and acknowledge God. That's one of the moves.
Another discipline that we call tithing or giving a tenth, it's
just one of the percentages giving mentioned in the
scripture. Is something that compels and
forces us to have to take stock of what we have and to take
stock and say this didn't just come from me.
This came from God, And so that movement, then trains us to let
go of a part and to say, oh but I'm still a steward.
Not an owner. I'm a steward.
It's a difference. God is the owner of it all and I
am a manager, a steward of a portion.
The discipline of the ties helps to create that space in our
lives. One of the other things that I
think is really important for us to be able to do is to just make
the decision again to say, okay, Lord, I give myself to you.
I make that small ultimate decision every day.
I'm Yours. Not mine.
Remember this sermon in this part is dealing with our desire
for self-determination. Instead of our yielded - to
Jesus, as Lord. Are you a worrier?
Those who worry a lot would say that the rest of us just don't
understand what's really going on in the world.
And so the invitation though, as far as to get closer to Jesus,
Jesus knows what's going on in the world.
He knows. Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, we approach to your your word, your son.
Your church and this world. Knowing that we need help.
We need help because we worry. We need help because our heart
is drawn to wealth. We need help because sometimes
we treat money, as if it's a permission slip for just doing
whatever we want, But instead we know we must make the move for
seeking first, your kingdom, and your righteousness.
So that it's both your rule and reign. and our way, the way we
do our life, Matters. Just, as much.
Help us be in the way of Jesus, who moved down into life, who
Moved close to those who are close to the ground.
Who didn't treat the Brokenhearted and the poor as if
they were unseen unknown and unworthy.
but we turn our selves towards you, and we ask you to examine
us We asked you to shape us this morning.
We asked you to take away the numbness that comes when we're
so captured by our wealth. That we quit seeing you as the
provider. And that we're just stewards Oh
Lord. We want to be owners. but you
want us to be stewards for this greater freedom in that So we
yield ourselves to you, Lord, we're going to come to your
table, Lord, where you offer us all.
That you had at the very end, you had your body, your blood.
That was all that was left and you gave it.
And with your final breath, you said it is finished and you did
this to pay a debt. We could never pay The debt, the
outstanding debt of our own sin. Our own Rebellion, our own
selfishness, you gave all that, you had to pay a debt that we
could never pay. And we are eternally grateful
for Jesus. Let's Stand Together.
And we are eternally grateful for Jesus.
Let's Stand Together.